I still seek this out every now and again. This was one of those performances that announced a change in direction for an entire generation. The buzz in school the next day was amazing. Everyone watched TOTP in those days, and everyone was talking about this incredible performance.
I was 19 in 1982 when this was first shown on TOTP, everyone was absolutely amazed and hugely impressed by Jeffrey, we'd never seen anything like it. In those days we never knew that we'd ever see it again, how wonderful is RU-vid that I can watch this now all these years later ? Bloody marvellous :)
@@melsher4301 the front row in TOTP at this time were paid professional dancers and models. If you watch videos any time from 1982 they're always there.
Like many my teenage mind was blown when I saw this on TOTP in 1982. The next day at school in leafy rural England EVERYONE was talking about it. No one had ever seen anything like it before. No one will ever forget the name JEFFREY DANIEL. Trailblazer!!!
Jeffrey Daniel is underrated/underappreciated as an all-around entertainer. His dancing, stage presence, and fashion sense influenced a entire generation, including a soon-to-be King of Pop. Kudos to Don Cornelius(Soul Train) and Dick Griffrey(Solar Records founder) for recognizing this uniquely gifted man. Respect...
I can’t believe I’ve found this on RU-vid after all these years. I was 12 when this actual performance was on Top of the Pops, it started my dance journey to becoming a b boy. I had it recorded onto the old VHS and watched it endlessly, ripped off his whole routine! 😂 It absolutely shaped my teenage years. Amazing times to be young and I loved it. ❤️
+Matt Black There has been other guys who have claimed they taught Michael the moonwalk like Cooley Jaxson, Casper Candidate and even Michael " Boogaloo Shrimp " Chambers. The thing is we'll never know who really taught him but Michael perfected it and that's all that matters
+paidenthusiast I'm sorry but Jeffrey Daniel is a greater dancer than Michael Jackson and that is really saying something!He makes the hair stand out on your neck! Fantastic dancing and such an innovator!
Eileen Hughes No I can't agree with that. Jeffery is primarily a street dancer whereas Michael has all kinds of dancing styles that separates him from the others. Go look at some of Michael's work from his post Thriller era before " popping " was even a thing and you'll see what I'm talking about. His " robot " dance routine from his Dancing Machine performance shows how he influenced a lot of street dancers
My sister is 1 of the dancers at the front of him. She did a few Top of the Pops. This is the most memorable for his performance and hers wasn't bad lol
Jeffrey invented a dance move that was called the "backslide" which was later adopted by MJ and termed the "moonwalk". Jeffrey taught Mike this move. Very underrated man, Jeffrey Daniel. I think the group Shalamar is very underrated. 3 very (uniquely) talented individuals.
Boy Doll The entire dance in part of Popping and Boogalooing, invented by 'Boogaloo' Sam Solomon and made famous (initially) by his group, The Electric Boogaloos-they also danced on Soul Train, and there is a set they did in '78 or '79 where there do the Sideglide, Moonwalk AND the Backslide--look them up, they're here on youtube! Jeffrey got that style from watching and dancing with those guys. A few of the Boogaloos are in Michael Jackson videos with Jeffrey as well.
@Mustafa Aazim Not stolen, it was shared openly to all people. People simply imitate and learn what they think is cool, it's human nature, and there is nothing offensive or immoral about it. To say something like that implies that only "x colour" or "x race" people can enjoy something if they too are x colour or race, but that's just the same old hypocritical racist thinking that serves nobody at all and creates a never ending cycle of BS race wars. We're all humans at the end of the day, Everything we have comes from the combination and intergration of "all" peoples (be it culture, music, science, inventions, etc), without "each other", none of us would have anything we see and enjoy today. The USA has a weird and unnatural obsession with race and skin colour because it's so imbeded into the nation's history, but it's all just a human construct made by slavers back in the 1600s, as before those times, whilst there was slavery in the world (practiced by ALL colours and nations in history) there was no such thing as racism based upon "skin colour", everything was simply national, tribal and cultural, and colour didn't come into it, power did. But even "race" and "nationalilty" is nothing but a construct which serves to turn us on each other, we're all brothers, sisters and cousins from a shared singular ancestry (be that though creationism 'or' evolution). People traded knowledge and abosrbed practices since the dawn of man and was often seen as a compliment or sense of comradery, and still is. The only thing that is important is that "credit" is given to where it is due to the people, the "individuals", who created the things we love, and that's it. Free your mind from the man made concept that people of different colour or geographical locations are alien species to one another, of which was only created by greedy people to justify attacking other lands and peoples.
