The R&B star was recounting the day he presented his song You Are Not Alone to the King of Pop, revealing he likes to sing tunes he's offering to other artists in their style, so they can really get a feel for it.

Kelly then stunned hosts Billy Bush and Kit Hoover by singing the hit just like Jackson.

He said, "It's the vibrato - that's how you get Michael."

And Jackson was clearly impressed: "He said, 'I can't believe you nailed the vocals; we should just leave you on the vocals. It sounds just like me'... He really said that to me."

The soul man admits it was a surreal day when he came face to face with one of his musical heroes - and his pet monkey - in his native Chicago, Illinois.

"He didn't want anybody in the studio but me and the engineer..., " Kelly recalls. "He had a cold or something and he was trying to get himself together. So here comes Michael and Bubbles... Bubbles came up in there and sat on the couch, crossed his legs... It did trip me out a little bit.

"Bubbles didn't talk but he almost looked like he wanted to say something really bad."