Duran Duran turned down the opportunity to collaborate with Michael Jackson after the King of Pop reached out to keyboard player Nick Rhodes. 

The singer called the band in the early 1980s about the possibility of working together but, according to Nick, they unanimously rejected his offer. 

Speaking ahead of their 15th album ‘Future Past’, due October 22, he tells ‘Watch What Happens Live’: “We got home after a tour – it must have been 1983 – the phone rings and my mum says, ‘There’s somebody on the phone for you, he says his name is Michael Jackson’.”

However, Nick wasn’t convinced by the chance call, admitting he thought it was “one of our crew winding me up”. 

“After a minute I thought, ‘Oh my God, it is Michael Jackson’,” adds Nick, “he was keen to make a record.”

But when he presented the idea to the group, they all passed on the opportunity and the collaboration never came into fruition. 

Duran Duran recently returned with Invisible, the lead single from ‘Future Past’, which features production from Erol Alkan, Giorgio Moroder and Mark Ronson. 

It features 12 new tracks and appearances from the likes of Blur’s Graham Coxon and long-time David Bowie pianist Mike Garson, and guest vocals from Lykke Li.

Three bonus songs are included with the deluxe edition of the record, which is available to pre-order now on various formats.