The vocalist on three allegedly fake Michael Jackson tracks sang in the wrong dialect, was unable to control fundamental aspects of his singing voice including vibrato, and even mispronounced Jackson’s name according to a bombshell expert report.
The 41-page report, obtained exclusively by DamienShields.com, was compiled by forensic audiologist Dr. George Papcun, who put the vocals under the microscope and reached the disturbing conclusion that the tracks were fakes, sung by an impostor – a conclusion which laid the foundation for a class action consumer fraud lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed by Jackson fan Vera Serova in June 2014, alleges that three songs released on the Michael album in December 2010 – “Breaking News,” “Monster,” and “Keep Your Head Up” – are forgeries.
The Estate of Michael Jackson acquired the tracks in question – known as the ‘Cascio tracks’ – as part of a collection of 12 unreleased songs produced by the pop star’s longtime friend Eddie Cascio and his collaborative partner James Porte. The two men claim Jackson recorded the tracks in Cascio’s basement in the fall of 2007.
Prior to their release in 2010, several members of the Jackson family warned Sony and the Estate that the vocals on the Cascio tracks weren’t Michael’s. Upon their release, thousands of Jackson’s fans agreed, rejecting the tracks as fakes.
In response, Sony and the Estate asserted and reiterated their “complete confidence” in the authenticity of the vocals. The matter remains a point of contention.
Dr. Papcun’s 41-page report was the result of several months of careful scientific comparison between Jackson’s known and undisputed recordings and the Cascio tracks.
Papcun’s goal: to accept or reject the hypothesis the Cascio tracks were sung by Jackson.
When engaging Dr. Papcun, Serova did not specify which side of the fence she was on – just that questions had been raised regarding the vocal authenticity, and that she wanted his expert opinion in her quest for the truth.
Papcun’s report uses a combination of three analytical approaches.
Firstly, the expert looked at the dialect of the vocalist on the Cascio tracks, comparing the pronunciation of certain words with audio of Jackson singing the same words throughout four decades of legitimate recordings. Interestingly, Dr. Papcun found the dialect in the Cascio tracks to be more consistent with Jason Malachi – the sound-alike alleged by many to be the actual singer of the Cascio songs – than with Jackson.
Dr. Papcun identified that the vocalist on the Cascio tracks had a ‘glottal stop’ – meaning they did not pronounce Ts in the middle of some words. In his report, Dr. Papcun showed that the vocalist of the Cascio track vocalist sings the word “waiting” as “wai’in” – something Papcun said Jackson never did:
“A review of Jackson’s recordings over his entire career, spanning 39 years, shows that he does not use the glottal stop allophone in this position. By contrast, the singer Jason Malachi uses the glottal stop routinely in this position. The glottal stop allophone in this position is characteristic of the speech of Brooklyn, New York. Quoting Malachi’s bio: “I was born in Silver Spring, Maryland; however, my family is originally from Brooklyn, New York.” Assuming he learned to talk from his parents, or at least was influenced by them, the glottal stop in this position would be expected from him. However that may be, the fact is he uses it, whereas Michael Jackson does not.”
According to the report, the vocalist of the Cascio tracks also fails to pronounce the name “Jackson” correctly.
In “Breaking News,” the vocalist repeatedly sings the name ‘Michael Jackson’ – but Dr Papcun compared the recording with Jackson’s pronunciation of his own name in clips spanning 20 years, from 1983 to 2003, and found no match:
“The pronunciation of the name “Jackson” in Breaking News (as [sEn]) differs from the pronunciations of “Jackson” as spoken by Michael Jackson in interviews over many years.”
Next, Dr. Papcun’s report examines vibrato characteristics. In singing, vibrato is the pulsating change of pitch that occurs at the end of a note through variations in the larynx.
Using the Cascio track “Breaking News” in visual demonstrations, Dr. Papcun compares vibrato on the Cascio tracks to known Jackson recordings.
Again, Dr. Papcun found no consistencies between the vibrato on the Cascio tracks and known Jackson recordings. But as with the dialect, Papcun did note that the vibrato frequency in the Cascio tracks is more consistent with that of Jason Malachi. He states:
“Acoustic analysis shows that the vibrato in Breaking News is faster than the vibrato in a sample of Jackson recordings. Moreover, the vibrato in a sample of known Jackson recordings is smoother and more closely adheres to the note being sung. The vibrato in a sample of Malachi recordings as well as the vibrato in Breaking News is more frequent than the vibrato in known Jackson recordings.”
While Jason Malachi did not respond to my request for comment on this matter, it should be noted that earlier this year his involvement was confirmed by his own lawyer.
In his report, Dr. Papcun notes that the curves in Jackson’s vibrato are “dramatically smoother” than the curves in the Cascio tracks. He also notes that they are “much better and more consistently sustained,” adding that Jackson’s vibrato rate is “essentially what is regarded as ideal according to prior music commentary.”
Finally, the report highlights significant statistical difference of vibrato usage in the middle of the song lines and on line endings between undisputed Jackson recordings and the Cascio tracks.
Additional key statistic drawn from this analysis include:
- The singer of the Cascio tracks uses vibrato 100% the time, on each and every song. However, in 22% of the Jackson recordings analysed, the King of Pop does do NOT use vibrato at all during verses.
- The singer of the Cascio tracks changes his vibrato pattern a whopping 83% of the time, while Jackson’s vibrato pattern changes only 9% of the time.
- The singer of the Cascio tracks uses vibrato in the middle of a line 58% of the time. Again, Jackson only does this in 9% of the known and undisputed recordings that were analysed.
Citing the differences in dialect, vibrato, tremolo and vocal control on the Cascio tracks, Dr. Papcun rejected the hypothesis that Jackson was the vocalist.
It should be noted that when the Jackson family first raised concerns regarding the vocals on the Cascio tracks back in 2010, attorney Howard Weitzman claimed that both the Estate of Michael Jackson and Sony Music had hired their own independent forensic experts to authenticate the vocals.
However, neither the names nor credentials of their experts – or their written conclusions – have ever been made public. Mr. Weitzman did not respond to my request for a copy of the Estate’s expert report, which I had hoped to publish in this article.
In a written statement published on the 11th of November 2010, Weitzman said that one of those forensic experts had performed ‘waveform analysis’ during their authentication, and had concluded that the vocals were indeed Michael’s.
In response, Dr. Papcun asserted that the analyses he performed were “much more detailed and accurate than waveform analysis.”
Click here to check out Dr. Papcun’s report for yourself.
Dr Papcun has worked for the CIA, the National Security Agency and the US Secret Service. He also served as an audio expert in high profile cases including the Rodney King beating, the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey and the Patty Hearst kidnapping.
His specialisms include checking whether audio has been manipulated, proving the identities of suspects through speech analysis, and helping to organise ‘voice line-ups’ in criminal cases.
Damien Shields is the author of the book Michael Jackson: Songs & Stories From The Vault examining the King of Pop’s creative process, and the producer of the podcast The Genesis of Thriller which takes you inside the recording studio as Jackson and his team create the biggest selling album in music history.
