As if Michael Jackson didn’t already have enough problems — now there’s a claim that he didn’t invent the Moonwalk.

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The dance step is one of Jackson’s biggest claims to fame; the embattled singer is so closely associated with it that he called his 1988 autobiography “Moonwalk.” But now Jackson's older sister LaToya is claiming that a dancer from the television show “Soul Train” taught Michael how to Moonwalk.

“I don’t know if you had this show called the ‘Soul Train,’” LaToya told British television host Frank Skinner this weekend. "There was this dancer Geoffrey, who was always doing the Moonwalk on that show. He taught Michael how to do it." LaToya said that it had been called the backslide, but claimed that Michael changed the name after he learned it from Geoffrey.

“Sunday was the day to workout. Michael would take an hour and dance an hour straight, non-stop.”

Jackson’s rep’s didn’t return calls for comment.

twink69 said:

This is really no revelation to me. Soul Train is a traditonal place for Black Americans to learn the latest steps especially from the Soul Train line. If you grew up in the 70's, you know what I am talking about.
[Edited 10/19/04 22:33pm]

He may have popularized it, but MJ certainly didn't create it...it had been around for awhile among dancers...actually street dancers just called it the back slide...to them, the "moonwalk" was when you did the backslide in a complete circle...
[Edited 10/19/04 22:56pm]

paligap said:

That's for damn sure. This is not news, it's been known ever since he first did it.

This just in: Prince didn't invent the splits.

savoirfaire said:

Or high heeled shoes.

savoirfaire said:

or assless pants

magnificentsynthesizer667 said:

or blow-dried hair

Janfriend said:

Or.... trucks.



























I don't know what I'm talking about

Did Michael ever say that he created this dance?

DavidEye said:

No, in fact i think i remember him saying he learned it from the black children in the ghetto....
Though im not sure of the truth behind that, he never claimed to have invented it.

"Well, believe it or not...We invented Post-Its."

PANDURITO said:

jayaredee said:

lawd..he learned it from some breakdancers....

lol, I thought it was known he didnt invent it. he didnt say he did ateast, I remember him saying he picked it from people I think

Jefferey daniel from Shalamar created the Moonwalk,him Mr.x and a few other cats had a poplock crew that would do routines on soul train. Mr.x was a short bald dude who wore an X in his ear.

duh, everybody knows he didn't actually create the moonwalk. i have heard before that he learned it from kids in the ghetto, but i don't think that is true, he may have copied it from street break dancers.

missfee said:

i just said the true story..

MJ never said he invented it. He said on Oprah that he just "enhanced it"

dag said:

Can anyone vouch for the "enhancements"?

It still amuses me when someone claims MJ is such an amazing dancer because he "came up with all his moves".

missfee said:

And they in turn got it from watching their parents do the "Camel Walk" back in the day.

If you have a relative who was born around 1937-1940 they were a teenager when this was a dance craze (amongst black folk).

Michael used to be pretty forthcoming about how he learned moves from ghetto kids, dancers and so-on. He certainly put his own flair to things, but he never claimed to have invented them.

No, only the moon.

I'll give him the sequinned glove, and sparkly socks, but seriously, does anyone really think he invented that dance? (For some reason, I thought it was Sammy Davis, Jr. or Gene Kelly, or somebody.)

JediMaster said:

Exactly.That's why it amazes me that folks are acting like he said that he invented this dance.I've never heard him say any such thing and it's well-known that he works with choreographers and street dancers.

Soul Train had a TV special years ago where they showed clips from when they first aired and old performances etc. They showed this dance crew from the 70's doing the Moonwalk amongst other dances, this was waaay before Michael started doing it. It may have been "The Lockers" (the group with Re-run from What's Happening and Ozone from the movie Breakin') but I'm not sure. Michael has said more than once where he got the dance from, it's not and MJ original no matter how many die hard MJ fans think, I'm a huge MJ fan and I can admit that . Controversy, no, the truth, yes.

aikam said:

Ozone was never a member of the Lockers...i will say this again, he got it from jefferey daniel formerly of Shalamar and ex soul train dancer

TheRealFiness said:

yep..you're right!!!


and I hate to tell MJ this, but I've seen kids on my block do it just as well if not better.....and where doing it way before he did it on the Motown special.

lol, i didn't know anyone thought the man invented the moonwalk.

anyway, as others have said - i agree, blah blah.

I remember everyone doing it, especially the pop lockers, LONG before Michael Jackson did it. We didn't call it the Moonwalk either, we called it The Glide.

thats been around since the 70's

old news

Oh, come on. Everyone knows Michael didn't invent the moonwalk or the robot. The only thing is, at the time, nobody as big as Michael could do anything like that. We'd seen it all done before, but we hadn't seen it done quite like that. It was mainly his clothes...I mean the dress shoes. He wasn't a street dancer, but he was doing street moves. It was just something different about that to us.

And, yes, Jeffrey Daniels was the first--that I know of--to do the move on television. But now we're saying he invented the damn thing? I don't know about that, maybe he did. But, that's like me saying I invented the cabbage patch in my basement. Besides, didn't Marcel Marceau ( a mime) do something very similar in his act in the 1950's or something? I mean, really, no one knows who "invents" these dance moves whether it be the Harlem shake or the schoolhouse crab.