Weitzman explains how MJ vocal validated

ANOTHER PLOT TWIST IN WHODUNIT: Talk about a setup. Jackson estate attorney Howard Weitzman yesterday sent out a letter to fans offering detailed evidence that the real Michael, and not an imposter, vocal on the recently released track “Breaking News,” from the upcoming posthumous album Michael. As soon as the track was submitted to Epic, Weitzman explained, the vocals were called into question, and he was asked by co-executors John Branca and John McClain to investigate, Ben Sisario reported in the N.Y. Times. The vetting included playing the recording for a panel of producers and musicians who’d worked with M.J.: Bruce Swedien, Matt Forger, Stewart Brawley, Michael Prince, Dr. Freeze and Teddy Riley. “They all confirmed that the vocal was definitely Michael,” Weitzman wrote. Additionally, both the estate and Epic had the track analyzed by forensic musicologists, who agreed on the vocal’s authenticity. Finally, Weitzman contacted Jason Malachi—“a young singer who some persons had wrongfully alleged was a ‘soundalike’”—who said he was not involved in the recording. “Breaking News” is one of three album tracks that Jackson recorded in New Jersey in late 2007, at the home of his friend Eddie Cascio; it was completed by Teddy Riley. (11/12a)