Three tracks from Michael Jackson‘s posthumous 2010 album ‘Michael’ have reportedly been removed from streaming services amid accusations that the late star didn’t sing on the recordings.
At the time of writing, only seven songs from the 10-track record are listed on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music. The following cuts have been deleted from those platforms: ‘Monster’ (featuring 50 Cent), ‘Keep Your Head Up’ and ‘Breaking News’.
The three tracks in question have been part of an ongoing lawsuit between Jackson’s estate and Sony Music, which claims that they didn’t feature the singer’s vocals.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Jackson’s official website confirmed that the songs were no longer available online, but claimed the move “had nothing to do with their authenticity” (via American Songwriter).
“The Estate and Sony Music believe the continuing conversation about the tracks is distracting the fan community and casual Michael Jackson listeners from focusing their attention where it should be, on Michael’s legendary and deep music catalogue.”
Filed in 2014 by Jackson fan Vera Serova, the suit came to public attention again in 2018 after the estate and Sony were forced to issue a statement denying that the latter had conceded that Jackson didn’t sing on the trio of recordings.
The controversy dates back to 2014, when a fan sued Jackson’s estate and Sony and alleged that the three songs — reportedly recorded two years before Jackson’s 2009 death from cardiac arrest — don’t actually feature his vocals. Jackson’s estate and Sony denied the allegations, and appeals court judges ultimately ruled in their favor, determining that the estate and Sony didn’t know for certain whether Jackson sang the songs, so they weren’t liable.
In the lawsuit, Howard Weitzman, an attorney for the estate, cited numerous engineers, musicians, vocal directors, executives, and musicologists consulted to determine the authenticity of the vocals. According to Variety, he said, “We have complete confidence in the results of our extensive research as well as the accounts of those who were in the studio with Michael that the vocals on the new album are his own.”
