The Jackson Five Sing ‘ABC’ On ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’. Don’t Take Your Eyes Off Michael.

Many of us can only remember Michael Jackson as he appeared before he passed away in 2009. That’s a shame, because he was an amazing talent who was one of the world’s most famous singers… actually, scratch that… he was THE world’s most famous singers in the 1980s and 1990s. A lot of people forget that because of his changing appearances and legal issues. Here’s a refresher… and we’re going to go WAY back for this one.

We see Michael and his brothers in the Jackson Five on stage singing one of their hit songs, “ABC”. This was from 1970, more than a decade before the world heard of “Thriller”. Michael already has a presence with the microphone and he’s far from being shy on camera. The stage may have been his sanctuary from any of life’s difficulties. That may have been the case even now, since there were whispers that his father was abusive.

This was Michael well before his “Off The Wall/Thriller/Bad” years. He was part of an ensemble, but people saw that he was going to be the star of the group. Tito, Jermaine, Jackie, and Marlon were talented, but they were the planets in orbit of Michael’s sun. The youngster already commanded the camera in this “Ed Sullivan Show” highlight video.

Even though this is a ridiculously short clip, you can see Michael’s incandescent skills already starting to shine. He was a singular talent when it came to both singing and dancing. There was a reason why he had more star power than any of his other siblings combined. Only Janet could come close to his level of success. Whatever became of him in later years… this was Michael with the whole world in the palm of his hand, ready for the taking.

I envy people who got to see the Jackson Five live. When I was growing up, Michael had already branched out and one of the first albums I got on cassette was “Thriller”. Did any of you see them live? Tell us about it in the comments. Also, it would be great if you “Like” us on Facebook.