Radio and Records founder Bob Wilson has great memories of Michael Jackson. In fact, one night, Jackson dropped into R&R to say hi and meet the staff.
“Michael Jackson came to visit us one Tuesday night which was our press night and blew everybody’s mind as he walked around the building talking to the typesetters, the editors and all of the people who worked there late on a Tuesday night,” Bob recalls for Undercover. “We had pictures of everybody in the lobby reading R&R. We had Frank Sinatra, the Bee Gees, all of the big stars who had come by R&R. Michael said to me “don’t you want a picture of me reading R&R?” which was unbelievable. I wasn’t even going to ask him for it. I said sure. So we got the camera, took the picture of him reading R&R. We put in on the front page after that and it was on our wall forever”.Bob say a different side to the tabloid painted personality. “He was a very nice man. He could not believe there were 100 people working on a music publication on a Tuesday night trying to get to a deadline so that it could reach the business the next day. He was very impressed that there were so many people working on a music industry publication,” he said.
For Wilson, there were no signs of ‘Wacko Jacko’. “That particular night it was just Michael having fun,” he said. “He talked to everybody. He just walked around the building, shook hands with everybody, talked to everybody. He was just a normal person that evening. He talked to the typesetters, the computer people, he talked to everybody. He just wanted to see the whole operation. He was there with his manager Frank DeLeo and he walked around the entire building saying hi to everybody. There was no weirdness whatsoever”.
Does Bob think Jackson did have a weird streak? “In general he had a unique personality but if you look at all of the superstars they all have those kinds of quirks,” Bob said. “Michael was just Michael. Every one of the superstars has quirks. Maybe that makes them what they are. They are not necessarily normal. That evening, Michael was just wonderful. He was like one of your good buddies. He walked around, shook hands, took pictures with people, he was just very happy to be there. He was just impressed with the dedication the staff had working all night long to get a paper out about the music business”.
Bob Wilson founded Radio and Records in 1972. Under his watch, the publication was a music industry Bible. Now owned by VNU, the publication was only shutdown in recent weeks after serving the music industry for nearly 40 years.
