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Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009)  was an American singer-songwriter, dancer and philanthropist. Referred to as the "King of Pop", Michael was the most awarded individual music artist in history. His sound and style have influenced artists of various genres, and his contributions to music, dance, and fashion made him a global figure in popular culture for four decades.

He is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records, as well as one of the most influential and the greatest American pop artists of all-time. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion (as well as a much-publicized personal life) made him a global figure in popular culture for over 4 decades.

Biography

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Jackson at the '84 Grammys

The eighth child of the Jackson family, Jackson made his professional debut in 1964 with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5. Jackson began his solo career in 1971 while at Motown Records with Got to Be There (1972), Ben (1972), Music & Me (1973) and Forever, Michael and became a solo star with his 1979 album Off the Wall.

Michael achieved the peak of his critical success after the release of his 1982 album Thriller, which became the best-selling album of all time with sales of 70 million copies worldwide, and gave Michael an unprecedented level of cultural significance for a black American, becoming the most popular entertainer in the world in the early and mid-1980s. Thriller also set a record for the most top 10 singles from an album, after all seven of its singles reached the top 10, with "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" reaching number one. The "Thriller" music video was premiered to great anticipation in December 1983 and played regularly on MTV. Michael's 1987 album Bad, one of the most anticipated albums of its time, was also hugely successful and became the first album to produce five number-one singles.

Michael continued his success with the albums Dangerous (1991) and HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995). His final studio album, Invincible (2001), was his most critically derided album, although retrospective reviews have been more positive. Outside of music, Michael was respected for his frequent humanitarian work, he was estimated to have donated over $500 million to charity over the course of his life. He received various awards and accolades for his philanthropic work, including two bestowed by US Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

Michael was estimated sales to have sold over 400 million records worldwide. making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He had 13 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era) and was the first artist to have a top-ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades. He is regarded by the RIAA as the highest-selling individual music artist of all time worldwide.

According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Jackson has been proclaimed "The Most Awarded Entertainer of All Time," "The Biggest-Selling Artist of All Time," "The Most popular Artist in the history of Show Business," and "The World's Most Famous Man."

Even as Thriller was something of a pop perpetual motion machine, selling records of its own accord, Michael worked hard. He once again teamed with Paul McCartney, singing "Say Say Say" for McCartney's 1983 album Pipes of Peace, and he reunited with the Jackson 5 for 1984's Victory, supporting the album with an international tour. Prior to its launch, Michael suffered a serious accident while filming a Pepsi commercial designed to accompany the tour. During the shoot, pyrotechnics burned Michael's head, sending him to the hospital with second-degree burns to his scalp; as he recovered, he started using pain killers for the first time.

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Jackson showing signs of Vitiligo

Michael earned accolades for his philanthropic work, especially his collaboration with Lionel Richie on the 1985 charity single "We Are the World," but along with these positive notes, wild stories began to circulate in the tabloids. Some further bad press accompanied his acquisition of the Lennon and McCartney songwriting catalog in 1985, a move that severed his partnership with Paul McCartney. Michael also flirted with becoming a movie star, working with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola on the 3D film Captain EO, shown only at Disney's IMAX theaters starting in 1986. Once this appeared, he started work on the task of following up Thriller. At this time it would also come out that Jackson was diagnosed with a rare case of vitiligo called Vitiligo universalis which refers to complete or nearly complete depigmentation of the skin (80–90% of body surface). It is usually preceded by generalized vitiligo that gradually progresses to complete or near complete depigmentation of the skin and hair.

Working once again with Quincy Jones, Michael refined the Thriller template for 1987's Bad. Like Thriller, the first single was an adult contemporary number -- "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," a duet with then unknown Siedah Garrett -- before it cranked out hits: "Bad," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Man in the Mirror," and "Dirty Diana" all reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1987 and 1988, with "Another Part of Me" just missing the Top Ten and "Smooth Criminal" peaking at seven. Bad didn't dominate the charts in other countries but its singles reached the Top Ten internationally with some regularity, aided in part with a globe-spanning tour -- the first solo tour of Michael Michael's career. The Bad World Tour broke records across the globe and in its wake, he started calling himself "The King of Pop," a nickname that was something of a retort to Elvis Presley being known as "The King of Rock & Roll." Once the tour wrapped up, Michael returned to his new home -- a Santa Ynez ranch that he purchased in March 1988 and renamed Neverland.

