Lost '80s Singer Alfonzo Jones Sounded Just Like Michael Jackson

 Editor's Note: This story was originally published in November 2012 and has been updated to include details from a rare interview published in 2015.

Michael Jackson's landmark Thriller album changed the face of pop culture. Around the same time, a young afro'd man by the name of Alfonzo Jones released his debut self-titled album. The similarities between the two albums don't stop at their album covers. Take one listen to Alfonzo, especially the album's single "Change The World," and you'll immediately notice how much Jones sounds — at times eerily — like Michael Jackson.

Jones obviously studied Jackson's vocal technique, as you can frequently hear similar phrasing and vocal riffs (down to MJ's trademarked "HOO!"), but Jackson would probably never have added songs like "Your Booty Makes Me Moody" or "I Wanna Give You My Love Til You Scream" to his repertoire. Not that "Booty" or "Scream" are awful songs, they just would have seemed awkward coming from the King of Pop.

We've been unable to track down a firm release date for the album, but all signs are pointing to somewhere between October and December of 1982. Considering that Thriller was released towards the end of that range, we gotta wonder: Who bit who's album cover?

Information on Jones, who released Alfonzo on LARC Records out of California (whose other releases ironically include Latoya Jackson's boogie classic "Betcha Gonna Need My Lovin"), is incredibly scarce on the web. We know that he was raised in South Central Los Angeles in the 1970s and was discovered by Motown producer Clay McMurray. We were also able to find that he released a second album in 1988 called Champion Of Love, which flirts with the then-still-fresh New Jack Swing sound. 

In 2015, an article surfaced on a student-run news site at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism in Southern California with a writer, Sophie Sanders, saying Jones was her Uber driver. She was jamming out to Michael Jackson on the ride, when the driver told her to look him up. Sanders proceeded to land a short interview with Mr. Jones, who may have given us the smallest bit of insight.

Jones claimed to have actually knew Michael Jackson personally, meeting him at a celebration following the release of  The Wiz, a 1978 film starring Jackson. After that, Jackson apparently heard Jones' single, "Change the World," and Jones says, "Michael fell in love with my music... [He] was happy that someone came out with [my] songs. We are from the same powers of force, and he knew that." 

After his second album in '88, Jones said he disappeared from the music scene because the situation wasn't right for him. Since then, he was teaching middle school, giving private music lessons and apparently driving for Uber in Southern California. In that interview, he said he has also been co-writing songs. In 2020 and 2023, a few of his old hits were added to streaming services. 

If anyone out there knows where Alfonzo is and how we can get in touch with him, hit us up! We have questions (and concerns)...