Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958), also known as The King of Pop or pejoratively as Wacko Jacko, is an American musician whose successful music career and controversial personal life have been at the forefront of pop culture for the last quarter-century.

Michael Jackson's music spans many styles, including R&B/soul, pop, disco, funk, rock, and hip hop. His innovations in popular music, and the music video medium have influenced today's singers, such as Usher and Justin Timberlake.

Michael Jackson began his musical career at the age of five as lead singer of The Jackson 5 and began a full-fledged solo career in 1979. Since then he has recorded and co-produced the best-selling album of all-time (Thriller, with over fifty million copies sold worldwide), received thirteen Grammy Awards, charted thirteen number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and sold over 300 million albums and singles worldwide. Michael Jackson has been awarded numerous honors, including the World Music Award for "Best Selling Male solo Artist of the Millennium". Michael Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Jackson has been married twice and has three children.

In 1993 and 2003, Michael Jackson faced allegations of child sexual abuse, and was eventually tried and acquitted of these allegations in 2005.

Michael Jackson Biography

Early beginnings: 1958–1980

Michael Joseph Jackson was born to Joseph and Katherine Jackson in Gary, Indiana. He was the seventh of nine children, including Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, LaToya, Marlon, Randy and Janet.

Joseph organised his children into a music group called "The Jackson 5". The group played local clubs and bars, building up a following and eventually signing a contract with Motown Records in the late 1960s. The Jackson 5 soon became national stars with their first four singles charting at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Michael also released four solo albums and charted many hit singles under the Jackson 5 franchise including the hits "Ben", and a remake of Bobby Day's Rockin' Robin.

Eventually The Jackson 5 reached lower chart positions and sold fewer copies with each new album and single they released. In 1976, the group signed a new contract with CBS Records (first joining the Philadelphia International division and later moving over to Epic Records). Upon learning that the Jackson 5 had signed a contract with another label, Motown sued the group for breach of contract. As a result, they lost the rights to use the "Jackson 5" name and logo and changed their named to "The Jacksons". The newly named Jacksons, featuring youngest brother Randy in Jermaine's place, continued their successful career, touring internationally and releasing six albums between 1976 and 1984.

In 1978, Michael Jackson starred as the scarecrow in "The Wiz," with former-labelmate Diana Ross playing Dorothy. The musical film's songs were arranged by famed producer Quincy Jones, who established a partnership with Jackson and agreed to produce his first solo album. Off the Wall, released in 1979, was a worldwide hit, and spawned four top-ten hits, including "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock With You". The album went on to sell 20 million copies worldwide, establishing Jackson as a musical force without his brothers. After the success of Off the Wall, Jackson began work on his second solo album with Quincy Jones.

Success & Controversy: 1982–1992
 
The special edition cover features Jackson holding a tiger cub.Michael Jackson's 1982 album Thriller became the best-selling album in music history with over 50 million copies sold worldwide. In 1984, Thriller won seven Grammy awards. In that same year, Jackson also won a Grammy for the E.T. Storybook, breaking the record for the most Grammy awards won in a single year. The album spawned seven hit singles, including "Billie Jean" (which was the first music video by a black artist to receive regular airplay on MTV), "Beat It" and the album's title track which was accompanied by a revolutionary music video. The thirteen-minute "Thriller" was packaged with the featurette The Making of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and released as a home video).

During the 1980s Jackson's popularity escalated, performing "Billie Jean" at the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever concert and debuting the moonwalk, reuniting with his brothers for the Victory album and tour, and co-writing the hit charity single "We Are The World" which helped raise money and awareness for famine in East-Africa. However, despite his fame and success Jackson was involved in many controversies during the eighties which tainted his public image. The controversies started in 1984 when Jackson burnt his scalp while filming a commercial for Pepsi-Cola. More controversy followed in 1985 when Jackson purchased ownership of ATV Publishing who owned rights to Elvis Presley's and The Beatles' songs. Recent reports claim Jackson may lose his ownership of the catalogue due to personal financial problems. Following this controversial business deal, bizarre tabloid stories of Jackson sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber to stall the aging-process, and purchasing the skeleton of the Elephant Man inspired the pejorative nickname "Wacko Jacko".

In 1987, after starring in the George Lucas/Francis Ford Coppola 3-D film Captain Eo, Jackson released Bad, his third and final album with producer Quincy Jones. Bad sold 29 million copies and spawned five number-one singles ("I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana"). The album was supported by an eighteen-month world tour.

