Michael Didn’t Invent The Moonwalk But Made It Immortal

Apart from his countless pop hits. Michael Jackson will always be remembered for backslide dance move dubbed the moonwalk.

The first adult moonwalk was in 1955 by Bill Bailey.

The moonwalk creates the illusion that the dancer is stepping forward while actually moving backward– the appearance of a person moving along a conveyor belt.

It was in 1983 that Michael debuted his signature move, pairing it with the son “Billie Jean.”

Wikipedia says tap dancer Bill Bailey recorded the moonwalk as early as 1955.

James Brown used the move in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Jeffrey Daniel was the first person to perform “the backslide” on television, during a performance of Shalamar’s “A Night to Remember” on, the British music show, Top of the Pops. Dance partners Geron “Casper” Candidate and Cooley Jackson claim that they taught Michael Jackson the moonwalk.

Apart from Bailey, among the performers who did variants of the moonwalk have been Fred Astaire, Bill Bailey, Buck and Bubbles, Cab Calloway, Clark Brothers, Sammy Savis jr., Daniel Haynes, Rubberneck Holmes, Patterson an Jackson, Eleanor Powell,Bill Robinson, Three Chefs, Tip, Tap and Toe, and Earl Shakehips Tucker.

So moonwalk indeed has many fathers.

But its the King Of Pop who made it his undying trademark.