Michael Joseph Jackson ( Gary , Indiana , August 29, 1958 – Los Angeles , California , June 25, 2009 ) was an American singer, songwriter and composer. He is considered one of the greatest figures in the history of music and entertainment. With a career spanning over 4 decades he is widely known as the “King of Pop”. It is estimated that his record sales reach 500 million.
He was born in Gary, Indiana on August 29 , 1958 . He began his career in 1964 with his brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon as a member of the band The Jackson 5 . In 1971 he started his solo career at Motown Records . In 1975 the group left Motown and joined Epic , changing the name to The Jacksons . In 1979 , Jackson released the album Off the Wall (he left The Jacksonsin 1984). Since then, he has become one of the most commercially successful artists in music history .
Neverland
Thriller , released in 1982 , became the best-selling album of all time and remains the best-selling album, having sold 110 million copies worldwide to date according to Guinness World Records. In 1983 Jackson reunited with his brothers for the television tribute Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever where they performed their old hits such as “I Want You Back”, “The Love You Save”, “Never Can Say Goodbye” and “I’ ll Be There” then Jackson performed ” Billie Jean ” where for the first time he showed the dance move ” moonwalk” which became his trademark. He topped the Billboard album chart for 37 weeks, won 8 Grammy Awards and had 7 of his songs reach the Top #10.
In 1985 he participated with Trial BY Media MJ artists such as Stevie Wonder , Ray Charles , Tina Turner , Bruce Springsteen , Bob Dylan , Diana Ross, Kenny Rogers and many others in the song We Are The World, which Jackson wrote with Lionel Richie.
In 1986, Jackson starred in the George Lucas film “Captain EO” directed by Francis Ford Coppola.
1987 saw the release of Bad , the first album in almost 5 years. It is the first album to spawn 5 US number one singles , ” I Just Can’t Stop Loving You “, ” Bad “, ” The Way You Make Me Feel “, ” Man in the Mirror “, and ” Dirty Diana “.
In 1988 he released his autobiography called “Moonwalk” and starred in the movie “Moonwalker”.
In 1991, the album Dangerous was released with songs such as ” Black or White “, ” Remember the Time “, ” In The Closet “, ” Jam “, ” Who Is It “, Heal The World “, ” Give In to Me “, ” Will You Be There ” etc.
In 1995, the album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I was released with songs such as “Scream”, ” You Are Not Alone “, ” Earth Song “, ” They Don’t Care About Us “, ” Stranger In Moscow ” and past successes.
In 1997 the remix album Blood on the Dance Floor/HIStory in the Mix was released with songs such as “Blood on the Dance Floor “, “Ghosts” , “Is It Scary”, “Morphine”, “Superfly Sister” as well as remixes of songs from the album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I .
In 2001 he released his last album Invincible with songs like ” You Rock My World “, ” Cry “, ” Butterflies ” etc.
In addition to his albums, Jackson also has 13 songs on Billboard magazine’s top 100 songs , including ” Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough , ” ” Rock With You , ” ” Billie Jean , ” and ” Beat It .” as well as four additional songs with the Jackson 5 . His special dance moves, short films and pop appearance have inspired and influenced many artists such as Usher, Britney Spears , Beyoncé , Bruno Mars , Justin Timberlake, Selena , Jennifer Lopez , Kanye West, Rihanna , Lady Gaga, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber among others.
From the mid-1980s onwards, Jackson’s personal life occupied the media . In 1984, the Jacksons were shooting for a well-known soft drink, but the fireworks (effects) did not work properly and Michael’s hair caught fire, resulting in severe burns. His changing appearance also prompted questions about plastic surgery , his travels with his chimpanzee Bubbles, rumors that he slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, and the surgical masks he wore in public often portrayed him as eccentric.
In 1993 a 13-year-old boy accused Jackson of sexual abuse, the case ended with an out-of-court settlement and payment of a sum of money. Accused by another 13-year-old boy of sexual abuse in 2003, the case went to trial in 2005 where Jackson was acquitted of all charges.
After first being introduced to Lisa Marie Presley by Elvis ‘ father in 1974, Jackson reconnected with Lisa Marie in 1992. Presley supported Jackson when he became addicted to painkillers and convinced him to enter rehab. He proposed to Presley over the phone . He accepted and they married in 1994 in a private ceremony in the Dominican Republic . They separated in 1996 but continued to get back together and break up again 4 years after the divorce, according to Presley.
During his marriage to Presley he was on friendly terms with Debbie Rowe. She was his dermatologist’s assistant and had been treating him since the mid-1980s for the vitiligo disease Jackson suffered from. Jackson married Debbie Rowe in November 1996 in Sydney , Australia . This marriage produced two of Jackson’s three children, Prince (1997) and Paris (1998). Jackson and Rowe divorced in 1999. His third child, Prince Michael Jackson II (Biggie), was born via an anonymous surrogate in 2002.
Involvement in the music industryProcessing
MJJ Music was an American record label founded by Michael Jackson as a subsidiary of Epic Records . The label was active from 1994 to 2001. It released more R&B music, from artists such as Brownstone , 3T and Tatyana Ali . Due to difficulties between Jackson and his parent company (Sony Music) regarding the promotion of his entire career, Jackson was forced to close it in 2001, resulting in no future for MJJ Music in the music industry .
