Michael Jackson posthumous career as much a mess as prehumous one

Good lord, it was hard to imagine that the management of Michael Jackson's career could have got worse once he was taken out the equation, but it's happened.

That new Michael Jackson song? It turns out it's nearly twenty years old, was originally recorded by a totally different artist and- oh, yes - Paul Anka says the tapes were stolen from his studio and had already been returned once:

Anka said that Jackson returned the tapes after he threatened the star with legal action, but, he claimed, Jackson made a copy and used the track with his voice from I Never Heard, re-titling it This Is It.

I Never Heard was eventually released in 1991 after Anka placed it with an unknown singer named Safire.

Hours after Anka made his claim on the showbusiness website TMZ, administrators for Jackson's estate made him a 50 per cent partner in the publishing rights to the song.

Remember, everybody: stealing music is wrong, unless it's the music industry doing the stealing, when we can always cut a deal.

[Thanks to Mike E and Michael M]