Wait, what?
Mindy Cohn, who played lovable Natalie Green on The Facts of Life for most of the ‘80s, has revealed an impressive connection to pop music history.
During DJ Mad Marl’s dance party on Twitch this past weekend, the 54-year-old actress said she sang back-up on Michael Jackson’s hit “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” from 1982’s Thriller.
Cohn recalled: “Me and Janet. And I’m the kids at the end, too. We went to listen to the record and Quincy Jones put us on the mic.”
According to the credits, the female voices at the end of the song are his sisters Janet and LaToya Jackson as well as Becky Lopez and Bunny Hull – but Cohn, who was 16 at the time, insists she was a “P.Y.T.” too.
“Have to post the pic on Instagram of the session,” she said. “It’s kinda wild!” (As of Tuesday morning, Cohn had not shared the photo.)
In a 2018 interview with Billboard, Janet Jackson recalled lending her voice to the track. “I was 16 and in between my first two records. Michael was recording Thriller. He invited me to the studio where he was about to sing ‘P.Y.T.’ and asked me to help out on background vocals,” she explained.
“Since we had been singing together forever, I knew it’d be easy. I jumped at the chance. I loved being one of the P.Y.T.’s and was especially proud—I hope this doesn’t sound like bragging—that when the record was mixed, my single background voice was the one featured. I can’t tell you how good that made me feel.”