Pre-Jackson 5 "I Want You Back"
Xandre
9 Posts
A group recorded "I Want You Back" prior to the Jackson 5 in 1969/70. I heard a clip and the instrumental arrangement was even funkier in my opinion. I encountered the name of the original group that recorded the song but have since lost track of the webpage. Anyone who has knowledge on the subject feel free to drop.
Comments
I'm not sure about that, but anytime I hear that song I think about Frankie Lymon and the teenagers (why do fools fall in love). That's where Berry Gordy got his influence for I want you back. Molded after young Frankie Lymon's vocal at the age of 13 and soon made the Jackson 5 superstars...
yeah that album was recorded in '71
While that is true, I dont think I Want You Back is based on any Frankie Lymon/Teenager arrangements or melodies.
I'm just quoting what people have told me in the past. This is what allmusic.com writes about him.
"Frankie Lymon (1942-1968) & the Teenagers were a New York doo wop group consisting of Joe Negroni, Herman Santiago, Jimmy Merchant, and Sherman Garnes but centered around the extraordinary talents of their lead singer, 13-year-old Frankie Lymon. Lymon was credited with their first big hit, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" (In the early '90s, a federal judge ruled after a lengthy trial that Lymon hadn't written "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" ??? another member of the Teenagers had). His wise-beyond-his-years vocal and performing abilities not only made the Teenagers a group several notches above the competition but made Lymon the first Black teenage pop star. Though only together for a brief 18-month period, Lymon & the Teenagers exerted an enormous influence, spawning several "kid" vocal groups and providing initial inspiration to Berry Gordy to model his entire Motown production approach around Lymon's original vocal style. Inexplicably, the group split into two factions at the height of their success, and neither had a hit again. Lymon died from a drug overdose at age 26. Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Len Barry, and his principal prot??g??, Michael Jackson (whose early recordings with the Jackson 5 are virtual re-creations of the early Lymon sound, merely updated) all show the influence of Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers's groundbreaking work."
This was the first Jackson 5 single released by Motown Records. It launched their career.
Michael Jackson sang lead. He was 11 years old and the youngest of the group. There was one younger Jackson brother named Randy, who replaced Jermaine in the group in 1977.
This was written by a team of Motown writers called The Corporation. The head of the label, Berry Gordy, was one of the writers. They were based in California, unlike most Motown writers who were in the Detroit offices.
Michael Jackson reminded Berry Gordy of Frankie Lymon, another teenage star. Gordy helped write this as if he was writing for Lymon.
This was the first of 4 US #1 hits from The Jackson 5's first album. The others were "ABC," "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There."
The original title was "I Want To Be Free." It was Gordy's idea to change it to "I Want You Back" and make it more of a love song.
This was intended for Gladys Knight and the Pips, and at one point Diana Ross was going to record it, but Berry Gordy decided to change the title and some of the lyrics and use it for his newly-signed group of boys, the Jackson 5. (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL)
Gordy went out of his way to make this a hit. He was very high on The Jackson 5, and felt they were the perfect group to prove that Motown could continue it's success through the '70s.
At the time, this was the most expensive Motown single ever recorded.
How much J5 u got?
That quoted article is suspect. The Jackson Five were active for almost 5 years before being signed to Motown, had several regional hits on Steeltown out of Indiana, and were a hugely popular live act throughout the region. The article seems to imply that Berry Gordy created the group from dust. Gordy didn't even want to sign them at first, he turned them down and only signed them over a year later when Bobby Taylor brought them in to record some demos and played them for Gordy, who still wasn't sold until he saw them live.
As for the Frankie Lymon thing, it's true that Michael (and most kiddie singers
of the era) was modeled after Frankie's style, but the article quoted basically
says that Gordy's initial idea of what Motown's records, back in 1960, 8 years
before singing the J5, should sound like, was inspired by the hits of the FL & the Teenagers.
Bobby Taylor is the unsung hero of the J5 story. Dude was like their original mentor before Gordy became involved. B.T. really got to tell his side of the story in the liner note of this MUSTHAVE box.