Mr Lucky's was the first club the Jackson 5 (left) hit after winning a city-wide talent contest in Gary. -- PHOTO: AP
GARY (Indiana) - THE owner of the nightclub where Michael Jackson first performed professionally with the Jackson 5 wants to sell the building to fans of the King of Pop brick by brick.
Andrew Young, a businessman in Gary, Indiana - the Jacksons' home town - said he bought the now shuttered 'Mr Lucky's Lounge' one year ago, with the idea of revitalising it.
That plan has changed since the international pop icon's death last week.
'If we have enough interest, we will take it apart by hand, piece by piece, being very careful to preserve every single thing,' Mr Young said on Friday.
Steeltown Records founder Gordon Keith, who first signed the Jackson 5, has confirmed that Mr Lucky's was the first club the Jackson 5 hit after winning a city-wide talent contest in Gary.
The gritty steel town is located 16km south-east of Chicago.
'This is how it all started,' Mr Young said, 'back then you had to have talent and claw your way up from the bottom.'
Mr Young is now in the process of starting up a website where interested bidders can view some of the memorabilia.
Mr Lucky's closed a couple of years ago and is now a decrepit, red brick building with boarded up windows and steel poles holding up its overhang.
Inside is a hardwood stage that Mr Young says is the same one the Jackson 5 first performed on.
Photos of the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson from the 'Thriller' era surround the bar and records and record jackets are nailed to the walls.
It is just a stones throw from the Jackson family home at 2300 Jackson Street.
Since the 50-year-old Jackson was pronounced dead over a week ago sales of his recordings have once again taken off and the value of Jackson memorabilia has skyrocketed.
Jackson's father, a steelworker, formed the Jackson 5 in 1964. The family left Gary for good when Michael was 11-years-old after signing a record contract with Motown Records. -- AFP
