Introduction: Michael Jackson: Chapter - I

Michael Jackson : The King of Pop
CHAPTER – I
INTRODUCTION: MICHAEL JACKSON
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an
American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to
as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the
most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His
contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized
personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four
decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the
professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The
Jackson 5, then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.
In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular

music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It",
"Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the
medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of
these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to
fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple
on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos,
Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as
the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive
musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, post-
disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.
Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time.

His other records, including Off the Wall (1979),
Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995), also rank among the
Department of PG Studies in English
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world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been

inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also
inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only)
dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his
other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records;
13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and
the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music
Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century )
13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than
any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over
750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which
have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of
popular music. He was also one of the world's most prominent
humanitarians and philanthropists; personally, and through his Heal the
World Foundation, he donated more than 300 million dollars in charity,
and held the Guinness World Record for having supported the most
charities out of any pop star.
Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his

changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, have
generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but
the case was settled out of court and no formal charges were brought. In
2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations
and several other charges after the jury found him not guilty on all counts.
While preparing for his concert series titled This Is It, Jackson died of
acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25, 2009, after
suffering from cardiac arrest.

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The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide,

and his personal physician was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as one
billion people around the world reportedly watched his public memorial
service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music
Entertainment signed a $250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain
distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven
posthumous albums over the decade following his death.
LIFE AND CAREER

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten
children in an African American working-class family who lived in a
small 3-room house in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city near Chicago. His
mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his
father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, was a steel mill worker who
performed with an R&B band called The Falcons. Jackson had three
sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito,
Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy. A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly
after birth.
Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe. Joseph

acknowledged in 2003 that he regularly whipped Jackson as a boy.
Jackson stated that he was physically and emotionally abused during
incessant rehearsals, though he also credited his father's strict discipline
with playing a large role in his success. Jackson first spoke openly about
his childhood abuse in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, broadcast in
February 1993. He admitted that he had often cried from loneliness and
he would vomit on the sight of his father.
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Jackson's father was also said to have verbally abused Jackson,

saying that he had a fat nose on numerous occasions. In fact, Michael
Jackson's deep dissatisfaction with his appearance, his nightmares and
chronic sleep problems, his tendency to remain hyper-compliant
especially with his father, and to remain child-like throughout his adult
life are in many ways consistent with the effects of this chronic
maltreatment he endured as a young child.
In an interview with Martin Bashir, later included in the 2003

broadcast of Living with Michael Jackson, Jackson acknowledged that his
father hurt him when he was a child, but was nonetheless a "genius", as
he admitted his father's strict discipline played a huge role in his success.
When Bashir dismissed the positive remark and continued asking about
beatings, Jackson put his hand over his face and objected to the questions.
He recalled that Joseph sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his
siblings rehearsed, and that "if you didn't do it the right way, he would
tear you up, really get you". In 1964, Michael and Marlon joined the
Jackson Brothers—a band formed by brothers Jackie, Tito, and
Jermaine—as backup musicians playing congas and tambourine. Jackson
later began performing backup vocals and dancing. When he was eight,
Jackson began sharing the lead vocals with his older brother Jermaine,
and the group's name was changed to The Jackson 5. The band toured the
Midwest extensively from 1966 to 1968, frequently performing at a string
of black clubs known as the "chitlin' circuit", where they often
opened stripteases and other adult acts. In 1966, they won a major local
talent show with renditions of Motown hits and James Brown's "I Got
You (I Feel Good)", led by Michael.

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The Jackson 5 recorded several songs, including "Big Boy", for the
local record label Steeltown in 1967, before signing with Motown
Records in 1968. Rolling Stone magazine later described the young
Michael as "a prodigy" with "overwhelming musical gifts," writing that
he "quickly emerged as the main draw and lead singer." The group set a
chart record when its first four singles ("I Want You Back", "ABC", "The
Love You Save", and "I'll Be There") peaked at number one on
the Billboard Hot 100. Between 1972 and 1975, Michael released four
solo studio albums with Motown, among them Got to Be There and Ben,
released as part of the Jackson 5 franchise, and producing successful
singles such as "Got to Be There", "Ben", and a remake of Bobby Day's
"Rockin' Robin".
The Jackson 5 "became a cutting-edge example of black crossover

artists... five working-class black boys with afros and bell bottoms, and
they really didn't have to trade any of that stuff in order to become
mainstream stars." The group's sales began declining in 1973, and the
band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them
creative control or input. Although they scored several top 40 hits,
including the top 5 disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I
Am Love", the Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.
Jackson with his children in Disneyland Paris, 2006
In March 2006, the main house at the Neverland Ranch was closed
as a cost-cutting measure. There were numerous reports around that time
that Jackson was having financial problems. Jackson had been delinquent
on his repayments of a $270 million loan secured against his music
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publishing holdings, even though those holdings were reportedly making

him as much as$75 million a year. Bank of America sold the debt
to Fortress Investments. Sony reportedly proposed a restructuring deal
which would give them a future option to buy half of Jackson's stake in
their jointly owned publishing company (leaving Jackson with a 25%
stake). Jackson agreed to a Sony-backed refinancing deal in April 2006,
although the exact details were not made public. Jackson did not have a
recording contract in place with Sony or any other major record label at
the time.
In early 2006, there was an announcement that Jackson had signed

a contract with a Bahrain-based startup called Two Seas Records.
However, nothing ever came of that deal, and the CEO of Two Seas, Guy
Holmes, later stated that the deal had never been finalized. Throughout
2006, Sony repackaged 20 singles from the 1980s and 1990s as
the Michael Jackson: Visionary series, which subsequently became a box
set. Most of those singles returned to the charts as a result. In September
2006, Jackson and his ex-wife Debbie Rowe confirmed reports that they
had settled their long-running child custody suit. The terms were never
made public. Jackson continued to be the custodial parent of the couple's
two children. In October 2006, Fox News entertainment reporter Roger
Friedman said that Jackson had been recording at a studio in rural
Westmeath, Ireland. It was not known at the time what Jackson might be
working on, or who might be paying for the sessions, since his publicist
had recently issued a statement claiming that he had left Two Seas.

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In November 2006, Jackson invited an Access Hollywood camera

crew into the studio in Westmeath, and MSNBC broke the story that he
was working on a new album, produced by will.i.am of The Black Eyed
Peas. Jackson performed at the World Music Awards, in London on
November 15, 2006, and accepted a Diamond Award for selling over 100
million records. Jackson returned to the United States after Christmas
2006 to attend James Brown's funeral in Augusta, Georgia. He gave one
of the eulogies, saying that "James Brown is my greatest inspiration." In
the spring of 2007, Jackson and Sony teamed up to buy yet another music
publishing company: Famous Music LLC, formerly owned by Viacom.
This deal gave him the rights to songs by Eminem, Shakira and Beck,
among others.[ Jackson recorded extensively during this period in New
York with songwriter and producer will.i.am and also in Las Vegas with
producers Akon andRedOne. In March 2007, Jackson gave a brief
interview to the Associated Press in Tokyo, where he said, "I've been in
the entertainment industry since I was 6 years old, and as Charles
Dickens would say, 'It's been the best of times, the worst of times.' But I
would not change my career ... While some have made deliberate
attempts to hurt me, I take it in stride because I have a loving family, a
strong faith and wonderful friends and fans who have, and continue, to
support me."
In September 2007, Jackson was reportedly still working with

will.i.am, but the album was apparently never completed. However, in
2008, Jackson and Sony released Thriller 25 to mark the 25th anniversary
of the original Thriller. This album featured the previously unreleased
song "For All Time" (an outtake from the original sessions) as well as
remixes, where Jackson collaborated with younger artists who had been
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inspired by his work. Two of the remixes were released as singles with
only modest success: "The Girl Is Mine 2008" (with will.i.am) and
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008" (with Akon). The first single was
based on an early demo version, without Paul McCartney. The album
itself was a hit, however. In anticipation of Jackson's 50th birthday, Sony
BMG released a series of greatest-hits albums called King of Pop.
Slightly different versions were released in various countries, based on
polls of local fans. King of Pop reached the top 10 in most countries
where it was issued, and also sold well as an import in other countries
(such as the United States.)
In the fall of 2008, Fortress Investments threatened to foreclose

on Neverland Ranch, which Jackson used as collateral for loans running
into many tens of millions of dollars. However, Fortress opted to sell
Jackson's debts to Colony Capital LLC. In November, Jackson transferred
Neverland Ranch's title to Sycamore Valley Ranch Company LLC, which
was a joint venture between Jackson and Colony Capital LLC. This deal
cleared Jackson's debt, and he reportedly even gained an extra $35
million from the venture. At the time of his death, Jackson still owned a
stake in Neverland/Sycamore Valley, but it is unknown how large that
stake was. In September 2008, Jackson entered negotiations with Julien's
Auction House to display and auction a large collection of memorabilia
amounting to approximately 1,390 lots. The auction was scheduled to
take place between April 22 and April 25. An exhibition of the lots
opened as scheduled on April 14, but the actual auction was eventually
cancelled at Jackson's request.

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In March 2009, Jackson held a press conference at

London's O2 Arena and announced a series of comeback concerts
titled This Is It. The shows would be Jackson's first major series of
concerts since the HIStory World Tour finished in 1997. Jackson
suggested possible retirement after the shows; he said it would be his
"final curtain call". The initial plan was for 10 concerts in London,
followed by shows in Paris, New York City and Mumbai. Randy Phillips,
president and chief executive of AEG Live, stated that the first 10 dates
alone would earn the singer approximately £50 million. The London
residency was increased to 50 dates after record breaking ticket sales:
over one million were sold in less than two hours. Jackson rehearsed in
Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of
choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at
the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG. The concerts would have
commenced on July 13, 2009, and finished on March 6, 2010. Less than
three weeks before the first show was due to begin in London and with all
concerts being sold out, Jackson died after suffering cardiac arrest.
Some time before his death, it was widely stated that he was starting a
clothing line with Christian Audigier; due to his death, the current status
of the label remains unknown.
Jackson's first posthumous single was a song titled "This Is It"

which Jackson cowrote in the 1980s with Paul Anka. It was not on the set
lists for the concerts, and the recording was based on an old demo tape.
The surviving brothers reunited in the studio for the first time since 1989
to record backing vocals. On October 28, 2009, a documentary film about
the rehearsals titled Michael Jackson's This Is It was released. Even
though it ran for a limited two-week engagement, it became the highest
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grossing documentary or concert movie of all time, with earnings of more

than $260 million worldwide. Jackson's estate received 90% of the
profits. The film was accompanied by a compilation album of the same
name. Two versions of the new song appear on the album, which also
featured original masters of Jackson's hits in the order in which they
appear in the movie, along with a bonus disc with previously unreleased
versions of more Jackson hits as well as a spoken-word poem titled
"Planet Earth". At the 2009 American Music Awards Jackson won four
posthumous awards, two for him and two for his album Number Ones,
bringing his total American Music Awards to 26.
Death and memorial
On June 25, 2009, Jackson died while in his bed at his rented
mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills district of
Los Angeles. Attempts at resuscitating him by Conrad Murray,
his personal physician, were unsuccessful. Los Angeles Fire
Departmentparamedics received a 911 call at 12:22 (PDT, 19:22 UTC),
arriving three minutes later at Jackson's location. He was reportedly not
breathing and CPR was performed. Resuscitation efforts continued en
route to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and for more than an
hour after arriving there at 1:13 (20:13 UTC). He was pronounced dead at
2:26 local time (21:26 UTC). Jackson's death triggered a global
outpouring of grief.
The news spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down

and crash from user overload. Both TMZ and the Los Angeles
Times suffered outages.
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Google initially believed that the input from millions of people

searching for "Michael Jackson" meant that the search engine was
under DDoS attack, and blocked searches related to Michael Jackson for
30 minutes. Twitter reported a crash, as did Wikipedia at 3:15 p.m. PDT
(22:15 UTC).[218]The Wikimedia Foundation reported nearly a million
visitors to Jackson's biography within one hour, probably the most
visitors in a one-hour period to any article in Wikipedia's history. AOL
Instant Messenger collapsed for 40 minutes. AOL called it a "seminal
moment in Internet history", adding, "We've never seen anything like it in
terms of scope or depth."
Around 15% of Twitter posts—or 5,000 tweets per minute—

reportedly mentioned Jackson after the news broke, compared to the 5%
recalled as having mentioned the Iranian elections or the flu
pandemic that had made headlines earlier in the year. Overall, web
trafficranged from 11% to at least 20% higher than normal. MTV
and Black Entertainment Television (BET) aired marathons of Jackson's
music videos. Jackson specials aired on multiple television stations
around the world. The British soap opera EastEnders added a last-minute
scene, in which one character tells another about the news, to the June 26
episode. Jackson was the topic of every front-page headline in the daily
British tabloid The Sun for about two weeks following his death.During
the same period, the three major U.S. networks' evening newscasts—
ABC World News, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News—
devoted 34% of their broadcast time to him. Magazines
including Time published commemorative editions. A scene that had
featured Jackson's sister La Toya was cut from the film Brüno out of
respect toward Jackson's family. Jackson's memorial was held on July 7,
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2009, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, preceded by a private family

service at Forest Lawn Memorial Park's Hall of Liberty.Jackson's casket
was present during the memorial but no information was released about
the final disposition of the body. While some unofficial reports claimed a
worldwide audience as high as one billion people, the U.S. audience was
estimated by Nielsen to be 31.1 million, an amount comparable to the
estimated 35.1 million that watched the 2004 burial of former president
Ronald Reagan, and the estimated 33.1 million Americans who watched
the 1997 funeral for Princess Diana.
Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, John Mayer, Jennifer

Hudson, Usher, Jermaine Jackson, and Shaheen Jafargholi performed at
the event. Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson gave eulogies,
while Queen Latifah read "We had him", a poem written for the occasion
byMaya Angelou. The Reverend Al Sharpton received a standing
ovation with cheers when he told Jackson's children, "Wasn't nothing
strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal
with. But he dealt with it anyway." Jackson's 11-year-old daughter,Paris
Katherine, cried as she told the crowd, "Ever since I was born, Daddy has
been the best father you could ever imagine ... I just wanted to say I love
him ... so much." Reverend Lucious Smith provided a closing prayer.
On August 24, several news outlets quoted anonymous sources as stating
that the Los Angeles coroner had decided to treat Jackson's death as a
homicide; this was later confirmed by the coroner on August 28. At the
time of death, Jackson had been administered
propofol, lorazepam and midazolam. Law enforcement officials
conducted a manslaughter investigation of his personal physician, Conrad
Murray.
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On February 8, 2010, Murray was charged with involuntary

manslaughter by prosecutors in Los Angeles. Jackson was entombed on
September 3, 2009, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale,
California. Tribute of fans from all over the world in the Forest Lawn
Memorial Park on his first anniversary of death On June 25, 2010, the
first anniversary of Jackson's death, fans traveled to Los Angeles to pay
their tribute to him. They visited Jackson’s star on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame and his family’s home, as well as Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
Many of the fans were carrying sunflowers and other tribute items to drop
off at the sites.
Members of the Jackson family and close friends arrived to pay

their respects. Katherine returned to Gary, Indiana to unveil a granite
monument constructed in the front yard of the family home. The
memorial continued with a candlelight vigil and a special performance of
"We Are the World". On June 26, there was a protest march in front of
the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division at the
old Parker Center building and a petition with thousands of signatures
demanding justice was delivered. The Jackson Family Foundation in
conjunction with Voiceplate presented "Forever Michael", an event
bringing together Jackson family members, celebrities, fans, supporters
and the community to celebrate and honor his legacy. A portion of the
proceeds were presented to some of Jackson's favorite charities.
Katherine also introduced her new book "Never Can Say Goodbye".