@Trevon Womack Oh FFS, give it a rest. You certainly wouldn't have lasted long, back in the 80s/90s... when we didn't care about colour or gender... we all just loved the music and sang and danced TOGETHER. Try learning something from RECENT history, instead of dwelling in the past and working yourself up unnecessarily!
The moonwalk has been done on TV since the 50's. Jeffrey was never MJ's inspiration as their performance styles were overall different with some overlap. Jeffrey was first inspired by MJ and we have historical video evidence. When Jeffrey was a dancer on ST back in 1976 they played the Jacksons song Enjoy Yourself and Jeffrey was miming MJ and dancing just like how MJ danced at the time, this was years before they met and worked with each other. MJ was Jeffrey's inspiration FIRST and that is a fact.
I saw this performance when it first went out on TOTP back then and was amazed by it - EVERYONE was amazed by it - everyone (nearly) in the UK (and some of Western Europe for that matter) watched TOTP back then and this performance was a major topic of conversation all over the UK for weeks afterwards - blown away. Great song too.
I remember this too when it first went out and was not so quietly blown away by the dancing. Shalamar came out with some seriously catchy tracks. Just for the record, I was and am a huge AC/DC and Iron Maiden fan.
I remember clearly watching this in1982 and just thinking WOW! ,epic performance and next day everyone just had the same opinion,not many performers can have that affect but even after all this time I can remember this with clarity,.....respect!!
Nope, literally the only similar thing here is the Moonwalk, there is no overlap in style or performance. These are all JD's stated moveset which is different than how MJ performed. Try again.
When you watch jeffrey you can see nearly every move michael jackson did after 1982 he is simply a master of dance so we all should thank him for these brilliant moves he taught jackson.
I’m a 90s baby so this is CLEARLY before my time. Grew up a HUGE MJ fan and thats all i knew. Then i got the history of the moonwalk and found Jeff and the rest of the Shalamar crew and haven’t stopped crate digging since! Exciting time to be alive right now 🤞🏾💯✨
I remember watching this episode of TOTP and seeing Jeff dance....we'd never saw anything like it before ....and of course spent hours trying to copy him......but failed miserably. The whole album is a masterpiece back when you had to have real talent to make it in the music industry.
I am so glad to see this again, when this happened in '82 on BBC1 TV I was completely mesmerised by Jeffery Daniels dancing genius, then the moon walk... Lets just say I needed smelling salts to bring me around and cure my gibberish excitement. I was never captivated as much by any other group and their 'dance' performance again, even decades later after that blinding performance. By the time MJ rolled out his take on the dance act, I knew Jeffery had already given him license and the rest is history...
MJ should of gave him some credit in the book Moonwalker. Michael just says "3 black kids taught me the Moonwalk". Jeffery even choreographed the video Bad, think the dude would get a little more respect.
MJ was always a liar since the very beginning. He never credited anyone of anything significant. He only credited people like Fred Astaire because he knew nobody from the 80s onward cared who Fred was or even who he was. He never credited Elvis Presley either despite the fact that many of his vocal stylings, dance moves, outfits, actions were directly influenced by Elvis, also he married his daughter but never even mentioned Elvis' name on camera but yet he hired Elvis' best man at his wedding to be his tour manager after Elvis died. The guy definitely knew how to manipulate situations.
