Michael Jackson this time, wrote hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" (1979), "This Place Hotel" (1980), and "Can You Feel It" (1980). Jackson's work in film began in 1978, when he moved to New York City to star as the Scarecrow in "The Wiz", a musical directed by Sidney Lumet. It costarred Diana Ross, Nipsey Russell, and Ted Ross. The film was a box-office failure. Its score was arranged by Quincy Jones, whom Jackson had previously met when he was 12 at Sammy Davis Jr.'s house. Jones agreed to produce Jackson's next solo album. During his time in
A Brand New Day (The Wiz song) featured in the 1978 film version, sung by cast members Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, and Ted Ross (credited as The Wiz Stars). Given the all-Black cast of "The Wiz", the song's many references to freedom and new possibilities (especially as sung by African American characters who had just been freed from enslavement) certainly invoked the struggles and history of Blacks in America. In the onscreen version of the song, Nipsey Russell can even be heard exclaiming "Free at last!"—a reference to civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. (His impromptu addition to the song is not heard on