Thursday 25 April 2013

Michael Jackson


Photograph from set of

Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958), is one of the most successful African-American popular music singers of all time. He is also known as The King of Pop or the King of the Music Video. Jackson's successful career has gained him legions of devoted fans, yet he has been dogged by media fascination with his changing physical appearance and what some perceive as an 'eccentric' lifestyle, which has led the tabloid press to dub him 'Wacko Jacko'. More recently he has been subjected to repeated accusations of sexual abuse of children. He is currently under indictment for alleged child molestation and other offenses, which he denies. As of January 2005 jury selection has started prior to his upcomingtrial in Santa Maria, California.







Personal background

Jackson was born the seventh of nine children in Gary, Indiana to Joseph and Katherine Jackson. The entire family lived in a tiny two-bedroom house., and Jackson's father Joseph Jackson earned a meager living working in a steel mill. Jackson and his sister LaToya both claimed that their father was cruel and physically abusive to his children. Jackson broke down and wept during atelevision interview when asked about this, and said that even as an adult just meeting his father often made him physically ill.
At the behest of their moter Katherine, the Jackson children were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses and practiced door-to-door evangelization. Jackson continued to do so after becoming famous, but then in disguise. His career and flamboyant style led to friction with congregation elders. At one point, his sister LaToya was shunned by Jehovah's Witnesses, and in 1987, he formally left the religion.
Jackson has been living at his 11 km� (2600 acres) ranch in Santa Ynez, California, named 'Neverland' after the magical kingdom featured in the children's story Peter Pan. In December 2003, he said that after it had been searched by police (see below), it no longer felt like a home, and is now a house he just visits. He now lives in Beverly Hills in a $70,000-a-month rented home.
He says that, like Peter Pan, he does not want to grow up. Neverland contains a small zoo and amusement park. About once a week he has been inviting a bus full of (especially sick and poor) children there to have a day of fun. Jackson kept a chimpanzee, Bubbles, in Neverland, which he valued highly, treating him more like a friend than a pet. Bubbles was moved from the ranch after reaching maturity because adult chimpanzees are very strong and can be dangerous.

Jackson marriages and children

In 1994 Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley; the marriage lasted less than two years, ending in divorce. In 1996 he married Debbie Rowe. They had a son, Prince Michael, and a daughter, Paris Katherine. They were divorced in 1999. Rowe later said that she let Jackson have the children as a 'gift'.
Around February 2002 Jackson had another son, Prince Michael II, also called 'Blanket', with a surrogate mother whose identity has not been disclosed. In late 2002, Jackson stirred up controversy while staying in a hotel in Berlin by briefly suspending him over the edge of the railing of a balcony.
In what Jackson explains as a security measure against kidnapping, the children's faces are masked or veiled when they are in public.
In December 2003 Jackson's parents promised they would look after the three children if they were taken away from their son. Reportedly the children have been interviewed by social workers.
In March 2004 it was confirmed there was an unspecified family matter between Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe, to be handled in mediation.
In July 2004 news was released that Jackson is to be the father of quadruplets, via artificial insemination. The mother is said to be a 'struggling actress'. Jackson however, strongly denied the allegations.
Rumours last year claimed that he had another seventeen-year-old son, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., who apparently has an almost identical resemblance of him as a young man.

