The Guy Who Wrote Thriller

Just the other night, hanging with some friends, we were all talking about MJ and I happened to mention to the folks I was with that - with all due respect to MJ - it was a guy named Rod Temperton whose part of the story was one that very few people know about. Originally a member of Heatwave ("Boogie Nights, "Ain't No Half Steppin'") Temperton wrote "Thriller." He also wrote "Rock With You," "Off The Wall," and "Burn This Disco Out" from Off The Wall. In addition to the title song from Thriller he wrote "Baby Be Mine" and "The Lady In My Life."

Temperton's hits didn't start or end with MJ. In Heatwave he boogied out some of their best disco hit songs. He co-wrote "Yah Mo B There" that was a massive hit for James Ingram and Michael McDonald; wrote George Benson's mainstream hit "Give Me The Night," co-wrote with Quincy Jones on "Secret Garden," and wrote for Herbie Hancock, Donna Summer, Anita Baker, Rufus, Bob James, and many more.

Temperton was born in Cleethorpes, a small town in northern England. He moved to Germany where he answered an ad in Melody Maker from a band looking for a keyboard player - that band was Heatwave. And it was in their 1976 Too Hot To Handle where you can hear the birth MJ's Off The Wall & Thriller. If you don't own that record, you should - because it remains a blueprint for the launching of the "King of Pop" phase of MJ's career. Here's a couple Heatwave classics - and by the way - Temperton is the skinny white guy with the bad 70's mustache playing keyboards.