Origins of the Moonwalk: Who Really Slid First?

Spoiler: Michael Jackson didn’t invent it. But he did immortalize it.

Before MJ glided across the stage in 1983 and made jaws hit the floor, the Moonwalk already had mileage—decades of it. The move was older than Thriller, older than Motown, older than MJ himself.

Enter Jeffrey Daniel (on the right on the picture): Shalamar singer, Soul Train dancer, and one of the smoothest movers Britain had ever seen. In 1982, he performed the backslide live on Top of the Pops. British teens thought he was defying gravity. But to dancers from LA to Lagos, this was old-school sorcery.

Want to go further back? In 1955, tap dancer Bill Bailey did a version. Before him? Marcel Marceau mimed it. Cab Calloway slid through the swing era with similar finesse. Even footage from the 1930s shows performers ghost-walking across stages before “moonwalk” was a word.

So no, the moonwalk didn’t drop from outer space. It was passed down like a secret scroll among Black dancers—refined, rehearsed, and reborn in every generation.

But here’s where things got cosmic:

When Michael Jackson saw Jeffrey Daniel dance, he called him. Not a “nice performance” DM. A direct request to learn everything. Daniel, along with Geron “Casper” Candidate and Derek “Cooley” Jackson, trained MJ in popping, locking, and yes—the backslide.

Then came 1983. Motown 25. “Billie Jean.” One iconic white glove. And the rest is pop-culture permanence.

What MJ did was genius: he rebranded a dance known in street circles as the “backslide” into the sleek, space-age “Moonwalk.” He added his weightlessness, froze time, and made it a moment.

But don’t confuse branding with inventing. The move came from the streets, not from sequins.

So next time someone says “Michael Jackson invented the moonwalk,” give them the smile of someone who knows better—and then moonwalk away.