Miscellaneous

Jackson performing on stage during Victory tour .
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Jackson performing on stage during Victory tour 1984.
Jackson, a vegetarian, claims a strong connection to both children and animals. His favorite pastimes include water balloon fights and climbing trees. He has written several songs sitting in his favorite tree at Neverland, which he calls Giving Tree, because he says it is so inspiring.
Another favorite pastime has been sleepovers with children, but because, as he understands now, it violates a social norm and places him in a vulnerable position with regard to suspicions and allegations of sexual abuse, he will no longer have them with children not related to him.
Jackson's celebrity friends have included Quincy JonesDiana RossMarlon Brando, comedians Steve Harvey and Chris Tucker and actress Elizabeth Taylorand former child actor Macaulay Culkin, who are godparents to Prince Michael and Paris. He is also friends with paranormalist Uri Geller. He has also been friends with rabbi Shmuley Boteach, with whom Jackson founded the now defunct 'Heal the World' and 'Heal the Kids' foundations. Michael is also the godfather of Lionel Richie's adopted daughter Nicole Richie.
It has been rumored that Jackson has used extensive plastic surgery to modify his appearance, although he claims to have had only three operations: Two 'nose jobs' (the first of which he claims was to repair a broken nose resulting from a dancing accident in 1978, and the second to correct imperfections in the first surgery) and the surgical creation of a cleft in his chin (Jackson often omits mentioning the cleft when listing his cosmetic surgery, but he confirms the surgery in his 1988 autobiography Moon Walk).
Michael Jackson in  , after several cosmetic surgeries. In this picture, his skin is fairly dark, although photographs taken earlier in the year show it significantly whiter (most notably, the Bad album cover). Photographs from this era show noticeably different skin tones, suggesting that heavy makeuping was used to achieve Jackson's skin tone and  facial features during this period.
Michael Jackson in September 1987, after several cosmetic surgeries. In this picture, his skin is fairly dark, although photographs taken earlier in the year show it significantly whiter (most notably, the Bad album cover). Photographs from this era show noticeably different skin tones, suggesting that heavy makeuping was used to achieve Jackson's skin tone and facial features during this period.
Some critics have characterized his plastic surgery and purported 'skin bleaching' as an attempt to hide his African-American ancestry. Jackson has insisted, however, that he only uses heavy makeup to mask the effects of vitiligo, a condition that causes white patches on the skin.
Jackson has received numerous music awards including 18 Grammys. Estimates of his album sales worldwide range from 200 million to well over 300 million. His Thriller video is considered by some to be the best music video of all time and the largest step forward in artistic quality in the history of music videos. MTV and Rolling Stone magazine 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. His hit album, 'Thriller', was the best selling album of all time, until recently falling to second best selling album of all time when the sales of the Eagle's greatest hits album increased.
Quotation about Jackson (Kathleen Parker): Ambivalence personified, he's not quite black, not quite white, not quite man, not quite woman, not quite adult, not quite child. 1 (http://www.jewishworldreview.com/kathleen/parker010204.asp)

The Jackson 5

main entry: The Jackson 5
Five of the Jackson brothers, JackieTitoJermaineMarlon and Michael, formed the Jackson 5, an R&B musical act, in the mid 1960s. With Michael as the lead singer, the group built up a following and a buzz by playing at clubs and bars throughout the Midwest, and even winning an Amateur Night competition at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. It is alleged that they were beaten and abused by their father if they performed poorly.
The Jackson 5 were discovered and signed to Motown Records in 1969. Label head Berry Gordy moved the Jackson family to California, and proceeded to turn them into international stars. The group's first four singles, 'I Want You Back' from 1969, and 'ABC', 'The Love You Save', and 'I'll Be There' from 1970 all became #1 hits in the US. Later hits included 'Mama's Pearl' & 'Never Can Say Goodbye' (1971) 'Get It Together' (1973) and 'Dancing Machine' (1974). With Motown Records, the Jackson 5 made 14 albums, and Michael recorded four albums as a solo artist.
In 1976, the Jackson brothers signed a better deal with Epic Records, leaving behind at Motown the 'Jackson 5' name and Jermaine (who had married Berry Gordy's daughter Hazel). Now known as The Jacksons, and featuring younger brother Randy in Jermaine's place, the brothers continued their successful career, touring internationally and releasing 6 albums between 1976 and 1984. Hits during this period included 'Enjoy Yourself' & 'Show You The Way To Go' (1976), 'Find Me A Girl' (1977), 'Blame It On The Boogie' (1978), 'Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)' (1979), 'Can You Feel It?' & Heartbreak Hotel (1980) and 'Torture' & 'State of Shock' (1984).
Jackson starred in the film The Wiz (alongside Diana Ross) in 1978. 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 WallThriller and BadOff the Wall, released in 1979, produced a record four Top 10 hits and sold seven million copies in the United States.

Solo career

Off The Wall to Thriller

Michael Jackson's 1979 album Off the Wall was a worldwide hit and spawned the #1 hit singles and music videos 'Rock With You' and 'Don't Stop Till You Get Enough'. A ballad, 'She's Out Of My Life' reached the top 10 in 1980.
In the 1980s, Jackson released a progression of solo albums of slickly-produced synthesizer-heavy pop.
His Thriller album was released in 1982, produced 7 Top 10 hit singles, broke records and quickly became the world's best selling album (as of 2003 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, included with The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller, became the world's best selling home video at the time.
'Billie Jean' and 'Thriller', as well as 'Beat It', were the three music videos released from the album, and have since become three of MTV's most significant videos in history, placing highly on several MTV and VH1 countdowns, and receiving substantial airplay on MTV2 to this day. The album's other singles were 'Human Nature' and 'P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)', both of which were also hits, despite neither having music videos.
While performing for the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever special on television on May 16, 1983, Jackson publicly performed the moonwalk (later his signature dance move) for the first time, stunning TV audiences. In January 1984 at the American Music Awards, Jackson was nominated for 9 awards and won a record 8 awards (tied by Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard soundtrack in 1994). In February at the Grammy Awards Jackson was nominated for 12 awards and won a record-breaking 8 awards (now equaled by Carlos Santana's 1999 Supernatural) – 7 for Thriller and 1 for his narrative on The E.T. Storybook. In May, Thriller was certified by the Guiness Book of Records as the biggest selling popular music album of all time. In addition in 1984, he was also awarded the H. Claude Hodson Medal of Freedom at the NAACP Image Awards, feted at the White House by President Ronald Reagan with the Presidential Special Achievement Award and in November was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