Jackson hired film director Martin Scorsese to direct the video for the album's title track. When the 18-minute music video debuted on TV, it sparked a great deal of controversy as it was apparent that Jackson's appearance had changed dramatically. Although Jackson's skin color was a medium-brown color for the entire duration of his youth, his skin has lightened gradually since 1982, and is today a pale cream color. Jackson has attributed his changing skin color to vitiligo and denies rumours that he bleached his skin. Another significant reason for his change in appearance is use of plastic surgery. In his 1988 autobiography Moon Walk, Jackson states he had two rhinoplastic surgeries and the surgical creation of a cleft in his chin, while attributing puberty and diet to the noticible change in the stucture of his face. When listing his cosmetic surgery nowadays, Jackson often omits mentioning the cleft. A number of surgeons, including prominent plastic surgeon Dr. Pamela Lipkin, have disagreed with jacksons claims, believing he has undergone multiple nasal surgeries as well as a forehead lift, thinned lips and checkbone surgery. Jacksons own plastic surgeon Dr. Stephen Hoefflin, who had operated his nose, also stated in an interview that Jackson had more surgery than he had recommended.

Michael Jackson ended the eighties by being named "Artist of The Decade" by numerous organisations. Close friend of Jackson's Elizabeth Taylor, presented him with an "Artist of the decade" awarded in 1989, and during her introduction referred to him as "the true king of pop, rock and soul".

 In 1991, Michael Jackson released Dangerous, his first release under his new record-breaking US$890 million contract with Sony. Sales of the album equalled Bad with 29 million copies sold worldwide. The major hit from Dangerous was "Black or White", which was accompanied by a controversial music video featuring scenes of a sexual nature, violence and racism. The video was banned on most music-television channeld until the scenes of violence and sex enacted by Jackson breaking windows and simulating masturbation were edited out of the video.

Allegations & Decline: 1993–2002

Influenced by the hit Dangerous single "Heal The World", Jackson founded the "Heal the World Foundation" in 1992. The charity organisation brought under-privileged children to Jackson's Peter Pan-inspired Neverland Ranch, located outside Santa Ynez, California to enjoy the rides and amusements Jackson had built on the property since he purchased it in 1988. He would also occasionally let children sleep-over at Neverland. This practise soon became frowned-upon when allegations of child sexual abuse were brought against Jackson. In 1993, Jordan Chandler, the son of former Beverly Hills dentist Evan Chandler, represented by civil lawyer Larry Feldman, accused Jackson of child sexual abuse. In 1994, Jackson settled out of court with the accuser for a reported USD 20 million and was not charged.

At the same time, Mary Fischer wrote an article on Jackson in GQ, the article challenged the Chandler family as 'using Jackson as a pawn in their endless custody battle'. This heavily researched article is often the basis for most, if not all sourced information on the allegations made against Jackson at this time in his life.

After the allegations were settled in 1994, Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley. The marriage was severely criticized by the media and lasted less than two years. Despite some comments questioning the validity of this union, Presley has always maintained that they both shared a married couple's life during their time together and were sexually active.

The first disc, HIStory Begins, was a fifteen-track greatest hits album (in 2001, HIStory Begins was re-released on its own as Greatest Hits - HIStory Vol. I), while the second disc, HIStory Continues, contained fifteen new songs. The album sold 18 million copies (36 million disc).

Not long after his divorce with Presley, Jackson married his dermatologist's nurse Deborah Jeanne Rowe on November 14, 1996, with whom he fathered a son, Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr. (who publicly goes by the name "Prince"), and a daughter, Paris Katherine Jackson. Jackson and Rowe were divorced in 1999. Jackson later said that Rowe wanted him to have the children as a "gift".

In 1997, Jackson released an album of remixes of hit singles from the "HIStory" album titled Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix. Jackson also recorded five original songs which were put on the album ("Blood On The Dance Floor", "Is It Scary?", "Ghosts", "Superfly Sister" and "Morphine"). Of the new songs, three were released globally, including the title track which reached number-one in the UK. The album suffered lower-than-average sales compared to Jackson's standard, selling six million copies worldwide. Other single releases from the album included "Ghosts", and "Is It Scary?", which were songs based on a film Jackson created that year titled "Ghosts". The film, written by Michael Jackson and Stephen King and directed by Stan Winston, features impressive special effects and dance moves choreographed to original music written by Michael Jackson.

