Chas Newkey-Burden

His nose operations were clear to anyone paying attention – the album cover for Off the Wall showed Michael’s nose had changed since his Jackson 5 days. The pitch of his voice prompted chatter too. Speculation mounted that he was taking female hormones in order to keep his voice high. ‘Not true,’ his voice coach Seth Riggs told Time magazine. ‘I’m his voice teacher, and I’d know. He started out with a high voice, and I’ve taken it even higher. He can sing low – down to a basso low C – but he prefers to sing as high as he does because pop tenors have more range to create style.’ A rumour also started to the effect that Michael had undergone a sex change, and his sister Janet was later to claim that a f