Recently a pic from the Thriller recording sessions was posted on Twitter. The pic was new to me. In it were a gaggle of women, but noteably was Janet, LaToya, Mindy Cohn and Kim Fields; the latter two from The Facts of Life (who played Natalie Green and Tootie Ramsey, respectively).

We know Janet and Kim were long time friends, so I can see why Cohn and Fields were there tagging along with Janet.

In front of the girls, on the floor were Quincy, MJ, and James Ingram.

James Ingram wrote the version we know on Thriller. The more mid-tempo version was that of Greg Phillinganes and MJ (and later appears on The Ultimate Collection). Quincy added the extended bridge and chant section to Ingram's version.

We know that Janet and LaToya were the "PYT"s in the chant section.

But a couple of years ago Mindy Cohn revealed that she and Kim Fields also sang on the track in the chant section. It's a trip because it pretty much proves that the photo taken was very likely from the same day the chant section background vocals were recorded. Because what are the odds that Kim & Mindy are going to be at the studio with Janet for more than a day, seeing as they were already busy on their own show? This was likely a one-off event for them. So it gives provenance to the song and the photo.

From the I Heart Radio article:

Cohn recalled: “Me and Janet. And I’m the kids at the end, too. We went to listen to the record and Quincy Jones put us on the mic.”

According to the credits, the female voices at the end of the song are his sisters Janet and LaToya Jackson as well as Becky Lopez and Bunny Hull – but Cohn, who was 16 at the time, insists she was a “P.Y.T.” too.

“Have to post the pic on Instagram of the session,” she said. “It’s kinda wild!” (As of Tuesday morning, Cohn had not shared the photo.)

I remember Tootie had a big fit because Mrs. Garrett wouldn't let her go to the Jermaine Jackson concert Around a month ago I heard Kim's Dear Michael on a local R&B oldies station.

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[Edited 7/25/22 15:47pm]

On a related note, I read somewhere that the 3 Jason Malachi songs have been recently removed from some streaming sites versions of the 2010 album Michael. I've never used any music streaming other than Youtube, so I don't know if that's true or not.

MickyDolenz said:

On a related note, I read somewhere that the 3 Jason Malachi songs have been recently removed from some streaming sites versions of the 2010 album Michael. I've never used any music streaming other than Youtube, so I don't know if that's true or not.

I dipped over to Amazon Music just now and those songs are indeed not there for Michael.