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Death aftermath
After his death, Jackson became the best-selling albums artist of
2009; in the United States selling over 8.2 million albums and a total of
35 million albums worldwide in the 12 months that followed his death.
Following this surge in sales, Sony announced that they had extended
their relationship with his material. The distribution rights held by Sony
Music were due to expire in 2015. On March 16, 2010, Sony Music
Entertainment, in a move spearheaded by its Columbia/Epic Label
Group division, signed a new deal with the Jackson estate to extend their
distribution rights to his back catalogue until at least 2017, as well as to
obtain permission to release ten new albums with previously unreleased
material and new collections of released work. On November 4, 2010
Sony announced the release of Michael, the first posthumous album set to
be released on December 14, with the promotional single released to the
radios on November 8, titled "Breaking News". The deal was
unprecedented in the music industry as it is the most expensive music
contract pertaining to a single artist in history; it reportedly involved
Sony Music paying $250 million for the deal, with the Jackson estate
getting the full sum as well as its share of royalties for all works released.
Video game developer Ubisoft announced it would release a
new dancing-and-singing game featuring Michael Jackson for the 2010
holiday season. The game titled Michael Jackson: The Experience will be
among the first to use Kinect andPlayStation Move, the respective
motion-detecting camera systems for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and
Sony's PlayStation 3 due out later that year.

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On November 3, 2010, the theatrical performing company Cirque

du Soleil announced that it would launch "Michael Jackson: The
Immortal World Tour" in October 2011 in Montreal, while a permanent
show will reside in Las Vegas. The 90-minute US$57M production will
combine Jackson's iconic musical oeuvre and choreography with the
Cirque's signature artistry, dance and aerial displays involving 65 artists.
The tour was written and directed by Jamie King and centers on Jackson's
"inspirational Giving Tree – the wellspring of creativity where his love of
music and dance, fairy tale and magic, and the fragile beauty of nature are
unlocked." On October 3, 2011, the accompanying compilation
soundtrack album Immortal was announced to have over 40 Jackson’s
original recordings re-produced by Kevin Antunes.
In April 2011, Jackson's longtime friend and billionaire

businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, chairman of Fulham F.C., unveiled a
statue of Jackson outside the club's stadium, Craven Cottage. Fulham
fans were however bemused by the statue and failed to understand the
relevance of Jackson to the club. Al Fayed however defended the statue
and told the fans to 'go to hell' if they didn't appreciate the statue. One of
many identical statues, positioned throughout Europe to promote HIStory
Jackson's music took root in R&B, pop and soul. He had been influenced
by the work of contemporary musicians such as Little Richard, James
Brown, Jackie Wilson, Diana Ross, David Ruffin, Gene Kelly,Fred
Astaire, Sammy Davis, Jr., The Isley Brothers, the Bee Gees and
the West Side Story dancers, to whom he made a tribute in "Beat It" and
in the "Bad" video.

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According to David Winters, who met and befriended Jackson

while choreographing the 1971 Diana Ross TV Special "Diana!", (which
was also Jackson's first solo debut outside of The Jackson 5), Jackson
watched West Side Story almost every week and it was his favorite film.
While Little Richard had a substantial influence on Jackson, James
Brown was Jackson's greatest inspiration. In reference to Brown, Jackson
declared: "Ever since I was a small child, no more than like six years old,
my mother would wake me no matter what time it was, if I was sleeping,
no matter what I was doing, to watch the television to see the master at
work. And when I saw him move, I was mesmerized. I had never seen a
performer perform like James Brown, and right then and there I knew that
was exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life because of James
Brown."
The young Michael Jackson owed his vocal technique in large part
to Diana Ross. Not only a mother figure to him, she was often observed
in rehearsal as an accomplished performer. He later expressed: "I got to
know her well. She taught me so much. I used to just sit in the corner and
watch the way she moved. She was art in motion. I studied the way she
moved, the way she sang – just the way she was." He told her: "I want to
be just like you, Diana." She said: "You just be yourself." But Jackson
owed part of his enduring style—especially his use of
the oooh interjection—to Ross. From a young age, Jackson often
punctuated his verses with a sudden exclamation of oooh. Diana Ross had
used this effect on many of the songs recorded with The Supremes.

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Musical themes and genres

Unlike many artists, Jackson did not write his songs on paper.
Instead he would dictate into a sound recorder, and when recording he
would sing the lyrics from memory. In most of his songs, such as "Billie
Jean", "Who Is It", and "Tabloid Junkie", he would beatbox and imitate
the instruments using his voice instead of playing the actual instruments,
along with other sounds. Jackson noted that it is easier to sing a drum
line, or sing a bass, instead of playing a drum line or a bass with an
instrument. Several critics have said that Jackson's distinct voice was
able to replace any instrument convincingly. Steve Huey of Allmusic said
that, throughout his solo career, Jackson's versatility allowed him to
experiment with various themes and genres. As a musician, he ranged
from Motown's dance fare and ballads to techno andhouse-edged new
jack swing to work that incorporates both funk rhythms and hard
rock guitar. According to Huey, Thriller refined the strengths of Off the
Wall; the dance and rock tracks were more aggressive, while the pop
tunes and ballads were softer and more soulful. Notable tracks included
the ballads "The Lady in My Life", "Human Nature" and "The Girl Is
Mine"; the funk pieces "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'";
and the post-disco set "Baby Be Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young
Thing)". With Thriller, Christopher Connelly of Rolling
Stone commented that Jackson developed his long association with the
subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery. Allmusic's Stephen
Thomas Erlewine noted this is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an
obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers. In "Wanna Be
Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media. "Beat It"
decried gang violence in an homage toWest Side Story, and was
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Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey. He

also observed that the title track "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with
the theme of the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years. In
1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity anthem "We Are the World";
humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and
public persona.
Honors and awards

Thriller platinum record on display at the Hard Rock Cafe,
Hollywood in Universal City, California. Michael Jackson was inducted
onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1980 as member of The
Jacksons and in 1984 as solo artist. Throughout his career he received
numerous honors and awards, including the World Music Awards' Best-
Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium, the American Music Award's
Artist of the Century Award and the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium
Award. He was a double-inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,
once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in
2001. Jackson was also inducted in several other hall of fames,
including Vocal Group Hall of Fame (as The Jackson 5 member) in
1999, Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 and Hit Parade Hall of
Fame (with his brothers) in 2009. In 2010, Jackson was inducted into the
Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the
world of pop and rock 'n' roll. His awards include many Guinness World
Records (eight in 2006 alone), 13 Grammy Awards (as well as
the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement
Award), 26 American Music Awards (24 only as a solo artist, including
the "Artist of the Century", but not the poll of "Artist of the '80s")—more

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than any artist—, 13 number one singles in the US in his solo career—
more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era —and estimated sales
of up to 750 million records worldwide, making him the world's best
selling male solo pop artist. On December 29, 2009, the American Film
Institute recognized Jackson's death as a "moment of significance"
saying, "Michael Jackson's sudden death in June at age 50 was notable for
the worldwide outpouring of grief and the unprecedented global eulogy of
his posthumous concert rehearsal movie This Is It." Michael Jackson also
received a Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from the United Negro
College Fund and also an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from
Fisk University.
Lifetime earnings
His total lifetime earnings from royalties on his solo recordings and
music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been
estimated at US$500 million; some analysts have speculated that his
music catalog holdings could be worth billions of dollars. This
speculation however is contradicted by financial documents obtained by
the Associated Press, which showed that as of March 31, 2007, Jackson's
50 percent stake in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog (his most
prized asset) was worth $390.6 million and Michael Jackson's net worth
was $236 million. Billboard has estimated that Jackson has generated at
least $1 billion in revenue in the year following his death.

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CHAPTER – II
MICHAEL JACKSON ALBUMS

 Got to Be There (1972)
 Ben (1972)
 Music & Me (1973)
 Forever, Michael (1975)
 Off the Wall (1979)
 Thriller (1982)
 Bad (1987)
 Dangerous (1991)
 HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)
 Invincible (2001)
 Filmography
Got to Be There
Got to Be There is the solo debut album by Michael Jackson,

released by Motown Records on January 24, 1972. It includes the song
of the same name, which was released in the October 7, 1971 as Jackson's
debut solo single. It would go on to sell over 3.2 million copies
worldwide. The album was later remastered and reissued in 2009 as part
of the 3-disc compilation Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection.
Motown released Jackson's solo album around the same time that
another famous brother from a famous family was doing the same: Donny
Osmond, who was hitting with songs like "Sweet & Innocent" and
"Puppy Love". "Got To Be There" (at #8) and Osmond's "Hey Girl/I

20
Knew You When" (at #9) were back-to-back on the Hot 100 on 15
January 1972. Jackson's and Osmond's debut efforts almost paralleled
each other, as Jackson scored a hit with the title track and "Rockin'
Robin", which like Osmond's "Puppy Love", was a remake of an old '50s
rock song. Those two hits were back-to-back on the Hot 100 at #5 and
#6, respectively, on April 8, 1972. Jackson's "I Wanna Be Where You
Are" (at #27) and Osmond's "Too Young" (at #28) would be back-to-
back on the Hot 100 on June 24, 1972. The album also included covers
of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine", Carole King's "You've Got a
Friend" and the Supremes' "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone."
Track listing
No. Title Writer(s) Length

1. "Ain't No Bill Withers 4:09
Sunshine" (recorded
November 1971)
2. "I Wanna Be Where You Arthur "T-Boy" 3:01
Are" (recorded November Ross, Leon Ware
1971)
3. "Girl Don't Take Your Willie Hutch 3:46
Love from Me" (recorded
November 1971)
4. "In Our Small Beatrice Verdi, Christine 3:38
Way" (recorded Yarian
December 1971)
5. "Got to Be Elliot Willensky 3:23

21
There" (recorded June–

July 1971)
6. "Rockin' Leon Rene (under the 2:31
Robin" (recorded October pseudonym "Jimmie
1971) Thomas")
7. "Wings of My Alphonso Mizell, Berry 3:25
Love" (recorded Gordy Jr., Deke Richards
November 1971) & Freddie Perren
8. "Maria (You Were the Lawrence Brown, Linda 3:41
Only One)" (recorded Glover, George Gordy,
July–September 1971) Allen Story
9. "Love Is Here and Now Holland-Dozier-Holland 2:51
You're Gone" (recorded
December 1971)
10. "You've Got a Carole King 4:53
Friend" (recorded
November 1971)
Ben
Ben is the second studio album by American recording
artist Michael Jackson. The album was released on August 4, 1972, while
Jackson was still a member of The Jackson 5. The album received mixed
reviews from contemporary music critics. Ben was more successful on
music charts than Jackson's previous studio album, having charted within
the top ten on the Billboard200. Internationally, the album was less
successful, peaking at number twelve in Canada, while charting within
the top 200 positions in Australia and France.

22
Worldwide, Ben has sold a reported 5 million units. The album

released one single, the title track "Ben", which was a commercial
success on music charts, peaking at number one on theBillboard Hot 100,
giving Jackson his first number one single on the chart. "Ben" also
charted within the top ten in other territories worldwide. "Everybody's
Somebody's Fool" was planned to be released as the second single from
the album, but canceled for unspecified reasons. Two of the album's
songs were "stripped" in 2009 as part of the three-disc compilation Hello
World: The Motown Solo Collection.Ben was recorded by Jackson from
1971 to 1972. It was produced by six people, and executively produced
by Berry Gordy, Jr.. Songwriters for the eleven tracks Ben has include ,
Mel Larson, Jerry Marcellino, Thom Bell, Linda Creed, The
Corporation, Smokey Robinson, andRonald White, among
others.[6] Ben has R&B, contemporary pop rock and soul musical
styles.[7] The album's title track, which was the theme song for the
1972 film of the same name(the sequel to the 1971 killer rat movie
Willard), won a Golden Globe and was nominated for anAcademy Award
for Best Song. "What Goes Around Comes Around" has similarities to
Jackson's older brother Jackie's single, "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This
Time)", which featured vocals from Jackson and his older brothers.
For Ben, Jackson recorded cover's of The Temptations' 1964 single, "My
Girl", a cover of Lionel Hampton's "Everybody's Somebody's Fool", a
cover of Brenda Holloway's 1965 single, "You Can Cry on My Shoulder"
and a cover of Stevie Wonder's 1968 single,

23
"Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day". "My Girl" has a funk rhythm

and the song's score includes some call-and-response interaction, which is
similar to what Jackson and his brothers displayed in their Jackson 5
material. "You Can Cry on My Shoulder" is a mid-tempo song. "We've
Got a Good Thing Going" was previously issued as the B-side to "Got to
Be There"'s "I Wanna Be Where You Are" and "In Our Small Way" was
also featured on Jackson's previous album Got to Be There.The album
was released by Motown Records, his second studio album for the label
as a solo artist, in August 1972. As part of promotion for the album,
"Ben" was released as the album's lead, and only single in July 1972.
"Ben" was a commercial success worldwide, generally charting within
the top-ten and top-twenty positions on music charts. The song peaked at
number one on the Billboard Hot 100, which was Jackson's first, of what
would be thirteen songs, to top that chart during his career as a solo artist.
"Ben" also charted on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary
Tracks and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at number three and five. "Ben"
charted within the top-ten on the Dutch Top 40chart, peaking at number
two and number seven on the UK Singles Chart, as well as charting at
number fourteen in Australia. "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" was
planned to be released as the second single from the album, but was
cancelled for unspecified reasons.
Track listing

