Marlon Jackson Says 8-Year-Old Nephew First Showed Michael Jackson the Moonwalk

Marlon Jackson is offering a rarely heard account of how his late brother Michael Jackson came to master one of the most iconic dance moves in pop music history.

The singer did an interview ahead of an upcoming performance with his brothers to reflect on key moments from Michael's career.

"My nephew, not on my family's side, on my wife's side, was the first person that showed him the moonwalk," he said, stunning the hosts, then adding, "He was eight years old."

"He told me that they call it the backwards slide. Then Jeffrey Daniel taught Michael how to do the backwards slide, and Michael renamed it the moonwalk."

Jeffrey Daniel, a founding member of the R&B group Shalamar, had been performing the backslide on Soul Train as early as 1979 and introduced the move to British audiences on Top of the Pops in 1982, nearly a year before Michael's famous Motown 25 performance. The two met when Michael and his sister Janet attended a Shalamar performance at Disneyland in 1980.

"He brought little Janet Jackson, and they stood in the wing and watched us dance. Then he asked me to teach him to dance," Daniel recalled.

By 1987, Daniel was working with Michael as co-choreographer on the "Bad" and "Smooth Criminal" videos, later serving as a creative and choreography consultant on his world tours.

Dance historians note the backslide had earlier roots in African American dance traditions, but Michael's execution transformed it into a global phenomenon. Marlon said the family already knew something special was coming when they watched their brother rehearse for the special.

"We knew that he was gonna do [that move]," Marlon told the hosts, noting that he and his brothers Tito, Jackie, and Jermaine had seen Michael practicing the move at rehearsals for the 1983 primetime special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever.

On March 25, 1983, Michael performed "Billie Jean" at the special and introduced the moonwalk to a worldwide television audience.