When it comes to music, it doesn’t get any bigger than Michael Jackson and The Beatles. The two acts have been high on the list of worldwide best-selling music acts for many decades. Their music is timeless and their influence on their own respective generations is massive.

It should then come as no surprise that Jackson and former Beatle Paul McCartney began collaborating in the late 70s. The two worked together on several songs and developed a friendship.

However, that friendship would be forever tainted when Jackson purchased the rights to The Beatles’ catalog in 1985. The move left McCartney feeling betrayed and would forever drive a wedge between the two music powerhouses.

Michael Jackson And Paul McCartney Become Friends And Make Music Together
When Jackson and McCartney first spoke with each other, it was through the telephone. At the time, there were no Instagram profiles or any DMs you could slide into. And if you were a celebrity, you had an ability to get the number of just about any other celebrity.

This is apparently how Jackson got a hold of McCartney. One day, McCartney was minding his own business at his home when his phone rang. When he picked up the phone, he didn’t immediately recognize Jackson’s voice.

“Somebody rang me up and this high voice I didn’t recognize said ‘Hi, Paul,'” McCartney recalled in an interview. “I thought, ‘This is a girl fan, and how the hell did she get my number?’ I was quite annoyed.”

To McCartney’s surprise and delight, the voice actually belonged to Michael Jackson. At the time, he wasn’t quite the King of Pop, but a young man on the verge of a successful solo career. He was looking to break away from the child star and teen idol image he cultivated with his brothers. Jackson seemed to think McCartney was a likely candidate for a musical collaborator.

“It wasn’t a girl, it was Michael Jackson, and he basically said, ‘Do you want to make some hits?’” McCartney remembered.

The first musical union between the two came in 1979 when McCartney wrote “Girlfriend” for Jackson’s “Off The Wall” album. The song was later recorded by McCartney himself with Wings. The two teamed up again for two songs on McCartney’s “Pipes of Peace” album, the hit “Say Say Say” and the lesser-known deep cut “The Man.”Jackson also recruited McCartney to be a guest vocalist on his “Thriller” album. “The Girl Is Mine” was a duet between the two and served as the album’s unlikely lead single. The “Thriller” album would go on to become the best-selling album of all time.

Michael Bought The Beatles Catalog And A Rift Developed Between The Two
Jackson and McCartney would develop a friendship that extended far beyond music. Jackson himself would later reflect on his time working with McCartney.

“Working with Paul McCartney was pretty exciting and we just literally had fun,” Jackson said. “It was like lots of kibitzing and playing, and throwing stuff at each other, and making jokes.”

Although the two were enjoying a nice bond, a large dent would form in the center of it. Jackson and McCartney were talking business on one particular occasion. McCartney had recently acquired the rights to Buddy Holly’s work and decided to give Jackson some advice.

McCartney suggested Jackson get into music publishing and, specifically, purchase the rights to other artists’ songs.

According to McCartney, Jackson replied by saying, “One day, I’ll own your songs.”

McCartney said he laughed at Jackson’s statement, believing he was kidding. It turns out, he wasn’t. Two years after that fateful conversation, Jackson purchased the publishing rights to the majority of The Beatles’ songs, 251 to be exact, on August 14, 1985.

McCartney, who was bidding on the songs at the same time as Jackson, felt betrayed by his friend. However, McCartney also suggested that although he could buy his songs back, he has chosen not to out of principle.

“He won’t even answer my letters, so we haven’t talked and we don’t have that great a relationship,” McCartney revealed in 2001. “The trouble is I wrote those songs for nothing and buying them back at these phenomenal sums, I just can’t do it.”
In his 1988 autobiography, “Moonwalk,” Jackson reflected on his friendship with McCartney by writing, “Paul and I both learned the hard way about business and the importance of publishing and royalties and the dignity of songwriting.”

Paul Shut Down Rumors Michael Was Going To Leave Him The Beatles’ Catalog In His Will
Following Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009, McCartney released a statement to the media paying tribute to his late friend.

“It’s so sad and shocking,” McCartney began. “I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever and my memories of our time together will be happy ones.”

He added, “I send my deepest sympathy to his mother and the whole family and to his countless fans all around the world.”

Some time after Jackson died, speculation arose that the King of Pop would leave The Beatles’ catalog to McCartney in his will. McCartney, however, was quick to shut those rumors down.

“Some time ago, the media came up with the idea that Michael Jackson was going to leave his share in the Beatles’ songs to me in his will,” McCartney wrote on his website. “[It] was completely made up.”

“The report is that I am devastated to find that he didn’t leave the songs to me,” he added. “I had not thought for one minute that the original report [about the will] was true, and therefore the report that I’m devastated is also totally false.”
In 2017, McCartney sued Sony/ATV over copyright to The Beatles’ catalog. This fell under the US Copyright Act of 1976, which allows songwriters to reclaim copyright from music publishers 35 years after giving them away.

McCartney and Sony/ATV later reached a settlement, with a lawyer for McCartney informing a judge that both sides “have resolved this matter by entering into a confidential settlement agreement.”