The cover of the Michael Jackson's Invincible album. Five variant covers, each with the same design but sporting different colors, were released.Jackson's latest album Invincible was released in October 2001, after two years in production. The album debuted at number-one in fourteen countries and has since sold eight million copies worldwide. The singles released from the album include "You Rock My World," "Cry," and "Butterflies". Just before the release of Invincible, Jackson informed Sony Music Entertainment head, Tommy Mottola, that he was not going to renew his contract, which was about to expire in terms of supplying the label with albums of full-new material for release through ER/SME. In 2002 all the singles releases, video shootings and promotions, concerning the Invincible album were cancelled. Due to this, Jackson made allegations about Sony not supporting its African-American artists. Jackson referred to Mottola as a "devil" and "racist" who used black artists for his own personal gain. Sony issued a statement stating that they found the allegations strange, since Motolla was once married to half-Black R&B star Mariah Carey. Carey seemed to be nonchalant about Jackson's claims on Larry King Live.

Trial & Acquittal: 2003–present
 
In 2003, a controversial documentary titled "Living with Michael Jackson" and including exclusive interviews with Michael Jackson about his personal life was shown to an international television audience. British journalist Martin Bashir and his film crew filmed Jackson for months, also capturing his controversial behaviour in Berlin, where he suspended his youngest son (Blanket, born in early 2002 through surrogacy) over a balcony railing in Berlin, Germany. One particular part of the documentary which stirred controversy and raised a significant level of concern showed Jackson holding hands with a 13-year-old cancer victim named Gavin Arviso and admitting to sharing his bedroom with Gavin (not in the same bed), and his bed (non-sexually) with other children. Jackson felt betrayed by Bashir and complained that the film gives a distorted picture. He fought back releasing his own documentary, filmed simultaneously by his own personal cameraman who caught Jackson's full explanations on the topics of plastic surgery, the "baby dangling" incident, and his relationships with children.

November of that year, Michael Jackson and Sony Records released a compilation of his number one hits on CD and DVD titled "Number Ones". The compilation was highly successful selling over six million copies worldwide. On the album's scheduled release date, while Michael Jackson was in Las Vegas filming the video for "One More Chance" (the only new song included in the "Number Ones" compilation), the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department raided Neverland Ranch and arrested Michael Jackson on charges of child molestation. Jackson was accused of sexual abuse by Gavin Arviso, who appeared in the "Living with Michael Jackson" documentary earlier that year. The allegations later lead to a 2005 trial in which Jackson was found not guilty of all charges.

The criminal case was tried in Santa Maria, California during the spring of 2005. On June 13, Jackson was acquitted of all ten charges, including four additional lesser ones. CNN later reported that two of the jurors, Ray Hultman and Eleanor Cook, believed he had committed child sex crimes in the past but there was not enough evidence to prove it, and announced impending books on their experiences in the trial. It has been reported that one of the jurors is taking legal action against the publisher of his book, claiming he was tricked into it.

After being acquitted of the child molestation charges, Jackson relocated to the Gulf island of Bahrain, where he reportedly bought a house formerly owned by a Bahrain MP. While in Bahrain, Jackson also reportedly took on the role of entertainment consultant in a business venture to develop the Gulf's music and entertainment industry. Jackson has spent his time in the Gulf writing new music, including a charity single dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina titled, "I Have This Dream" set for a mid-late February 2006 release.

In 2006, allegations of sexual assault were levelled against Jackson by a man who claims Michael Jackson molested him, intoxicated him with drugs and alcohol, and forced him to undergo unnecessary cosmetic surgery. Michael Jackson's lawyer Thomas Mesereau, who successfully defended him against allegations of child molestation in 2005, said "the charges are ridiculous on their face. They will be vigorously defended."

Currently, Michael Jackson is travelling around Europe with close friends and family, and has a video box-set due out in February 2006 which will be released bit-by-bit over a five-month period. Jackson is reportedly working on a Jackson 5 reunion album with his brothers and brother Jermaine has stated the possibility of a Michael Jackson concert in Yerevan, Armenia.

Michael Jackson Number-One Singles

Ben (1972)
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (1979)
Rock With You (1980)
Billie Jean (1983)
Beat It (1983)
Say Say Say - with Paul McCartney (1983)
I Just Can't Stop Loving You (1987)
Bad (1987)
The Way You Make Me Feel (1988)
Man in the Mirror (1988)
Dirty Diana (1988)
Black or White (1991)
You Are Not Alone (1995)

Major Michael Jackson Studio Albums

Off The Wall(1979)
Thriller (1982)
Bad (1987)
Dangerous (1991)
HIStory (1995)
Invincible (2001)