Singer jason malachi finds that sounding like jacko can be wacko:
october 1, 2010 - 10:30 am
back in 2007, a pittsburgh radio station broadcast what it thought was a brand new, unreleased michael jackson track. The song, "mamacita," made it all the way to celebrity gossip site tmz, which wrote of the single, "either the king of pop is on a mission to reclaim his throne, or some other smooth criminal is pulling a fast one."
the song was written and recorded by germantown native jason malachi, but he wasn't trying to pull a fast one over on anyone. Malachi didn't attempt to fool people into thinking it was a michael jackson track, but it's easy to see why the mistake was made. Although malachi is a white guy from maryland, who works in law enforcement, he does sound a lot like jackson.
"with the tmz story, it came at a low point in my career, when i started working in law enforcement," malachi says.
"My best friend called me and says, 'Your song "Mamacita" is all over TMZ, they’re saying it’s not you, they're saying it’s Michael Jackson.' Then, my attorney contacted TMZ and, said, 'That's not Michael, that’s Jason Malachi.'"
the next day, a story appeared on tmz, clearing up the whole thing. The headline: “new jacko tracko—done by a white guy!”
this was, naturally, a turning point in malachi's career.
"it catapulted my career, people wanted me to do cameos, shows—they couldn't believe my voice was so similar," says malachi, who will perform at the 28th annual germantown oktoberfest tomorrow.
"and, i can't confirm this, but at the time, my management said they received a call from michael, and that he wanted to work with me," malachi continues. "now, it could've been someone posing as michael, but he said he was interested in doing something with me."
the thing is, malachi insists he isn't trying to sound like michael at all.
“i don’t try to sound like michael," he says. Michael,'
"producers tell me i naturally have same vocal structure—that's really how i sound. When people say, 'you're trying to sound like i say, 'no, if i wanna sound like michael, you won’t know the the difference [between me and him]. If you want me to get mike-ified, i can do it.'"
even though the resemblance isn't intentional, and malachi has been releasing studio albums since for years (his latest is critical), appearing on a site like tmz opens doors. He has performed in las vegas, at a party where heidi montag and spencer pratt, of the mtv series the hills, put in an appearance. He says that suge knight once expressed interest in signing him and flew him out to california. They talked about a record deal while riding horses (knight's horse was named "gangster," malachi says), even though he decided eventually not to sign with the infamous impresario.
But with the increased fame also came increased hate. One commenter on tmz wrote, “ok....he sounds a lil like michael, but honestly, he doesnt sound exactly like him. Hes good, but when mike comes back, he better hold his breath.”
malachi says some especially wacko jacko fans even found his home numer and began calling him with death threats, telling him to stop stomping on jackson's turf.
and then, michael jackson died in june 2009. And, as the world mourned the king of pop, things took a strange, but fortuitous turn.
“people will see me and hear music on my facebook and myspace, and they think it’s a conspiracy, that i don’t exist and michael didn’t die," malachi says.
"they talk about how 'malachi' backwards is 'michael', it’s crazy. They write these long things..."
indeed, the web is filled with strange rants about malachi and michael. One fan writes, under the facebook topic "jason malachi is michael jackson. All of the evidence is here": "trust me, if there was someone out there who sounded identical to michael jackson the way that "jason malachi" does, he'd definitely have 15 or 30 minutes of fame. And somehow, the only information you can dig up on jason malachi is from his myspace page. This whole thing is way to quiet."
those mj fans who believe that malachi does indeed exist seem to be more open to his music now that the real mj is gone. In missing michael, some seem to be embracing malachi. "before [jackson died], reaction was about 50/50, of people that liked it or didn't like it," malachi says.
"i was getting threats from people saying, 'you're trying to be like michael, he's our king, leave him alone.' and then other people were like, 'oh this is a new chapter.' after he passed it seemed like a total [positive] transition. "
the singer was even invited to perform at a special event at cleveland's rock and roll hall of fame in june, to honor jackson, performing with established artists such as angie stone.
Malachi says that despite having to cram in rehearsals between sheriff duties, he killed it. He brought dancers with him, and even moved the crowd after the cd of music brought started skipping and he had to sing a capella."
“i let crowd pick, i said, 'y’all wanna hear a michael jackson song?' one lady wanted 'gone too soon,' and when i started doing it, i saw people crying," he says. "i did 'wanna be startin' somethin',' which is a hard song to do, and nailed the vocals. But i didn’t want to do michael's choreography. I didn’t want to be a copycat, i wanted to differentiate."
malachi also put a couple of his own songs in the set, he says, and passed out cds, but the michael songs were the highlight.
"even my wife sometimes is like, 'honey, i gotta be honest with you, you sometimes sing michael's songs better than your songs,'" malachi says.
Malachi is figuring out exactly how to capitalize on the jackson-driven interest in his music without venturing into impersonation.
On his latest album, malachi reworked the track "a hero fell," which was originally created for usa cares, as a song for the troops, into a jacko tribute. He also says that three of his songs turned up on a michael jackson ultimate collection release in china,
"i'm just riding in the honda with my wife, and we're listening to the set ,and there are songs on there listed as new michael songs, but they're my songs," malachi says.
Although malachi's attorney is on the case, trying to figure out why malachi's music is on a jackson comp, the singer says that he can understand the interest in his music from jacko fans.
"i'm mentioned a lot on michael jackson fan websites," he says
. "people will say, 'now that michael's gone, he's the closest thing we've got vocally.'"
Singer Jason Malachi finds that sounding like Jacko can be wacko - @TBD Arts | TBD.com
