Michael Jackson Remembered: Glen Ballard on Making "Man in the Mirror" : Rolling Stone

Glen Ballard

I'd been producing for Quincy [Jones], and I had tried to write something for Bad but it hadn't been accepted. We were closing out the record, and Quincy said, "Don't you have anything for us?" So [singer] Siedah Garrett wrote "Man in the Mirror" on a Saturday night at my house in Encino. We didn't have a chance to dress it up, so I didn't feel like it had a chance, but Quincy played it for Michael, and he said, "Make a track." The song was this really magical moment, and it had everything to do with Michael's vocal interpretation. In the last two minutes, Michael started doing these incantations: all the "shamons" and "oohs." He went to that place on his own. We certainly couldn't have written that.

Rolling Stone's special commemorative Michael Jackson issue featuring tributes from Quincy Jones, Slash, Brooke Shields and more is available now.

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