Toto’s David Paich was recently interviewed by Ultimate Classic Rock and said that being in the studio with Paul McCartney was a magical experience.
While David Paich has mainly built a reputation as Toto’s keyboardist, singer, and principal songwriter, the famous artist is also a highly prolific session musician who has proven his merit by working with many prominent names. Michael Jackson was just one of the many artists Paich collaborated with. As a session musician, he played piano and did some synth and rhythm arrangements for Jackson’s 1982 album ‘Thriller.’
For the album’s third track, the Beatles icon Paul McCartney made a guest appearance and performed the song, ‘The Girl Is Mine‘ with Michael Jackson. During the track’s recording, David Paich played the acoustic piano parts. In a recent interview, the musician shared his thoughts on this valuable experience. According to Paich, watching these incredibly talented artists performing together was a fantastic experience.
The singer said there is nobody better than Paul McCartney and described him as the ‘greatest singer’ who had put his signature to many hit songs. Paich watched McCartney and Michael Jackson in awe while they were singing some Motown songs during a jamming session. According to the Toto singer, being in the studio with Jackson, Macca, and other notable musicians was definitely a dream-come-true moment for him.
David Paich speaking on working with Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson:
“Just how masterful they are at what they do, which is to sing and perform. Those two live in rarified air. It’s just amazing. I mean, McCartney, there’s nobody better. He’s done so many hit records and is the greatest singer. He and Michael together was sheer magic. We got to jam a little bit while we were getting sounds, so we were jamming on a couple of Motown songs.
Paul would sing a couple of lines, but then Michael would answer him. Michael would just kill it, doing a couple of Stevie Wonder songs and stuff like that. It was a pinch-me moment. I was in the studio with George Martin, Geoff Emerick, Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney, and Michael Jackson. Definitely off my bucket list.”
You can listen to the song ‘The Girl Is Mine’ below.