We are the World to Dangerous

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Michael Jackson during 'We Are The World' session in January 1985
Inspired by Band Aid he was instrumental in organising the single 'We Are the World' (co-written with Lionel Richie) in 1985. 'We Are the World' was sung by 44 different singers including Cyndi LauperDiana RossRay 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 â€“ a charity working to raise awareness about and help starving people in Africa.
Michael Jackson in
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Michael Jackson in Captain Eo
Jackson starred in the George Lucas/Francis Ford Coppola 3-D film Captain Eo in 1986, which was shown in Disneytheme parks until 1998. Minute for minute it is the most expensive film ever produced, costing an estimated US $30 million to make. The film contained the songs 'We Are Here To Change The World' and 'Another Part Of Me'.
In 1987, 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 entitled 'Moonwalker' and a serious, personal autobiography titled Moon Walk.
Bad was another smash success for Jackson. Its singles and music videos 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You', 'Bad', 'The Way You Make Me Feel', 'Man In The Mirror', 'Dirty Diana', 'Another Part Of Me', 'Smooth Criminal' and 'Leave Me Alone' provided Jackson with another string of hits. The album's only relatively unsuccessful single, 'Liberian Girl', remains to this day as one of Jackson's least seen music videos and least heard singles. Nonetheless, he made history by becoming the first artist to generate 6 number one singles off of one album. Of the 7 singles released in the USA, the first 5 went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, 'Another Part Of Me' peaked at #11 (#1 on Billboard's R&B charts) and 'Smooth Criminal' went to #7.
Jackson was awarded a record breaking $890 million contract by Sony and released an album Dangerous in 1991. During the Dangerous world tour Jackson announced the creation of his Heal the World FoundationDangerous contained the singles and music videos 'Who Is It', 'Give In To Me', 'Gone Too Soon' (a tribute to young AIDS victim Ryan White), and 'Will You Be There', which would later become the theme song to the movie Free Willy. But the album's most successful and memorable singles and videos were 'Jam', 'Remember The Time', 'Black Or White', 'In The Closet', and 'Heal The World'. As was becoming the standard for Jackson, the album's music videos were among the most costly, creative, and innovative of their time. 'Give In To Me' featured Slash from Guns n' Roses in its video. The video for 'Heal The World', to correspond to Jackson's charity of the same name, featured children and people from throughout the world. 'Will You Be There' showed Jackson singing in front of scenes from Free Willy. Several of the other videos had complex storylines and dance sequences, and featured cameo appearances by celebrities. The video for 'Jam' showed Jackson and Michael Jordan playing basketball and dancing together, while 'Remember The Time' was set in a Egyptian palace and starred Eddie Murphy as the king of the palace who was trying to entertain his wife, played by ImanMagic Johnson played the king's chief guard. Jackson's singing and dancing is the thing that finally makes Iman's character happy, in the seven-minute long video. Jackson and Naomi Campbell played lovers in 'In The Closet'.

