Michael Jackson is undeniably one of the greatest entertainers of all time. One thing that sets him apart are his electric live performances. He constantly introduced innovative sets, costumes, and of course, choreography, including the moonwalk. As it turns out, Smokey Robinson, a fellow Motown legend, says Jackson didn’t create the dance.
Smokey Robinson says Michael Jackson learned the moonwalk from The Nicholas Brothers
Robinson first met Jackson when he auditioned at Motwoen as a child alongside his brothers. He was immediately impressed by the young Jackson and knew that he would be a star. Robinson was taken aback by Jackson’s performance skills, but he wasn’t surprised as Jackson grew to be the iconic entertainer he grew to be. In fact, Robinson says when Jackson first debuted the moonwalk to a live audience, it was just another great moment for Jackson that Robinson described as “incredible” and “phenomenal.” However, Robinson says Jackson shouldn’t be credited with the dance move.
In an interview with Vlad TV, Robinson explained that Jackson learned the move after watching an iconic dance group perform it in a classic movie. “It wasn’t the first time I’d seen the moonwalk. People think Michael made up the moonwalk. They think it was his dance. The moonwalk came from The Nicholas Brothers,” Robinson said. “The Nicholas Brothers were a tap dancing team, two brothers. And they came along during the era of Lena Horne. And Lena Horne has a movie called Stormy Weather…and The Nicholas Brothers did the moonwalk in that movie.”
Per Robinson, Jackson’s performance style can be attributed to him being a true student of show business. “Michael was a brilliant entertainer because he watched everybody,” Robinson added. “All the dancers, especially. So, he got the moonwalk from The Nicholas Brothers. And he did a lot of things from Fred Astaire, and Jackie Wilson, and people like that, like James Brown.”
Michael Jackson previously said he learned the moonwalk from street dancers
The moonwalk became Jackson’s signature move. People were so amazed when he debuted it during his performance of “Billie Jean” at Motown 25 that it was a constant topic of discussion in his interviews for a few years after that.
In a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey, the King of Pop said he’d learned the dance from children who danced in their neighborhoods. “The moonwalk came from the beautiful children, black kids that live in the ghetto, the inner cities who are brilliant and have that natural talent for dancing, any of them like the running man, they come up with these dances, all I did was enhance the dance,” he said.
Bobby Brown claims he taught Michael Jackson the moonwalk
While Robinson says Jackson learned the moonwalk from watching The Nicholas Brothers, Bobby Brown disagrees. In an Instagram live session with rapper Fat Joe, Brown says he taught Jackson the dance after learning it himself while on tour with New Edition.
“When we [New Edition] first started out, I had just came from Alabama learning how to do the Moonwalk, the real Moonwalk, where you put the sand on the ground and do it from the sand on the ground, and it was like soft shoed. And Michael asked me to show him how to Moonwalk,” Brown said, as reported by The Jasmine Brand. “He [Michael] may have perfected it, but I taught him how to do it.”
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