1. "Ben" (recorded January 1972) Walter Scharf, Don 2:44
Black
2. "Greatest Show on Mel Larson, Jerry 2:48
Earth" (recorded February 1972) Marcellino

24
3. "People Make the World Go Thom Bell, Linda 3:15

'Round"(recorded January– Creed
February 1972)
4. "We've Got a Good Thing The Corporation 2:59
Going" (recorded December [Alphonso Mizell,
1971) Berry Gordy Jr.,
Deke Richards,
Freddie Perren]
5. "Everybody's Somebody's Gladys Hampton, 2:59
Fool" (recorded January– Regina
February 1972) Adams, Ace
Adams
6. "My Girl" (recorded January– Smokey 3:08
February 1972) Robinson, Ronald
White
7. "What Goes Around Comes Allen Levinsky, 3:33
Around"(recorded December Arthur Stokes,
1971–February 1972) Dana Meyers,
Floyd
Weatherspoon
8. "In Our Small Way" (recorded Bea Verdi, 3:39
December 1971) Christine Yarian
9. "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da- Sylvia Moy, Henry 3:21
Day" (recorded February 1972) Cosby,Stevie
Wonder
10. "You Can Cry on My Berry Gordy 2:39
Shoulder" (recorded November
1971)

25
Music & Me
Music & Me was the third solo album by American singer Michael
Jackson, released in 1973 on the Motown label, selling two million copies
worldwide. The album was reissued in 2009 as part of the 3-disc
compilation Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection.The album was
released during a difficult period for Jackson, who was 14 years old at the
time, as he was experiencing vocal changes and facing a changing music
landscape. Having been influenced by fellow Motown label mates Marvin
Gaye and Stevie Wonder, Jackson wanted to include his own
compositions on the album, but Motown refused to allow this. Despite
featuring a photo of Jackson strumming an acoustic guitar on the album
cover, he does not actually play an instrument on the album. Jackson
would later express his frustrations about this to his father, Joe Jackson,
who would later work to terminate Michael and his brother's contract with
Motown, and negotiate lucrative contracts for them with Epic Records.
Since Jackson was on a world tour with his brothers as a member of The
Jackson 5, promotion on this album was limited. The Stevie
Wonder cover, "With a Child's Heart", was released as a single in the
United States, where it reached #14 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart
and #50 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.
Two additional songs ("Music and Me" and "Morning Glow")

were released as singles in the UK, but they failed to chart. Another track,
"Too Young", was released as a single in Italy, while the track "Happy"
was a single in Australia and "Doggin' Around" was a limited-release
single in Holland. Ten years after this album's release, "Happy" was
released as a single in the UK to promote Motown's 18 Greatest

26
Hits compilation album. For the compact disc issues of the album, the
text on the album was changed and the shade of green was darker. After
this release, Jackson took two years to work on a follow-up album that
focused on his maturing voice which became, Forever, Michael.
Track listing
N Title Writer(s) Length

o.
1. "With a Child's Sylvia Moy, Henry 3:32
Heart" (recorded March Cosby, Vicki
1972) Basemore
2. "Up Again" (recorded Freddie Perren, 2:50
March–December 1972) Christine Yarian
3. "All the Things You Oscar Hammerstein 2:59
Are" (recorded December II, Jerome Kern
1972–January 1973)
4. "Happy" (Love Theme Michel 3:25
from Lady Sings the Blues) Legrand, Smokey
(recorded August 1972) Robinson
5. "Too Young" (recorded Sidney 3:38
August–November 1972) Lippman, Sylvia Dee
6. "Doggin' Around" (recorded Lena Agree 2:52
August–November 1972)
7. "Johnny Raven" (recorded Billy Page 3:33
January–March 1973)
8. "Euphoria" (recorded Leon Ware, 2:50
August–December 1972) Jacqueline Hilliard

27
9. "Morning Glow" (recorded Stephen Schwartz 3:37

December 1972–March 1973)
10 "Music and Me" (recorded Jerry Marcellino, Mel 2:38
. March 1972) Larson, Don
Fenceton, Mike
Cannon
Forever, Michael
Forever, Michael is the fourth studio album

by American recording artist Michael Jackson. The album, which was
released in 1975, was the fourth and last studio album by him to be
released by Motown Records. Forever, Michael was generally well
received by contemporary music critics. Unlike Jackson's previous
studio albums released within the 1970s, the album was not
commercially successful worldwide. Except for the peak position of
number one-hundred-one on the Billboard 200 and number ten on
a Billboard component chart in the United States, the album did not chart
on any music charts. The album has reportedly sold over one million
copies worldwide since its release.The album, with the length of over
thirty minutes, is credited as having material
with R&B, pop,soul and pop rock material. Edward Holland, Jr., Brian
Holland, Hal Davis, Freddie Perren, Sam Brown III served as producers
to Forever, Michael. As part of promotion for the album, three singles
were released from Forever, Michael, all of which were moderate
commercial successes on the Billboard Hot 100 and other music charts
worldwide. Songs from the album were reissued in 2009 after Jackson's
death in June of the same year as part of the 3-disc compilation album
entitled, Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection.
28
The album was Jackson's fourth as a solo artist and would end up
being his final album released with Motown before he and his brothers
(The Jackson 5, save for Jermaine, who would remain with Motown) left
for CBS Records a year later. This album displayed a change in musical
style for the sixteen-year-old, who adopted a smoother soul sound that he
would continue to develop on his later solo records for Epic Records.
Most of the tracks were recorded in 1974, and the album was originally
set to be released that year. However, because of demand from the
Jackson 5's huge hit "Dancing Machine", production on Jackson's album
was delayed until the hype from that song died down.The album helped
return Jackson to the top 40, aided by the singles "We're Almost There"
and "Just a Little Bit of You", both written by the Holland Brothers
(Eddie and Brian) of Holland–Dozier–Holland. In 1981, Motown
released "One Day in Your Life" as a single, coupled with the One Day
in Your Life compilation album release, to capitalize off Jackson's Off
the Wall success on Epic. The single went to number one in the UK,
becoming the 6th best-selling single of 1981 in the UK. This is the only
Jackson studio album that doesn't share a name with one of the songs on
the album. The compact disc version of the album removes the white
border around the photograph of Jackson from the album cover, and
instead makes the image larger so that the background can not be seen.
Furthermore, the "FOREVER, MICHAEL" text is changed to more
simple text which lists both "MICHAEL JACKSON" and "Forever,
Michael" in a different font

29
Track listing
No Title Writer(s) Leng

. th
1. "We're Almost Edward Holland, Jr., 3:42
There" (recorded December Brian Holland
1974)
2. "Take Me Back" (recorded Edward Holland, Jr., 3:24
October 1974) Brian Holland
3. "One Day in Your Sam Brown III, Renée 4:15
Life" (recorded December Armand
1974)
4. "Cinderella Stay Michael Burnett 3:08
Awhile" (recorded November Sutton
1974)
5. "We've Got Elliot Willensky 3:10
Forever" (recorded October
1974)
6. "Just a Little Bit of Edward Holland, Jr., 3:10
You" (recorded October Brian Holland
1974)
7. "You Are There" (recorded Sam Brown III, Randy 3:21
November 1974) Meitzenheimer,
Christine Yarian
8. "Dapper Dan" (freestyle) Don Fletcher 3:11
(recorded November 1974)
9. "Dear Michael" (recorded Hal Davis, Elliot 2:35

30
December 1974) Willensky

10. "I'll Come Home to Freddie Perren, 3:02
You" (recorded December Christine Yarian
1973)
Off the Wall
Off the Wall is the fifth studio album by the American recording
artist Michael Jackson, released August 10, 1979 on Epic Records, after
Jackson's critically well received film performance in The Wiz. While
working on that project, Jackson and Quincy Jones had become friends,
and Jones agreed to work with Jackson on his next studio album.
Recording sessions took place between December 1978 and June 1979 at
Allen Zentz Recording, Westlake Recording Studios, andCherokee
Studios in Los Angeles, California. Jackson collaborated with a number
of other writers and performers such as Paul McCartney, Stevie
Wonder and Rod Temperton. Five singles were released from the album.
Three of the singles had music videos released. Jackson wrote several of
the songs himself, including the Platinum-certified lead single, "Don't
Stop 'til You Get Enough". It was his first solo release under Epic
Records, the label he would record on until his death in 2009.The record
was a departure from Jackson's previous work for Motown. Several
critics observed that Off the Wall was crafted from funk, disco-pop, soft
rock, jazz and pop ballads. Jackson received positive reviews for his
vocal performance on the record. The record gained positive reviews and
won the singer his first Grammy Award since the early 1970s. With Off
the Wall, Jackson became the first solo artist to have four singles from the
same album peak inside the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.

31
The album was a commercial success; to date it is certified for 8×

Multi-Platinum in the US and has sold more than 20 million copies
worldwide, making it one of the best selling albums of all time. On
October 16, 2001, a special edition reissue of Off the Wall was released
by Sony Records. Recent reviews by Allmusic and Blender have
continued to praise Off the Wall for its appeal in the 21st century. In
2003, the album was ranked number 68 on Rolling Stone magazine's list
ofthe 500 greatest albums of all time. The National Association of
Recording Merchandisers listed it at number 80 of the Definitive 200
Albums of All Time. In 2008, Off the Wall was inducted into
the Grammy Hall of Fame. Music critics Stephen Thomas
Erlewine and Stephen Holden observed that Off the Wall was crafted
from funk, disco-pop, soul, soft rock,jazz and pop ballads.
Prominent examples include the ballad "She's Out of My Life",

and the two disco tunes "Workin' Day and Night" and "Get on the Floor".
"I Can't Help It" is a jazz piece. In Quincy Jones' autobiography, he
compares Jackson to other jazz singers noting that Jackson "has some of
the same qualities as the great jazz singers I'd worked
with: Ella, Sinatra, Sassy, Aretha, Ray Charles, Dinah. Each of them had
that purity, that strong signature sound and that open wound that pushed
them to greatness." "She's out of My Life" is a melodic pop ballad. The
end of the former song showed an "emotional" Jackson crying as the
track concluded. Of the song R&B writer Nelson George proclaimed,
"[It] became a Jackson signature similar to the way "My Way"
served Frank Sinatra. The vulnerability, verging on fragility that would
become embedded in Michael's persona found, perhaps, its richest

32
expression in this wistful ballad". "Rock With You" is a romantic, mid-

tempo song. With the arrival of Off the Wall in the late 1970s, Jackson's
abilities as a vocalist were well regarded; Allmusic writer Stephen
Thomas Erlewine described him as a "blindingly gifted vocalist". At the
time, Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy
stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also that "Jackson's
feathery-timbered tenor is extraordinary beautiful. It slides smoothly into
a startlingfalsetto that's used very daringly". John Randall
Taraborrelli expressed the opinion that Jackson sings with "sexy falsetto"
vocals in "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough."
Track listing

1. "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" Michael Jackson 6:04
2. "Rock with You" Rod Temperton 3:40

3. "Workin' Day and Night" Michael Jackson 5:14
4. "Get on the Floor" Michael Jackson, 4:39
5. "Off the Wall" Rod Temperton 4:05
6. "Girlfriend" Paul McCartney 3:05
7. "She's Out of My Life" Tom Bahler 3:37
8. "I Can't Help It" Stevie Wonder, 4:29
9. "It's the Falling in Carole Bayer 3:48
Love" (featuring Patti Austin) Sager, David Foster
10 "Burn This Disco Out" Rod Temperton 3:41
2001 Special Edition

33
Thriller
Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording

artist Michael Jackson. It was released on November 30, 1982, by Epic
Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially
successful 1979 album Off the Wall. Thriller explores similar genres to
those of Off the Wall, including pop, R&B, rock, post-disco and adult
contemporary music.
Recording sessions took place between April and November 1982

at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a
production budget of $750,000, assisted by producer Quincy Jones. Of
the nine tracks on the album, 4 of them were written by Jackson himself.
Seven singles were released from the album, all of which reached the top
10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Three of the singles had music videos
released. "Baby Be Mine" and "The Lady in My Life" were the only
tracks that were not released as singles. In just over a
year, Thriller became—and currently remains—the best-selling album of
all time, with sales estimated by various sources as being between 65 and
110 million copies worldwide, ] and is also tied for the best-selling album
in the United States. The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy
Awards at the1984 Grammys.Thriller enabled Jackson to break down
racial barriers via his appearances on MTV and meeting with President of
the United States Ronald Reagan at the White House. The album was one
of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools—the
videos for "Thriller", "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" all received regular
rotation on MTV. In 2001, a special edition issue of the album was

34
released, which contains additional audio interviews, a demo recording

and the song "Someone In the Dark", which was a Grammy-winning
track from the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrialstorybook. In 2008, the album
was reissued again as Thriller 25, containing re-mixes that feature
contemporary artists, a previously unreleased song and a
DVD.Thriller ranked number 20 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500
Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2003. and was listed by the National
Association of Recording Merchandisers at number three in its
Definitive 200 Albums of All Time. The Thriller album was included in
the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry of culturally
significant recordings, and the Thriller video was included in the National
Film Preservation Board's National Film Registry of "culturally,
historically, or aesthetically significant films." In 2012, Slant
Magazine listed the album at #1 on its list of "Best Albums of the
1980's".
Jackson's previous album Off the Wall (1979) received strong

critical acclaim and was also a commercial success, eventually selling
over 20 million copies worldwide. The years between Off the
Wall and Thriller were a transitional period for the singer, a time of
increasing independence. The period saw the singer become deeply
unhappy; Jackson explained, "Even at home, I'm lonely. I sit in my room
sometimes and cry. It's so hard to make friends ... I sometimes walk
around the neighborhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to.
But I just end up coming home." When Jackson turned 21 in August
1979, he hired John Branca as his manager. Jackson confided in Branca
that he wanted to be "the biggest star in show business" and "the
wealthiest".
35
The singer was upset about what he perceived to be the under-

performance of Off the Wall, stating, "It was totally unfair that it didn't
get Record of the Year and it can never happen again."[16] He also felt
undervalued by the music industry; in 1980 when Jackson asked the
publicist of Rolling Stone if they would be interested in doing a cover
story on him, the publicist declined, to which Jackson responded, "I've
been told over and over that black people on the cover of magazines
doesn't sell copies ... Just wait. Someday those magazines are going to
be begging me for an interview. Maybe I'll give them one. And maybe I
won't."
Track listing