Black Or White

Of all the album's groundbreaking and popular videos, 'Black Or White' probably remains the most aired and most remembered today. The original video is over ten minutes long, and premiered simultaneously on MTV, VH1, BET, and ABC, becoming one of the most-watched music video premieres in history. The original video begins with Macaulay Culkin playing a young Jackson fan whose father (played by George Wendt) tells him to turn his music down. Culkin's character, instead, decides to bring his speakers into the living room and cranks the speakers to full blast, which sends the father flying through the roof, in a manner somewhat similar to that used in an earlier Twisted Sister music video. He ends up landing in the middle of some exotic location. The music to 'Black Or White' then starts, and Jackson proceeds to take viewers on a trip around the world, from country to country and culture to culture. As the song ends, the video features a morphing effect, whereby the faces of several different people of different ethnicities' (including Tyra Banks and voice actor Cree Summer) are morphed one into another, as a symbol of global unity. Although this was not the first music video to feature morphing technology — former 10cc members Godley & Creme used morphing even more extensively in the 1985 video to their song 'Cry', though in a less technologically polished way — it was the first exposure many people had to the technology, and this effect amazed those who saw the video for the first time. Thanks in part to 'Black Or White', as well as the development of computer technology, the morphing effect has since become somewhat common in music videos today, and can now be done much cheaper than in the early 1990s. The original video for 'Black Or White' then continued, even after the song itself ended, for another four minutes. The last four minutes depicted Jackson doing his infamous crotch-rubbing, smashing store windows, and destroying a car with a metal crowbar. It finally ended with a cameo appearance by Bart and Homer Simpson. However, Jackson's rampage and crotch grabbing caused a good deal of controversy with many parents of young children who watched the video's premiere. MTV and other music video stations decided to cut out the last four minutes of the video for all subsequent airings, and Jackson issued an apology statement to anyone who had been offended. To date, the final four minutes of the 'Black Or White' video has only since re-aired in America on MTV2 between the hours of 1 AM and 4 AM, as part of their special uncensored airing of the 'Most Controversial Music Videos' of all time, however the extended version is available on Jackson's DVDs. A few years ago, VH1 Europe aired them in daytime but now cuts them out.

HIStory to Invincible

HIStory, a double-disc album, was released in 1995. Its first disc had fifteen of his greatest hits and second disc contained fifteen new songs. The album produced two new hit singles and videos in America: 'Scream', a duet with his sister Janet, whose futuristic music video, with a seven million dollar price tag, is the most expensive music video ever made; and 'You Are Not Alone', the first song to ever debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and whose video had a cameo from Jackson's then-wife, Lisa Marie Presley. The album's other singles and videos, 'Childhood', 'Earth Song', 'Stranger In Moscow', and 'They Don't Care About Us' had limited success in America, and performed far better in Europe. 'Childhood' is notable for having been the theme song to Free Willy 2. 'They Don't Care About Us' caused a stir when it was released due to controversial lyrics which were considered by some to be anti-Semitic. This caused American MTV and VH1 to ban the song's music video, even though it garnered heavy airplay on many of America's Boxnetworks. The lyrics 'Jew me, sue me/ Kick me, kike me' were modified on the album's official release in reponse to the criticism. Apart from the video for 'Scream,' singles and videos from HIStory nowadays garner little airplay in America, making the album a failure overall by Jackson's standards, though it has sold over 18 million double albums as of 2004. On the other hand, the album spawned his biggest hit ever in the UK, 'Earth Song' stayed at the top of the chart for six weeks and sold over a million copies.
In 1997 Jackson released Blood on the Dance Floor, a remix album of several of the tracks off of HIStory, which also included 5 new songs and has since become the biggest-selling remix album of all time. The album only had one single and official music video, the title track, which failed to catch on in America, and again proved a far more popular hit in Europe. However, Jackson also produced 'Ghosts', a 40-minute short film, which was shown in several movie theaters and uses the songs 'Ghosts' and '2 Bad' in the film. The short film 'Ghosts' is occasionally played as an hour-long special, with space made for commercials, on MTV and VH1, especially during the Halloween season.
Jackson's 2001 album Invincible, the most expensive album ever produced, debuted at number one on the U.S. charts, selling 2 million copies in the United States and 5-6 million worldwide. While the numbers seemed impressive, the sales figures were nonetheless disappointing, considering Jackson's previous success and the cost of the album. As opposed to his earlier albums which each spawned at least six singles, most of which were generally worldwide smashes, Invincible produced only the singles 'You Rock My World' and 'Butterflies' in America. 'Cry' was also issued as a third single in Europe. 'You Rock My World' managed the top ten in America, but only for a week, and its big-budget, 14-minute music video received only sparse airplay on MTV, VH1, MTV2, and BET, usually in a shortened, 5-minute version. 'Butterflies' was a top 20 hit in America as well as a #2 hit on the R&B charts, but did not reach the top 10, despite a popular radio remix featuring rapper Eve; the song's relative lack of success also allowed no budget for a music video.
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 held his first live concert in some years at Madison Square GardenNew York, in early September 2001.

One More Chance

On November 21st, 2003, Jackson released a new song, 'One More Chance,' written by R. Kelly. It was the only new track on his Number Ones greatest hits album.
It went on to become the #1 track on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart for three straight weeks.
The song was also featured as a montage video on the CBS TV special 'Michael Jackson Number Ones.' The special was then released on DVD as 'The One.'

