Michael Jackson has Robbie Fulks' respect -- seriously
At one time, Robbie Fulks probably wouldn’t have been on the short list of artists most likely to do a sincere – much less sincerely great -- Michael Jackson tribute. As the songwriter says, “My style is to take things from a contrarian viewpoint,” and Jackson’s career lends itself to all sorts of contrarian sarcasm.
But Fulks says he learned a few things about the King of Pop when he was invited in 1999 to perform a birthday tribute concert to Jackson at the Cultural Center. His respect and appreciation for the singer deepened to the point where last year Fulks released an excellent Jackson tribute album, “Happy: Robbie Fulks Plays the Music of Michael Jackson” (robbiefulks.com), and will perform a Jackson-themed concert March 18 at Lincoln Hall. No doubt there will be a few humorous moments in the show, but Fulks says when removed from all the craziness around Jackson’s life, the singer’s music holds up remarkably well.
“All that celebrity pop music is so far from me now, but in the ‘60s through 1980, to be young and with my head halfway into radio, his music was part of my world,” Fulks says. “In thinking about it, listening to his music, getting more acquainted with it, it was amazing that he was always there for so long. He not only kept up with the times, he stayed a step ahead of them for 25 years. That in itself is culturally significant.”
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