Audio By Carbonatix
The moonwalk, or backslide, is a famous dance regarded as the signature move of the "King of Pop," Michael Jackson.
He first introduced the backslide dance, which he rebranded to be the moonwalk, in his 1983 single, "Billie Jean."
But after decades since its origination, there appears to be controversy as to who first introduced the dance move to the world.
Well, the Godfather of Hiplife, Reginald Yaw Asante Osei, better known as Reggie Rockstone, claims he is the originator of the moonwalk and that the dance was only made popular by Michael Jackson.
Speaking on the premiere of The Doreen Avio Show, which airs on Joy Prime, the "Eye mo de anaa" hitmaker revealed that Michael Jackson's choreographer, Jeffery Daniel, is his personal friend and would attest to that.
"I always tell people that we did the moonwalk, which you call the backslide, before it became popular with Michael Jackson. The reason why: We were not looking at Michael Jackson for the moonwalk and the backslide. We were looking at who taught Michael Jackson. His name is Jeffrey Daniel. Jeffrey Daniel is a personal friend of mine," he told Doreen Avio.
Reggie Rockstone, who said he has been trolled for claiming to be the first person to do the moonwalk dance, added that he and his colleague, Adjetey Sowah, learned the dance move while watching the "Soul Train" by Don Cornelius.
He added that, "People like Adjetey Sowah were doing the backslide way before Michael Jackson made it popular. It was called the backslide. White people were new to it. They are the ones who call it the moonwalk. We were calling it a backslide."
In an earlier interview on Channels TV, Michael Jackson's choreographer, Jeffrey Daniel, denied inventing the moonwalk dance.
Even though he did not mention the originator of the famous dance, the founding father of Shalamar indicated that he only modified and perfected it to make it his.
"Well, I can't say I specifically invented the dance, but I modified it and made it mine. Because when I first saw it, it was like "scout scout scout. "It's all evolution because they have Pop In, Lock In, and the robot from Soul Train."
"It was all evolution...I wanted to do the dance all the way across the stage because I was performing Shalamar and I wanted to do it on stage. I put in long strides and smoothed it out the way you see it. I perfected it," Jeffery Daniel said.
There are many recorded instances of the moonwalk; similar steps are reported as far back as 1932. Although Michael Jackson is widely acknowledged for the dance move, the controversy about its originator may linger for a while.
Latest Stories
-
Bars close and hundreds lose jobs as US firm buys Brewdog in £33m deal
11 minutes -
Barker-Vormawor vows to challenge GH₵5.1m Kan Dapaah defamation judgment
17 minutes -
Court slaps Barker-Vormawor with GH₵5m in favour of Kan Dapaah for defamation
24 minutes -
Kwakye Ofosu to present findings on review of last-minute appointments
31 minutes -
US/Israel attack: Iranian Ambassador to Ghana slams ‘state terrorism’; violation of the UN Charter
38 minutes -
Abuakwa South MP challenges Mahama’s one million jobs claim
54 minutes -
Warrant issued for arrest of Kenyasehene, Odikro of Buobai over alleged sale of public land
57 minutes -
Ghana marks World Wildlife Day 2026 with focus on medicinal and aromatic plants
1 hour -
From backlash to dialogue: EU, DUBAWA convene bloggers to confront monetised disinformation amid controversy
1 hour -
Former President John Agyekum Kufuor hosts NPP organiser hopeful
1 hour -
Vindicated by time: Rev. Lamina’s lonely fight for echoing hills finally proven right
1 hour -
EC assures Ayawaso East voters of readiness ahead of by-election
1 hour -
Africa’s creative economy: 60% of creators earn less than US$100 a month – Deloitte Infrastructure Partner
1 hour -
Government must liaise with Gulf states to safeguard Ghanaians – Prof Antwi-Danso
1 hour -
The Canadian Nightmare: How Some Ghanaians are lured, trapped and enslaved in silence
1 hour
