Michael Jackson once pitched a collaboration with Duran Duran, but they turned it down

NME

Michael Jackson once pitched a collaboration with Duran Duran, but the group turned down the offer.

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The Simon Le Bon-fronted band appeared on What Happens Live With Andy Cohen yesterday (August 2) where they were asked whether they had a friendship with Jackson back in the 1980s.

In response, keyboardist Nick Rhodes recalled the time he received an unexpected phone call from the King Of Pop.

“We go home after a tour – it must have been 1983, I think. I get home and the phone rings and my mum says, ‘There’s somebody on the phone for you, he says his name’s Michael Jackson’.”

Rhodes went on to say that he initially thought the call was a prank by a member of Duran Duran’s crew. “After about a minute I thought, ‘Oh my God, it is Michael Jackson isn’t it’,” he remembered.

The musician said that Jackson was “keen to make a record” together following the release of the group’s 1984 album ‘The Reflex’.

“I go to everyone, ‘Hey Michael Jackson called last night. Do you fancy maybe doing a song with him?’ he explained. “And they all went, ‘Nah’.”

You can watch the full conversation in the video above.

Meanwhile, Duran Duran are set to release their first new album in six years on October 22, ‘Future Past’. Previewed with lead single ‘Invisible’, the project features appearances from the likes of Blur’s Graham Coxon, long-time Bowie pianist Mike Garson and guest vocals from Lykke Li.

Back in 2019, Nick Rhodes told NME that the band’s next studio effort – the follow-up to 2015’s ‘Paper Gods’ – would see the band head in a “different” direction.

Duran Duran will headline Isle Of Wight Festival 2021 this September.

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