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Michael Jackson is an undisputed legend, but very little new music has come out since his 2009 death. Recently, though, some unreleased music has been discovered, but the public may never hear it.
A former Highway Patrol officer named Gregg Musgrove found the cassettes and digital audio tapes in a storage unit purchased by a friend. Per The Hollywood Reporter, which first broke the news, they belonged to Bryan Loren, a producer and singer who once worked with the King of Pop. Loren’s current whereabouts are unknown.
The Jackson Estate has verified that the tracks and songs on the tape, recorded between 1989 and 1991 when Jackson was recording Dangerous, are legitimate, but say Musgrove has no legal right to the music. The 15 songs on 16 tapes are already part of the Jackson archives, the Estate says. Only 12 of the songs are unreleased. While they do not contest Musgrove’s ownership, the Estate won’t allow the music to be released, nor are they interested in purchasing the tapes. A private collector could do so but could never profit from them.
“The Estate of Michael Jackson was presented with DAT copies NOT master recordings of Michael’s music, and we confirmed that the actual master recordings were, in fact, already located in the Estate’s vaults,” the Estate said in a statement to THR. “It should be clear to all that ownership and rights of exploitation to the recordings remain vested in MJJP Records and that nothing commercial or otherwise can be done with the DAT copies.”
Musgrove believes he could sell the recordings for up to seven figures to a celebrity collector who may want to hear and possess the tapes. They include Loren and Jackson’s conversations about some of the music, as well as a long-rumored collaboration between Jackson and LL Cool J called ‘Truth on Youth’ with him and Jackson rapping on it. LL confirmed earlier this year that he worked with Jackson at some point.
Other tracks include ‘Don’t Believe It,’ ‘Seven Digits,’ ‘Work That Body,’ and ‘She’s Got It Baby,’ all in varying stages of completion. The Estate provided no details about why the music hasn’t been released.
Musgrove said he enjoyed not just the music but the banter between Jackson and Loren, which was recorded along with the songs.
“I’m listening to this stuff, and I would get goosebumps because nobody’s ever heard this stuff before,” Musgrove said. “To hear Michael Jackson actually talk and kind of joke back and forth, it was really, really cool.”