The Biography Channel - Michael Jackson Biography

Former child star, self-proclaimed 'King of Pop', the most famous man on the planet? Will the surgically enhanced star's career finally be History after child molestation charges?

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Michael Jackson
born: 29-08-1958
birth place: Gary, Indiana

Michael Jackson was born in 1958, the seventh of nine children, to Joseph and Katherine Jackson. He was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and only officially left the organisation in 1987.

Still a vegetarian, Jackson is a professional entertainer, singer and songwriter whose reputation and cultural impact belie a small body of solo work.

In the mid 1960s, Michael, along with his brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon, were formed into ‘The Jackson 5’ by their father. The group began singing in local clubs and bars and were signed to Motown Records in 1969. The family moved to California and the first four singles released by the group, 'ABC', 'I Want You Back', 'The Love You Save' and 'I’ll Be There' all reached number 1 in the charts.

Jackson and some of his siblings would later claim that their father was a strict disciplinarian in this period, and have alleged varying degrees of physical and mental abuse.

In 1976, the group left Motown and renamed themselves ‘The Jacksons’. Despite a flexible line-up, including brother Randy and younger sister Janet, and the growing solo career of Michael, the Jacksons released another six albums and toured all over the world until 1984.

In 1978, Michael appeared as the Scarecrow in the film version of the musical ‘The Wiz’, a soul adaptation of the Wizard of Oz story. Whilst the film was not a huge success, and the teenage Jackson complained bitterly about the effect of the heavy make-up on his adolescent acne, it was here that he met the film’s music producer – Quincy Jones.

Jones produced the first three solo albums for Michael. The first, 'Off the Wall' was a departure from the more traditional Motown sound of the Jacksons and, whilst it was a hit, both critically and commercially, it was not enough to separate the young singer from the family group entirely. The next album, 'Thriller', would change all that and more.

'Thriller' has become the best-selling album of all time, shifting well over 50 million copies to date. The videos that accompanied the singles released from the album set new standards for complexity, length, expense, spectacle and cinematic intent, that continued to be a feature of Michael's career. The first video, 'Billie Jean', became the first video by a black artist to be played on the young MTV network.

The 'Thriller' video was ambitious from the start. Hiring an established cinema director and using state-of-the-art make-up and special effects, the homage to horror films is widely acknowleged as one of the most influential of all time. The album went on the win Jackson seven Grammys in 1984, with the artist winning another for narrating 'The E.T. storybook'. The eight awards was a record only later matched by Carlos Santana.