Encountering Michael Jackson, pre-Thriller

Michael Jackson didn't want to talk to us.

He was shy everywhere but onstage -- and he was especially shy around the media.

But on this afternoon in February 1983 in Los Angeles, we had cornered him at what the world of show biz calls a photo opp: Jane Fonda was presenting him with a platinum album for using his song "Billie Jean" on her million-selling "Jane Fonda's Workout."

After posing for photographers and allowing Fonda to do all the talking, Jackson tried to leave the conference room at Epic Records when we reporters cornered him at the suggestion of one of his publicists.

Jackson, 25 at the time, looked like a sweet little scarecrow. He was of average height, with broad shoulders and lean as can be. He had a greased-down hairdo with a dangling curl in front, a nose that came to a flat point and big red circles on his cheeks that looked like rouge but were really medicine to fight an infection.

He was wearing a black cavalry shirt and faded blue jeans. Microphones and tape recorders were thrust in front of his face. They were the only way you could hear his sotto-voce answers.

"What is 'Billie Jean' about?"

"Is it real?"

"Yeah, it's real."

"Is it autobiographical?"

"I'd rather not answer that."

He spoke in short, simple sentences. The only time we got what might qualify as a paragraph out of him was when he talked about collaborating with Paul McCartney. He offered a 50-word explanation.

"Any talk of a solo tour?"

"Not unless I'm doing a movie or something."

"Any movie projects?"

"Yes, we're in talks with Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones and I. I think Steven is wonderful."

"Your video of "Billie Jean" is the first one by a black artist to be played on MTV. Do you have any feeling about MTV not playing black artists?"

"What would you like to do that you haven't done?"

"Probably a concert on the moon. That's what I'd like to do. Umm, I have to go now."