Michael renewed his deal with Sony -- the corporation that purchased Epic/CBS -- in 1991 and then set to work on his next album. This time, he decided to part ways with Quincy Jones, choosing to work with a variety of collaborators, chief among them Teddy Riley, who helped usher Michael into the realm of new jack swing. "Black or White," the album's first video, caused some controversy, which helped generate initial press and sales and sent the single to number one. "Remember the Time" and "In the Closet" also made it into the Billboard Top Ten in early 1992, but subsequent singles "Jam" and "Heal the World" stalled in the low 20s, while "Who Is It" made it to 14. Michael married Lisa Marie Presley in May 1994; their marriage lasted just 19 months. Also around this time

Michael rebooted his career in 1995 with HIStory: Past, Present & Future, Book 1, a double-disc set divided into an album of hits and an album of new material. Preceded by a double-A-sided single containing the ballad "Childhood" and "Scream," a duet with his sister Janet, the album underperformed compared to its predecessors but still generated big hits, highlighted by "You Are Not Alone," the first single to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The subsequent singles "They Don't Care About Us" and "Stranger in Moscow" underperformed in the U.S. but were Top Ten singles in the U.K., and HIStory also did well in other global international markets, aided in part by the lengthy accompanying global tour. In 1997, Michael followed HIStory with Blood on the Dance Floor, an album that topped the U.K. charts but only reached 24 in the U.S.

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2007 Ebony Magazine Shoot

By that point, Michael had married his nurse, Debbie Rowe, who would soon become to the mother of two children: Prince Michael Jackson, Jr. and Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. Over the next couple of years, Michael raised his family and performed at charitable events, starting work on a comeback planned for 2001. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a solo act that year (the Jackson 5 had previously been inducted) and he staged two major 30th anniversary concerts in September 2001 to kick off the promo campaign for his new album, Invincible. Produced in large part by Rodney Jerkins, Invincible consciously evoked Off the Wall with its single "You Rock My World," which reached ten prior to the album's October release. Invincible entered the charts at number one in the U.S. and U.K., but it didn't have staying power and never generated another hit single.

He had a third child, Prince Michael Michael II in 2002. Sony released the first-ever single-disc collection of Michael's peak, Number Ones, in 2003; it had a new song, "One More Chance." Over the next few years, many catalog releases materialized: the 2004 box set The Ultimate Collection, the 2006 double-disc set The Essential Michael Michael, a collectors box called Visionary in 2006, and his catalog saw deluxe reissues in 2008.

In 2009, while preparing for a series of comeback concerts, This Is It, Jackson would suddenly pass away from an overdose of propofol administered by his personal physician, Conrad Murray, who was subsequently convicted of involuntary manslaughter. The memorial service was held July 7, 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The televised memorial service was viewed by an estimated 2.5 billion people globally.

Playing the Scarecrow

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Michael as The Scarecrow

Michael portrayed the Scarecrow in the 1978 movie version of The  Wiz. He was 19 years of age when he portrayed the Scarecrow. Around this time he was dating Stephanie Mills , whom played Dorothy in the original Wiz Broadway show . This scarecrow is stuffed with garbage and is only three days old (rumored) and for him to educate himself, he would pull famous quotes like Shakespeare from his body to read. And to make himself seem more intelligent he would use big words such as ( Indications and Advantageous). Michael also gave the character a child like presence, wonder and innocence as he was always curious of he's surrounding as he was constantly looking around or would closely examine something, never standing completely still.

By the start of development on The Wiz in 1978, The Jacksons had left Motown for Epic Records after the release of their tenth album Moving Violation, though Jackson had yet to make a solo album since his fourth album Forever, Michael. Rob Cohen, head of Motown Productions, thought Jackson would be perfect for the role of the Scarecrow, and approached Berry Gordy with the idea, who agreed, though director Sidney Lumet was harder to convince.