Hit singles


#YearSong titleUS chartUK chart
011971Got To Be There45
021972Rockin' Robin23
031972Ain't No Sunshine8
041972Ben17
051972I Wanna Be Where You Are16
061975Just A Little Bit Of You23
071979Don't Stop Till You Get Enough13
081979Off The Wall107
091980Rock With You17
101980She's Out Of My Life103
111981One Day In Your Life21
121982The Girl Is Mine (with Paul McCartney)28
131983Billie Jean11
141983Beat It13
151983Wanna Be Startin' Something58
161983Say Say Say (with Paul McCartney)12
171983Thriller410
181983Human Nature7
191984P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)1011
201984Farewell My Summer Love387
211984State Of Shock (with Jacksons and Mick Jagger)314
221984Girl You're So Together33
231987I Just Can't Stop Loving You11
241987Bad13
251987The Way You Make Me Feel13
261988Man In The Mirror121
271988I Want You Back (remix) (with The Jackson 5)8
281988Get It (with Stevie Wonder)8037
291988Dirty Diana14
301988Another Part Of Me1115
311988Smooth Criminal78
321989Leave Me Alone2
331989Liberian Girl13
341991Black Or White11
351992Black Or White (remix)14
361992Remember The Time/Come Together33
371992In The Closet68
381992Who Is It1410
391992Jam2613
401992Heal The World272
411993Give In To Me2
421993Will You Be There79
431993Gone Too Soon33
441995Scream (with Janet Jackson)53
451995You Are Not Alone11
461995Earth Song1
471996They Don't Care About Us304
481996Why (3T featuring Michael Jackson)2
491996Stranger In Moscow914
501997Blood On The Dance Floor421
511997HIStory/Ghosts5
522001You Rock My World102
532001Cry25
542001Butterflies14
552003One More Chance835

Motion Pictures

Computer game

2002 controversies

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. One possible reason was that producer Marc Schaffel has worked as a producer of homosexual pornography (side-note: his house was searched by the police in 2004; it is not clear whether this was related to Jackson).
Also, in late 2002, there was the balcony incident, see above.
In October 2002 various international banks claimed that Jackson was in financial debt into the tens of millions of dollars due to various unpaid loans.
In 2002, concert promoter Marcel Avram sued Jackson in a court in Santa Maria, California, claiming that he reneged on a deal to perform on a series of millennium concerts crossing theInternational Date Line on the evening of December 31, 1999 - January 1, 2000. Jackson lost the case, and is appealing.
He has been involved in a legal dispute with his former financial adviser, Union Finance and Investment Corp. of South Korea, who claim that Jackson owes the firm $12 million in fees and expenses and that Jackson's extravagant spending may lead to his bankruptcy.

Miscellaneous

On February 27th, 2004, Jackson was stopped by police while vacationing with his children near Aspen, Colorado, where he went because his children wanted to see snow. Jackson had been shopping at a Wal-Mart earlier in the day wearing a ski-mask. Employees found this suspicious and called the police with a description of his vehicle. The incident led to nothing as he was pulled over, asked to reveal his identity, and then left to go on his way.
Jackson continues to be plagued with seemingly press-invented rumours; partly they are unrelated with his current court case; tabloids allege that he is in Colorado seeking treatment at an in-patient addiction clinic.
In 2004, film director Kevin Smith told Playboy magazine that Jackson wanted to make a feature movie entitled Hot Rod. This film would feature Jackson as a man with the ability to transform into anautomobile, and an as-yet-uncast adolescent male companion who rides Jackson everywhere while he is in his car state.
Jackson has been considering a tour of Africa in May or June 2004 to raise money to fight AIDS, if the court will let him. The countries he would visit would include ZimbabweSouth Africa, andSenegal. At some stage in April, officials in Namibia expected him, but that was due to miscommunication.

See also

External links


News


Over 300 MJ links (http://www.michael-jackson.beginthier.nl:)

Discussion Forums

Music

Appearance

Interviews

  • michaeljackson.ru (http://www.michaeljackson.ru/english/gravity/interviews/rinterviews.html)
  • mjshouse.com (http://www.mjshouse.com/stories/living_with_mj_transcript.wm)
  • CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/28/60minutes/main590381.shtml)
  • USA Today: Neverland (http://www.usatoday.com/life/2003-11-23-neverland-believe_x.htm)


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