Scorpio: The Other Man in the Mirror

It is said that everyone has a twin out there somewhere. But what do you do when your twin is a global icon?

ctually, what do you do when your twin is the infamous King of Pop, the late Michael Jackson? These are the questions asked of Scorpio, Southern California’s hottest Michael Jackson impersonator. Ambi’ance Magazine had the opportunity to sit down with this young man and find just who this other “Man in the Mirror” really is!

Ambi’ance: Tell me about Scorpio. What is your story?

Scorpio: I was born in Manhattan, NY and since infancy was raised on the west side of Detroit, MI. As a kid during that time we were into making the bikes with the motors on them and I was into that and cars. Then Bruce Lee came on to the scene and I really got into him. I started practicing Chinese Kung Fu and met a Muslim brother who also was experienced in Kung Fu and he taught me a lot of moves, take downs, grabs and so forth. There was a black belt Kung Fu school on Dexter Street and I would go there for a while. Then Michael Jackson came along. He was young then and singing with his brothers. Now it’s all about Michael Jackson and Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee and Michael Jackson. Kung Fu and dancing, Bruce Lee and Michael Jackson! (Laughing) I was so far into it that I started teaching my dog; King Kung Fu moves! I had him jumping when I jumped and all kind of things. (Laughing) Anyway, my mother was a blues singer and used to sing with B.B. King and The Bobby Blue Bland and I would sit back and rock to all of her music. There were always people from Motown coming by the house for dinner, Diana Ross and the Supremes, the Temptations, Twins, The O’Jays would drop through and many others. Funkadelic and Parliament used to live across the street from us and my mom used to date the late, Joe Tex. So there were always musical influences around me and I got into their music.

There was a dance show called, The Scene; our local version of Soul Train which was televised in Detroit, Chicago and other local cities. Now since I listened and danced to my mom’s music, had the Kung Fu moves, imitating everybody and everything around me, I was able to develop my own dance style. (Laughing) I danced on that show for about four or five years. My oldest brother Adolpho (who has since passed) came to Detroit from Los Angeles and told me about a show out there called Soul Train. He laid out the plan. He owned a salon in Los Angeles that catered to stars like Barry White, Denice Williams and others. I would be staying with him in Baldwin Hills while I danced on Soul Train and so I would be well taken care of. The plan was a good one, because I had been consistently thrown out of school and had been a member in a couple of well-known Detroit gangs by then. So I moved to Los Angeles. Immediately people started asking me where I was from. You see when I was in Detroit, things were different. The clothes were different. We dressed to the nines. We were clean, sharp clean! (Laughter) So until I moved to L. A., I had no idea what jeans and gym shoes were, so I was super weird to the people in L. A. Anyway, I began dancing and getting noticed by the dancers and the show’s guests, some whom I knew from Detroit and they were yelling out to me and stuff like that and Don Cornelius needed a group of dancers to go to Japan for a while and I was one of the ones selected. There were six of us and we were called, “The Ebony Dancers.” We were in Osaka, Japan for about three months doing the robot routine, dressed in those rainbow wigs, popping, locking and stuff like that. That was my first trip overseas!

When I returned from Japan, I moved back to Detroit to finish

school and about a year later I went back to California hanging with the celebrities at my brother’s shop. There was a club down the street called, “The Maverick’s Flats” where Jeffrey Daniels from Shalimar was the deejay at that time. I met a guy there by the name of Robot Rob. He was the baddest robot dancers I had ever seen in my life. Anyway, he approached me and asked where I was from because I was doing something totally different from everyone else and he liked my dance moves as well. We collaborated showing each other moves and later we got a couple of other people we knew together and formed Creative Illusions. We performed at, The Odyssey, Grand Slam, clubs in Hollywood, Orange County, Norwalk, all over, eventually adding lip-synching and entering dance contests always taking first place! (Laughing) One night we were at my house getting ready for an act and Michael Jackson came on. They asked me if I knew any of his moves. I told that I knew a little, but I wanted to do my own because I didn’t know enough of his moves to go into a contest and I didn’t want to risk losing. They went in the living room and got the Bad album, put it up next to my face and told me that I looked like Michael Jackson! (Laughing). I didn’t believe them until I really looked at us side by side! They had pulled a piece of hair into my face and I already wore a ponytail. Rob was an artist and he added some makeup to my face and that’s when I said, “I do, I do!” (Laughing) They kept telling me that I didn’t have to sing, all I had to do was dance which was fine by me, because I wasn’t singing at that time. We did our regular robot act and then I did mine. I did all of my own moves until the end when I ‘backslid’ which is Michael Jackson’s Moonwalk and jumped up on my toes! The crowd went crazy and the rest as they say is history! (Laughter)

Ambi’ance: Wow! So it wasn’t like you started out on this quest to be Michael Jackson, it just happened to literally fall into your lap!

Scorpio: Exactly, it just happened as a natural thing. It wasn’t as if I was like, “Hey I’m Michael Jackson!”