1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" Michael Jackson 6:03
2. "Baby Be Mine" Rod Temperton 4:20
3. "The Girl Is Mine" (featuring Paul Michael Jackson 3:42
McCartney)
4. "Thriller" Rod Temperton 5:57
5. "Beat It" Michael Jackson 4:18
6. "Billie Jean" Michael Jackson 4:54
7. "Human Nature" Steve Porcaro, John 4:06
Bettis
8. "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" James 3:59
Ingram, Quincy
Jones
9. "The Lady in My Life" Rod Temperton 5:00

36
Bad (album)
Bad is the seventh studio album by American songwriter and

recording artist Michael Jackson. The album was released on August 31,
1987[1] by Epic/CBS Records, nearly five years after Jackson's previous
studio album, Thriller, which went on to become the world's best-selling
album. Bad itself sold over 45 million copies worldwide, and shipped
10.5 million units in the United States alone, and has been cited as one of
the best selling albums of all time. The album produced five Hot 100
number ones, the first album to do so. Similar to Jackson's previous
music material, the album's music features elements
of R&B, pop and rock.Bad was recorded during the first half of 1987.
The lyrical themes on the record relate to paranoia, romance and self-
improvement. Bad is widely regarded as having cemented Jackson's
status as one of the most successful artists of the 1980s, as well as
enhancing his solo career and being one of the best musical projects of
his career. Ten of the eleven songs on Bad were released as singles; one
was a promotional single and another was released outside of theUnited
States and Canada. Five of the singles hit number one in the United
States, while a sixth charted within the top-ten, and a seventh charted
within the top-twenty on the Hot 100. The single that was released
outside of the United States and Canada was commercially successful,
charting within the top ten and top twenty in multiple
territories. Bad peaked at number one in seven countries, as well as
charting within the top twenty in other territories. The only song on the
album which wasn't released as a single was "Just Good Friends".
Bad saw Jackson exercise even more artistic freedom than he did with his
two previous Epicreleases (Off the Wall and Thriller). On Bad, Jackson
37
omposed nine of the album's eleven tracks and received co-producer

credit for the entire album. The album continued Jackson's commercial
success in the late 1980s and garnered six Grammy Award nominations,
winning two. Aside from commercial success the album also received
critical acclaim from contemporary critics. Bad was ranked number 43 in
the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time of the MTV Generation in 2009
by VH1 and number 202 in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest
Albums of All Time. The album marked the final collaboration between
Jackson and producer Quincy Jones.
Track listing
All songs written by Michael Jackson except where noted.
Side one
1. "Bad" 4:07
2. "The Way You Make Me 4:57
Feel"
3. "Speed Demon" 4:01
4. "Liberian Girl" 3:53
5. "Just Good Friends" Terry Britten, Graham Lyle 4:06
6. "Another Part of Me" 3:54
7. "Man in the Mirror" Siedah Garrett, Glen 5:20
Ballard
8. "I Just Can't Stop Loving 4:11
You"
9. "Dirty Diana" 4:41
10. "Smooth Criminal" 4:17

38
Dangerous (Michael Jackson album)
Dangerous is the eighth studio album by American recording

artist Michael Jackson, released November 26, 1991 on Epic Records. It
became his second to debut at number 1 on theBillboard 200 albums
chart, where it spent the next four consecutive weeks. Nine singles were
released from the album and all of the singles had music videos released.
The album has sold over 32 million copies worldwide making it one of
the best selling albums of all time. The album won one Grammy for Best
Engineered Album – Non Classical won by Bruce Swedien and Teddy
Riley, and is the most successful new jack swing album of all time.
According to the sleeve notes on the later remastered edition of the
album, recording sessions began in Los Angeles, California at Ocean
Way/Record One Studio 2 on June 25, 1990. The sessions ended at
Larrabee North and Ocean Way Studio on October 29, 1991, being the
most extensive recording project of Jackson's career at the time (over 16
months compared to the usual 6 spent for his previous three studio
albums). In 1990, a promo CD acetate was given to 10 Sony executives
on a plane flight to Neverland Ranch, as a teaser for Dangerous.In March
1991, Jackson signed a 15-year, 6-album deal with Sony Music. The
press reported that Sony actually handed over $1 billion to Jackson, but
that was not the case. At the time, Sony estimated that if the albums
Jackson released under the new contract sold at the same level they
currently sold, it would generate over $1 billion in profits for them.
Additionally, Jackson was awarded the highest royalty rate in the
business. By the time the contract expired in March 2006, Michael would
have been paid $45 million from Sony ($1 million a year, plus $5 million

39
per album delivered). This does not include money he would have also
earned from sales of albums, singles, videos etc. Under this contract,
Jackson is estimated to have earned $175 million from album sales alone.
At this point, Dangerous was already in the making, under the producing
talents of (Quincy Jones recommended) 23-year-old Teddy Riley and
Grammy-winner Bill Bottrell. The previous album, Bad, was Jackson's
last designed for the LP industry, conforming to the usual 10-song within
50-minute format, whereas Dangerous was a 77-minute, 14-track
compilation, which almost dared the capacity of early Nineties compact
discs. Consequently, the record was released as a double album in vinyl
and an extended version cassette. A special limited-edition of the album
was initially released in a large box with a picture of Jackson's eyes,
which folded open to reveal the usual cover (painted by pop
surrealist Mark Ryden), in pop-up card, with the CD and booklet in the
bottom. Dangerous was released on November 26, 1991 with record-
breaking sales Dangerous was Jackson's fastest-selling album ever in the
United States with seven million shipped in under two months. This
broke the sales record for Bad, which had also shipped seven million
copies in 1987, but in four months. Dangerous debuted at number 1 on
the Billboard 200 albums chart, with 326,500 copies sold in its first week.
It held the position for four weeks. Jackson promoted the album with a
high-profile performance at the Super Bowl and an interview with Oprah
Winfrey, but it did not return to the number 1 slot. However, it returned
to the Top Ten after Jackson received the Grammy Legend Award at
the 1993 ceremony.Dangerous spent 117 weeks in the Billboard 200,
thirty more than Bad. The RIAA certified Dangerous seven times
platinum (seven million copies).

40
Track listing

1. "Jam" (featuring Heavy D) Michael Jackson, Teddy 5:39
Riley
2. "Why You Wanna Trip on Me" Teddy Riley, Bernard 5:25
Belle
3. "In the Michael Jackson, Teddy 6:32
Closet" (featuring Princess Riley
Stéphanie of Monaco)
4. "She Drives Me Michael Jackson, Teddy 3:41
Wild" (featuring Wrecks-N- Riley; rap lyrics by Aqil
Effect) Davidson
5. "Remember the Time" Teddy Riley, Michael 4:00
Jackson, Bernard Belle
6. "Can't Let Her Get Away" Michael Jackson, Teddy 5:00
Riley
7. "Heal the World" Michael Jackson 6:25
8. "Black or White" (featuring Michael Jackson 4:16
L.T.B.)
9. "Who Is It" Michael Jackson 6:34
10. "Give In to Michael Jackson, Bill 5:29
Me" (featuring Slash) Bottrell
11. "Will You Be There" (Theme Michael Jackson 7:39
from Free Willy)
12. "Keep the Faith" Glen Ballard, Siedah 5:57
Garrett, Michael Jackson
13. "Gone Too Soon" Larry Grossman, Buz 3:24
41
Kohan
14. "Dangerous" Michael Jackson, Bill 7:00
Bottrell, Teddy Riley
HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I
HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (usually shortened

to HIStory) is the ninth studio album by American recording
artist Michael Jackson, released on June 16, 1995 by Epic Records. The
majority of the album's tracks were written and produced by
Jackson. HIStory was the first album to be released by Jackson since he
was accused of child sexual abuse in August 1993. Recorded during late
1994 and early 1995, several of the double album's fifteen songs pertain
to the accusations and Jackson's mistreatment in the media, specifically
the tabloids. The songs' themes included environmental awareness,
isolation, greed, and injustice. HIStory is Jackson's most controversial
album. Jackson was accused of using anti-Semiticlyrics in "They Don't
Care About Us". Jackson stated that he did not mean any offense and on
multiple occasions denied anti-Semitism. The dispute regarding the lyrics
ended with Jackson re-recording them. R. Kelly was accused
of plagiarizing one of the album's songs, "You Are Not Alone". In 2007 a
judge ruled that the song was plagiarized and the song was subsequently
banned from radio stations in Belgium.
Six singles and two promotional singles were released

from HIStory: "Scream", "You Are Not Alone", "Earth Song", "This
Time Around", "They Don't Care About Us" and "Stranger in Moscow".
"This Time Around" was released as a radio-only single, and "Earth
Song", "They Don't Care About Us" and "Stranger in Moscow" were less
42
successful within the United States, but were successful internationally;

all three peaked within the top ten in multiple countries. The music
videos released to promote the songs have become influential. The first
disc (HIStory Begins) is a compilation album of previous hits by Jackson,
whereas the second disc (HIStory Continues) comprises new material.
The album was generally well received by music critics and was also
commercially successful, debuting and peaking at number one in many
counties, including the United States, Canada,Australia, France and
the United Kingdom, as well as charting within the top ten
in Spain andMexico. HIStory is the best-selling multiple disc album ever
by a solo artist, with worldwide sales of over 20 million copies (40
million in terms of units), making it making it one of the best selling
albums of all time. The album was nominated for five Grammy Awards,
winning one for Best Music Video – Short Form for "Scream". The
greatest hits disc of the album was reissued on November 13, 2001, under
the name Greatest Hits: HIStory, Volume I and has reportedly sold four
million copies worldwide as of early 2010. HIStory is primarily directed
at the tabloid press. Starting in the late 1980s, Jackson and the press had a
difficult relationship. In 1986, the tabloids ran a story claiming that
Jackson slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, which Jackson claimed
was not true. It was reported that Jackson had offered to buy the bones
of Joseph Merrick (the "elephant man"). Jackson described the story "a
complete lie". These stories inspired the pejorative nickname "Wacko
Jacko", which Jackson despised. He stopped leaking untruths to the press,
so the media began making up their own stories. In 1989, Jackson
released the song and music video "Leave Me Alone", a song about his
perceived victimization at the hands of the press. The video shows
Jackson poking fun not only at the press but also the situation he was in.
43
In 1993, the relationship between Jackson and the press soured entirely
when he was accused of child sexual abuse. Although he was not charged
with a crime, Jackson was subject to intense media scrutiny while the
criminal investigation took place. Complaints about the coverage and
media included: using sensational headlines to draw in readers and
viewers when the content itself did not support the headline; accepting
stories of Jackson's alleged criminal activity in return for money;
accepting confidential, leaked material from the police investigation in
return for money paid; deliberately using pictures of Jackson's
appearance at its worst; a lack of objectivity; and using headlines that
strongly implied Jackson's guilt. In 1994, Jackson said of the media
coverage, "I will say I am particularly upset by the handling of the matter
by the incredible, terrible mass media. At every opportunity, the media
has dissected and manipulated these allegations to reach their own
conclusions." Jackson began taking painkillers, Valium, Xanax and
Ativan to deal with the stress of the allegations.A few months after the
allegations became news, Jackson had stopped eating. Soon after,
Jackson's health had deteriorated to the extent that he cancelled the
remainder of his tour and went into rehabilitation. Jackson booked the
whole fourth floor of a clinic and was put on Valium IV to wean him
from painkillers. When Jackson left the United States to go into
rehabilitation, the media showed Jackson little sympathy. In 1993, The
Daily Mirror held a "Spot the Jacko" contest, offering readers a trip
to Disney World if they could correctly predict where Jackson would
appear next. The same year, a Daily Express headline read, "Drug
Treatment Star Faces Life on the Run", while a News of the
World headline accused Jackson of being a fugitive; these tabloids also

44
falsely alleged that Jackson had travelled to Europe to have cosmetic

surgery that would make him unrecognisable on his return. In early
November 1993, Geraldo Rivera set up a mock trial, with a jury made up
of audience members, even though Jackson had not been charged with a
crime.
HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I was recorded from

September 1994 to March 1995. Jackson co-wrote and co-produced a
majority of the songs featured on the album. Aside from Jackson, other
writers include Dallas Austin, The Notorious B.I.G., Bruce Swedien,R.
Kelly and Rene Moore and other producers include David Foster and Bill
Bottrell. HIStory was Jackson's first studio album since his 1991
album Dangerous four years prior, and his first new material to be
released since being accused of child sexual abuse in 1994. HIStory was
released as a two-disc album; disc one (HIStory Begins) contains already
released material from Jackson, and the second disc (HIStory Continues)
comprises new material. HIStorys first disc had fifteen songs from
Jackson's four previous studio albums, Off the Wall in 1979, Thriller in
1982, Bad in 1987 and Dangerous in 1991. Physically, the album was
available on double gold CD, double cassette, and, due to the format's
running time limitations, triple vinyl. Musically, HIStory's themes are
credited as, R&B, pop, rock, dance, urban, new jack swing, funk, and hip-
hop. HIStory was released on June 16, 1995 by Sony Music's Epic
Records. HIStory, similar to Jackson's previous studio
albums Thriller and Bad, contains lyrics that deal with paranoia. The
majority of the songs were written by Jackson. Several of the album's
fifteen songs pertain to the child sexual abuse allegations made against
him in 1993 and Jackson's perceived mistreatment by the media, mainly
45
the tabloids. Because of this, the album has been described as being
Jackson's most "personal". Two of the album's new tracks were covers.
The genres of the album's music span R&B, pop, hard rock and ballads.
The lyrics pertain to isolation, greed, environmental concerns, injustice.
"Scream" is a duet with Jackson's younger sister Janet; contemporary
critics noted that it was difficult to distinguish their voices apart. It was
noted that the "refrain" of the song's lyrics "Stop pressurin' me!" is
"compelling," and that Jackson "spits out the lyrics with drama and
purpose". "Scream"'s lyrics are about injustice. The lyrics for the R&B
ballad "You Are Not Alone", written by R. Kelly, pertain to isolation.
Two Belgian songwriters, brothers Eddy and Danny Van Passel, claimed
to have written the melody in 1993; In September 2007, a Belgian judge
ruled the song was plagiarized from the Van Passel brothers, and it was
subsequently banned from airwaves in Belgium. "D.S" is a hard rock
song, whose lyrics were interpreted by music critics as an attack on the
district attorney of Jackson's child sexual abuse case, Thomas Sneddon.
Multiple critics reviewed the song in connection with Sneddon, Fox
News Channel and CNN, noting that the "cold man" in the lyrics is
Sneddon; when the name "Dom S. Sheldon" from the chorus is sung, it
resembles "Thomas Sneddon".
"Money" was interpreted as being directed at Evan Chandler, the

father of the boy who accused Jackson of child sexual abuse. The lyrics
of "Childhood" pertain to Jackson's own childhood. Similar to "Scream",
the lyrics to "They Don't Care About Us" pertain to injustice, as well as
racism. In "This Time Around", Jackson asserts himself as having been
"falsely accused" The song features The Notorious B.I.G. (aka Biggie
Smalls) two years before his death in 1997.
46
Jackson worked with Biggie again posthumously in 2001 on

Jackson's following album, Invincible on the song "Unbreakable"; this
made him the only rapper to appear on multiple Jackson LPs. "Earth
Song" was described as a "slow blues-operatic", and its lyrics pertain to
environmental concerns. On HIStory, Jackson covered Charlie Chaplin's
"Smile" and The Beatles' "Come Together". "Stranger in Moscow" is a
pop ballad that is interspersed with sounds of rain. Jackson described the
lyrics as being a "swift and sudden fall from grace". "Tabloid Junkie" is a
hard funk song with lyrics instructing listeners to not believe everything
they read in the media and tabloids. The album's title track, "HIStory"
contained multiple samples, including Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a
Dream" speech. "HIStory" was not released as a single from HIStory,
but was from Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix in 1997.As
an introduction for "Little Susie", Michael used his own variation of Pie
Jesu from Maurice Duruflé's Requiem. It had been rumored that Michael
found inspiration for the song from the murder of a little girl named
“Susie” in 1978 but it is apparently just that: rumor. The inspiration
behind the song more likely came from an artist called Gottfried
Helnwein. Michael admired the artist's work and he had purchased some
of his paintings. One of them, "Beautiful Victim", inspired the song.
Helnwein is considered quite provocative as he paints about the human
condition depicting wounded children, among others. Helnwein later
painted a portrait of Michael. There appears to be a similarity between
the "Beautiful Victim" painting and the artwork included for the song in
HIStory.

