Michael Jackson & Jermaine Jackson – “Tell Me I’m Not Dreamin'” – #1 Dance Record

Songwriters – Michael Omartian / Jay Gruska / Bruce Sudano

My good pal and musical mentor, the brilliant Michael Omartian, called me one day and said he was producing some cuts on the new Jermaine Jackson record and asked if I wanted to co-write a song.  Aside from totally liking Jermaine’s voice, it was also the peak of Michael mania and everyone was getting ready for the “Victory Tour”, which would include Michael with the rest of the Jackson’s.  I went berserk when I found out that it would be a duet with Michael J. and Jermaine J.  The tracking date was Michael Omartian on keys, John Robinson on drums. Nathan East on bass, and yours truly did the live work vocal.  Needless to say, when I first heard this track on the car radio a few months later, I had to pull over and stop myself from screaming….well I manged to pull over but couldn’t not scream.  The song was played around the world relentlessly that year, (thank you ASCAP) and it was a joy to be even just a small part of the “Michael” phenomenon. I still get the chills when Michael comes in on the second verse.  The other interesting tidbit is that Michael had a new single coming out from the ‘Thriller’ album and as a result, “Tell Me I’m Not Dreamin'” could not be released as a single from Jermaine’s album, which at the time was a prerequisite for it to be on the pop charts.  Instead it went to the top of the dance charts, which didn’t have the same criteria.

THE SONG STAYED AT #1 ON THE DANCE CHARTS FOR OVER 3 WEEKS AND WENT GOLD

GRAMMY NOMINATION FOR BEST VOCAL DUET