Sony Music just announced the greatly anticipated album of newly completed recordings from Michael Jackson, MICHAEL, will be released on December 14th. The album is being released by Epic Records in association with the Estate of Michael Jackson. Tomorrow, October 5th, an exclusive teaser for the project will appear on Michael’s official website; on Monday, November 8th the world premiere of “Breaking News,” a full track from the album recorded in 2007, will stream on the site for one week only.
The King of Pop recorded numerous songs in the years leading up to his death, including with a friend in New Jersey and studios in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
There has been great controversy regarding the legitimacy of several songs in the album, with TMZ reporting a rather scathing story about the matter called “Michael Jackson’s Kids: It’s Not Daddy’s Voice!“:
Sources tell us Paris and Prince now believe some of the songs on the album are fakes — not Michael’s voice. Sony, we’re told, is convinced all of the songs are the real deal. Howard Weitzman, lawyer for the estate, tells TMZ he had experts listen to the tracks and all of the experts concluded it’s Michael’s voice on all the tracks.
Other Jackson family members also believe some of the tracks are phony. There is a stalemate, although at this point no one is talking lawsuit.
Fans can pre-order the album MICHAEL on the offical website, with some interesting packages such as a MICHAEL CD + Exclusive T-Shirt Package for $24.98, a regular MICHAEL CD at only $12.99, or MICHAEL in downloadable MP3 format for $10.99.
