A brief history of Michael Jackson (1958-2009) The King of Pop A brief history of Michael Jackson (1958-2009)

Humble Beginnings The “King of Pop”, Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana on August 29, 1958. As a child, he was the lead singer of the Jackson 5. The Jackson 5 started with just 3 of Michaels older brothers: Tito, Jermaine and Jackie. Eventually, Michael and Marlon would join the group making them the “Jackson 5”. They were led by their father, Joe Jackson, in the beginning of their career.

Humble Beginnings (cont.) A few notable Jackson 5 hits were: “I Want You Back” “ABC” “The Love You Save” “I’ll Be There” Lets take a listen to “ABC” by the Jackson 5.

Let the solo begin! At the age of 13, Michael launched a solo career with his album “Got to Be There” in 1971. His 1972 album, Ben, became his first solo #1 record. But the record in which he wowed the world with his talents was 1979’s “Off the Wall’ “Off the Wall” featured hits such as: “Don’t Stop ‘til You Get Enough” “Rock with You” “She’s Out of My Life”. Lets listen to “Rock With You”!

The Legend Continues Overwhelmingly popular at this point, Michael teamed up with rock legend Paul McCartney of the Beatles to sing on their 1982 duet “The Girl is Mine”. This song was also featured on Michaels most recognized album, “Thriller” Songs from “Thriller” “Billie Jean” “Beat It” “Thriller” Lets Take a listen to “The Girl is Mine” featuring Paul McCartney.

Thrills and Chills “Thriller” went on to be the best selling album in history. While performing on a television special honoring Motown, Michael performed “Billie Jean’ and debuted his famous dance move called “The Moonwalk”.* Redefining the music video, Jackson released the video for his title track “Thriller”. The video was an immense success and the single stayed on the pop charts for 80 weeks (O_o)!

Where did the moonwalk come from? The moonwalk actually debuted in November 1979, a full 4 years before Michael, by a group of guys on an episode of Soul Train. Cooley Jaxson, Jeffrey Daniel and Casper Candidate danced and debuted the move and then the move was called “The Backslide”. Lets take a look!

Breaking Records Jackson, now at the peak of his super stardom, broke numerous records as an artist. He earned several Guinness World Record titles, including achieving the longest span of U.S. Top 40 singles (11/6/71 until 1/1/2011). He won a total of 13 Grammy awards with eight of them being in ONE NIGHT! He was the first artist to have five singles reach number one on the pop charts from the same album, 1987’s “Bad”.

Going Bad Releasing his follow-up to “Thriller”, Jackson reached the top of the charts with “Bad” in 1987. Some of the top hits on “Bad” are: “Bad” “Man in the Mirror*” “The Way You Make Me Feel” While successful, “Bad” was unable to duplicate the phenomenon that was “Thriller”. Rumors began of Michael augmenting (changing) his appearance which was heavily scrutinized and gained negative attention by media outlets.

Black or White? Because of the speculation, many rumors began that Michael Jackson was bleaching his skin to become a “White Man”. Do You believe this to be true? Vitiligo is an autoimmune disorder that causes a loss of pigment on sections of the skin. This depigmentation is NOT UNIFORM but manifests itself in blotches and patches on the body, particularly around the face and hands. Lets listen to what Michael has to say on the subject.

Let’s Talk… How do you feel about the subject now? Do you believe Michael or the media? Why did he mention Thriller?

More Music Michael Despite the negative attention he was receiving from the news outlets, Michael continued to create and share music for us to love for generations to come. Such albums were: Dangerous (1991) HIStory (1995) Invincible (2001) His albums sold well, but stories of Michaels odd behaviors started to overshadow his talent.

He is invincible… Years would pass and people would all but forget about Michael until he announced a 50 show tour in Europe in 2009. The tickets to his “This Is It” tour would sell out in a mere 4 hours! Sadly, Jackson wouldn’t see his vision come to fruition as he suffered a heart attack and passed away on June 25, 2009. He was 50. I was at the movies watching Transformers 2 when a random guy leaned over and whispered “Y’all know Michael Jackson died?” I didn’t believe him until I got home later that evening.

The King Lives On! Even though Michael is gone, he is far from forgotten and lives on through tributes, covers, and video games (^_^). On November 30, 2010, “Michael Jackson: The Experience” was released on the popular Nintendo Wii. The game was eventually released among all popular platforms including PS3, Xbox 360 Kinect, Play Station Vita, PSP and even the iPad! Michael Jackson will forever be known as the greatest musical performer of all time and will forever be an inspiration to all!