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Michael Jackson has 20 unfinished songs - Michael Durham Prince Interview

ivy

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Michael Jackson has 20 unfinished songs

MICHAEL Jackson's sound engineer said Thursday he has 20 unfinished tracks by the late pop star on his computer -- but he isn't allowed to let anyone hear them.

"I don't have the right to write the song titles or to let people hear them for the moment," Michael Durham Prince told the French newspaper Le Parisien.

Months after Jackson's death in 2009 from a lethal overdose of sedatives, the entertainer's estate signed a $200-million deal with Sony recording company, according to the Wall Street Journal. Under the agreement, Sony can bring out up to seven albums over a decade, including new or remixed Michael Jackson songs.

Two posthumous albums have already been released, in 2010 and 2014, but Sony told AFP on Thursday that no others were currently in the works.

Prince, who was Jackson's audio engineer from 1995 up to his death, told Le Parisien in an interview from Germany: "I have on my computer 20 unreleased (songs) by Michael, all of them unfinished". He explained that Jackson hadn't sung the choruses for the tracks, so "someone would have to be found" to perform them whenever they did get released, if Sony and Jackson's family gave the go-ahead. "That would mean duets," he said.

Prince added that he believed there would be further Michael Jackson albums in the future, "but for the moment, we are thinking more about bringing out new songs every six months".

https://in.news.yahoo.com/20-unfinished-michael-jackson-tracks-165220482.html

original article in french - http://www.pressreader.com/france/le-parisien-seine-et-marne-sud/20150723/281968901380357/TextView
 
20 unfinished Michael Jackson tracks stored on sound engineer's computer

20 unfinished Michael Jackson tracks stored on sound engineer's computer

PARIS - Michael Jackson's sound engineer said Thursday he has 20 unfinished tracks by the late pop star on his computer -- but he isn't allowed to let anyone hear them.

"I don't have the right to write the song titles or to let people hear them for the moment," Michael Durham Prince told the French newspaper Le Parisien.

Months after Jackson's death in 2009 from a lethal overdose of sedatives, the entertainer's estate signed a $200-million deal with Sony recording company, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Under the agreement, Sony can bring out up to seven albums over a decade, including new or remixed Michael Jackson songs. Two posthumous albums have already been released, in 2010 and 2014, but Sony told AFP on Thursday that no others were currently in the works.

Prince, who was Jackson's audio engineer from 1995 up to his death, told Le Parisien in an interview from Germany: "I have on my computer 20 unreleased (songs) by Michael, all of them unfinished".

He explained that Jackson hadn't sung the choruses for the tracks, so "someone would have to be found" to perform them whenever they did get released, if Sony and Jackson's family gave the go-ahead. "That would mean duets," he said.

Prince added that he believed there would be further Michael Jackson albums in the future, "but for the moment, we are thinking more about bringing out new songs every six months".

Jackson died aged 50 on June 25, 2009 as he was readying to give a series of concerts in London.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment...stored-on-sound-engineer-s-computer-1.2484058
 
MJ songs should be released only by MJ Estate and I don't like how these producers get a hold of a song and act like Sony\MJ Estate should beg them but it is what it is. Who knows if these aren't songs the Estate already has.
 
I really dont like that producers/random people kind of own Mike's songs. And they can chose what to release, how and when to do that. Michael seems to be just a person to make money out of... :/.
 
I hope we get to hear them one day, but then isn't Wil I Am sitting on quiet a few as well?
 
AstralRomance said:
I really dont like that producers/random people kind of own Mike's songs. And they can chose what to release, how and when to do that. Michael seems to be just a person to make money out of... :/.
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Michael Prince is hardly a "random" person considering he worked with Michael for over 15 years.
 
InvincibleTal said:
MJ songs should be released only by MJ Estate and I don't like how these producers get a hold of a song and act like Sony\MJ Estate should beg them but it is what it is. Who knows if these aren't songs the Estate already has.
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That's what he's saying. He can't say anything about the songs because the Estate/Sony will in time if they want to. Why do people always read negativity into everything? He was very close with Michael for 15 years.
 
Under the agreement, Sony can bring out up to seven albums over a decade
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???

It is ten projects in seven years.

He explained that Jackson hadn't sung the choruses for the tracks, so "someone would have to be found" to perform them whenever they did get released, if Sony and Jackson's family gave the go-ahead. "That would mean duets," he said.

Prince added that he believed there would be further Michael Jackson albums in the future, "but for the moment, we are thinking more about bringing out new songs every six months".
Click to expand...

These songs should appear on the collectors' label WildStyle suggested in another thread.

As much as I would like to hear the songs, they are unfinished and clearly not sung "top to bottom" as was L.A. Reid's selection criteria for Xscape. This would mean several duet partners and much contemporized music which I am not looking forward to. If the songs were released every six months it may be more bearable.
 
It's an interesting way to record songs. You'd think that if he was going to sing the verses, he would bother to do the choruses as well.
 
