Michael Joseph Jackson

29 August 1958 – 25 June 2009

 

The King Of Pop

The seventh child of the Jackson family, Michael Jackson began his singing career at the age of 11 as a member of The Jackson 5; his solo career started in 1971 whilst he was still a member of The Jackson 5.

Referred to as the "King of Pop" in subsequent years, four of his solo studio albums are among the world's best-selling records: Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and History (1995), while his 1982 Thriller is the world's best-selling record of all time.

In the early 1980s, he became a dominant figure in popular music and was the first African-American entertainer to have amassed a strong crossover following on MTV. The popularity of his music videos airing on MTV, such as "Beat It", "Billie Jean" and Thriller - credited for transforming the music video into an art form and a promotional tool - helped bring the relatively new channel to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made Jackson an enduring personality on MTV in the 1990s. With stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularised a number of physically complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and most famously, the moonwalk. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced many hip hop, pop and contemporary R&B artists.

He is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. His other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records, including one for "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time," 13 Grammy Awards, 13 number one singles in his solo career, (which is more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era). Jackson's highly publicised personal life, coupled with his successful career, made him a part of popular culture for almost four decades.

He died unexpectedly on June 25, 2009, aged 50, of a suspected cardiac arrest/heart attack. The specific cause of his death is yet to be determined, but addiction to prescription drugs are amongst the suspected contributory causes.

Main hits include:

Got to Be There (1972)

Ben (1972)

Music and Me (1973)

Forever, Michael (1975)

Off the Wall (1979)

Thriller (1982)

Bad (1987)

Dangerous (1991)

History (1995)

Invincible (2001)

Personal Quotes

• Elizabeth Taylor is a warm cuddly blanket that I love to snuggle up to and cover myself with. I can confide in her and trust her. She's Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, the Queen of England, and Wendy.

• Elizabeth Taylor used to feed me, to hand-feed me, at times. Please, I don't want anybody to think I'm starving, I'm not. My health is perfect, actually.

• I can't think of a better way to spread the message of world peace than by working with the NFL and being part of Super Bowl XXVII.

• I don't like pop music.

• I just want to say to fans in every corner of the earth, every nationality, every race, every language: I love you from the bottom of my heart. I would love your prayers and your goodwill, and please be patient and be with me and believe in me because I am completely, completely innocent. But please know a lot of conspiracy is going on as we speak.

• I'll always be Peter Pan in my heart.
• I am always writing a potpourri of music. I want to give the world escapism through the wonder of great music and to reach the masses.

• I have spent my entire life helping millions of children across the world. I would never harm a child. It is unfortunate that some individuals have seen fit to come forward and make a complaint that is completely false. Years ago, I settled with certain individuals because I was concerned about my family and the media scrutiny that would have ensued if I fought the matter in court. These people wanted to exploit my concern for children by threatening to destroy what I believe in and what I do. I have been a vulnerable target for those who want money.

• I made a terrible mistake. I got caught up in the excitement of the moment. I would never intentionally endanger the lives of my children.

• I'm a visionary and a creative person. God blessed me with certain talents. I hate to use an analogy, but Walt Disney was creative but not good with business. His brother Roy handled the books. He loved creating family-orientated entertainment and so do I. I feel that was a gift and I have that gift also. I'm very honored to have been chosen.

• I love my children. I was holding my son tight. Why would I throw a baby off the balcony? That's the dumbest, stupidest story I ever heard.

• I think that it's demeaning and disrespectful, but I also want to make it clear it's not just about me but a pattern of disrespect that he has shown to our community. He needs to stop it and he needs to stop it now – speaking about Eminem’s video "Just Lose It”.

• I trusted Martin Bashir to come into my life and that of my family because I wanted the truth to be told. Martin Bashir persuaded me to trust him that his would be an honest and fair portrayal of my life and told me that he was the man that turned Diana's life around. I am surprised that a professional journalist would compromise his integrity by deceiving me in this way. Today I feel more betrayed than perhaps ever before; that someone, who had got to know my children, my staff and me, whom I let into my heart and told the truth, could then sacrifice the trust I placed in him and produce this terrible and unfair programme. Everyone who knows me will know the truth which is that my children come first in my life and that I would never harm any child. I also want to thank my fans around the world for the overwhelming number of messages of support that I have received, particularly from Great Britain, where people have e-mailed me and said how appalled they were by the Bashir film. Their love and support has touched me greatly.

• I was coming out of the shower and I fell and all my body weight - I'm pretty fragile - all my body weight fell against my rib cage. And I bruised my lung very badly.

• Just because you read it in a magazine or see it on a TV screen doesn't make it factual. To buy it is to feed it, (speaking about the tabloids).

• Marlon Brando has been pushing. He's a wonderful man. He's a god. He wants a lot of money. He wants to get things done right now - speaking about a video about acting which he planned to make with Marlon Brando in 2001.

• People think they know me, but they don't. Not really. Actually, I am one of the loneliest people on this earth. I cry sometimes, because it hurts. It does. To be honest, I guess you could say that it hurts to be me.

• There is a lot of sadness in my past life. My father beat me. It was difficult to take being beaten and then going on stage. He was strict; very hard and stern.

• You ain't seen nothin’ yet, and the best is yet to come.

• When I saw him move I was mesmerised. I've never seen a performer perform like James Brown and right then and there, I knew that that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.