Making Michael: Inside the Career of Michael Jackson

Excellent book. Jackson was a perfectionist visionary who worked with some of the talented people in the music industry. He developed sophisticated music videos ans broke the color barrier on MTV. This book is about Jackson’s artistry - brilliant, driven, and ahead of his time.

I've been a fan of Michael Jackson since the late 80's and felt this book was well sourced and believable. I think it's important to compare books against each other for accuracy of fact versus tabloid spin and having read more than 40 Jackson books both before and after June 2009 this has become my method for separating truth from exaggeration and spin. Making Michael's main concentration deals with the creation of his music told through the eyes of studio sound engineers, collaborators, former staff and others, there being minimal but, in my opinion, necessary reference to events occurring in his private life at the time, which are spoken of briefly in the context of telling a particular story, then on to the next chapter. The book details Michael's thwarted efforts to break into movie making and directing which always seemed to elude his grasp. So, in summary, I would recommend Making Michael for an inside look into what is (in my opinion) the most remembered aspect of his life, that is, his music.

I have read a number of books about Michael Jackson. I liked the "fly on the wall" style of writing; which I found did make this book more personal to me. I appreciate the 5 years of commitment that Mike Smallcombe committed to research the facts and stories from all the key players who were involved in MJ's career. He said he wanted to leave no stone unturned; and I believe he didn't. I was also (and still am) fascinated with how he unveiled the stories and circumstances behind the making of Michael's albums. I am especially enjoying his account of the "Invincible" album. Thanks Mike

Great book, excellent timeline of events, very clear on how Michael works and his way of working. Great read, full of fun facts, learned many new ones here.

This book was very well written. A lot of my questions were answered. I appreciate the author taking the time to conduct the necessary interviews to get the real story. There were a few things that I don’t agree with and prefer the information given by his bodyguard Bill Whitfield and super fan Talitha but overall it was a wonderful read.

A wonderful account of the creativity that went into producing the phenomena that was Michael Jackson. Unlike other books, the controversies that surrounded the star stand in the periphery, allowing readers to glimpse the man primarily as a creator of music people will remember for generations to come. A great gift for any Michael Jackson fan or music enthusiast.

I will start with the good things: this book is not for new or uninformed Michael Jackson fans, ones that can't keep up with the general ins and outs of his career. Which is fine, great, even, because I hate it when books "written for fans" spend too long on details we already know. So I really like the pacing; touching on things without missing them entirely or spending too much time lingering on stories told umpteen times. It does a good job of combining Michael's own story and the input of those around him, weaving all those together. Here's what grates my nerves: self-publishing is admirable but you should NEVER skimp on an editor! I keep having to set the book down because of the poor writing. Westlake Studios is consistently misattributed to the wrong addresses on different roads -- Studio A where Thriller was recorded is on neither Beverly nor Wilshire but Santa Monica Boulevard. This is not clarified. Direct quotes from Michael, while acknowledged in the authors' note, are not correctly attributed to their source. If you don't know where they're from (various interviews, articles, etc) then the writing reads as though Michael spoke directly to Smallcombe. The writing is the most frustrating kind of passive voice: "It was decided the album would take the title of one of Temperton's tracks, 'Off the Wall,' closes a section written entirely about Temperton's contribution to Off the Wall as an album, and spent paragraphs talking about Off the Wall's development. Very cool stuff and insightful new information but that soured the ending of it. We know the album was titled after the song. A better way to use that sentence is to describe *how* the album name was decided, if that information was uncovered. Otherwise, it has no place and is just awkward and bad writing. This type of work is all over and I often find myself re-reading several paragraphs to make sure I understood correctly. Less is more. Three stars is generous but fair for the fact that I have not yet finished the book. I really hope I can change it when I finish, but right now the means do not justify the ends. Mr. Smallcombe: please SERIOUSLY consider hiring an editor and publishing a new edition. I know you put a lot of work into this, it's clear, but it deserves the attention of someone trained to bring your story to life. It isn't their job to control the writing but to make sure that what you want to say (especially when self-publishing) is effectively communicated to your audience. As a reader, I feel as though you assume the reader is ignorant of the music industry (an aside about what a rhythm track is, is particularly grating) or of Michael's career as a whole, even though you as an author specifically wrote this to appeal to the informed Michael Jackson fan. It's like you can't decide who you're speaking to from one sentence to the next.

Although the author needed to add some context by writing about Michael's personal life, this book is about Michael the recording artist. This book perspective, with interviews and quotes from the actual people who worked with Michael, will make it hard to put this down. I am a deep fan of Michael's and I did not know a lot about how the music was actually created from melodies in Michael's head to the albums. You'll learn about Michael's genius and musical perfectionism sometimes to his own detriment (health, financial, and reputation). Very much a fly on the wall book about Michael Jackson and the creation of his immortal music.

This is one of the few books I wholeheartedly recommend to genuine Michael Jackson fans—far from the sensationalized tabloid material out there. It offers a deep and respectful look into his work, artistry, and creative genius, reminding us why he's considered the greatest entertainer the world has ever seen. If you truly admire MJ for his legacy and talent, this book is a must-read.

I've read just about all of the biographies about MJ recently. This is one of the best, written with great care, love and respect for Michael. And it's well written in terms of structure, language, flow. He spends very little time on the allegations, out of court settlement and trial, focusing much more on how Michael composed and produced his music. Really well done and worth reading. Congratulations to the author.

'Making Michael' is definitely the result of very hard work. 65 interviews were conducted to compose a great part of it. Unfortunately there were missing pieces that could help the reader have a clearer vision of what happened in some moments of Michael Jackson's unique career. One thing that seems almost impossible to do is to talk about Michael's accomplishments without focusing on aspects of his private life such as his plastic surgeries. That influenced his hard time at getting movie roles, and even criticism from music video directors. Mike Smallcombe did an amazing job at collecting insights from many musicians who worked with Michael. This book is definitely a must-read for fans and music lovers. Michael reached nearly-impossible heights with his career, becoming the most famous celebrity in the world at some point in his career. That had an enormous impact in his life, which is detailed in Smallcombe's book in several aspects.

La investigación y dedicación detrás de este libro es palpable. Algunas cosas ya las conocían, pero otras muchas no. Simplemente genial para conocer el gran esfuerzo y el gran genio que fue Michael Jackson

Parfait