MJ’s First Purchases Weren’t Historic
Uninterested in using his $9 million on real estate deals, Jackson and his attorney John Branca decided instead to purchase songs to begin his publishing catalog. One of his first collections were two big hits by Ernie Maresca, who had two top-charting songs with “Runaround Sue” and “The Wanderer.” At first, Jackson didn’t recognize them, but after listening to the songs for awhile, he called Branca and said, “You gotta get those songs! I danced to them all weekend.”