47
CHAPTER – III
APPEARANCE AND TABLOIDS
Move to Epic and Off the Wall
In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary

of CBS Records and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother
Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to
pursue a solo career. They continued to tour internationally, releasing six
more albums between 1976 and 1984, during which Michael was the lead
songwriter, writing hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the
Ground)", "This Place Hotel", and "Can You Feel It". In 1978, he starred
as the scarecrow in the musical, The Wiz, a box-office disaster. It was
here that he teamed up with Quincy Jones, who was arranging the film's
musical score. Jones agreed to produce Jackson's next solo album, Off the
Wall. In 1979, Jackson broke his nose during a complex dance routine.
His subsequent rhinoplastywas not a complete success; he complained of
breathing difficulties that would affect his career. He was referred to
Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who performed Jackson's second rhinoplasty and
subsequent operations.
Jones and Jackson produced the Off the Wall album together.
Songwriters for the album included Jackson, Rod Temperton, Stevie
Wonder, and Paul McCartney. Released in 1979, it was the first solo
album to generate four U.S. top 10 hits, including the chart-topping
singles "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You". It
reached number three on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold over 20
million copies worldwide.

48
In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music

Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite
Soul/R&B Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop
'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Year-Endfor
Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best
Male R&B Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get
Enough". Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for
Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist. Despite
its commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a
much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his
next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music
industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.
Thriller and Motown 25 (1982–83)
In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to

the storybook for the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; the record won a
Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he
won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards
(including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him
the most awarded in one night for both award shows. These awards were
thanks to the Thriller album, released in late 1982, which was 1983's
best-selling album worldwide and became the best-selling album of all
time in the United States, as well as the best-selling album of all time
worldwide, selling an estimated 110 millioncopies so far. The album
topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the
200 for 80 consecutive weeks.

49
It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10
singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It", and "Wanna Be Startin'
Somethin'". Thrillerwas certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA,
giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won
also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in
1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work. Jackson's attorney John
Brancanoted that Jackson had the highest royalty rate in the music
industry at that point: approximately $2 for every album sold. He was
also making record-breaking profits from sales of his recordings. The
videocassette of the documentary The Making of Michael Jackson's
Thrillersold over 350,000 copies in a few months. The era saw the arrival
of novelties like dolls modeled after Michael Jackson, which appeared in
stores in May 1984 at a price of $12. Biographer J. Randy
Taraborrelli writes that, "Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item—like
a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a
household staple." In 1985, The Making of Michael Jackson's
Thrillerwon a Grammy for Best Music Video, Longform. In December
2009, the music video for "Thriller" was selected for the National Film
Registry by the Library of Congress, "Thriller" is the first music video
ever to be inducted.
Time described Jackson's influence at that point as "Star of

records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business.
A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest
feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and
style and color too". The New York Times wrote that, "in the world of
pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else". In
March 1983, Jackson reunited with his brothers for a legendary live
50
performance which was taped for a Motown 25: Yesterday, Today,

Forever television special. The show aired on May 16, 1983, to an
audience of 47 million viewers, and featured the Jacksons and a number
of other Motown stars. It is best remembered for Jackson's solo
performance of "Billie Jean". Wearing a distinctive black sequin jacket
and golf glove decorated with rhinestones, he debuted his signature dance
move, the moonwalk, which former Soul Train dancer and Shalama
remember Jeffrey Daniel had taught him three years before.
The Jacksons' performance drew comparisons to Elvis Presley's

and The Beatles' appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. Anna Kisselgoff
of The New York Times later wrote, "The moonwalk that he made
famous is an apt metaphor for his dance style. How does he do it? As a
technician, he is a great illusionist, a genuine mime. His ability to keep
one leg straight as he glides while the other bends and seems to walk
requires perfect timing."
Pepsi, "We Are the World" and business career (1984–85)

On January 27, 1984, Michael and other members of the Jacksons
filmed a Pepsi Cola commercial, overseen by executive Phil Dusenberry,
from ad agency BBDO and Pepsi's Worldwide Creative Director,Alan
Pottasch at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. In front of a full house
of fans during a simulated concert, pyrotechnics accidentally set
Jackson's hair on fire. He suffered second-degree burns to his scalp.
Jackson underwent treatment to hide the scars on his scalp, and he also
had his third rhinoplasty shortly thereafter.Jackson never recovered from
this injury.

51
Pepsi settled out of court, and Jackson donated his $1.5 million
settlement to the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California,
which now has a "Michael Jackson Burn Center" in honor of his
donation. Dusenberry later recounted the episode in his memoir,Then We
Set His Hair on Fire: Insights and Accidents from a Hall of Fame Career
in Advertising.
On May 14, 1984, Jackson was invited to the White House to

receive an award from President Ronald Reagan for his support of
charities that helped people overcome alcohol and drug abuse. Jackson
won eight awards during the Grammys that year. Unlike later
albums, Thriller did not have an official tour to promote it, but the
1984 Victory Tour, headlined by The Jacksons, showcased much of
Jackson's new solo material to more than two million Americans. He
donated all the funds (around $8 million) raised from the Victory Tour to
charity. He also co-wrote the charity single "We Are the World" in 1985
with Lionel Richie, which was released worldwide to aid the poor in the
U.S. and Africa. It became one of the best-selling singles of all time, with
nearly 30 million copies sold and millions of dollars donated to famine
relief. In 1986, "We Are the World" won four Grammys (one for Jackson
for Song of the Year). American Music Award directors removed the
charity song from the competition because they felt it would be
inappropriate, but recognized it with two special honors (one for the
creation of the song and one for the USA for Africa idea). They are the
only AMAs that Jackson won as non-solo artist. Jackson at the White
House South Portico with President Ronald Reagan and first ladyNancy
Reagan, 1984. In 1984, ATV Music Publishing, which had the copyrights
to nearly 4000 songs, including theNorthern Songs catalog that contained
52
the majority of the Lennon–McCartney compositions recorded by The

Beatles, was put up for sale by Robert Holmes à Court. Jackson had
become interested in owning music catalogs after working with Paul
McCartney in the early 1980s: Jackson had learned McCartney made
approximately $40 million a year from other people's songs. In 1981,
McCartney was offered the ATV music catalog for £20 million ($40
million). According to McCartney, he contacted Yoko Ono about making
a joint purchase by splitting the cost equally at £10 million each, but Ono
thought they could buy it for £5 million each. When they were unable to
make the joint purchase, McCartney let the offer fall through, not wanting
to be the sole owner of the Beatles' songs. According to a negotiator for
Holmes à Court in the 1984 sale, "We had given Paul McCartney first
right of refusal but Paul didn't want it at that time." Also, an attorney for
McCartney assured Jackson's attorney, John Branca, that McCartney was
not interested in bidding: McCartney reportedly said "It's too pricey".
But there were several other companies and investors bidding. In
September 1984, Jackson was first informed about the sale by Branca and
sent a bid of $46 million on November 20, 1984. Jackson's agents
thought they had a deal several times, but encountered new bidders or
new areas of debate. In May 1985, Jackson's team walked away from
talks after having spent over $1 million on four months of due
diligence and on the negotiations.
In June 1985, Jackson and Branca learned that Charles

Koppelman's and Marty Bandier's The Entertainment Co. had made a
tentative agreement with Holmes à Court to buy ATV Music for $50
million. But in early August, Holmes à Court's team contacted Jackson

53
and talks resumed. Jackson raised his bid to $47.5 million and it was
accepted because he could close the deal more quickly, having already
completed due diligence of ATV Music. He also agreed to visit Holmes à
Court in Australia, where he would appear on the Channel Seven Perth
Telethon. Jackson's purchase of ATV Music was finalized August 10,
1985.
Appearance, tabloids, Bad, films, autobiography and

Neverland (1986–90)
Jackson's skin had been a medium-brown color for the entire

duration of his youth, but starting in the mid 1980s, it gradually grew
paler. The change gained widespread media coverage, including rumors
that he might be bleaching his skin. According to J. Randy Taraborrelli's
biography, in 1986, Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo and lupus; the
vitiligo partially lightened his skin, and the lupus was in remission; both
illnesses made him sensitive to sunlight. The treatments he used for his
condition further lightened his skin tone, and, with the application of
pancake makeup to even out blotches, he could appear very pale. Jackson
was also diagnosed with vitiligo in his autopsy. By the mid 1990s several
surgeons speculated that he had undergone various nasal surgeries, had
fat removed around the eyes, a forehead lift, thinned lips, and cheekbone
surgery—although Jackson denied this and insisted that he only had
surgery on his nose. Jackson claimed that he had only two rhinoplasties
and no other surgery on his face, although at one point he mentioned
having a dimple created in his chin. Jackson lost weight in the early
1980s because of a change in diet and a desire for "a dancer's body".
54
Witnesses reported that he was often dizzy and speculated that he

was suffering from anorexia nervosa; periods of weight loss would
become a recurring problem later in life. During the course of his
treatment, Jackson made two close friends: his dermatologist, Dr. Arnold
Klein, and Klein's nurse Debbie Rowe. Rowe eventually became
Jackson's second wife and the mother of his two eldest children. Long
before becoming romantically involved with her, Jackson relied heavily
on Rowe for emotional support. He also relied heavily on Klein, for
medical and business advice. Jackson two years after he was diagnosed
with vitiligo, here in the early stages of the disease. Jackson became the
subject of increasingly sensational reports. In 1986, the tabloids ran a
story claiming that Jackson slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to slow
the aging process; he was pictured lying down in a glass box. Although
the claim was untrue, according to tabloid reports that are widely cited,
Jackson had disseminated the fabricated story himself. When Jackson
bought a chimpanzee called Bubblesfrom a laboratory, he was reported to
be increasingly detached from reality. It was reported that Jackson had
offered to buy the bones of Joseph Merrick (the "elephant man") and
although untrue, Jackson did not deny the story. Although initially he
saw these stories as opportunities for publicity, he stopped leaking
untruths to the press as they became more sensational. Consequently the
media began making up their own stories. These reports became
embedded in the public consciousness, inspiring the nickname "Wacko
Jacko", which Jackson came to despise. Responding to the gossip,
Jackson remarked to Taraborrelli: Why not just tell people I'm an alien
from Mars. Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at
midnight. They'll believe anything you say, because you're a reporter.

55
But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, "I'm an alien from Mars and I eat
live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight," people would say,
"Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts. He's cracked up. You can't
believe a single word that comes out of his mouth." Jackson collaborated
with Francis Ford Coppola on the 17-minute 3-D film Captain EO, which
debuted in September 1986 at both the original Disneyland and
at EPCOT in Florida, and in March 1987 at Tokyo Disneyland. The $30
million movie was a popular attraction at all three parks. A Captain EO
attraction was later featured at Euro Disneyland after that park opened in
1992. All four parks' Captain EO installations stayed open well into the
1990s: Paris' installation was the last one to close, in 1998. The attraction
would later return to Disneyland in 2010 after Jackson's death. In 1987,
Jackson disassociated himself from the Jehovah's Witnesses, in response
to their disapproval of the Thriller video. With the industry expecting
another major hit, Jackson's first album in five years, Bad (1987), was
highly anticipated. It did not top Thriller as a commercial or artistic
triumph, but Bad was still a substantial success in its own right.
The Bad album spawned seven hit singles in the U.S., five of which ("I
Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel",
"Man in the Mirror" and "Dirty Diana") reached number one on
the BillboardHot 100 charts. This was a record for most number one Hot
100 singles from any one album, includingThriller. Although the title
track's video was arguably derivative of the video for the earlier single
"Beat It", the "Bad" video still proved to be one of Jackson's iconic
moments. It was a gritty but colorful epic set against the backdrop of
the New York City Subway system, with costuming and choreography
inspired by West Side Story. As of 2008, the album had sold 30 million
copies worldwide.
56
Thanks to the Bad album, Bruce Swedien and Humberto

Gatica won one Grammy in 1988 for Best Engineered Recording – Non
Classical and Michael Jackson won one Grammy for Best Music Video,
Short Form for "Leave Me Alone" in 1989. In the same year, Jackson
won an Award of Achievement at the American Music Awards
because Bad is the first album ever to generate five number one singles in
the US, the first album to top in 25 countries and the best-selling album
worldwide in 1987 and in 1988. In 1988, "Bad" won an American Music
Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Single.
The Bad World Tour began on September 12 that year, finishing

on January 14, 1989. In Japan alone, the tour had 14 sellouts and drew
570,000 people, nearly tripling the previous record of 200,000 in a single
tour. Jackson broke a Guinness World Record when 504,000 people
attended seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium. He performed a
total of 123 concerts to an audience of 4.4 million people. The Bad Tour
turned out to be the last of Jackson's concert tours to include shows in the
continental United States, although later tours did make it to Hawaii.
In 1988, Jackson released his first and only

autobiography, Moonwalk, which took four years to complete and sold
200,000 copies. Jackson wrote about his childhood, The Jackson 5, and
the abuse he had suffered. He also wrote about his facial appearance,
saying he had had two rhinoplastic surgeries and a dimple created in his
chin. He attributed much of the change in the structure of his face
to puberty, weight loss, a strict vegetarian diet, a change in hair style, and
stage lighting. Moonwalk reached the top position on The New York
Times best sellers' list.
57
The musician then released a film calledMoonwalker, which

featured live footage and short films that starred Jackson and Joe Pesci.
The film was originally intended to be released to theaters but due to
financial issues, the film was released direct-to-video. It saw a theatrical
release in Germany, though. It debuted atop the Billboard Top Music
Video Cassette chart, staying there for 22 weeks. It was eventually
knocked off the top spot by Michael Jackson: The Legend Continues.I n
March 1988, Jackson purchased land near Santa Ynez, California, to
build Neverland Ranch at a cost of $17 million. He installed Ferris
wheels, a menagerie, and a movie theater on the 2,700-acre (11 km2)
property. A security staff of 40 patrolled the grounds. In 2003, it was
valued at approximately $100 million. In 1989, his annual earnings from
album sales, endorsements, and concerts was estimated at $125 million
for that year alone. Shortly afterwards, he became the first Westerner to
appear in a television ad in the Soviet Union. His success resulted in his
being dubbed the "King of Pop". The nickname was popularized
by Elizabeth Taylor when she presented him with the Soul Train Heritage
Award in 1989, proclaiming him "the true king of pop, rock and soul."
President George H. W. Bush designated him the White House's "Artist
of the Decade". From 1985 to 1990, he donated $500,000 to the United
Negro College Fund, and all of the profits from his single "Man in the
Mirror" went to charity. Jackson's live rendition of "You Were There"
at Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th birthday celebration received an Emmy
nomination. In March 1991, Jackson renewed his contract with Sony for
$65 million, a record-breaking deal at the time, displacing Neil
Diamond's renewal contract with Columbia Records.