Johnny Scumbag Madonna has been the same, and most other pop stars after, ripping whats underground and about to explode and using it themselves taking credit because the vast majority have not seen or heard it before.
Johnny Scumbag He said he really wasn't much of an Elvis fan, he said this in his autobiography. There was one dance move that I though did reminisce that of Elvis. I don't know about the vocal part though, that seemed pretty unique to me, there has always been speculation about him trying to emulate Diana Ross. I didn't know he hired Elvis's Best man for his tours, that's news to me. Ultimately, his moves are more emblematic of James Brown than that of Elvis.
Othello Moor I doubt he said that and if he did, it just goes to show how much of a lair he's always been from the start. Why would you make a point of not being a fan of someone? King of Rock, King of Pop, Graceland, Neverland, married his daughter so his name can be eponymous with Elvis, the vocal hiccups, the tip-toe move, the outfits he emulated like his marching band uniform, his jailhouse rock uniform, his gold lame suit. He only credited James Brown because James is largely overlooked and downplayed as one of the greatest. If James ever got the respect he rightfully deserves as the third best music act in modern history, MJ wouldn't have credited him either. For the song You Are Not Alone which was completely stolen from a Belgian duo without giving them writer credit or royalties he shot a music video with Lisa Marie and in it he emulates a hand gesture that Elvis did on his second Ed Sullivan show. That was when I lost all respect for him. I liked him as a person before that. But after I saw that I completely lost all respect for him as a person. Great music, 4th greatest of all time, but fucked up person.
Johnny Scumbag Hold it right there, he has been doing those vocal hiccups since the G.I.T Get It Together sessions in the early 70s. The King of Pop is a plastic title in my opinion, but your right. He was more like the greatest entertainer ever (not the 4th). James Brown, Sammy Davis Jr and Fred Astaire all alluded to this. Elvis 'stole' so much from black musicians it was very common in the those days, the Pat Boone's the Jerry Lewis's, they all stole black music. When Mike 'stole' Lisa Marie it was his way of saying 'you people stole so much from us for decades it's about time we get our share'. And by the way, Mike was so generous he let Lisa go, and even paid the performers of the 50's and 60's back what was stolen from, Little Richard, Sly Stone, I think also Chuck Berry as well but don't quote me on that. You Are Not Alone was written largely by R. Kelly, so any criticism should be directed at him. But Elvis didn't write a single one of his many hits, they were mostly written by a black man named Otis Blackwell, a man who dies penniless, a man Elvis didn't credit, a man the Elvis estate failed to pay him his just do. Mj also called this out, so it may be one of the reasons he wasn't fond of Elvis. See MJ credited everyone he was influenced by and all the people that helped him get to where he got. I don't recollect Elvis ever doing that.
the king of pop dance who taught the king of pop music the Moonwalk, originally known as the Backwark Slide. Now that rare history most MJ fans probably don't know about. I didn't know it myself until a couple of years ago when Unsung did a documentary on Shalamar and Centric showed a documentary on Michael's life and career months after his death. Thanks for posting this footage of Jeffrey, the king of pop dancing and the rare pre debut of the Moonwalk performed by him.
I soooo remeber watching this on UK TV... blown away.. it broke the the world with it's originality.. an amazing tune but ground-breaking video... love always to Shalamar xxx 40 YEARS OLD FOLKS !!!! This Man changed history xxxxxx
I don’t think Jeffrey Daniels realised from that dance routine he kicked started a whole hole new dance and culture in this country!!! BODY POPPING AND HIP HOP CHANGED MY LIFE ... Salute to you king 👑 👊🏿
And he is still rocking it, youthful and gorgeous than ever. He came to UK in 1982 to promote the single and album before the entire group came to do public performances in England. This was never done before, but it hugely paid off and the single and album skyrocketed in the charts. Genius PR & Marketing.
I was 21 when Jeffrey did this and became a talking point. Am 60 now and going to see shalamar in 2 weeks. Still can't wait. I will be in awe when he dances - because he still can!
