American singer Michael Jackson poses at a hotel while on tour with Jackson 5, London, England, November 1972. (Photo by Express Newspapers/Getty Images)
Long before he was the King of Pop, Michael Jackson was just a pint-sized performer with a giant voice, stepping onto Detroit stages with wide eyes and explosive energy. But even then, people knew—this kid was different.
“He was a baby, man,” Mason recalls. “But the way he moved, the way he held a stage—it was unreal. He was quiet backstage, but the second that music hit… boom. He transformed.”
Detroit got a front-row seat to one of the greatest glow-ups in music history. Motown gave the Jackson 5 their platform, but it was the city itself that served as their proving ground. Audiences here weren’t easily impressed. They’d seen Smokey, Stevie, Gladys, Marvin.
But Michael didn’t just impress—he floored them.
“He wasn’t like the other kids. You could see it in his eyes,” Mason says. “There was a focus—like he’d already made the decision: I’m gonna be the best.”
During early appearances in Detroit—at theaters, school gyms, press events—Michael would dance with a level of maturity that left jaws dropped. His voice was pure and effortless. But it was the way he performed—like it was life or death—that separated him.
Even Devon remembers the whispers around town:
“People were like, ‘Who is this kid?’ Like, how does he do that?”
Motown polished his talent, but the Detroit community took pride in him as one of their own. Local DJs spun Jackson 5 records on loop. Kids imitated his spins and squeals in their living rooms. Grown folks talked about him like he was family.
“We didn’t just see a star in the making—we saw our kid making it.”
And long before “Thriller,” before the Grammys, before the moonwalk, Michael Jackson walked through Detroit and left behind goosebumps.