58
He released his eighth album Dangerous in 1991. As of

2008, Dangerous had shipped seven million copies in the U.S. and had
sold 32 million copies worldwide. The Dangerous album was co-
produced by Teddy Riley, one of the pioneers of "new jack swing" which
convinced Michael to feature a rapper on his album for the first time, the
act worked and it turned out to be the best-selling album associated with
that movement. In the United States, the album's first single "Black or
White" was its biggest hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100
and remaining there for seven weeks, with similar chart performances
worldwide. The album's second single "Remember the Time" spent
eight weeks in the top five in the United States, peaking at number three
on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. At the end of
1992, Dangerous was awarded 1992's best-selling album worldwide and
"Black or White" was awarded 1992's best-selling single worldwide at the
Billboard Music Awards. Additionally, he won an award as best-selling
artist of the '80s. In 1993, Jackson performed the song at the Soul Train
Music Awards in a chair, saying he had suffered an injury in rehearsals.
In the UK and other parts of Europe, "Heal the World" was the biggest hit
from the album; it sold 450,000 copies in the UK and spent five weeks at
number two in 1992.
Jackson founded the Heal the World Foundation in 1992. The

charity organization brought underprivileged children to Jackson's ranch
to enjoy theme park rides that Jackson had built on the property. The
foundation also sent millions of dollars around the globe to help children
threatened by war, poverty, and disease. In the same year Jackson
published his second book, the bestselling collection of poetry, Dancing
the Dream.
59
While it was a commercial success and revealed a more intimate

side to Jackson's nature, the collection was mostly critically unacclaimed
at the time of release. In 2009, the book was republished
by Doubleday and was more positively received by some critics in the
wake of Jackson's untimely death. The Dangerous World
Tour grossed $100 million. The tour began on June 27, 1992, and
finished on November 11, 1993. Jackson performed to 3.5 million people
in 67 concerts. He sold the broadcast rights to his Dangerous world tour
to HBO for $20 million, a record-breaking deal that still stands.
Following the illness and death of Ryan White, Jackson helped draw
public attention to HIV/AIDS, something that was still controversial at
the time. He publicly pleaded with the Clinton Administration at Bill
Clinton's Inaugural Gala to give more money to HIV/AIDS charities and
research. In a high-profile visit to Africa, Jackson visited several
countries, among them Gabon and Egypt. His first stop to Gabon was
greeted with a sizable and enthusiastic reception of more than 100,000
people, some of them carrying signs that read, "Welcome Home
Michael." In his trip to Côte d'Ivoire, Jackson was crowned "King Sani"
by a tribal chief. He then thanked the dignitaries in French and English,
signed official documents formalizing his kingship and sat on a golden
throne while presiding over ceremonial dances.
In January 1993, Jackson made a memorable appearance at the

halftime show at Super Bowl XXVII. The performance began with
Jackson catapulting onto the stage as fireworks went off behind him. As
he landed on the canvas, he maintained a motionless "clenched fist,
standing statue stance", dressed in a gold and black military outfit and
sunglasses; he remained completely motionless for a minute and a half
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while the crowd cheered. He then slowly removed his sunglasses, threw
them away and sang four songs: "Jam", "Billie Jean", "Black or White"
and "Heal the World". It was the first Super Bowl where the audience
figures increased during the half-time show, and was viewed by
135 million Americans alone; Jackson's Dangerous album rose 90 places
up the album chart. Jackson was given the "Living Legend Award" at
the 35th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. "Black or White" was
Grammy-nominated for best vocal performance. "Jam" gained two
nominations: Best R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song.
The Dangerous album won a Grammy for Best Engineered – Non
Classical, awarding the work of Bruce Swedien and Teddy Riley. In the
same year, Michael Jackson won three American Music Awards for
Favorite Pop/Rock Album (Dangerous), Favorite Soul/R&B Single
("Remember the Time") and was the first to win the International Artist
Award, for his global performances and humanitarian concerns. This
award will bear his name in the future.

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CHAPTER – IV
CONTROVERSIES
Today, the album is still viewed in a positive light by critics some
three decades later. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the
album the maximum five stars and wrote that the record had something to
interest everyone. He believed it showcased harder funk and hard rock
while remaining "undeniably fun". He went on to compliment "Billie
Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and said, "The record's two best
songs: 'Billie Jean, ...and the delirious 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'', the
freshest funk on the album the most claustrophobic, scariest track
Jackson ever recorded." Erlewine gave the opinion that it was an
improvement on the artist's previous album, although Allmusic was
critical of the title track, describing it as "ridiculous" and as having the
effect of "arriving in the middle of the record and sucking out its
momentum". Slant Magazine gave the album five stars and, like the
Allmusic review and the original Rolling Stone review, paid compliment
to the lyrics of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".
The author Nelson George wrote that Jackson "has educated R.

Kelly, Usher, Justin Timberlake and countless others with Thriller as a
textbook". As a sign of the album's longevity, in 2003 Thriller was
ranked at number 20 on the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All
Time list, and was listed by the National Association of Recording
Merchandisers at number three of the Definitive 200 Albums of All Time.
In 2008, 25 years after its release, the record was inducted into
the Grammy Hall of Fame and, a few weeks later, was among 25

62
recordings preserved by the Library of Congress to the National

Recording Registry as "culturally significant". In 2009, music critics for
MTV Base and VH1 both listed Thriller as the best album released since
1981.[79] Thriller, along with other critic favorites were then polled by the
public. 40,000 people found Thriller to be the Best Album of all time by
MTV Generation, gaining a third of all votes.
Reissues and catalog sales
Thriller was reissued on October 16, 2001, in an expanded set

titled Thriller: Special Edition. The original tracks were remastered, and
the album included a new booklet and bonus material, including the songs
"Someone In the Dark", "Carousel", and Jackson's original "Billie Jean"
demo, as well as audio interviews with Jones and Temperton discussing
the recording of the album. Sony also hired sound engineer and
mixer Mick Guzauski to work with Jackson on creating 5.1-
channel surround sound mixes of Thriller, as well as all his other albums,
for release on the then-new Super Audio CD format. Despite numerous
retries, the artist never approved any of the mixes.
Consequently, Thriller was issued on SACD only in a stereo version.
In February 2008, Epic Records released Thriller 25; Jackson

served as executive producer. Thriller 25 appeared on CD, USB
and vinylwith seven bonus tracks, a new song called "For All Time", a
snippet of Vincent Price's voice-over, and five remixes featuring
American artistsFergie, will.i.am, Kanye West, and Akon. It also
included a DVD featuring three music videos, the Motown 25 "Billie
Jean" performance, and a booklet with a message from Jackson.
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The ballad "For All Time" supposedly dates from 1982, but is often
credited as being from Dangerous sessions. Two singles were released
from the reissue: "The Girl Is Mine 2008" and "Wanna Be Startin'
Somethin' 2008".
Thriller 25 was a commercial success and did particularly well as a

reissue. It peaked at number one in eight countries and Europe. It peaked
at number two in the US, number three in the UK and reached the top 10
in over 30 national charts. It was certified Gold in 11 countries including
the UK, received a 2× Gold certification in France and received platinum
certification in Poland. In the United States, Thriller 25 was the second
best-selling album of its release week, selling one hundred and sixty six
thousand copies, just fourteen thousand short of reaching the number one
position. It was ineligible for the Billboard 200 chart as a re-release but
entered the Pop Catalog Charts at number one (where it stayed for ten
non-consecutive weeks), with the best sales on that chart since
December, 1996. With the arrival of Halloween that November, Thriller
25 spent an eleventh non-consecutive week atop the US catalog chart.
This brought US sales of the album to 688,000 copies, making it the best
selling catalog album of 2008. This was Jackson's best launch
since Invincible in 2001, selling three million copies worldwide in 12
weeks.
After Jackson's death in June 2009, Thriller set additional records.

It sold more than 100,000 copies, placing it at number two on the Top
Pop Catalog Albums chart. Songs from Thriller also helped Jackson
become the first artist to sell more than one million song downloads in a
week.
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According to Nielsen Soundscan, Thriller was the 14th best selling

album of 2009 in the United States with 1.27 million copies sold.
1993 child sexual abuse accusations against Michael Jackson

Jackson gave a 90-minute interview to Oprah Winfrey in February
1993, his second television interview since 1979. He grimaced when
speaking of his childhood abuse at the hands of his father; he believed he
had missed out on much of his childhood years, admitting that he often
cried from loneliness. He denied tabloid rumors that he had bought the
bones of the Elephant Man, slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, or
bleached his skin, stating for the first time that he had vitiligo. The
interview was watched by an American audience of 90 million.
Dangerous re-entered the album chart in the top 10, more than a year after
its original release. In the summer of 1993, Jackson was accused of child
sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy named Jordan Chandler and his father,
Dr. Evan Chandler, a dentist. The Chandler family demanded payment
from Jackson, and the singer initially refused. Jordan Chandler eventually
told the police that Jackson had sexually abused him. Dr. Chandler was
tape-recorded discussing his intention to pursue charges, saying, "If I go
through with this, I win big-time. There's no way I lose. I will get
everything I want and they will be destroyed forever ... Michael's career
will be over". Jordan's mother was, however, adamant that there had been
no wrongdoing on Jackson's part Jackson later used the recording to
argue that he was the victim of a jealous father whose only goal was to
extort money from the singer. Later that year, on December 20, Jackson's
home was raided by the police, and Jackson submitted to a 25-
minute strip search. Jordan Chandler had reportedly given police a
description of Jackson's intimate parts, notably claiming that his bleach-
65
damaged penis wascircumcised; the strip search revealed, to the contrary,

that Jackson was actually uncircumcised, a fact confirmed in his autopsy.
His friends said he never recovered from the humiliation of the strip
search. The investigation was inconclusive and no charges were ever
filed. Jackson described the search in an emotional public statement, and
proclaimed his innocence. On January 1, 1994, Jackson's insurance
carrier settled with the Chandlers out of court for $22 million. A Santa
Barbara County grand jury and a Los Angeles County grand jury
disbanded on May 2, 1994 without indicting Jackson. After which time
the Chandlers stopped co-operating with the criminal investigation
around July 6, 1994. The out-of-court settlement's documentation
specifically stated Jackson admitted no wrongdoing and no liability; the
Chandlers and their family lawyer Larry Feldman signed it without
contest. The Chandlers' lawyer Mr. Feldman also explicitly stated
"nobody bought anybody's silence". A decade after the fact, during the
second round of child abuse allegations, Jackson's lawyers would file a
memo stating that the 1994 settlement was done without his consent.
Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of

Elvis Presley, in 1994
In May 1994, Jackson married the daughter of Elvis Presley, Lisa
Marie Presley. They had first met in 1975, when a seven-year-old Presley
attended one of Jackson's family engagements at the MGM Grand Hotel
and Casino, and were reconnected through a mutual friend. According to
a friend of Presley's, "their adult friendship began in November 1992 in
L.A." They stayed in contact every day over the telephone. As the child
molestation accusations became public, Jackson became dependent on

66
Presley for emotional support; she was concerned about his faltering
health and addiction to drugs. Presley explained, "I believed he didn't do
anything wrong and that he was wrongly accused and yes I started falling
for him. I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it." She eventually
persuaded him to settle the allegations out of court and go into
rehabilitation to recover. Jackson proposed to Presley over the telephone
towards the fall of 1993, saying, "If I asked you to marry me, would you
do it?" They married in the Dominican Republic in secrecy, denying it
for nearly two months afterwards. The marriage was, in her words, "a
married couple's life ... that was sexually active". At the time, the tabloid
media speculated that the wedding was a ploy to prop up Jackson's public
image. The marriage lasted less than two years and ended with an
amicable divorce settlement. In a 2010 interview with Oprah, Presley
admitted that they spent four more years after the divorce "getting back
together and breaking up", until she decided to stop.
History, second marriage and fatherhood (1995–99)
In 1995, Jackson merged his ATV Music catalog with Sony's

music publishing division creating Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Jackson
retained half-ownership of the company, earned $95 million upfront as
well as the rights to even more songs. He then released the double
album History: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The first disc, History
Begins, was a 15-track greatest hits album, and was later reissued
as Greatest Hits: History, Volume I in 2001, while the second
disc, History Continues, contained 15 new songs. The album debuted at
number one on the charts and has been certified for seven million
shipments in the US. It is the best-selling multiple-disc album of all-time,
67
with 20 million copies (40 million units) sold worldwide.