I remember seeing this for the first time…it was such an unexpected move that we couldn’t work out whether it was trick shoes, a fake floor or what The next day at school, and at work for Dad, it’s all anyone talked about!
I remember when this came out and hit the airwaves.. The earth felt like it stood still for those few minutes.. and when Jeffrey did that blackslide/moonwalk on TOTPs, you could feel the UK slip every so slightly atop its tectonic plate. This was the talk of every kid in school for the week to come.
i love this dancing performance from legend jeffrey daniel. magic at its best. this guys inivted the moonwalk. and taught micheal jackson how to do it. and of course a long friendship lasted. and jeffrey was in many micheal jackson's music videos. always loved this dancing legend.
Exoticskanker tee Michael's 'Moonwalk' on his famous Motown25 performance does look rushed, but in the context of his famous performance (which unlike Jeffery Daniel who is just doing the Robot dance) where MJ is doing many different styles of dance moves, his Moonwalk is still stunning even though it's not perfect. Michael's, Moonwalk's on the Victory, Bad and Dangerous Tours were super smooth and perfect.
All the moves you know today came from this amazing creative wonderful dancer, Jeremy. All your robotic and everything else and these days what you call popping all started and came from this man.
Exactly Polly Wui. The moonwalk is what the media called it cos they had no knowledge about the street culture. The Moonwalk, since there is no gravity on the moon is when you are walking but going nowhere (basically walking on the spot) what Michael does is the backslide which is self explanatory. If you could walk on the moon you wouldn't be sliding. Lol
I remember watching this performance the night this was on, I was only 14. Must have had such an impact on me as I can still remember it clearly especially when he did the moonwalk. Never seen anything like that.
I love Jeffrey’s routine it is amazing however I see a lot of comments bashing Michael Jackson. Let’s not forget Michael jackson has been performing since the age of 5. He has been doing the robot and pop lock, and side slides and spins and mime moves since waaayy back in the day before Jeffery Daniel ever made an appearance on tv. MJ just sought him out to learn, refine and fine tune his moves according to the current dance trends. I appreciate both artists MJ and JD and what they have contributed to the art of music and dance. ❤️
I remember watching this on TOTP back in 1982 and thinking this was the coolest thing I had ever seen. We were all talking about Jeffrey's dance moves at school the next day!
Back in the day TOTP was performed on Wednesday and broadcast on Thursday, I saw this the evening it was first broadcast the day after the performance, it was awesome, they had Jeffrey back on TOTP, I think 2 weeks later, cutting his Europe tour short.
Shalimar and jeffrey daniels1 Incredible combination of an era! Michael jackson, being a great dancer he was, got a lot of his "signature" moves from Jeff! Awesome slice of a superb time!
I remember watching this on TV in 1982 and was just in awe with Jeffrey's technic and his smoothness... Jeffrey was an amazing dancer definitely VERY!!! underrated
Who remembers watching Shalamar's Jeffrey Daniels famous "Moonwalk" on Top Of The Pops?, the same Jeffrey Daniel who went on to teach Michael Jackson the "Backslide" later called the moonwalk, as we all know Michael took it onto the international stage on that Motown 25th show
FINALLY someone who KNOWS wtf is UP! I grew up in South Central at that time too, and I was in utter disbelief at how the word reacted to the "Moonwalk" when at that time it was a COMMON dance called tha "Backslide" and I was doing it at only 6-9 yo from 81-83. By the time Michael Jackson started doin' it, it was already goin' outta style. lol Thanks for schoolin' the kids J Thomas! :)
This is that old school that created the modern dances we have today. Remember them days when Jody and Jeffrey was bopping down the aisle on Soul Train.
Everything about this video is perfect 👍 His Hairstyle is perfect, his Dance moves are perfect, The Song is perfect, The people in the background dancing are perfect 👍 I give this video a 10/10
