“Michael said, ‘I want you to lay something down.’ He puts in a little cassette tape, and he sings the solo and records it”: Session legend Paul Jackson Jr. on working with Michael Jackson – from his Jackson 5 era to Thriller, Beat It and beyond

Session veteran Paul Jackson Jr. has handled six-string duties for B.B. King, Daft Punk, Whitney Houston, Elton John, George Benson, and the Temptations, to name but a few. However, it was his work on Thriller, Michael Jackson's game-changing behemoth of an album, that kicked off his trilogy of collaboration with the King of Pop – which also encompassed 1987's Bad and 1991's Dangerous – further cementing the guitarist in pop history.

However, his working relationship with Jackson precedes Bad. At just 19, Michael Jackson was already a household name, fronting The Jackson 5. Paul was working on the Destiny record when Michael approached him to play a solo that he had come up with.

“We were in the studio, and he said, ‘I want you to lay something [down].’ I said, ‘Okay, great,’” he tells Guitar World.

“He puts in a little cassette tape, and he sings the solo and records it. So, I took the tape and took it phrase by phrase, and the solo on This Place Hotel is what Michael actually sang to me.”

The Jacksons - This Place Hotel (a.k.a. Heartbreak Hotel) (Audio) - YouTube

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Despite meeting Michael before his solo music reigned over the global charts, Paul reveals that he landed the Thriller sessions through Quincy Jones, who produced the album.

“I’d worked on a record by James Ingram called It’s Your Night, and after that, Quincy was doing Thriller, so he called me in to work on those sessions.”

On Beat It, the hit single that also includes Eddie Van Halen's iconic solo, Paul received a demo that already had a guitar part, played by the fellow prominent session player David Williams.

“So what I did was I doubled the bassline, the fifth, the chorus, and the verse,” he recalls.

“Luke [Steve Lukather] played on some other stuff; there’s a secondary part in the verse, and he played that. And, of course, Eddie Van Halen did the solo. But the rest of the guitars were Steve Lukather, and myself.”

As to whether he actually met Lukather and Van Halen during those sessions, Paul replies: “No, I never saw them. But it depends on the session. I’ve done things with Luke where we’re in the studio at the same time, and I’ve done sessions where there’s three players in on the session. It just kind of depends on the music and the approach.”

Michael Jackson - Beat It (Official 4K Video) - YouTube

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Guitar World's full interview with Paul Jackson Jr. will be published next month.