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Michael Jackson

This article is about the pop singer named Michael Jackson. For other people with the same name, see Michael Jackson (disambiguation)

Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958) is one of the most successful popular music singers of all time. He has been called the "King of Pop" or the "King of music video". Because of his eccentric behavior, he is also sometimes derisively referred to as "Wacko Jacko". Jackson's successful career has gained him legions of devoted fans, yet he has been dogged by media fascination with his changing physical appearance and, more recently, repeated accusations of pedophilia.

Table of contents

1 Personal background 1.1 Jackson's marriages and children 1.2 Miscellaneous 2 Jackson 5 3 Solo career 3.3 Off The Wall to Thriller 3.4 We are the World to Dangerous 3.4.1 Black Or White 3.5 HIStory to Invincible 3.6 One More Chance 4 2002 controversies 5 Bashir interview 6 Allegations of pedophilia 6.7 1993 allegation 6.8 Ongoing concern 6.9 2003 and 2004 charges 6.9.2 Gavin 6.9.3 Miscellaneous allegations 7 Miscellaneous 8 External links 8.10 News 8.11 Police and courts 8.12 Discussion Forums 8.13 Music 8.14 Interviews

Personal background

Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana to Joseph and Katherine Jackson. He was the seventh of nine children.

The Jackson children were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses and practiced door-to-door evangelization. Jackson continued to do so after becoming famous, but then in disguise. His career and flamboyant style led to friction with congregation elders. At one point, he was ordered to shun his sister LaToya because she had not been attending congregation meetings. In 1987, he formally left the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Jackson has been living at his 11 sq. km (2600 acres, [1]) ranch in Santa Ynez, California, named "Neverland" after the magical kingdom featured in the children's story Peter Pan. In Dec 2003 he said that after it had been searched by police (see below), it no longer felt like a home, and is now a house he just visits. He now lives in Beverly Hills in a $70,000-a-month rented home.

He says that, like Peter Pan, he does not want to grow up. Neverland contains a small zoo and amusement park. About once a week he has been inviting a bus full of (especially sick and poor) children there to have a day of fun. Jackson kept a chimpanzee, Bubbles, in Neverland, which he valued highly, treating him more like a friend than a pet. Bubbles was moved from the ranch after reaching maturity because adult chimpanzees are very strong and can be dangerous.

Jackson's marriages and children

In 1994 Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley; the marriage lasted less than two years, ending in divorce.

In 1996 he married Debbie Rowe. They had a son, Prince Michael, and a daughter, Paris Katherine. They were divorced in 1999. Rowe said that she let Jackson have the children as a "gift".

Around February 2002 Jackson had another son, Prince Michael II, also called "Blanket", with a surrogate mother whose identity has not been disclosed. In late 2002, Jackson stirred up controversy while staying in a hotel in Berlin by briefly suspending him over the edge of the railing of a balcony.

As a security measure against kidnapping, Jackson's children appear in public only when masked or veiled to cover their faces.

In December 2003 Jackson’s parents promised they would look after the three children if they were taken away from their son. Reportedly the children have been interviewed by social workers.

In March 2004 it was confirmed there was an unspecified family matter between Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe, to be handled in mediation.

Miscellaneous

Jackson, a vegetarian, claims a strong connection to both children and animals. His favorite pastimes include water balloon fights with children, climbing trees and sleepovers with children. He has written several songs sitting in his favorite tree at Neverland, which he calls Giving Tree, because it is so inspiring. He has several young friends whom he has entertained at Neverland.

Jackson's celebrity friends include actress Elizabeth Taylor and former child actor Macaulay Culkin, who are godparents to Prince Michael and Paris. He is also friends with paranormalist Uri Geller. He has also been friends with rabbi Shmuley Boteach, with whom Jackson founded the now defunct "Heal the World" and "Heal the Kids" foundations.

Jackson seems to have used extensive plastic surgery to modify his appearance, although he claims to have had only three operations: Two "nose jobs"--the first of which he claims was to repair a broken nose resulting from a dancing accident in 1978, and the second to correct imperfections in the first surgery--and the surgical creation of a cleft in his chin (Jackson often omits mentioning the cleft when listing his cosmetic surgery, but he confirms the surgery in his 1988 autobiography Moon Walk). Some critics have characterized his plastic surgery and purported "skin bleaching" as an attempt to hide his African-American ancestry. Jackson has insisted, however, that he only uses heavy makeup to mask the effects of vitiligo, a disease that causes uneven pigmentation of the skin.

Jackson has received numerous music awards including 18 Grammys. Estimates of his album sales worldwide range from 200 million to well over 300 million. His Thriller video is considered by some to be the best music video of all time and the largest step forward in artistic quality in the history of music videos. MTV and Rolling Stone recently named four of his songs ("Billie Jean" #5, "I Want You Back" #9, "Beat It" #23 and "Rock with You" #82) among the 100 greatest pop songs of all time.

Quotation about Jackson (Kathleen Parker): Ambivalence personified, he’s not quite black, not quite white, not quite man, not quite woman, not quite adult, not quite child. [1]

Jackson 5

Five of the Jackson brothers, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael, formed the Jackson 5 pop group in the mid 1960s. Michael was the lead singer. The group played at local clubs and bars. It is alleged that they were beaten and abused by their father if they performed poorly.

The Jackson 5 were discovered and signed to Motown Records in 1969. The Jackson family moved to California where the Jackson 5 soon became national stars. Their first four singles "ABC", "I Want You Back", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There" all became #1 hits. Later hits include the trend-setting "Dance Machine". With Motown Records the Jackson 5 made 14 albums, and Michael recorded four albums as a solo artist.

