Article: Remembering MJ

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

One of the most widely beloved entertainers and profoundly influential artists of all-time, leaves an indelible imprint on popular music and culture.
This is the first paragraph when you visit the offical MJ web site, and it pretty much says it in one for most fans.

American superstar Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana in 1958 and has been entertaining audiences nearly his entire life. His father, Joseph Jackson, had been a guitarist but was forced to give up his musical ambitions following his marriage to Katherine (Scruse). Together they prodded their growing family's musical interests at home. By the early 60s the older boys Jackie, Tito and Jermaine had begun performing around the city; by 1964 Michael and Marlon had joined in.

Solo success for Michael was inevitable, and by the 80s he had become infinitely more popular than his brotherly group. Record sales consistently orbited, culminating in the biggest-selling album of all time, "Thriller." A TV natural, he ventured rather uneasily into films, such as playing the Scarecrow in The Wiz (1978), but had better luck with elaborate music videos.

With the passage of time, however, and especially since 1993, it is Jackson's personality that has dominated headlines formerly dedicated to his prodigious artistic accomplishments and humanitarian efforts. His charity work was enormous and focused always on his highly publicized identification with children. Infatuated with E.T. and Peter Pan, Jackson seemed a kind of childlike extraterrestrial: benign (if in an eerie way), either sexless or sexually ambiguous, neither black nor white. Secluded by his celebrity, he appeared to touch down to earth only on stage or on videotape; fanatically private, he generated endless gossip. In 1993, and a decade later in 2004, with Jackson facing allegations of child molestation, his career was rocked with scandal as gargantuan as his fame. Not since Shirley Temple had a child star so entranced the American public, and the massive public soul-searching the allegations against Jackson inspired were but one indication of the almost inestimable role he has played in shaping pop culture. Jackson returned to the tabloids in 1994 with the shocking announcement that he had wed Lisa Marie Presley, an act that led to even more speculation about his motives but which undeniably made him, until his divorce two years later, the son-in-law of the late Elvis Presley.

Shortly after signing a second contract with Pepsi in 1986 for $15 million, Jackson released Bad, the biggest-shipping album of all time, in 1987; its 17-minute title track video was directed by Martin Scorsese. Bad generated five #1's in 1987-88: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," "Bad," "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Man in the Mirror," and "Dirty Diana." The Bad tour — over a year long — became the biggest-grossing tour in history and one of the most expensive: Jackson's entourage included 250 people. With 1988 came Jackson's long-awaited, heavily illustrated, and brief autobiography, Moonwalk, in which he claimed that his father, Joseph Jackson, had hit him as a child. Generally, however, the book (edited by Jacqueline Onassis) was considered unrevealing. (A second volume of Jackson's writings, Dancing the Dream, was published in 1992 to less enthusiastic response.) By the end of the 1980s, Jackson had moved from the Encino, California, family home to Neverland, an estimated $28 million, 2,700-acre California ranch complete with Ferris wheel, an exotic menagerie, a movie theater, and a security staff of 40. There Jackson — famous for clean living (he neither smoked, drank, nor used drugs, and was rarely seen in the company of a woman) — hosted an endless series of parties for children, many of them disabled, critically ill, or underprivileged.

In September, 2001 Michael celebrated his 30th anniversary as a solo artist with two concerts to be held in New York, USA. Many artists such as Whitney Houston, Usher, Destinys Child, Shaggy and many more performed there own and Michael Jacksons past songs. Michael then reunited with all of his brothers performed there biggest hits. Michael then went onto perform solo some of his biggest hits. In October 2001 Michael released the album 'Invincible' so far releasing only 2 singles including the big hit "You Rock My World". Since the release of this first single the album has been surrounded by rumours of a rift with Sony Music and a clear lack of promotion of the album.

Some M.J. Facts:

Has sold 170 million albums worldwide.
Was present at the private funeral service for Maurice Gibb.
He was voted the 35th Greatest Artist of all time in Rock 'n' Roll by Rolling Stone.
His favourite "Beatles' song is "Come Together" - his version of the song is on "History - Past, Present and Future."
Ranked #11 in VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid Stars" with his brothers as the Jackson Five.

Personal Quotes:

I can't think of a better way to spread the message of world peace than by working with the NFL and being part of Super Bowl XXVII.

I don't like pop music.

I'll always be Peter Pan in my heart.

People think they know me, but they don't. Not really. Actually, I am one of the loneliest people on this earth. I cry sometimes, because it hurts. It does. To be honest, I guess you could say that it hurts to be me.

"Just because you read it in a magazine or see it on a TV screen doesn't make it factual. To buy it is to feed it." - about tabloid magazines.

I made a terrible mistake. I got caught up in the excitement of the moment. I would never intentionally endanger the lives of my children.

"You ain't seen nothing yet, and the best is yet to come." (1999)

There is a lot of sadness in my past life. My father beat me. It was difficult to take being beaten and then going on stage. He was strict; very hard and stern.

Elizabeth Taylor used to feed me, to hand-feed me, at times. Please, I don't want anybody to think I'm starving, I'm not. My health is perfect, actually.

Trade Marks:

The Moonwalk.
Single sequined white glove.
He always wears white socks with black shoes.
Says "Hee Hee" in many of his songs
High-pitched voice.


I just want to say to fans in every corner of the earth, every nationality, every race, every language: I love you from the bottom of my heart.
Michael Jackson


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