Shane Filan Quotes

I couldn't believe I was working with Michael Jackson. I thought, growing up as a kid, I thought Michael was a cartoon.

Michael Jackson is the greatest musical influence on me. He's my man. Musically, he is the one artist I want to be like.

I always say the person who taught me how to sing indirectly because I listened to her all the time was Brandy. I fell in love with her voice when I was six years old. I always loved Brandy.

When I was 4 years old, I thought that I wanted to be a dancer like Michael Jackson.

You know how you either grow up in a Michael Jackson house or a Prince house? For me it was Michael Jackson. I could never decide whether I wanted to be Michael Jackson or marry him.

When I was born, that was the music my mother was listening to. Michael Jackson is a third parent to me.

Like growing up, I felt that Michael Jackson would dance for all the hours that god gave in a day!

My brother Steve, who was a few years older than me, had 'Bad' on tape, and I remember listening to 'Smooth Criminal' and just thinking it was the coolest thing ever. I must have been five or six at the time, and I remember walking around school by myself thinking I was Michael Jackson. I wasn't dancing, exactly - more like walking musically.

When I was a teenager, I used to watch the 'Making Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'' video and try to follow the steps and do the 'Thriller' moves in my bedroom. That was the most incredible dance sequence.

I look up to people like Michael Jackson because he set up pop culture.

He[Michael Jackson] had a joy in being alive. There was a joy you felt of him on the stage and making us not just feel good but pushing us against ourselves with the "Man in the Mirror," looking at ourselves critically, "Black or White," what does it mean to get caught in a color as opposed to a rich history and culture?

People wanted to move to America because of Michael Jackson. Industry changed, the music industry changed, because of Michael Jackson. That's a gift to us, and, you know, I am concerned that the Good Lord may not send another one because we did not take good care of him.

My earliest influence was Quincy Jones. I thought 'The Wiz' soundtrack was the most amazing thing I'd ever heard. It was my first record and you had Michael Jackson, Ted Ross, Nipsey Russell and Diana Ross on it. I even took it to show and tell in third grade!

My most powerful memory was hearing Earl Scruggs on 'The Beverly Hillbillies' as a 5 or 6 year old. That sound just blew me away, shook my head up.

I love, love, love Michael Jackson.

We're trying to have the band create something beautiful that hopefully one day, 20 years from now, can be picked up by a kid and hopefully have the same effect that Neil Young had on me, or Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath.

Music was very influential on me as a kid.

I was just totally taken by Michael Jackson when I was a little kid, like everyone else.

My room used to be full of Michael Jackson posters.

When I first became aware of music, it was probably the same way a lot of people do - even more suburban or rural people - from my older brothers playing music.

I was obsessed with Lil' Bow Wow growing up, and you couldn't see the white of my walls because they were plastered with his photos. This is even more embarrassing: I had a notebook full of facts about Bow Wow and different pictures. I basically made a biography notebook about him and his life when he was, like, 13.

My hero is Michael Jackson. Was and continues to be. He's amazing. When I was growing up, it was the time of 'Thriller' and 'Bad.' I'd come home from school and put on the vinyls. I'd put on a white V-neck T-shirt and roll back the carpet and dance for hours. I'd moonwalk and do the spins.

Who didn't want to dance like Michael Jackson? I know I did.

Even as I was trying to become a rock god, Michael Jackson was the ultimate magic rock star to me. I loved his music, his scene and style. He transcended musical categories.

I remember what it felt like when I was young, and I looked up to someone, and they would pay me just an ounce of attention. And some of the bands I listened to when I was young probably never even sold any albums, but it didn't matter to me. If I'd go up and say, 'Great show,' it would be amazing that they even would acknowledge me.