History received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.
Michael Jackson at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival
The first single released from the album was the double A-
side "Scream/Childhood". "Scream" was a duet, performed with Jackson's
youngest sister Janet. The song fights against the media, mainly for what
the media made him out to be during his 1993 child abuse allegations.
The single had the highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100 at number five,
and received a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Collaboration with
Vocals". "You Are Not Alone" was the second single released
from History; it holds the Guinness World Record for the first song ever
to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was seen as a
major artistic and commercial success, receiving a Grammy nomination
for "Best Pop Vocal Performance". In late 1995, Jackson was rushed to a
hospital after collapsing during rehearsals for a televised performance;
the incident was caused by a stress-related panic attack. "Earth Song"
was the third single released from History, and topped the UK Singles
Chart for six weeks over Christmas 1995; it sold a million copies, making
it Jackson's most successful single in the UK. The track "They Don't
Care About Us" became controversial when the Anti-Defamation
League and other groups criticized its allegedly anti-Semitic lyrics.
Jackson quickly put out a revised version of the song without the
offending lyrics. In 1996, Jackson won a Grammy for Best Music Video,
Short Form for "Scream" and an American Music Award for Favorite
Pop/Rock Male Artist.The album was promoted with the
successful HIStory World Tour. The tour began on September 7, 1996,
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and finished on October 15, 1997. Jackson performed 82 concerts in 58

cities to over 4.5 million fans, and grossed up a total of $165 million. The
show, which visited five continents and 35 countries, became Jackson's
most successful in terms of audience figures. During the tour, Jackson
married his longtime friend Deborah Jeanne Rowe, a dermatology nurse,
in an impromptu ceremony in Sydney, Australia. Rowe was
approximately six months pregnant with the couple's first child at the
time. Originally, Rowe and Jackson had no plans to marry, but Jackson's
mother Katherine persuaded them to do so. Michael Joseph Jackson Jr
(commonly known as Prince) was born on February 13, 1997; his sister
Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson was born a year later on April 3, 1998.
The couple divorced in 1999, and Jackson got full custody of the
children. The divorce was relatively amicable, but a subsequent custody
suit was not settled until 2006.
Jackson at Perth Airport in 1996
In 1997, Jackson released Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in

the Mix, which contained remixes of hit singles from HIStory and five
new songs. Worldwide sales stand at 6 million copies as of 2007, it is
the best selling remix album ever released. It reached number one in the
UK, as did the title track. In the US, the album was certified platinum,
but only reached number 24. Forbes placed his annual income at
$35 million in 1996 and $20 million in 1997. Throughout June 1999,
Jackson was involved in a number of charitable events. He
joined Luciano Pavarotti for a benefit concert in Modena, Italy. The show
was in support of the nonprofit organization War Child, and raised a
million dollars for the refugees of Kosovo, FR Yugoslavia, as well as

69
additional funds for the children of Guatemala Later that month, Jackson
organized a set of "Michael Jackson & Friends" benefit concerts in
Germany and Korea. Other artists involved included Slash, The
Scorpions, Boyz II Men, Luther Vandross, Mariah Carey, A. R.
Rahman, Prabhu Deva Sundaram, Shobana, Andrea Bocelli and Luciano
Pavarotti. The proceeds went to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund,
the Red Cross and UNESCO.
Label dispute, Invincible and third child (2000–03)
At the turn of the century, the American Music Awards honored

Jackson as Artist of the '80s. Throughout 2000 and 2001, Jackson
worked in the studio with Teddy Riley and Rodney Jerkins, as well as
other collaborators. These sessions would result in the album Invincible,
released in October 2001. Invincible was Jackson's first full-length album
in six years, and it would be the last album of new material he released
while still alive. The release of the album was preceded by a dispute
between Jackson and his record label, Sony Music Entertainment.
Jackson had expected the licenses to the masters of his albums to revert to
him sometime in the early 2000s. Once he had the licenses, he would be
able to promote the material however he pleased and he would also be
able to keep all the profits. However, due to various clauses in the
contract, the revert date turned out to be many years away. Jackson
discovered that the attorney who represented him in the deal was also
representing Sony. Jackson was also concerned about the fact that for a
number of years, Sony had been pressuring him to sell his share in their
music catalog venture. Jackson feared that Sony might have a conflict of
interest, since if Jackson's career failed he would have to sell his share of
70
the catalog at a low price. Jackson sought an early exit from his contract.
Just before the release of Invincible, Jackson informed the head of Sony
Music Entertainment, Tommy Mottola, that he was leaving Sony. As a
result, all singles releases, video shootings and promotions concerning
the Invincible album were suspended.
In September 2001, two 30th Anniversary concerts were held at

Madison Square Garden to mark the singer's 30th year as a solo artist.
Jackson appeared onstage alongside his brothers for the first time since
1984. The show also featured performances by Mýa, Usher, Whitney
Houston, 'N Sync, Destiny's Child, Monica, Luther Vandross, and Slash,
among other artists. The second of the two shows took place the night
before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. After 9/11, Jackson
helped organize the United We Stand: What More Can I Give benefit
concert at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. The concert took place on
October 21, 2001, and included performances from dozens of major
artists, including Jackson, who performed his song "What More Can I
Give" as the finale. Jackson's solo performances were omitted from the
televised version of the benefit concert, although he could still be seen
singing background vocals. This omission happened because of
contractual issues related to the earlier 30th Anniversary concerts: those
concerts were boiled down into a two-hour TV special titled Michael
Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration: The Solo Years which debuted in
November 2001. In spite of the events preceding its
release, Invincible came out in October 2001 to much
anticipation. Invincible proved to be a hit, debuting atop the charts in 13
countries and going on to sell approximately 13 million copies
worldwide. It received double-platinum certification in the US. However,
71
the sales for Invincible were lower than those of his previous releases,
due in part to a lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label
dispute. The album also came out at a bad time for the music industry in
general. The album cost$30 million to record, not including promotional
expenditures. Invincible spawned three singles, "You Rock My World",
"Cry" and "Butterflies", the latter without a music video. Jackson alleged
in July 2002 that Mottola was a "devil" and a "racist" who did not support
his African-American artists, using them merely for his own personal
gain. He charged that Mottola had called his colleague Irv Gotti a
"fatnigger". Sony refused to renew Jackson's contract, and claimed that
a $25 million promotional campaign had failed because Jackson refused
to tour in the United States.
In 2002, Michael Jackson won his 22nd American Music Award

for Artist of the Century. In the same year, Jackson's third child, Prince
Michael Jackson II (nicknamed "Blanket") was born. The mother's
identity is unknown, but Jackson has said the child was the result
ofartificial insemination from a surrogate mother and his own sperm. On
November 20 of that year, Jackson brought his newborn son onto the
balcony of his room at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin, as fans stood below,
holding him in his right arm, with a cloth loosely draped over the baby's
face. The baby was briefly extended over a railing, four stories above
ground level, causing widespread criticism in the media. Jackson later
apologized for the incident, calling it "a terrible mistake". Sony
released Number Ones, a compilation of Jackson's hits on CD and DVD.
In the US, the album was certified triple platinum by the RIAA; in the
UK it was certified six times platinum for shipments of at least1.2
million units.
72
Second child sexual abuse allegations and acquittal (2003–05)
Beginning in May 2002, Jackson allowed a documentary film

crew, led by British TV personality Martin Bashir, to follow him around
just about everywhere he went. Bashir's film crew was with Jackson
during the "baby-dangling incident" in Berlin. The program was
broadcast in March 2003 as Living with Michael Jackson, and painted an
extraordinarily unflattering portrait of the singer. In a particularly
controversial scene, Jackson was seen holding hands and discussing
sleeping arrangements with a young boy. As soon as the documentary
aired, the Santa Barbara county attorney's office began a criminal
investigation. Jackson was arrested in November 2003, and was charged
with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering
an intoxicating agent in relation to the 13 year old boy shown in the film.
Jackson denied the allegations, saying the sleepovers were not sexual in
nature. The People v. Jackson trial began on January 31, 2005, in Santa
Maria, California, and lasted five months, until the end of May. On June
13, 2005, Jackson was acquitted on all counts. After the trial, in a highly
publicized relocation he moved to the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain, as a
guest of Sheikh Abdullah. Bahrain was also where the family intended to
send Jackson if he was convicted (though Jackson did not know about the
plan), according to a statement by Jermaine Jackson printed in The
Times of London in September 2011. Closure of Neverland, final years
and This Is It (2006–09)

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"Thriller"
One of Jackson's signature pieces, "Thriller", released as a single in

1984, utilizes cinematic sound effects, horror film motifs and vocal
trickery to convey a sense of danger.
"Smooth Criminal"A single from the album Bad, released 1988, "Smooth
Criminal" features digital drum sounds, keyboard-created bass lines and
other percussion elements designed to give the impression of a pulsing
heart.
"Black or White"
The lead single from Dangerous, the danceable hard rock song
"Black or White" was one of Jackson's most successful recordings. It
contains many features of Jackson's vocal style, including the vocal
hiccup he is known for. In Bad, Jackson's concept of the predatory lover
can be seen on the rock song "Dirty Diana". The lead single "I Just
Can't Stop Loving You" is a traditional love ballad, while "Man in the
Mirror" is an anthemic ballad of confession and resolution. "Smooth
Criminal" was an evocation of bloody assault, rape and likely murder.
Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that Dangerous presents
Jackson as a very paradoxical individual. He comments the album is
more diverse than his previous Bad, as it appeals to an urban audience
while also attracting the middle class with anthems like "Heal the World".
The first half of the record is dedicated to new jack swing, including
songs like "Jam" and "Remember the Time". The album is Jackson's first
where social ills become a primary theme; "Why You Wanna Trip on
Me", for example, protests against world hunger, AIDS, homelessness

74
and drugs. Dangerous contains sexually charged efforts such as the

multifaceted love song, "In the Closet". The title track continues the
theme of the predatory lover and compulsive desire. The second half
includes introspective, pop-gospel anthems such as "Will You Be There",
"Heal the World" and "Keep the Faith"; these songs show Jackson
opening up about various personal struggles and worries.
In the ballad "Gone Too Soon", Jackson gives tribute to his

friend Ryan White and the plight of those with AIDS. HIStory creates an
atmosphere of paranoia. Its content focuses on the hardships and public
struggles Jackson went through just prior to its production. In the new
jack swing-funk-rock efforts "Scream" and "Tabloid Junkie", along with
the R&B ballad "You Are Not Alone", Jackson retaliates against the
injustice and isolation he feels, and directs much of his anger at the
media. In the introspective ballad "Stranger in Moscow", Jackson
laments over his "fall from grace", while songs like "Earth Song",
"Childhood", "Little Susie" and "Smile" are all operatic pop pieces. In the
track "D.S.", Jackson launched a verbal attack against Tom Sneddon. He
describes Sneddon as an antisocial, white supremacist who wanted to "get
my ass, dead or alive". Of the song, Sneddon said, "I have not—shall we
say—done him the honor of listening to it, but I've been told that it ends
with the sound of a gunshot". Invincible found Jackson working heavily
with producer Rodney Jerkins. It is a record made up of urban soul like
"Cry" and "The Lost Children", ballads such as "Speechless", "Break of
Dawn" and "Butterflies" and mixes hip-hop, pop and R&B in "2000
Watts", "Heartbreaker" and "Invincible".

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Vocal style
Jackson sang from childhood, and over time his voice and vocal
style changed noticeably. Between 1971 and 1975, Jackson's voice
descended from boy soprano to high tenor. His vocal range as an adult
was F2-E♭ 6. Jackson first used a technique called the "vocal hiccup" in
1973, starting with the song "It's Too Late to Change the Time" from The
Jackson 5's G.I.T.: Get It Together album. Jackson did not use the hiccup
technique— somewhat like a gulping for air or gasping— fully until the
recording of Off the Wall: it can be seen in full force in the "Shake Your
Body (Down to the Ground)" promotional video. With the arrival of Off
the Wall in the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well
regarded. At the time, Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the
"breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also
that "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It
slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly". 1982
saw the release of Thriller, and Rolling Stone was of the opinion that
Jackson was then singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by
sadness".
A distinctive deliberate mispronunciation of "come on", used

frequently by Jackson, occasionally spelled "cha'mone" or "shamone", is
also a staple in impressions and caricatures of him. The turn of the 1990s
saw the release of the introspective album Dangerous. The New York
Times noted that on some tracks, "he gulps for breath, his voice quivers
with anxiety or drops to a desperate whisper, hissing through clenched
teeth" and he had a "wretched tone". When singing of brotherhood or
self-esteem the musician would return to "smooth" vocals.
76
When commenting on Invincible, Rolling Stone were of the

opinion that—at the age of 43—Jackson still performed "exquisitely
voiced rhythm tracks and vibrating vocal harmonies". Nelson George
summed up Jackson's vocals by stating "The grace, the aggression, the
growling, the natural boyishness, the falsetto, the smoothness—that
combination of elements mark him as a major vocalist".
Music videos and choreography
Referred to as the King of Music Videos, Steve Huey of Allmusic

observed how Jackson transformed the music video into an art form and a
promotional tool through complex story lines, dance routines, special
effects and famous cameo appearances; simultaneously breaking down
racial barriers. Before Thriller, Jackson struggled to receive coverage on
MTV, allegedly because he was African American. Pressure from CBS
Records persuaded MTV to start showing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat
It", leading to a lengthy partnership with Jackson, also helping other
black music artists gain recognition. MTV employees deny any racism
in their coverage, or pressure to change their stance. MTV maintains that
they played rock music, regardless of race. The popularity of his videos
on MTV helped to put the relatively young channel "on the map"; MTV's
focus shifted in favor of pop and R&B. His performance on Motown 25:
Yesterday, Today, Forever changed the scope of live stage show; "That
Jackson lip-synced 'Billie Jean' is, in itself, not extraordinary, but the fact
that it did not change the impact of the performance is extraordinary;
whether the performance was live or lip-synced made no difference to the
audience" thus creating an era in which artists re-create the spectacle of
music video imagery on stage.
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Short films like Thriller largely remained unique to Jackson, while

the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has frequently been imitated. The
choreography in Thriller has become a part of global pop culture,
replicated everywhere from Indian films to prisons in the Philippines.
The Thriller short film marked an increase in scale for music videos, and
has been named the most successful music video ever by the Guinness
World Records. Michael Jackson's revolutionary music video
Thriller gained worldwide attention from TV networks such
as MTV and VH1.
In the 19-minute music video for "Bad"—directed by Martin