In 1976 they left Motown (and renamed themselves the Jacksons) and they sing with an another brother: Randy. Between 1976 and 1984 the Jacksons produced 6 records and toured internationally. Jermaine and Michael moved on to successful solo careers, as did all of his sisters, Rebbie, LaToya and Janet.

Jackson starred in the film The Wiz (alongside Diana Ross) in 1978. It was here that he met Quincy Jones (the producer of The Wiz), who would later produce Michael's three most acclaimed solo albums (Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad). Off the Wall (released in 1979) produced a record four #1 hits and sold six million copies in the United States.

Solo career

Off The Wall to Thriller

In the 1980s Jackson released a progression of solo albums of slickly-produced synthesizer-heavy pop.

His Thriller album was released in 1982, produced 7 hit singles, broke records and quickly became the world's best selling album (as of 2003 it has sold over 50 million copies). The "Billie Jean" music video, released to promote Thriller, became the first video by a black artist to be aired on MTV, and the Thriller short film released as The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller became the world's best selling home video at the time.

"Billie Jean" and "Thriller", as well as "Beat It", were the three music videos released from the album, and have since become three of MTV's most significant videos in history, placing highly on several MTV and VH1 countdowns, and receiving substantial airplay on MTV2 to this day. The album's other singles were "Human Nature" and "PYT (Pretty Young Thing)", both of which were also hits, despite neither having music videos.

While performing for the Motown 25th Anniversary Show on television in 1983, Jackson publicly performed the moonwalk (later his signature dance move) for the first time, stunning TV audiences. At the 1984 Grammy Awards Jackson was nominated for 12 awards and won a record-breaking 8 awards (now equaled by Carlos Santana) – 7 for Thriller and 1 for his narrative on The E.T. Storybook.

We are the World to Dangerous

Jackson starred in the George Lucas/Francis Ford Coppola 3-D film Captain Eo in 1986, which was shown in Disney theme parks until 1998. Minute for minute it is the most expensive film ever produced, costing an estimated US $30 million to make. Jackson created two new songs for the film.

In 1987 Jackson released Bad and began his first solo world tour. He performed to sold out audiences at each concert. The following year Jackson released a silly, playful movie entitled "Moonwalker" and a serious, personal autobiography titled Moon Walk.

Bad was another smash success for Jackson. Its singles and music videos "Bad", "Dirty Diana", "The Man in The Mirror", "Smooth Criminal", "Leave Me Alone", and "The Way You Make Me Feel" provided Jackson with another string of hits. The album's only relatively unsuccessful single, "Liberian Girl", remains to this day as one of Jackson's least seen music videos and least heard singles.

Jackson was awarded a record breaking $890 million contract by Sony and released an album Dangerous in 1991. During the Dangerous world tour Jackson announced the creation of his Heal the World Foundation. Dangerous contained the singles and music videos "Who Is It", "Give In To Me", "Gone Too Soon", and "Will You Be There", which would later become the theme song to the movie Free Willy. But the album's most successful and memorable singles and videos were "Jam", "Remember The Time", "Black Or White", "In The Closet", and "Heal The World". As was becoming the standard for Jackson, the album's music videos were among the most costly, creative, and innovative of their time. "Give In To Me" featured Slash from Guns n' Roses in its video. The video for "Heal The World", to correspond to Jackson's charity of the same name, featured children and people from throughout the world. "Will You Be There" showed Jackson singing in front of scenes from Free Willy. Several of the other videos had complex storylines and dance sequences, and featured cameo appearances by celebrities. The video for "Jam" showed Jackson and Michael Jordan playing basketball and dancing together, while "Remember The Time" was set in a Middle Eastern palace and starred Eddie Murphy as the king of the palace who was trying to entertain his wife, played by Iman. Magic Johnson played the king's chief guard. Jackson's singing and dancing is the thing that finally makes Iman's character happy, in the seven-minute long video. Jackson and Naomi Campbell played lovers in "In The Closet".

Black Or White

HIStory to Invincible

In 1997 Jackson released Blood on the Dance Floor a remix album of several of the tracks off of History, which also included 5 new songs. The album only had one single and official music video, the title track, which failed to catch on in America. However, Jackson also produced "Ghosts", a 40-minute short film, which was shown in several movie theaters and used the song "Ghosts" as well as the album's other new songs in the film. The short film "Ghosts" is occasionally played as an hour-long special, with space made for commercials, on MTV and VH1, especially during the Halloween season.

Jackson's 2001 album Invincible – the most expensive album ever – sold only 2 million copies in the United States but sold 5-6 million worldwide (a disappointment considering Jackson's previous success and the cost of the album). As opposed to his earlier albums – which each spawned at least six singles, most of which were generally worldwide smashes – Invincible produced only the singles "You Rock My World" and "Butterflies" in America. "Cry" was also issued as a third single in Europe. "You Rock My World" managed the top ten in America, but only for a week, and its big-budget, 14-minute music video only received sparse airplay on MTV, VH1, MTV2, and BET, usually in a shortened, 5-minute version. "Butterflies" was a top 40 hit in America, but did not reach the top 20, despite a popular radio remix featuring rapper Eve; the song's relative lack of success also allowed no budget for a music video.

In what was perhaps the "Golden Age" of the video clip, some of Jackson's videos were virtually short Source | Copyright