Jackson left 'fresh' new songs

Pop star Will.i.am has spoken about the new material he recorded with Michael Jackson before the King of Pop's death.

"It was fresh," said the Black Eyed Peas frontman, who became close friends with Jackson. "It was very demanding.

"It demanded all the people to the dancefloor. Of course, it was melodic. As he would say, juicy." He was speaking at the Glastonbury festival.

He did not know what would happen to the new songs as Jackson had kept the hard drives on which they were saved.

"He had all the hard drives because I didn't want to be responsible for that," Will.i.am told BBC News.

Michael Jackson was due to perform at the O2 in London next month

"It's one thing to lose a Black Eyed Peas hard drive. I move around a lot and to make songs with Michael Jackson and risk me losing that music, I didn't want that responsibility.

"So he kept all the stuff that we worked on."

Jackson's last album of new material was Invincible, released in 2001.

He had been hoping to reignite his career by working with current pop stars, also including Akon and Ne-Yo, on his long-awaited comeback.

Speaking after Jackson's death, Akon told Billboard magazine they were "working on a lot of ideas".

"Right now they're pretty much all ideas, but if there is anything to be done to them, of course I would let the family make all those decisions," he said.

He'd call me up for father's day because he knew I didn't have a dad - he was something else Will.i.am

Will.i.am dedicated his Glastonbury performance on Sunday to all that Jackson "stood for and all that he brought to the world".

His band also performed Thriller in tribute to the superstar, who died in Los Angeles on Thursday.

"He became a really good friend to me, he reached out to me and he didn't have to do that," Will.i.am said.

"He'd call me up for father's day because he knew I didn't have a dad. He was something else, he taught me a lot.

"He was a really, really great artist and human being and he taught me a lot. I miss him very, very much."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version