Michael Jackson Reportedly Admitted ‘Stealing’ Hall & Oates Song

Michael Jackson created a lot of hits over the span of several decades, both with his brothers and in his solo career, but one of those songs was reportedly inspired by another; Jackson himself allegedly admitted to snagging the beat for “Billie Jean.”

During a recent interview with Huffington Post, John Hall of Hall & Oates recalled the time Jackson came up to him while they were all recording “We Are The World” and said he’d “stolen” their song “No Can Do.”

“Michael came up to me, you know, in conversation, and said, ‘Hey man, I hope you don’t mind if I stole ‘No Can Do.’ And I went, ‘What do you mean you stole ‘No Can Do’?’ He said, ‘Nah, man, I used it for ‘Bille Jean.’ I said, ‘It doesn’t sound like ‘No Can Do’ to me!'” Hall said.

Hall did go on to say that he doesn’t see a similarity between the two songs at all, but sometimes an artist will hear that influence in their own head and will never be able to shake it. At any rate, there was never any dispute between the musicians about it.

Jackson made headlines earlier this month when actor and sometime-singer Eddie Murphy spoke about their much-maligned duet, “Whatzupwitu.” Murphy said he didn’t care what critics thought, because he would always have the memory of making the video with Jackson.

“You know, I was dancing around in the clouds with Michael Jackson. However wack anyone thought Whatzupwitu was, there’s not a lot of people that have footage of themselves dancing around in the clouds with Michael Jackson. I do have that forever,” Murphy said.

Michael Jackson’s music is still heavily celebrated all over the world and will be the focus of Detroit’s Mosaic Youth Theatre next month when they perform a concert across three days. “Make that Change: The Music of Michael Jackson” will have shows on March 6, 7 and 8.

“Our young artists master challenging traditional choral selections and immediately transition to iconic Michael Jackson songs with full choreography. It’s a true showcase of their immense talent, and we are thrilled to present this to the region,” said Mosaic Youth Theatre founder Rick Sperling.

Sperling also said that the concert series is “an amazing opportunity to see the range of talents Mosaic’s young artists possess” as they perform 27 of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits as well as choreography for the show.