In 2006 Jackson appeared on a television show in a recording studio and MSNBC reported that he was working on a new album with will.i.am. Jackson performed at the World Music Awards in London on November 15, 2006 where he received the Diamond Award . Jackson returned to the United States after Christmas 2006 to attend James Brown ‘s funeral where he stated that ” James Brown is my biggest inspiration”.
In 2007, Jackson and Sony purchased another music publishing company, Famous Music LLC, which was owned by Viacom. This deal gave him the rights to songs by Eminem and Beck, among others.
As of September 2007, Jackson was still working on his next album, which was never completed. In 2008, Jackson and Sony released Thriller 25 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Thriller album. The album featured the previously unreleased song “For All Time”. Two remixes were released as singles : “The Girl Is Mine 2008” (featuring will.i.am), based on an early demo version of the original song without Paul McCartneyand “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ 2008” (featuring Akon). For Jackson’s 50th birthday, Sony BMG released “King of Pop,” a series featuring his greatest hits. Slightly different versions were released in some countries, based on local fan polls. “King of Pop” charted in the top 10 in most countries where it was released.
In March 2009, Jackson at a press conference at the O2 Arena in London announced a series of concerts entitled “This Is It”. It would be Jackson’s first major concert series since completing his HIStory Tour in 1997. The original plan was for 10 shows in London, followed by shows in Paris, New York and Mumbai. Randy Phillips, chairman and chief executive of AEG Live, said Jackson’s earnings from the first 10 shows would be around £50m. London concerts reached 50 after record ticket sales: over a million were sold in less than two hours. The concerts were to start on July 13, 2009 and end on March 6, 2010. Jackson arrived in Los Angeles for the tour led by director Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at the Staples Center.
On June 25, 2009, Jackson stopped breathing while trying to sleep under the care of Conrad Murray, his personal physician. Murray said he gave Jackson a range of drugs in an attempt to help him sleep at his rented mansion in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles. Attempts to revive Jackson were unsuccessful. Resuscitation efforts continued en route to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and for more than an hour after his arrival at 1:13 p.m. His death is announced at 2:26 p.m. pacific time. Many consider his death a murder. Most of the charges are against Conrad Murray. Even his own sister (Janet Jackson), considers his death to be a murder.
Jackson’s death caused worldwide grief. The news spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down and crash from user overload and an unprecedented strain on services and websites including Google, AOL Instant Messenger, Twitter and Wikipedia. Overall, web traffic ranged from 11% to at least 20% higher than normal. Channels like MTV and BET ran marathons of his music videos. MTV returned to its original format for the first time with hours of Jackson’s music videos, accompanied by live news with reactions from MTV personalities and more. Jackson’s memorial service was held on July 7, 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, a private family interment was later held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hall of Liberty. Tickets to the memorial were distributed through a lottery. over 1.6 million fans applied for tickets during the two-day application period. 8,750 names were drawn at random and each recipient received two tickets.
Artists including Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Jennifer Hudson, Usher and his brother Jermaine Jackson sang in his memory, while Queen Latifah read “We Had Him”, a poem written by Maya Angelou. His daughter Paris spoke publicly for the first time, tearfully telling the crowd: “Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine…and I just wanted to say I love him so much.”
At the time of death, Jackson had been administered propofol , lorazepam , and midazolam . A manslaughter investigation was conducted against the staff physician, Conrad Murray, who was sentenced in 2011 to 4 years in prison for Jackson’s death. He spent 2 years in prison and was released in 2013 due to good behavior.
On June 25, 2010, the first anniversary of Jackson’s death, fans traveled to Los Angeles to pay their respects. They visited Jackson’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , his family home and Forest Memorial Park. Members of Jackson’s family and close friends arrived to pay their respects. Katherine returned to Gary, Indiana to unveil a memorial in the front yard of the family home. The memorial service continued with a candlelight vigil and a special performance of “We Are the World.”
Posthumous salesProcessing
Jackson’s first posthumous song to be released was “This Is It,” which he had written in the early 1980s with Paul Anka. On October 28, 2009, Sony released a rehearsal documentary film, Michael Jackson’s This Is It. Despite a limited two-week run, it became the highest-grossing documentary or concert film, grossing over $260 million worldwide. Jackson’s estate received 90% of the profits. The film was accompanied by an album of the same name. Two versions of “This Is It” appear on the album, which also featured Jackson hits in the order they appear in the film, along with a bonus disc of older demo versions of more of Jackson’s hits and a spoken word poem, “
In the 12 months following his death, Jackson sold over 8.2 million albums in the United States and 35 million albums worldwide, making him the best-selling artist of 2009. He became the first artist to sell one million downloads in one week in the history of download music, with a record 2.6 million downloads of his songs. Three of his albums, Thriller, Number Ones and Essential Michael Jackson, sold more than any new album. Jackson also became the first artist in history to have 4 of the top 20 albums in one year in the United States. Following this increase in sales, Sony extended its distribution rights to Jackson’s material, which were set to expire in 2015. On March 16, 2010, Sony Music Entertainment,
On November 4, 2010, Sony announced Michael’s first posthumous album, released on December 14 of that year, with the promotional single, “Breaking News”, released to radio on November 8. Sony Music paid Jackson’s estate $250 million for the deal, plus royalties, making it the most expensive single-artist music contract in history. Video game company Ubisoft has announced a dance-singing game released in 2010, Michael Jackson: The Experience. was one of the first games to use the Kinect and PlayStation Move systems, the motion-sensing camera systems for Microsoft ‘s Xbox 360 andSony’s PlayStation 3 respectively.