American singer-songwriter, record producer and dancer Michael Joseph Jackson was born on 29th August 1958 in Gary, Indiana and passed away on 25th June 2009. He was married twice and has 3 children.
Michael’s parents were both musicians – his father played the guitar, whilst his mother played the piano and clarinet. In 1964, Michael joined his father and his other brothers in their own family band ‘Jackson Brothers’, which later that year changed its name to ‘Jackson 5’. In the years that followed, the group performed in several places like night clubs, school dances, local auditoriums etc and even toured the Midwest. In 1969, they appeared on a TV show for the first time where Michael gave a very impressive performance and soon became the group’s lead singer.
Success arrived in the beginning of 1970, when the band had their number one single named ‘I want you Back’, followed by another 3 songs which also went very well on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. At this point, Michael became a teen idol and consequently pursued a solo career. In 4 years, 4 solo albums were issued which included successful songs like ‘Ben’ and ‘Got to be There’. Albeit, Michael still continued to perform with his family’s band, releasing albums and touring the world, plus composing some of the group’s songs.
In 1979, Michael’s 5th solo album was released and included big hits like ‘Rock with You’, ‘Don’t stop till you get Enough’, ‘She’s out of my Life’ and ‘Off the Wall’. It was a huge success and sold more that 20 million copies globally.
As a solo artist, Michael had 73 albums spread amongst studio, compilation, video, reissues, soundtrack, remix and box sets, 15 of which were released after his demise. He also had 137 singles, including some sung in collaboration with other artists and had no less than 13 number one singles, namely ‘Ben’, ‘Don’t stop till you get Enough’, ‘Rock with You’, Billie Jean’, ‘Thriller’, ‘I just can’t stop loving You’, ‘Dirty Diana’, ‘Bad’, ‘Beat It’, ‘Black of White’, ‘You are not Alone’, ‘Man in the Mirror’ and ‘Say, Say, Say’ in duet with Paul McCartney.
Nicknamed the ‘King of Pop’, Michael is considered as one of the top music artists ever, with estimated record sales up to 1 billion. He will surely be remembered for his unique fashion style and his dancing performances, particularly the ‘Moonwalk’ dance. He won an impressive amount of awards, amongst which there are 13 Grammy, 26 American Music and 6 Brit, to name a few. He also holds 39 Guinness World Records and was honoured thrice by US Presidents.
Apart from music, Jackson also starred in 9 movies and was highly known for his charitable and humanitarian works. He had created the Heal the World Foundation, to which he donated millions of dollars deriving from one of his world tours. He even offered various personal and professional belongings aimed to be sold at several auctions, as well as performed in charity concerts.
Michael passed away at the age of 50 from a medical drug overdose.
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