Unreleased Michael Jackson music found in abandoned storage unit

Twelve new tracks – enough for an album – from the late King of Pop Michael Jackson have been unearthed in a storage unit in California.

The unit, which was formerly owned by a music producer named Bryan Loren, was acquired by a stay-at-home dad and treasure hunter after the unit’s contents were put up for auction.

Michael Jackson performs in Tel Aviv during his global Dangerous concert tour in 1993.Credit: Reuters/Havakuk Levison

In many such cases, the units contain old furniture, abandoned possessions and a random assortment of valuables. In this case, treasure hunter Gregg Musgrove found himself holding a collection of unheard Michael Jackson recordings.

Musgrove provided a full inventory, including an image of the recordings, to US trade publication The Hollywood Reporter.

“I’m listening to this stuff, and I would get goosebumps because nobody’s ever heard this stuff before,” Musgrove told The Hollywood Reporter. “To hear Michael Jackson actually talk and kind of joke back and forth, it was really, really cool.”

Jackson, who died in 2009, aged 50, ended his life mired in controversy, including accusations of sexually abusing minors.

The Jackson 5, including Michael Jackson (front right) and Tito Jackson (back left).Credit: AP

Although the scandals and the court appearances they triggered damaged Jackson’s reputation, his commercial power as an artist has endured.

The legal sting in the tale is that the unearthed music, which would doubtless excite Jackson fans worldwide, will probably never be released in album form.

Musgrove told The Hollywood Reporter he had approached the Jackson estate, which declined to buy the tapes but also provided legal guidance that suggested copyright on the records remained with the estate.

That effectively leaves the recordings in legal limbo, and any attempt to release them commercially is likely to trigger protected court proceedings over the music’s ownership.

Jackson at the height of his popularity, in the music video for Thriller.Credit: Alamy Stock Photo

The inventory includes a studio mix master tape of a song titled Son of Thriller and a rap duet with LL Cool J called Truth on Youth.

In total there are 16 tapes containing several versions of the songs. The tapes include some recordings of songs that were eventually released.

It is believed the recordings were laid down between 1989 and 1991.

In a sense, the story is almost uniquely American. Under US law, a storage unit is declared legally abandoned between 60 and 90 days after non-payment. The fine print varies by state, but at that point the units can be (and are often) auctioned off to prospectors who gamble on their contents.

Since Jackson’s death, the singer’s estate has continued to mine his image and music for commercial ventures, including a musical computer game, Michael Jackson: The Experience, several albums of unreleased material, including Xscape, and a jukebox Broadway musical, MJ The Musical, which opened in 2022.

A biographical film based on his life, titled Michael, is scheduled for release in April 2025.

The film will star Jackson’s nephew – Jaafar Jeremiah Jackson, son of Jermaine Jackson and Alejandra Genevieve – as Michael.

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