Michael Jackson in Venezuela? His Only Time

Most young people today may not know this, but Michael Jackson was in Venezuela and he sang.

This happened in 1976, at the height of The Jackson Five.

They came to the country, they appeared at the Poliedro de Caracas, and at Sabado Sensacional, which at that time was hosted by the late Amador Bendayan.

I was 19 years old. He was dressed in a suit jacket. The wide lapel, cuffs and vest shimmered from the flirtation of its sequins with the lights on the set. With flared pants and a voice that lost the childish cadences to begin to mature, Michael Jackson appeared on the stage of Sensational Saturday with his brothers. And despite the fact that witnesses of that visit remember him as a shy boy, it was not long before he played Amador Bendayán's mischievous game speaking "perfect Spanish", at the tip of yeses and noes that snatched the immediate laughter of the spectators. Even more. Suddenly, he stripped the microphone of one of the sovereigns of the animation of the moment, to introduce the musicians who accompanied him. Bendayan himself looked perplexed. One might suspect that, by then, the freedom of the man who would later become the world-renowned king of pop lay on stage.

Michael Jackson arrived in Caracas on Wednesday, February 23, 1977. He was accompanied by his brothers Jacky, Tito, Randy and Marlon, his father, Joe, and about twenty musicians and technicians. According to some versions, the Americans arrived in the country with about 7,000 kilos of luggage.

They were simply The Jacksons, since the name, The Jackson Five, remained in the possession of the Motown label, with which they had just finalized their contract. The label would also stay with Jermaine, another of the brothers, whom he supported in his solo career.

The young people had three concerts on their agenda at the Poliedro de Caracas (February 26, 27 and 28), presentations on television (Sábado Sensacional), radio stations (Radio Capital) and at the Tamanaco Hotel, among other commitments.

Enrique Hoffman was the voice of Radio Tropical. “For working in radio we were on the stage of the Poliedro and behind the stage. I was introduced to Joseph (Joe) Jackson. I remember that Michael was like the more introverted and less talkative; probably, since he was the first voice, he was very careful. He was the shyest of all, without being unfriendly, ”recalls the announcer.

At the Poliedro, the quintet would perform songs such as “I Want You Back”, “ABC”, “Dancing Machine” and “Ben”, a song that Michael recorded alone for the film of the same name. About 26 thousand people attended the concerts.

Those shows at the Poliedro would begin with Frank Quintero and the Balzehaguaos, for Venezuela. After the dissolution of his first group, La Fe Perdida, Quintero joined this band with musicians who worked mainly recording advertising jingles: Jesús "Chuchito" Sanoja, Alberto Naranjo, José Velásquez, Carlos "Nené" Quintero, Benjamín Brea, Roberto Jiron and Leo Quintero. The band had just recorded its first production, After the storm (1976), which begins with what has become a classic of Venezuelan popular music, "La dama de la ciudad".

“The concerts were at night. We played like 45 minutes. What surprised me the most was the discipline of these boys, all dressed alike, with the same afro... when they got off they came out like little soldiers, they didn't move without their father's permission. It was like a military matter”, Frank remembers that experience next to the Jacksons.

Indeed, the current producer of Sabado Sensacional, Ricardo Peña, recalled to El Universal: "I never got to see him, but Amador Bendayán, who was the producer at the time, always told me about his visit and told me that Michael was the most picturesque figure of the group… He seemed to Amador to be a very shy, timid boy, but he had a lot of fun recording the program… Amador told me that Joseph was a very authoritarian man, especially with Michael, who was the youngest of the family. Maybe that's why the brothers rebelled."

On screen, the Venezuelans saw the quintet accompanied by a small orchestra. Michael was still showing himself to be a diamond in the rough. His bold dance steps and new vocal register were just beginning to emerge.

The announcer Gustavo Pierral met them on Radio Capital. “Oswaldo Yépes brought them through Centro Capital and the Parade organization, companies owned by Enzo Morera, promoter of Renny Ottolina and Tonny De Lucca. They brought Queen, Santana, Tina Turner, Laura Branigan, Chicago to Venezuela…”. These companies, together with the CBS label - with which the Jacksons had just signed - organized the group's activities in Venezuela.

“Musiuíto (Marco Antonio Lacavalerie Jr.) and I were the only announcers on the station who spoke English, so I had to do a special program with them. After the program, we took a picture with the Radio Capital cap”, recalls Pierral. That graph would help him achieve a personal interview with Michael Jackson in 1985, regarding the recording of the song “We are the World”.

Goodbye to Genius

"He was a black man who helped white people like his music." This is how Enrique Hoffman refers to the main legacy of the star to the world of music. "I don't know what MTV would have been without Michael Jackson."

The announcer lists some of the attributes that the divo had: "He wrote well, he arranged, he was a great interpreter and he selected well who was going to surround him." Remember the case of producer Quincy Jones, who accompanied Jackson on two of his most successful albums, Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987).

For Hoffman, Jackson should be among what Elvis Presley and The Beatles meant to music history.

“Michael Jackson was a superstar with impressive stage prowess. He came to unite races and generations, he managed to unite pop with soul and a touch of rock... he was a leader. Unfortunately, when you become such a famous artist, you renounce anonymity, you must lock yourself up and that loneliness is a prison sentence”, Frank Quintero commented on the death of the artist.

Gustavo Pierral considers Michael Jackson an integral artist. “They are industry creators, they are entrepreneurs, they know the medium, they handle equipment, they know how to produce events, they compose, sing and dance”.

Like other great celebrities, Jackson was doomed to loneliness. “They must live in privacy; they reveal themselves when they go on stage or make a movie. Michael must have been very happy on stage; alone, at home, I think not.

Thank´s For visit me.