Lumet wanted Jimmie Walker, star of CBS-TV’s Good Times, telling Cohen “Michael Jackson’s a Vegas act. The Jackson 5’s a Vegas act.” Quincy Jones was also skeptical of Jackson, but after Cohen arranged a meeting, flying 19-year-old Jackson to New York, Lumet and Jones saw the qualities that Cohen saw. Jackson's father, Joseph Jackson, was wary of the project and saw it as a threat to the Jacksons group cohesion. Cohen moved Michael and his sister La Toya Jackson into a Manhattan apartment, allowing him to be on his own for the first time.

During the production, he became a frequent visitor to New York's famous Studio 54. Jackson was dedicated to the Scarecrow role, and watched videotapes of gazelles, cheetahs and panthers in order to learn graceful movements for his part. The long hours of uncomfortable prosthetic makeup by Stan Winston did not bother him. During the production of the film, Jackson asked Quincy Jones who he would recommend as a producer on a yet unrecorded solo album project. Jones, impressed by Jackson's professionalism, talent and work ethic on the film, offered to be producer of what became Off The Wall (1979), then later on the hugely successful albums Thriller (1982) and Bad (1987).

Gallery

Discography

Motown releases (as The Jackson 5)

  • Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 (1969)
  • ABC (1970)
  • Third Album (1970)
  • Jackson 5 Christmas Album (1970)
  • Maybe Tomorrow (1971)
  • Lookin' Through the Windows (1972)
  • Skywriter (1973)
  • G.I.T.: Get It Together (1973)
  • Dancing Machine (1974)
  • Moving Violation (1975)

CBS/Epic releases (as The Jacksons)

  • The Jacksons (1976)
  • Goin' Places (1977)
  • Destiny (1978)
  • Triumph (1980)
  • Victory (1984)
  • 2300 Jackson Street (1989)

Solo Albums

  • Got to Be There (1972)
  • Ben (1972)
  • Music & Me (1973)
  • Forever, Michael (1975)
  • Off the Wall (1979)
  • Thriller (1982)
  • Bad (1987)
  • Dangerous (1991)
  • HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)
  • Invincible (2001)

Posthumous releases

  • Michael (2010)
  • Xscape (2014)

Compilation albums

  • The Best of Michael Jackson (1975)
  • One Day in Your Life (1981)
  • 18 Greatest Hits (1983)
  • Anthology (1986)
  • 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Michael Jackson (2000)
  • Love Songs (2002)
  • Number Ones (2003)
  • The Ultimate Collection (2004)
  • The Essential Michael Jackson (2005)
  • Visionary: The Video Singles (2006)
  • King of Pop (2008)
  • The Collection (2009)
  • Scream (2017)

Other albums (remix, soundtracks, etc.)

  • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
  • The Michael Jackson Mix (1987)
  • Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix (1997)
  • Thriller – 25th Anniversary Edition (2008)
  • Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009)
  • Immortal (2011)
  • Bad – 25th Anniversary Edition (2012)
  • Thriller – 40th Anniversary Edition (2022)

Video albums

  • Moonwalker (1988)
  • Dangerous: The Short Films (1993)
  • Video Greatest Hits – HIStory (1995)
  • HIStory on Film, Volume II (1997)
  • Number Ones (2003)
  • The One (2004)
  • Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour (2005)
  • Michael Jackson's Vision (2010)
  • Live at Wembley July 16, 1988 (2012)

Tours

  • The Jackson 5 First National Tour (1970) (May 2 - December 30, 1970)
  • The Jackson 5 Second National Tour (1971) (January 2, 1971 - October 15, 1971)
  • The Jackson 5 US Tour (1971 - 1972) (December 27, 1971 - October 5, 1972)
  • The Jackson 5 European Tour (1972) (November 2 - 12, 1972)
  • The Jackson 5 World Tour (1973 - 1975) (March 2, 1973 - December 1975)
  • The Jackson 5 Final Tour (1976) (February 2 - 14, 1976)
  • The Jacksons Tour (1977) (May 19 – 24, 1977)
  • Goin' Places Tour (1978) (January 22 – May 13, 1978)
  • Destiny Tour (1979–1980) (January 22, 1979 – January 13, 1980)
  • Triumph Tour (1981) (July 8 – September 26, 1981)
  • Victory Tour (1984) (July 6 – December 9, 1984)

Solo

  • Bad (1987–1989)
  • Dangerous World Tour (1992–1993)
  • HIStory World Tour (1996–1997)
  • MJ & Friends (1999)
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