Michael Jackson's music lives on in new-found, unreleased tracks discovered in a storage unit in the San Fernando Valley.
Gregg Musgrove, 56, told the Hollywood Reporter that he found a dozen unreleased Jackson tapes "treasure hunting" in a storage unit. The former California Highway Patrol officer said that he found the 12 unreleased tapes when an associate contacted him about the storage unit.
The unit used to belong to Bryan Loren, a music producer and singer who worked with Jackson on his 1991 album "Dangerous." The musician also worked with artists like Whitney Houston and Sting. On the tapes are 12 tracks Jackson had worked on between 1989 through 1991.
Musgrove explained, “I’ve gone to all the fan sites. Some of them [the songs] are rumored to exist, some of them have been leaked a little bit. A couple aren’t even out there in the world.”
Some of the tapes even have Jackson and someone assumed to be Loren discussing the creative process. “I’m listening to this stuff, and I would get goosebumps because nobody’s ever heard this stuff before,” Musgrove said. “To hear Michael Jackson actually talk and kind of joke back and forth, it was really, really cool.”
The unreleased songs – such as “Truth on Youth,” which appears to be a rap duet between Jackson and LL Cool J – will not be publicly released. Musgrove's attorney approached the Jackson Estate with the unreleased tracks, but the estate declined to buy them. However, the estate told Musgrove they do not claim ownership. But whoever purchases the recordings or compositions does not own the copyright, the estate does.
The tapes are currently in a secure facility under the control of Musgrove's lawyer.
