It’s a sure bet that a duet between the late Michael Jackson and the late Whitney Houston tops the wish list of any music lover.
Turns out, it almost happened, according to legendary music producer Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins.
Jerkins was a guest on the We Sound Crazy podcast, where he detailed his extensive career. Jerkins gained massive success after working with singer Monica, producing her singles “Angel of Mine” and “The Boy Is Mine,” a duet with Brandy. His ability to crank out hits found him in business with veteran music executive Clive Davis.
Jerkins recalled Davis asking him if he had anything for Houston, who at the time was working on her fourth studio album, My Love Is Your Love. Jerkins’ first contribution was the demo for her Grammy-winning hit “It’s Not Right but It’s Okay,” and then he created a demo for “If I Told You That.” The track is a duet with the late George Michael, but it was actually supposed to feature The King of Pop.
“It was like this dude who tried to sound like Michael on the demo, so when I played it for Clive and everybody, they were blown away,” Jerkins said.
Legendary Rodney jerkins talks Whitney houston #rodneyjerkins #whitneyhouston pic.twitter.com/g5O3yrJYAU
— whit (@legendofNippy) July 14, 2023
After dropping a bomb about the best song that never was, he shared an intimate moment between him and Houston. He reminisced on a time when the six-time Grammy winner requested to take a visit to his father’s church.
The producer said he informed Houston that his father’s location was a little under three hours away from where they were, but she insisted they take a trip, and once they were there, she wanted to do what she did best.
“Tell your daddy I want to sing,” Jerkins said Houston whispered to him before taking the mic in the sanctuary.
“She gets up there and sings and it’s like it’s Whitney Houston singing in front of 50 people,” Jerkins said, calling it one of the “best moments.”
Although he couldn’t make the duet between Houston and Jackson happen, Jerkins was part of the production group for Jackson’s posthumous Xscape album.
Watch Jerkins’ full interview below:
