Farewell, Michael, but never can say goodbye

One of my childhood heroes is dead.

Michael Jackson died Thursday. He was 50. Reports at first were confusing, but once I got an e-mail from the Recording Academy (the Grammy people), I knew Jackson was gone.

When I was 3, he made his national recording debut at age 11 with his brothers on the album "Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5."

That's the album that contains the mega-hit single "I Want You Back."

My aunt had that album. And every time I went to her house, I couldn't wait for her to put it on the stereo.

I used to have my mom make fake leather vests so I could dress like Michael. And I would not lip-sync but actually sang with the Jackson 5 song in living-room "concerts." I also had Jackson-like shoes.

When I was 5, my aunt, uncle, mom and I went to the Special Events Center (now the Huntsman Center) at the University of Utah to see the Jackson 5 in concert.

I even got a full, color photo of MJ and a group photo of the Jackson brothers, which also included his younger brother Randy.

I remember the concert like it was yesterday. And I remember all the brothers walking to the stage wearing white before jumping into the song "Zip a Dee Do Dah."

Michael was 13. I wanted to be him.

My favorite J5 album, by the way, is "Third Album," which featured the hits "I'll Be There" and "Mama's Pearl." However, my favorite song was "Goin' Back to Indiana." I knew all the words, even the nonmusical mumbles at the end of the song.

The other night, I attended the Smokey Robinson show at the Red Butte Garden and he sang Jackson 5 hit "Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage," which also appears on "Third Album." Smokey wrote it. To tell you the truth, I like J5's version better.

Even when he was in the Jackson 5, Michael wanted to become a solo artist. His early solo albums "Got to Be There," "Ben," "Music & Me" and "Forever, Michael" were in my album collection, and I have them on CD now.

But it was the 1979 album "Off the Wall," produced by Quincy Jones, that set Michael on the springboard to superstardom.

"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock With You" were all over the radio and nightclubs in 1980. The album sold 7 million copies and reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

Then came "Thriller" in '82.