Friday, March 29, 2024

EUR Flashback: That Time Freddie Jackson Revealed His Issues with George Michael

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*Almost everyone who is a fan of old-school R&B knows of Freddie Jackson’s signature soulful style. The Grammy-nominated artist known for hits including “You Are My Lady,” has spent the past year on tour to support his new album, “Love Signals.”

“We need to send some love signals out there. You need some type of signal to go out that we are sending love and sending respect to each other. Even when other people don’t understand, start the message of sending love signals all over the world,” Jackson said in a 2017 interview with the Chicago Tribune.

“I can’t wait for the world to hear what’s been on my mind and what’s been in my heart. I’m really in a place of completeness and wanting the world to be in that same place with me,” he added.

Back in the day, the Harlem-born artist with a music career that spans 40 years, said: “the black man is still the soul singer.”

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Singer George Michael performs at the Sports Arena on June 17, 2008, in San Diego, California.
(June 16, 2008 – Source: Getty Images North America)

The statement came during a 1988 LA Times interview titled, ‘Freddie Jackson Won’t Sell His Soul For A Pop Hit.’ Jackson made it no secret that he had major issues with his competition at the time: George Michael. He basically accused the “Careless Whisper” singer of cultural appropriation.

via LA Times:

“That . . . that George Michael,” soul singer Freddie Jackson groused. “Who does he think he is? We’ve gotta stop him.”

Realizing his statement might have sounded too harsh, he diplomatically backtracked: “Just kidding, George, wherever you are–just kidding.”

But he wasn’t.

Freddie Jackson, a soul balladeer with an enormous black following, clearly sees Michael, a handsome young Englishman with a black vocal style, as an invader.

“He’s doing better on the black charts than the black singers,” Jackson, 29, continued huffily, voicing an opinion that many black singers have expressed in private, but rarely make public. “What gives? The brothers must not be doing something right if he can come in and take over.

“Listen, the black man is still the soul singer,” he asserted. “People like George Michael and Michael Bolton (who recently made the charts with a version of ‘Sitting on the Dock of the Bay’) are good singers. I’m not taking anything from them. White singers can have soul too, but it’s not the same as black soul. Black singers are born with soul, we live it.”

What do you think of Freddie’s comments about the late-great George Michael?

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