Michael Jackson was a fan of Robert Burns and once recorded an album of the Bard’s poetry set to music.
The album plans were revealed by his friend, concert promoter and I’m a Celebrity… star David Gest, a year ago.
Gest, once married to Liza Minnelli, told the Daily Telegraph the disc would give a modern twist to the work of the Bard.
He said: "Our favourite poet in the world is Robbie Burns.
"Michael and I were originally going to do a musical on his life with Gene Kelly directing and Anthony Perkins as executive producer - but they both died.
"So Michael and I put all the poems to contemporary music in his studio in Encino.”
Gest went on to reveal that he and Jackson shared a profound fondness for Burns, both greatly admiring his “brilliant mind”.
Gest continued: "We did Ae Fond Kiss, Tam O'Shanter and all that. We turned his work into show tunes. It is beautiful and I still have the recordings.
"I am thinking more and more about bringing Red, Red Rose back to life because I went on that bridge when I was last in Scotland looking for Tam O'Shanter.
"I felt like I was a little kid looking for all those things Burns wrote about and the curator let me lay on the bed Burns slept in at his family home. The alarm went off. It was really surreal because Michael and I think of him as one of the most brilliant minds ever."
Scotland is celebrating 2009 as the Year of Homecoming, marking 250 years since Burns’s birth in 1759.
It is unclear whether Jackson’s Burns album was released to the public.
A love of the Bard was not Jackson's only connection with Scotland. He appeared with his brothers - The Jackson Five - in 1977 as part of a tribute to the Queen. The group's Royal Variety Performance took place at the King's Theatre in Glasgow.
Jackson's 'Dangerous' tour also came to Glasgow Green in August 1992.
Michael Jackson: Tell us your memories
Michael Jackson recorded Robert Burns album