Ambi’ance: A lot of information was covered in a short period of time and it appears that becoming a Michael Jackson impersonator has been your blessing or your saving grace? It was never due to an idolization of sort.

Scorpio: No. It was God’s way of saving me from me! It was definitely saving grace because I would have gone back to Detroit into my old ways of doing things! You know?

Ambi’ance: You do carry a striking resemblance to the icon, Michael Jackson. Do you ever get that second look from people when they see you?

Scorpio: I have been told by people who see my shows that Michael has been reincarnated through my performances. I have been told that I carry his mannerisms, his speech and his moves. Ambi’ance: Have you studied him before or better yet, do you study him now since his death?

Scorpio: Not study him. I more so am placing my own moves in there along with the way that I have known him to be.

Ambi’ance: At the end of the day are you still Scorpio and able to separate yourself from your impersonation?

Scorpio: Most definitely.

Ambi’ance: Good! I am sure you have seen those that morph themselves so far into character that they completely lose self! Which is why I asked are you still Scorpio? Because of the uncannily likeness, I am sure others are curious as well.

Scorpio: Yes all day!

Ambi’ance: Great! I read that you actually had the opportunity to meet him? What was that like?

Scorpio: Yes. I did the SuperBowl with him as his double. I did the Heal the World Foundation with him in South Africa for the children in hospitals, which I really want to get back to. Especially since he is no longer here in human form, he is still here in spirit. I know that if I did that in his honor, he and God would both be happy.

Ambi’ance: What was Michael’s impression of seeing an impersonator of himself?

Scorpio: At the time I went, there

were myself and a couple of other Michael Impersonators. He would look at us give us a smile and a nod of approval. I have had times when I would talk to him for hours at a time on the phone. He would talk about silly things like climbing up in the tree and trying to count the stars, or he was always making beats with his mouths and developing them into perfection to use in his songs and so many other things! Amazing!

Ambi’ance: That is something that very few can say they have been able to experience, talk to Michael Jackson.

Scorpio: Yeah and my friends would be there and could remember a lot of things as well that we would talk about

Ambi’ance: Scorpio, you have traveled extensively. All around the world!

Scorpio: Yes I have. (Laughter)

Ambi’ance: That’s a long way from the west side streets of Detroit!

Scorpio: (Laughing) Wow, yes it is! What a blessing!

Ambi’ance: And all from dancing

Scorpio: I never thought of that until this moment

Ambi’ance: Is your mother still alive?

Scorpio: Yes, she’s seventy-five, still in her high heels! They call her Lady Gigi! (Laughter)

Ambi’ance: I’m definitely not mad at that! I’m going to be just like her at her age! (Laughter) Scorpio, You’ve overcome adversity, you’ve traveled the world, you’ve danced on one of the hottest dance shows ever to have hit the airwaves, you‘ve grown up breaking bread with legendary icons and you’re one of the most sought after Michael Jackson impersonators in Southern CA. What’s left for you to do?

Scorpio: Come to Atlanta and give you a big ole hug! (Laughter) I believe God is preserving my look and my life. I want to be on the big screen and show the world the real Michael Jackson. Show them that he was misunderstood. Show the immeasurable love he had for the human race. I have also been approached by Paramount to do a reality show, so that will be underway by the time this article comes out. I also want to return to South Africa and re-energize the Heal the World Foundation.

Ambi’ance: Where can our readers find you?

Scorpio: www.scorpioasmj.com I am on Facebook, YouTube, my email address is scorpioweebly@ yahoo.com and I can be called at 310-734-9075 for bookings.

Ambi’ance: I thank you for taking time out of your schedule to talk with me. I have enjoyed you to the fullest and can’t wait for you to hang out with me in Hotlanta! Scorpio: I would love to! I keep talking in ears letting them know that I am ready to go when they go so I can see what’s going on over there! (Laughter)

Ambi’ance: We’ll both keep talking and see what happens! You take one ear and I’ll take the other! (Laughing)

Scorpio: Well I’m here; I’m alive and ready to perform. I love the magazine and for what it stands for and represents. It’s super and it’s definitely a positive thing. For those reading this for the first time, you need to get on it, because the magazine is booming!

Ambi’ance: Well thank you and Ambi’ance Magazine feels the same about you! Much love, Scorpio!

One can only imagine being you, let alone the impersonator of a legendary icon, but Scorpio is doing his thing and doing it well! Having shared commonalities and pure understanding of the legendary icon, Michael Jackson, Scorpio proudly makes sure that this legend is never forgotten. Both coming from Detroit, reared around the legendary Motown greats, dancing and singing their way to Southern CA. Although, they traveled very different paths, the road still joined these two different, yet similar men together in a way that neither would ever forget and yet respect! Ambi’ance Magazine looks forward to seeing what else is on the horizon as he continues to draw strength from the other Man in the Mirror, Renalto “Scorpio” Spicer!