Michael the night before the 1988 Grammys, Ken Ehrlich, executive producer, Grammy Awards

“Michael performed a medley of “Man In The Mirror” and “The Way You Make Me Feel” at the 30th Grammy Awards at Radio City in New York in 1988. Following his rehearsal, he called me and asked if I would bring Walter Miller, our director, over to his hotel to go over `a few shots’ from the tape I had given him. It was the night before the show but after our last rehearsal, we went over to the Helmsley Palace and found ourselves in this amazing duplex suite with views of all of lower Manhattan, alone with Michael and his choreographer, Vince Patterson.

“Michael had only a few shot changes and, after some small talk about having a great performance the next night on the show, Walter and I left with Vince.

“But just before Vince left, Michael whispered something to him and I saw Vince give him something.

“On the way down in the elevator, I asked Vince what Michael had said. Vince told us that he had given him this wooden microphone that Michael liked to rehearse with, and that Michael would probably stand in front of the full-length mirror that he had propped up against one window in the corner of the suite and rehearse most of the night, fine tuning his steps.

“The thought of this man, nominated for several Grammys, alone against the skyline of the city, rehearsing on a night when most of his fellow nominees were out celebrating, has never left me over the number of times we’ve worked together. Getting it right, getting it perfect, was more important than anything else.”