Scorsese—Jackson began using sexual imagery and choreography not
previously seen in his work. He occasionally grabbed or touched his
chest, torso and crotch. When asked by Oprah in the 1993 interview about
why he grabbed his crotch, he replied, "I think it happens subliminally"
and he described it as something that was not planned, but rather, as
something that was compelled by the music. "Bad" garnered a mixed
reception from both fans and critics; Time magazine described it as
"infamous". The video also featured Wesley Snipes; in the future
Jackson's videos would often feature famous cameo roles. For "Smooth
Criminal", Jackson experimented with an innovative "anti-gravity lean"
in his performances. The maneuver required special shoes for which he
was granted U.S. Patent No. 5,255,452. Although the music video for
"Leave Me Alone" was not officially released in the US, in 1989, it was
nominated for three Billboard Music Video Awards; the same year it
won a Golden Lion Award for the quality of the special effects used in its
production. In 1990, "Leave Me Alone" won a Grammy for Best Music
Video, Short Form.
78
He received the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1988 and the

MTV Video Vanguard Artist of the Decade Award in 1990 to celebrate
his accomplishments in the art form in the 1980s; in 1991 the first award
was renamed in his honor. "Black or White" was accompanied by a
controversial music video, which, on November 14, 1991, simultaneously
premiered in 27 countries with an estimated audience of 500 million
people, the largest viewing ever for a music video. It featured scenes
construed as having a sexual nature as well as depictions of violence. The
offending scenes in the final half of the 14-minute version were edited out
to prevent the video from being banned, and Jackson apologized. Along
with Jackson, it featured Macaulay Culkin, Peggy Lipton and George
Wendt. It helped usher in morphing as an important technology in music
videos. "Remember the Time" was an elaborate production, and became
one of his longest videos at over nine minutes. Set in ancient Egypt, it
featured groundbreaking visual effects and appearances by Eddie
Murphy, Iman and Magic Johnson, along with a distinct complex dance
routine. The video for "In the Closet" was Jackson's most sexually
provocative piece. It featured supermodel Naomi Campbell in a courtship
dance with Jackson. The video was banned in South Africa because of its
imagery.
The music video for "Scream", directed by Mark Romanek and

production designer Tom Foden, is one of Jackson's most critically
acclaimed. In 1995, it gained 11 MTV Video Music Award
Nominations—more than any other music video—and won "Best Dance
Video", "Best Choreography", and "Best Art Direction". The song and its
accompanying video are a response to the backlash Jackson received
from the media after being accused of child molestation in 1993.
79
A year later, it won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form;
shortly afterwards Guinness World Records listed it as the most
expensive music video ever made at a cost of $7 million.
"Earth Song" was accompanied by an expensive and well-received

music video that gained a Grammy nomination for Best Music Video,
Short Form in 1997. The video had an environmental theme, showing
images of animal cruelty, deforestation, pollution and war. Using special
effects, time is reversed so that life returns, wars end, and the forests re-
grow. Released in 1997 and premiering at the 1996 Cannes Film
Festival, Michael Jackson's Ghosts was a short film written by Jackson
and Stephen King and directed by Stan Winston. The video forGhosts is
over 38 minutes long and holds the Guinness World Record as the
world's longest music video.
Legacy and influence

Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, set in
1984
Jackson throughout his career transformed the art of the music
video and paved the way for modern pop music. Daily
Telegraph writer Tom Utley described Jackson in 2003 as "extremely
important" and a "genius". For much of his career, he had an
"unparalleled" level of worldwide influence over the younger generation
through his musical and humanitarian contributions. Jackson's music and
videos, such as Thriller, fostered racial diversity in MTV's roster, helped
to put the relatively new channel into public awareness, and steered the
channel's focus from rock to pop music and R&B, shaping the channel

80
into a form that proved enduring. Jackson's work continues to influence

numerous hip hop, rock, pop and R&B artists, including Patrick Stump,
Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Mýa, Usher, Adam Lambert,
Green Day, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Madonna, Alien Ant Farm
and Ludacris, among others.
Allmusic's Steve Huey describes Jackson as "an unstoppable

juggernaut, possessed of all the skills to dominate the charts seemingly at
will: an instantly identifiable voice, eye-popping dance moves, stunning
musical versatility and loads of sheer star power". In the mid-
1980s, Timemagazine's pop music critic, Jay Cocks, noted "Jackson is
the biggest thing since The Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon
since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever".
In 1990, Vanity Fair cited Jackson as the most popular artist in the
history of show business. In 2007, Jackson said, "Music has been my
outlet, my gift to all of the lovers in this world. Through it, my music, I
know I will live forever." Shortly after Jackson's death, on June 25, 2009,
MTV briefly returned to its original music video format to celebrate and
pay tribute to his work. The channel aired many hours of Jackson's music
videos, accompanied by live news specials featuring reactions from MTV
personalities and other celebrities. The temporary shift in MTV's
programming culminated the following week in the channel's live
coverage of Jackson's memorial service. At the memorial service on July
7, 2009, founder of Motown Records Berry Gordy proclaimed Jackson as
"the greatest entertainer that ever lived".
In 2010, two university librarians found that Jackson's influence

extended into academia, and was detectable in scholarly literature
81
pertaining to a range of subject matter. The two researchers combed

through various scholars' writings, and compiled an annotated
bibliography of those writings that appeared to meet at least one of
several criteria. Among these criteria were appearance in a peer-reviewed
journal, and the provision of insight into the nature of "popular icons
including Jackson". The bibliography located references to Jackson in
research reports concerning music, popular culture, and an array of other
topics. The bibliographers identified as their most peculiar finding an
argument that certain aspects of chemistry can be effectively taught by
altering and imitating elements of Jackson's singing. One of the research
librarians later reflected that "the fact that someone would take a Michael
Jackson song and co-opt it as a means to convey chemistry concepts just
shows the pervasiveness of Jackson's influence".

82
CHAPTER – V
CONCLUSION
The Bio History of Michael Joseph Jackson began when he was
born on the 29th of August 1958 in Gary, Indiana. He was the 7th of nine
children. (brothers: Sigmund "Jackie", Toriano " Tito",
Jermaine, Marlon, Steven "Randy", and sisters Rebbie, Janet andLa-
Toya Jackson. Michael began his musical career at the age of 5 as the
lead singer of the Jackson 5 who formed in 1964. In these early years the
Jackson 5, Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon and lead singer Michael played
local clubs and bars in Gary Indiana and moving further afield as there
talents grew and they could compete in bigger competitions. From these
early days Michael would be at the same clubs as big talented stars of
there days, such as Jackie Wilson and would be learning from them even
back then. In 1968 the Bobby Taylor and The Vancouvers discovered the
Jackson five and from there they got an audition for Berry Gordy of
Motown Records. The Jackson 5 signed for Motown and moved to
California. Their first 4 singles, "I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love
You Save", and "I'll Be There" all made US No1 hits. The Jackson 5
recorded 14 albums and Michael recorded 4 solo albums with Motown.
The Jackson 5 stayed with Motown until 1976, wanting more

artistic freedom they felt they had to move on and signed up with Epic.
The group name Jackson 5 had to be changed as it was owned by
Motown, so they reverted to The Jacksons as they had be known in the
early days. Brother Jermaine married Berry Gordy's daughter and stayed
with Motown. Youngest brother Randy joined in his place. The Jacksons
had a number of hit records and in total made 6 albums between the years

83
of 1976 and 1984. In 1977 Michael made his first film debut when he
starred in the musical 'The Wiz' playing Scarecrow with Diana Ross in
the lead role of Dorothy. It was at this time Michael met Quincy Jones
who was doing the score for the film.Michael teamed up with Quincey
Jones as his producer for his first solo album with Epic Records. The
album titled "Off The Wall" was a big success around the world and the
first ever album to release a record breaking 4 No1 singles in the US. In
1982 Michael Jackson released the world's largest selling album of all
time, 'Thriller'. This album produced 7 hit singles, breaking yet again
more records, and went on to sell over 50 million copies worldwide.
Michael was keen to use music video or short films as he called them to
promote his singles from the album. He worked with the best directors
and producers, using the latest technology and special effects for the hit
song 'Billie Jean' The short film 'Thriller' used the latest make-up artists
technolgy combined with fantastic dancing and cherography, to produce a
14 minute video, with a start, a middle and an ending. So successful was
this video that 'The Making Of Michael Jackson's Thriller' became the
world's largest selling home video combined with soaring album sales. In
1983 Michael performed the now legendary moonwalk for the first time
on the 'Motown 25 years' anniversary show. This performance alone set
Michael undoubtable into the realm of a superstar.
In 1984 Michael won a record breaking 8 Grammy awards in one

night. The awards were for his work on the 'Thriller' album and his work
on the narrative for the 'ET Storybook'. On December 9th 1984 at the last
concert of the Jackson's Victory Tour, Michael announced he was
splitting from the group and going solo. In 1987 Michael released his
much awaited third solo album, titled 'Bad', and lauched his record
84
breaking first solo world tour. 1988, Michael wrote his first
autobiography, Moonwalk, talking for the first time on his childhood and
his career. At the end of the 1980s Michael was named 'Artist Of The
Decade' for his success off of his 'Thriller' and 'Bad' albums. In 1991
Michael signed with Sony Music the largest ever recording contract and
released his fourth solo album, 'Dangerous'. He toured world again in
1992, taking his concerts to countries that had never before been visited
by a pop/rock artist. Also Michael founded the 'Heal the World
Foundation' to help improve the lives of children across the world.
In 1994 Michael married Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of rock

legend Elvis Presley. The marriage only lasted for 19 months, as they
divorced in 1996. 1995 saw Michael release a fifth solo album, 'HIStory',
which was a double album, first half new material and second half half
greatest hits. Michael toured again over a legs covering a 2 year period.
In between legs of the tour on November 14th 1996, Michael married for
his second time to Debbie Rowe who was a nurse that Michael had met in
the treatment of his skin pigment disorder. Together they had their first
child Prince Michael Joseph Jackson jr born on February 13 1997 and a
daughter Paris Michael Katherine Jackson born on April 3rd 1998. In
1997 Michael released the remix album 'Blood On The Dance Floor'
which also contained 5 new song linked with a 38min film "Ghosts". This
film Michael played 5 roles using the latest special effects and make-up
artistry, combined with his dance and music. 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
85
brothers and performed there biggest hits. Michael then went onto
perform solo some of his biggest hits. In October 2001 Michael released
the album 'Invincible' releasing only 2 singles including the big hit "You
Rock My World". Shortly after the albums release there were rumours of a
rift with Sony Music and a clear lack of promotion of the album. The
second single "Cry" was released with a very poor music video which did
not feature Michael and no other singles were released.
In November 2003 a new single "One More Chance" was released

as a single and was also a track on new compilaition album "Number
Ones". In March 2009, Michael annouced a shock comeback tour at the
O2 Arena in London to start in July 2009, intially for 10 dates but the
total grew to a sold out 50 dates with over 750,000 tickets sold. All sold
tickets sold out within minutes of being released. On June 25th 2009
Michael Jackson died suddenly of a reported cardiac arrest. He was 50
years old.

86
Bibliography
PRIMARY SOURCE
 "Most No. 1s By Artist (All-Time)". Billboard.com. Nielsen

Business Media, "Michael Jackson to add concerts after
sellout". Reuters.
 "GRAMMY Legend Award". Grammy.
 "Santana wins top album honors at American Music
Awards".Times Daily. (Serjeant, Jill (December 29, 2009).
"Michael Jackson's Death Among 2009's Major Moments". ABC
News (The Walt Disney Company).
 "Michael Jackson Achievements". Michael Jackson.
SECONDARY SOURCE
 Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone

Album Guide. Fireside. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
 Campbell, Lisa (1993). Michael Jackson: The King of Pop.
Branden. ISBN 0-8283-1957-X.
 George, Nelson (2004). Michael Jackson: The Ultimate
Collection booklet. Sony BMG.
 Jackson, Michael (2009) [First published 1988]. Moonwalk.
Random House. ISBN 9780307716989.
 Ramage, John D.; Bean, John C.; Johnson, June (2001). Writing
arguments: a rhetoric with readings. Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 0-
205-31745-6.

87
 Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2009). Michael Jackson: The Magic, The

Madness, The Whole Story, 1958–2009. Terra Alta, WV: Grand
Central Publishing, 2009. ISBN 0-446-56474-5, 9780446564748.
ELECTRONIC SOURCE
www.wikipedia.org
www.vault.fbi.gov/Michael%20Jackson
www.michaeljackson.com

88

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Michael Jackson : The King of Pop

INTRODUCTION: MICHAEL JACKSON

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular

Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time.

world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been

Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his

Department of PG Studies in English

The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide,

LIFE AND CAREER

Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe. Joseph

Jackson's father was also said to have verbally abused Jackson,

In an interview with Martin Bashir, later included in the 2003

Department of PG Studies in English

The Jackson 5 "became a cutting-edge example of black crossover

Jackson with his children in Disneyland Paris, 2006

publishing holdings, even though those holdings were reportedly making

In early 2006, there was an announcement that Jackson had signed

Department of PG Studies in English

In November 2006, Jackson invited an Access Hollywood camera

In September 2007, Jackson was reportedly still working with

In the fall of 2008, Fortress Investments threatened to foreclose

Department of PG Studies in English

In March 2009, Jackson held a press conference at

Jackson's first posthumous single was a song titled "This Is It"

grossing documentary or concert movie of all time, with earnings of more

Death and memorial

The news spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down

Google initially believed that the input from millions of people

Around 15% of Twitter posts—or 5,000 tweets per minute—

2009, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, preceded by a private family

Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, John Mayer, Jennifer

On February 8, 2010, Murray was charged with involuntary

Members of the Jackson family and close friends arrived to pay

Department of PG Studies in English

Department of PG Studies in English

On November 3, 2010, the theatrical performing company Cirque

In April 2011, Jackson's longtime friend and billionaire

Department of PG Studies in English

According to David Winters, who met and befriended Jackson

Department of PG Studies in English

Musical themes and genres

Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey. He

Honors and awards

Department of PG Studies in English

Department of PG Studies in English

MICHAEL JACKSON ALBUMS

Got to Be There is the solo debut album by Michael Jackson,

Department of PG Studies in English

No. Title Writer(s) Length

Department of PG Studies in English

There" (recorded June–

Department of PG Studies in English

Worldwide, Ben has sold a reported 5 million units. The album

Department of PG Studies in English

"Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day". "My Girl" has a funk rhythm

No. Title Writer(s) Length

Department of PG Studies in English

3. "People Make the World Go Thom Bell, Linda 3:15