Retired Cop Finds Trove of Unreleased Jackson Songs

US pop megastar Michael Jackson performs during his 'Dangerous' tour in Singapore in September 1993. FILES / AFP/File
US pop megastar Michael Jackson performs during his 'Dangerous' tour in Singapore in September 1993. FILES / AFP/File
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Retired Cop Finds Trove of Unreleased Jackson Songs

US pop megastar Michael Jackson performs during his 'Dangerous' tour in Singapore in September 1993. FILES / AFP/File
US pop megastar Michael Jackson performs during his 'Dangerous' tour in Singapore in September 1993. FILES / AFP/File

A retired California highway patrolman has stumbled into possession of a trove of unreleased Michael Jackson songs -- which the world may never have a chance to hear.
Gregg Musgrove, now a stay-at-home dad, procured the tapes after an associate purchased a storage unit in the city of Van Nuys that contained the recordings, according to the Hollywood Reporter, AFP said.
The unit had once belonged to music producer Bryan Loren -- who also worked with artists including Whitney Houston and Sting -- but whose whereabouts are currently unknown.
Inside were cassette tapes and digital-audio tapes (DAT) of 12 unreleased tracks Jackson had worked on before releasing his Grammy-nominated "Dangerous" album in 1991.
Sadly for Jackson's many fans, an attorney hired by Musgrove to contact the Jackson estate was told that the estate owns the copyright on all of the late singer's musical recordings and compositions, so they cannot be released publicly.
The estate later clarified for the Hollywood Reporter that it holds the master recordings of the recently unearthed songs in its vaults, and that "nothing commercial or otherwise can be done with the DAT copies."
Some of the songs had only been rumored to exist, while others had been partially leaked, Musgrove told the Hollywood Reporter, but added "a couple aren't even out there in the world."
Some tapes include the voice of Jackson and apparently Loren discussing the songs and the creative process.
"To hear Michael Jackson actually talk and kind of joke back and forth, it was really, really cool," said Musgrove.
The tracks include one titled "Don't Believe It," an apparent reference to rumors about Jackson concerning sexual assault against minors. On another, "Truth on Youth," Jackson appears to engage in a rap duet with LL Cool J.
It was not clear what Musgrove might have paid his associate for the tapes, but he still stands to come out ahead.
He plans to offer the tapes to major auction houses, and buyers are expected to line up.
In 2012, Lady Gaga purchased 55 pieces of Jackson memorabilia -- reportedly including one of his crystal-studded gloves -- while a jacket he wore during his "Bad" tour sold for $240,000.



Dolly Parton Releases Sweeping Ballad in Tribute to her Late Husband

Dolly Parton Releases Sweeping Ballad in Tribute to her Late Husband
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Dolly Parton Releases Sweeping Ballad in Tribute to her Late Husband

Dolly Parton Releases Sweeping Ballad in Tribute to her Late Husband

Dolly Parton has released a breathtaking new ballad in tribute to her late husband, Carl Dean.
Dean, who was Parton’s devoted husband of nearly 60 years, died Monday. He avoided the spotlight and inspired her timeless hit “Jolene.” He was 82.
“I fell in love with Carl Dean when I was 18 years old. We have spent 60 precious and meaningful years together. Like all great love stories, they never end. They live on in memory and song," Parton wrote on Instagram Friday morning. "He will always be the star of my life story, and I dedicate this song to him.”
The song, titled “If You Hadn't Been There,” enters the pantheon of great, big-hearted Parton ballads. “If you hadn’t been there/Well, who would I be?” she sings. “You always see the best in me/You’re loving arms have cradled me.” The music swells and on the chorus, she's joined by a choir, her voice soaring.
At the end, she retreats back to a whisper for the song's titular line: “I wouldn't be here/If you hadn't been there.”
Parton met Dean outside the Wishy Washy Laundromat the day she moved to Nashville at age 18. They married two years later, on Memorial Day in 1966. Dean also inspired one of Parton's best-known songs, “Jolene,” after a flirty bank teller seemed to take innocent interest in her husband.
Parton and Dean kept strict privacy around their relationship for decades, Parton telling The Associated Press in 1984: “A lot of people say there’s no Carl Dean, that he’s just somebody I made up to keep other people off me.”