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Gordy was especially taken with young Michael. "This little kid had an incredible knowingness about him that really made me take notice" he told author Gerald Posner in the 2002 book "Motown." "He sang his songs with such feeling, inspiration and pain -- like he had experienced everything he was singing about." Smokey Robinson recalled Jackson was "a strange and lovely child an old soul in the body of a boy. He was driven, determined, intense."

Young Michael 'sang his songs with such feeling'

( Frank Barratt / Getty Images )

Gordy was especially taken with young Michael. "This little kid had an incredible knowingness about him that really made me take notice" he told author Gerald Posner in the 2002 book "Motown." "He sang his songs with such feeling, inspiration and pain -- like he had experienced everything he was singing about." Smokey Robinson recalled Jackson was "a strange and lovely child an old soul in the body of a boy. He was driven, determined, intense."

Michael Jackson: Life in pictures

Young Michael 'sang his songs with such feeling'