You’d be hard-pressed to find a dance move more iconic than the moonwalk. That smooth, impossible-looking slide, drifting backward while seeming to walk forward, immediately brings Michael Jackson to mind. When he busted it out during ‘Billie Jean’ at the Motown 25 TV special in 1983, the world lost its collective mind. It was one of those rare moments in music history that everyone remembers.But here’s the thing: Michael Jackson didn’t actually invent the moonwalk. He said so himself, and plenty of people close to him have backed that up. The move was already part of street dance and underground culture way before Michael made it famous. And this might surprise you: a recent story from his brother Marlon says the first person to actually show Michael the moonwalk was just eight years old.
Who taught Michael Jackson the Moonwalk?
Marlon Jackson, Michael’s brother, and the 68-year-old singer, recently appeared on WFAN radio. While discussing Michael’s performance with family band The Jackson 5, which transitioned into the artist performing some of his solo hits, Marlon opened up about his late brother’s iconic Moonwalk. Marlon told the hosts Craig Carton and Chris McMonigle, “We knew that he was gonna do [that move],” 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’.But did that iconic move originate from Michael himself? Marlon revealed that it wasn’t something Michael choreographed himself. In fact, like many dance moves of the time, it came from an unusual place — from a kid of merely eight. The kid in question? He was Marlon’s wife’s nephew. “My nephew, not on my family’s side, on my wife’s side, was the first person that showed him the moonwalk,” Marlon said, stunning the hosts, then adding, “He was eight years old.”Marlon explained, during a family get-together, the boy showed off a move they called the “backwards slide” or “backslide.”“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.”It looked like he was gliding backward while his feet kept stepping forward, and Michael was instantly hooked. He started practicing right away. Still, at that point, the move was rough, straight from the streets, not stage-ready.Michael kept working at it, learning from other dancers who had mastered the step. One of the biggest influences was Jeffrey Daniel from Shalamar, who performed the backslide on shows like ‘Soul Train’ as early as 1979. After Michael saw Daniel do it, he tracked him down within a year and asked for a lesson. Daniel not only taught him the move but also ended up working with Michael on choreography for shows and music videos.Per People, in a 2025 interview with Channels TV, Daniel shared, “He brought little Janet Jackson, and they stood in the wing and watched us dance. Then he asked me to teach him to dance.”
Michael Jackson: A legend with a rich legacy
As for Michael Jackson himself, he was more than just the guy who danced backward. Born in 1958, he shot to stardom as a kid in the Jackson 5, singing hits like ‘ABC’ and ‘I Want You Back’ with his brothers. By the time the 1980s rolled around, he’d become a solo superstar. Albums like ‘Thriller’, ‘Bad’, and ‘Dangerous’ didn’t just break records; they redefined pop music.But Michael Jackson was more than just music. His performances, his videos, and his choreography set new standards. He mixed pop, funk, street dance, mime, and pure theater, creating a style nobody else could match.
