According to recent court reports, Sony Music has conceded to doctoring music on the posthumous Michael Jackson album, Michael, which was released in 2010. To be more specific, there are reports claiming the songs "Breaking News," "Keep Your Head Up" and "Monster" were actually, in fact, sung by a Michael Jackson impersonator, and not the late singer who passed before the album's release. This news was considered a victory to fans who considered themselves cheated by the reportedly faux songs on the best-selling Michael Jackson album. But Sony Music is now claiming that these reports are inaccurate, and that they do not admit to making fake Michael Jackson songs on the hit album released after Jackson's untimely death almost ten years ago on June 25th, 2009. Here's what we know.
According to the site Hip Hop N More, there has been reason to believe that Michael Jackson's voice wasn't completely found in the new album for some time now. To be more specific, in 2014, Vera Serova, a fan of Michael Jackson's music, made a Class Action lawsuit claiming that there were fake MJ songs on the album. The lawsuit was against Eddie Cascio, a long-time friend of Michael Jackson, and his production company, Angelikson Productions LLC. Cascio was reportedly considered "second family" to Michael Jackson since the late '80s.
The case also involved James Porte, who was the reported writer of the songs in question. While Cascio and Porte alleged these tracks were recorded in 2007, they had no evidence to support these claims. Serova maintained the songs were not sung by Michael Jackson, but by an impersonator by the name of Jason Malachi. When Sony asked Porte and Cascio to provide alternate vocal tracks for the songs, they couldn't do so.
As the court case has continued and more people have investigated the songs, other fans believe James Porte and Eddie Casico might've made fake songs, and Sony failed to do any investigation of their validity. Now, on August 21st, the court reportedly conceded that three of the Michael Jackson songs on the album were forgeries and that they weren't actually sung by the late Michael Jackson at all.
While this confession was made in the court case, Sony Music is continuing to deny that they produced fake vocals on the Michael Jackson tracks. Here's what Zia Modabber of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP -- who is representing Sony Music in addition to the Jackson estate in this case -- said in a statement published by Variety.
No one has conceded that Michael Jackson did not sing on the songs. The hearing Tuesday was about whether the First Amendment protects Sony Music and the Estate and there has been no ruling on the issue of whose voice is on the recordings.
Ultimately, it's unclear at the moment what will become of the legal case. We'll keep you posted on its ongoing developments in this Michael Jackson case right here at CinemaBlend.
