Michael Jackson


Michael Jackson (born August 29, 1958) is one of the most successful popular
music singers of all time. He is also known as the King of Pop or the King
of Videos (as in music videos).

Michael Joseph Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, USA to Joseph and
Katherine Jackson. He was the seventh of nine children. Michael and his
siblings were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses. They went around knocking on
doors, spreading the word of Jehovah. When Michael became famous, he went in
disguise. He was criticized by the church for his appearance and art, such
as his Thriller's video. In 1987 he left the church.

Michael Jackson began performing at age 5 as the lead singer of the Jackson
5 - a group composed of Michael and four of his older brothers. The group
played at local clubs and bars and supposedly were beaten and abused by
their father if they performed poorly.

In 1969 the Jackson 5 were discovered and signed to Motown Records. The
Jackson family moved to California where the Jackson 5 soon became national
stars. Their first 4 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 4 albums as a solo artist.

In 1976 The Jackson 5 left Motown (and renamed themselves the Jacksons).
Between 1976 and 1984 the Jacksons produced 6 records and toured
internationally. In 1977 Michael Jackson starred in the film The Wiz
(alongside Diana Ross). 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 4 #1 hits and sold 6 million copies in the United States.

In 1982 Michael Jackson release the Thriller album. Thriller produced 7 hit
singles, broke records and quickly became the world's best selling album (to
date 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.
In 1983, while performing for the Motown 25th Anniversary Show on
television, 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.

In 1985 Michael was instrumental in organising the single "We Are the World"
(co-written with Lionel Richie). "We Are the World" was sung by 44 different
singers including Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder
and sold 7 million copies in the United States, becoming the best selling
single of the year, to raise money for USA for Africa -- a charity working
to raise awareness about and help starving people in Africa.

In 1986 Jackson starred in the George Lucas/Francis Ford Coppola 3-D film
Captain Eo, 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 Michael 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 and a serious, personal autobiography both
titled Moonwalker.

In 1991 Michael Jackson was awarded a record breaking $890 million contract
by Sony and released an album Dangerous. During the Dangerous world tour
Jackson announced the creation of his Heal the World Foundation.

In 1993 Jackson was accused by a 13 year old boy of child molestation and
pedophilia. Although the charges were never proven and some argue that they
may have been spurious/blackmail - evidence to prove this was given, Jackson
paid the boy a rumored $20 million in an out of court settlement.

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

In 1995 Michael Jackson released HIStory, a greatest hits album that also
contained 15 new songs. In 1997 Jackson released Blood on the Dance Floor a
remix album with 5 new songs, and in 2001 he released Invincible -- the most
expensive album ever -- which however sold only 2 million copies in the
United States and 5-6 million worldwide (a disappointment considering
Michael Jackson's previous success and the cost of the album).

Michael Jackson lives at his ranch in Santa Ynez, Santa Barbara County,
California which he named "Neverland", after the magical kingdom featured in
the children's story Peter Pan. He says that, like Peter Pan, he does not
want to grow up. The Neverland Ranch, area 11 sq. km, contains a small zoo
and amusement park. About once a week he invites a bus full of (especially
sick and poor) children there to have a day of fun.

Jackson's second wife was Debbie Rowe. They had a son, Prince Michael, and a
daughter, Paris, (named after the city where she was conceived). They were
divorced in 1999. Rowe said that she let Jackson have the children as a
gift. Around February 2002 he had another son, Prince Michael II, but called
Blanket, born from a black surrogate mother; her identity has not been disclosed.

As a security measure against kidnapping, Jackon's children appear in public
only with masks or veils to cover their faces. Jackson is a vegetarian and
feels a strong connection to 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 entertains at Neverland. His celebrity friends
include actress Elizabeth Taylor and former child actor Macaulay Culkin
(godparents of his first son and his daughter; for his friendship with
Culkin see also his article), paranormalist Uri Geller and the rabbi Shmuel
Boteach, who heads Michael Jackson's Heal the World Foundation. Jackson has
had several plastic surgeries to modify his appearance.

In his career Michael Jackson has received a slew of awards including 18
Grammy Awards. Estimates for his album sales worldwide range from 200
million to well over 300 million. His Thriller video is considered by some
the best music video of all time. 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.

