“He thought someone was winding him up. But it was actually Quincy Jones calling to say, ‘I love the songs you’ve written. Would you come to LA and work on a project with me?’”: How Heatwave's Rod Temperton ended up writing songs for Michael Jackson

International funk and disco band Heatwave, February 1976. Left to right: guitarist Eric Johns (front), keyboard player Rod Temperton, singer Keith Wilder, bassist Mario Mantese, drummer Ernest 'Bilbo' Berger and singer Johnnie Wilder, Jr (1949 - 2006). (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images).

A lot of the many negative reviews of Michael, the new Michael Jackson biopic, have criticised it for shying away from depicting any of the more controversial aspects of the singer’s life. However, it’s also reported to make scant mention of the British songwriter who played a significant part in turning him into the biggest pop star the world has ever seen – Rod Temperton.

Perhaps, though, this is how Temperton would have wanted it. Throughout his career and right up to his death, in 2016, he was nicknamed ‘the invisible man’, such was his reluctance to be in the limelight.