Spanish national 24 hr news channel are reporting on this on their ticker at the bottom of the screen. Coming from the uk it Amazes me the amount of postive/pro mj things they report on. no surpise in a recent poll i read of a survey of 16-24 year old spanish mj came forth behind sports stars as the most looke upto/respected celeb.

anyway its a shame these werent full demos.not much u can do without a chorus. but knowing how mj recorded i gues we all know theres very few finished so to soeak demos
 
Bringing out new song's every 6 months sounds good to me
 
I read that he denied saying they're going to release new songs every 6 months. This interview has been translated from English to French and then back to English, so it's possible some things he said got mixed up.
 
I'm not reading anything bad that this sound engineer so IDK what encrypted msg some others are reading.. It's great to hear there are 20 songs he has.. mentions duet, well there used to be talk about making a duet album with unfinished work.. So two thumbs up!!

and just for the record it is very normal for a producer or engineer have music that artist worked on.. They work on the music too.. In fact an engineer in many retrospect's is the most under-appreciated job in the music making process..

I hear so often producers getting recognition for what the engineer actually did..
 
Received the refly directly from Michael Prince to respond the article's quote :" but for the moment, we are thinking more about bringing out new songs every six months". :

Keen,
Hi. I never said anything about releasing or finishing songs. We would never release anything without the Estate leading the way !!
I am not working on anything MJ at this time !!


Cheers,
Michael Prince
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I said this in another thread:

"I am unsure what to think about that interview. Prince is stating he did not make certain statements which account for the full interview. If he was indeed interviewed, what did he actually say?"
 
mkgenie said:
Received the refly directly from Michael Prince to respond the article's quote :" but for the moment, we are thinking more about bringing out new songs every six months". :
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I'm glad he made it clear because that was the part that made me think he's going to pull a Will.I.Am. Thanks for posting.
 
TinnyandOdd said:
Michael Prince is hardly a "random" person considering he worked with Michael for over 15 years.
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Well, i am not talking specifically about Michael Prince but about overall situation that it depends on somebody else but Michael about what to do with songs/property which is left after him. We have no choice though.
 
AstralRomance said:
Well, i am not talking specifically about Michael Prince but about overall situation that it depends on somebody else but Michael about what to do with songs/property which is left after him. We have no choice though.
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I'm just saying that I don't mind if people like Brad Buxer / Matt Forger / Michael Prince / Bruce Swedien / John Barnes / Bill Bottrell have unheard MJ items since they worked with MJ the longest and consistently throughout the years (for the most part) up until his death. I feel like these guys are more likely to respect and understand MJ's art as a whole, you know? Plus, since a lot of these are probably mostly rough rough demos with minimal vocals that MJ would likely never want released or heard, I have a feeling if it's in their hands, they'll never see the light of day to the public (which I actually agree with if they're in the state such as Michael Prince stated), but that doesn't mean I don't think they'll still give them to the Estate :)

I wasn't a fan of the Xscape album's contemporary songs in terms of preserving MJ's true art (or lack there of in this case), and especially after reading D amien's Origins book, it made me even more frustrated to see just how much of what he would have wanted was just left on the floor, so I wouldn't want just anyone to have access to MJ "songs" to do what they want with ... But that's another topic :p
 
People need to pump the brakes on the negativity towards a guy like Michael Prince. He has more credibility with me than Sony does.
 
Prince is correcting statements that songs will not be released every six months and that there would be a need to have duets to complete the songs, correct?

So, he does not "... have the right to write the song titles or to let people hear them for the moment" and he has "...on my computer 20 unreleased (songs) by Michael, all of them unfinished."
 
Hope it is great songs that can bi finalized so we can one day get to hear them !
 
elusive moonwalker said:
Spanish national 24 hr news channel are reporting on this on their ticker at the bottom of the screen. Coming from the uk it Amazes me the amount of postive/pro mj things they report on. no surpise in a recent poll i read of a survey of 16-24 year old spanish mj came forth behind sports stars as the most looke upto/respected celeb.

anyway its a shame these werent full demos.not much u can do without a chorus. but knowing how mj recorded i gues we all know theres very few finished so to soeak demos
Click to expand...

It's always great to see Spain's love for MJ. They really appreciate him. Even more than his home country.

I'm not really interested in new material any more. They only care about the money and not about his legacy. They showed this during XSCAPE. They had so many opportunities but they just let them go...
 
Yeah its very intresting to see how their are different agendas in different media outlets.

without a chorus i cant see how they can do much.even more so if the chorus section was never created and it would be seen as srarting from scratch.unless its near completed demos id rather they not do another xscape. ill stick to hearing seeing voices and the like
 
I just ask myself what the feason to tell the world: hello i work for mj, have 20 unfinished songs and cant tell the name or let us hear something. Thats like nothing right?! Of course they are more famous people who has similar files or something. I think he only wanted to be important isnt it?
 
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