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

In what was perhaps the "Golden Age" of the video clip, some of Jackson's
videos were virtually short films with considerable plots, impressive
special effects, and featuring Jackson's distinctive dance style.

Jackson admits that several young children, especially pre-adolescent boys
(including Macaulay Culkin when he was younger and his younger brother
Kieran) have slept in the same bed as him, but he denies having had sex with
any of them. He has admitted that he still sometimes sleeps with a child in
the same room including his 12 year old friend Gavin, but it was implied
that they do not sleep in the same bed (they have told about an occasion
where each was happy to sleep on the floor and let the other have the bed).
Conversely, Jackson lets his children stay with his friends, for example
with Barry Gibb. He emphasizes that children need and deserve lots of love.
Not sexual, but like having hot milk and cookies, tucking them in, telling a
bed-time story, etc.

Jackson kept a chimpanzee, Bubbles, on Neverland, which he valued highly,
more like a friend than a pet. Since these apes can get dangerous when
growing up, it is now taken care of elsewhere.

Jackson held his first live concert in some years at Madison Square Garden,
New York, in early September 2001.

In late 2002 new scandal arose surrounding Jackson. His most recent album,
Invincible, had disappointing sales figures. Instead of blaming this on what
was, by most fans and critics, considered mediocre music, he blamed his
record label and industry executives, most notably the legendary producer
Tommy Mottola, whom Jackson likened to Satan. Jackson also recorded a song
featuring various celebrities on vocals in an attempt to raise funds for
disaster relief following the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack. However,
the song was never released when it was discovered the producer of the song
had previously worked as a producer of homosexual pornography.

Also, in late 2002, Jackson stirred up more controversy (and unwittingly
created an online video game) by dangling his infant son Prince Michael II
from the balcony of a German hotel.

In October 2002 it was revealed by various international banks that Jackson
was in financial debt into the tens of millions of dollars due to various
unpaid loans.

A Granada Television documentary about Jackson, in which he was extensively
interviewed by UK journalist Martin Bashir, was shown in February 2003. This
was very special, for it had been extremely rare for Jackson to allow such
access to his personal life, or indeed to talk so freely about his
traumatised childhood. However, he continued to remain guarded on issues
concerning the alleged cosmetic surgery to his face (although he admitted
having had surgery on his nose). In one of his favorite shops and in the
renting of rooms in hotels he demonstrated extravagant spending.

In the UK, children's charities Barnardo's and the NSPCC (National Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) have voiced their concerns.

Under California law, merely sleeping with a child, without "affirmative,
offensive conduct," isn't criminal, said Santa Barbara County District
Attorney Thomas W. Sneddon Jr. in a statement.

Jackson felt betrayed by Bashir and complained that the film gives a
distorted picture of his behaviour and conduct as a father, and has
released video footage of statements of Bashir to demonstrate this; a
selection has been shown in a Fox Network special, which also includes
interviews with people close to Jackson. They include Debbie Rowe, who says
that it is on her request that the children wear masks in public. He has
filed complaints at the Independent Television Commission and the
Broadcasting Standards Commission of the UK. Gavin's mother, while
supporting Jackson, has also complained about the documentary, for including
Gavin in it without her consent and especially for creating a distorted
image of his friendship with Jackson.

Amongst many seemingly far-fetched rumors that circulate about him, he is
believed by some people to be the same person as his sister, LaToya Jackson.
United Kingdom bookmakers allow punters to bet on this subject, with odds of
500-1 payable on the presentation of evidence that they are the same person.
This could be a safe bet for the bookmakers, considering that they have
been photographed together many times, and Michael is reputedly a foot
taller than LaToya.

In 2002, a promoter sued Jackson in a court in Santa Maria, California,
claiming that he reneged on a deal to perfom on a series of millennium
concerts crossing the International Date Line on the evening of December 31,
1999 - January 1, 2000. Jackson lost the case, and is appealing.

In 2003 he has a legal dispute, set for trial June 18, with his former
financial adviser Union Finance and Investment Corp. of South Korea, who
claims that Jackson owes the firm $12 million in fees and expenses and that
Jackson's extravagant spending may lead to his bankruptcy.

Catchphrases: "Cha'mone!", "Heeeee heeeee!"