Michael Joseph Jackson was a singer and songwriter from the US.
An icon of pop culture who reached high sales figures and several awards, which named him
as the King of Pop.
He was born on August 29th 1958 in Gary, Chicago, in the state of Indiana.
He was the 8th child in a family of 10 children - his brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon
and Randy, and his sisters, Rebbie, La Toya and Janet.
A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after being born.
His parents were Joseph Walter “Joe” Jackson, an ex boxer who became a steel worker and
a guitar player; and Katherine Esther Scruse, who had also aimed to become a country singer.
Michael showed he had a great voice since he was a kid.
With so many siblings around, the easiest thing was creating a soccer team or a music
band, so they went for the second option.
In 1964, Michael and his brother Marlon joined the band already formed by Jackie, Tito and
Jermaine, and they created the Jackson Five.
Under the strict management of their dad, the band was step by step growing towards
success.
In 1965 they won a talent contest that took them on a tour around night clubs and discos
for 3 years.
They also recorded their first singles for Steeltown Records, a local record label.
The quantum jump came in 1969, when they signed for Motown.
With them, they published up to 10 albums in 6 years, and their first 4 singles made
it to the first place in the sales lists.
The whole family moved to a big house in California, and Michael started to stand out as a soloist.
It was during those years that he released his first cds alone, with Motown.
“Got To Be There”, “Ben”, “Music&Me” and “Forever, Michael”.
Even tho he was quite successful as well, Michael and his siblings got sick of Motown
being so strict with their music and restricting their creativity.
So, in 1975 they decided to sign for Epic Records and start a new stage in their career,
changing their name to “The Jacksons”.
They released 6 more albums between 1976 and 1984, with Michael as the main songwriter.
As for Michael alone, he had his debut in film in 1978, with the musical The Wiz, a
modern revision of “The Wizard of Oz”.
During the filming, Michael strengthened links with Quincy Jones, the soundtrack’s songwriter,
who was interested in producing his new CD.
The year after, they released “Off the Wall”, a more mature album than his previous ones,
which included songs written by Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.
It was a great success, specially the singles “Dont Stop Til You Get Enough” and “Rock
With You”.
He got several awards thanks to it, including a Grammy Award.
But this success was actually small compared to that of his next album, “Thriller”,
THE bomb in his career.
Not long ago, it was officialy the most-sold cd in the history of music.
Of course, he got dozens of awards with it, and also some of his classics such as Billy
Jean, Beat It or Thriller.
With this last one, Thriller, he recorded a video with the film director John Landis
in 1983, with a zombie theme, which turned into a landmark in the history of videoclips,
and an icon for the recently created tv channel MTV.
That same year, he performed for the tv special commemorating Motown’s 25th anniversary.
A concert recorded live where Michael performed Billie Jean and showed the whole world for
the first time his famous Moonwalk dance.
During the next years, Michael, apart from standing out with his sales, he also stood
out with his humanitarian work, getting several artists together to record the song We Are
The World - the earnings they made with it were destined to ease hunger in Ethiopia.
In 1986, he put himself under the direction of Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas,
to record the 3D short film “Captain EO”.
The next year, he released his seventh studio album, “Bad”.
Even tho it didnt reach the same record sales figures as Thriller, it was still a success
at a world level, and classics such as “Bad”, “Man in The Mirror” or “Smooth Criminal”
were in it.
Michael, already an icon, published his first autobiography, “Moonwalk”, the most-sold
book of the year in the US.
In 1988 he bought a ranch in California, where he built a theme park, a zoo and a cinema.
He transformed it into his new home, called Neverland in honor to his favorite character,
Peter Pan.
In 1991, he released “Dangerous”, album that contained other classics such as “Black
or White”, number 1 during 7 weeks in a row, or “Heal the World”, which would
name the organization Michael created the year after to help children in need.
One of his most spectacular performances took place during the Halftime Show of the Superbowl
in 1993.
It was such that it started the tradition of artists acting in this event.
In 1994, he surprised everyone secretly marrying Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis Presley’s daughter.
However, they weren’t together for long, and they divorced 20 months after.
It was then, in 1995, that Michael released his first double album, “HIStory: Past,
Present and Future, Book 1”.
The tour became the most succesful in all his career, with more than 4 million and a
half people attending.
It was accompanied by the release of “Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory int he Mix”,
a remixes album.
In 1996, he surprised everyone again marrying his personal nurse, Debbie Rowe, with whom
he would have his first 2 children: Prince Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., and Paris Michael
Katherine Jackson.
The couple got divorce soon after, in 1999, and she gave up the custody of the kids to
him.
In 2001, Michael released his last studio album, “Invincible”, with singles such
as “You Rock My World” and “Butterflies”.
After a series of concerts at the Madison Square Garden in NY to celebrate the 30th
anniversary of his career, Michael went on an 8-year period of silence, when he had his
3rd child, Prince Michael Jackson II.
It wasnt until March 2009 that he went on stage again, to announce his so waited for
come back, with a tour called “This is It”.
But finally, the tour was canceled when, some months before it started, Michael, unexpectedly,
died.
On June 25th 2009, while he was in his mansion, he suffered a cardiorespiratory failure and
doctors couldnt do anything to save him.
He was buried in the Forest Lawn cemetery, in Los Angeles, after a funeral broadcasted
on tv and watched by more than 2 thousand and 5 hundred million people.
With his premature death at the age of 50, he left behind a life full of classics in
music and record sales figures.
There was also controversy, though, that we could use to record a whole new video.
But in this case, we prefer talking only about his music, which will continue accompanying
us forever.