THIS IS NOT IT!
Yesterday, we discussed the release of Michael Jackson’s final recording entitled “This Is It.” Since its release 24 hours ago, many have called the recording “dated” with a very 90’s feel not really relevant to today’s music scene. But singer-songwriter Paul Anka is going beyond just calling it dated — he’s calling it HIS!
According to Anka, the King of Pop has very obviously ripped off a 1983 song he co-wrote with Jackson called “I Never Heard,” which Anka says was even recorded in his studio in Carmel, Calif. In an interview with TMZ, Anka says he took the tape to a studio in Hollywood to put the finishing touches on it for his duets album, “Walk a Fine Line,” but Jackson got a big head and “stole the tapes” from the studio. Anka said he called the lawyers who repped both he and Jackson (ironically one of them being John Branca, who controls the Michael Jackson estate) and threatened them with a lawsuit if he didn’t get the tapes back. Although they were eventually returned he insists Jackson made a copy of the tapes, then applied his own voice to the track of “I Never Heard” and simply renamed it “This is It.” Anka gave “I Never Heard” to another artist — Saffire — who recorded it in 1990, and now “This Is It” has resurfaced as something new when nothing could be further from the truth. Does anyone besides me smell a lawsuit pending?
Anyway, here’s the Saffire song “I Never Heard” from 1990, which has the exact same melody and lyrics as Jackson’s “This Is It!”
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UPDATE: The Jackson Estate has just announced it will give Paul Anka 1/2 writing credit for the song, as well as 50% of its profits.
RIP-OFF!