Biography on Michael Jackson - Essay Example

Biography on Michael Jackson Unanimously known as the king of pop music and the inventor of break dance movements, Michael Joseph Jackson MJ, has been the heart throb of music world the time he was active, which spans around four decades of high fame. Even now when he is not alive, his legacy is being appreciated and highly praised all over the world. Almost his entire life, he provided good entertainment with his master skills and professional attitude towards his career and he remained a popular global figure. According to Guinness Book of World Records, he is the most successful entertainer of all time. This great music hero was born in the locality of Gary, Indiana state of US on August 29, 1958 in a family of ten children. MJ’s family was African American who was struggling hard to meet the requirements of life. They were used to live in a small house in Gary, with father Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson as a steel mill worker who performed as part time with an R&B band named The Falcons (Michael Jackson is born. 2012). In his early childhood, MJ’s father made music and singing band of all of his five sons, named the Jackson-5. Unfortunately, MJ had never been in good relationship with his father, who was used to physically abuse him during the rehearsals. This maltreatment in childhood led MJ to have a childish personality with many complexities and hyper sensitivity. He made his debut in the Jackson-5 in 1964 as backup vocals and dancing with his siblings. Then later at the age of eight, he also started singing. The brand was a huge hit particularly amongst the children, as it went from town to town to perform in clubs and in talent shows. Then in 1968, the band recorded some popular hit songs which include "I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "Ill Be There. Till 1975, MJ released his own four solo albums but also remain a part of Jackson-5 which was later named as the Jacksons. From 1976 to 1984, the band toured frequently at international level, with MJ as the leading song writer with hits like "Shake Your Body" and “Can You Feel It". During this time, he met with Quincy Jones who produced MJ’s solo album “Off the Wall” in 1979. The album includes huge hit songs which were in U.S. top 10 hits and on billboard 200, including the famous "Rock with You". More than 20 million copies of this album were sold worldwide and awarded MJ with three American Music Awards for his remarkable efforts. Also in 1980, he also got Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album (BIOGRAPHY on Michael Jackson. 2012). MJ was not satisfied with the response of “Off the Wall”, although it brought a huge success to him. In the year 1982, he released one of his greatest hits, Thriller, which broke several past records and MJ was awarded with seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards in the year 1983. Thriller was the best-selling album of all time in US as well as worldwide, which remained in top 10 for around one and half year. Out of billboard 200 top10, seven songs were from this album of MJ. Around 110 million of its copies were sold out making MJ the highest royalty taker of music industry. This was, in actual, the peak time for MJ in respect to fame and wealth. He earned a lot with sales profits of his albums, the market was full of dolls modeled like him and he was entitled as “A one-man rescue team for the music business” by time magazine. He was at a time, a lyricist, a composer, a singer and a perfect dancer whose videos made record business. The video of “The Making of Michael Jacksons Thriller” also won a Grammy for Best Music Video in the year 1985. According to New York Times, there is no one compatible with MJ in the world of pop music (Michael Jackson. 2012). Moonwalk was MJ’s signature dance movement; no one is able to do it as perfectly as he did during his live performances. He is remembered with his break dance movements and the way he used to bend his one leg while keeping one straight as a mime performer. Speaking in true words, he was jack of all trades and the master of all too. Since the time of his fame, he was invited to do commercial and ads of famous brands and their products which also helped him a lot in gaining fame and wealth. As a highly popular and loved personality, he was invited to White House, also due to his extra ordinary donations for charity. Along with a highly acknowledged entertainer, he was a good human being too who once donated all of his raising from the victory tour of thriller album in the year 1984. He was one of the writers of the famous charity song “We Are the World" in 1985 which was considered to be the best-selling singles with around 30 million of copies sold out and every dollar from it was donated to people suffering from famine in Africa. In the same year, he started his business career with the purchase of ATV music publishing with about $47.5 million. The same business remained very profitable for him till his entire life (Michael Jackson. 2012). In 1987, MJ released another block buster music album “Bad”. Although it did not make to the point of thriller either commercially or artistically, yet it was highly anticipated. The famous hits include “I Just Cant Stop Loving You”, “Bad”, “The Way You Make Me Feel”, “Man in the Mirror” and “Dirty Diana”. Till now, more than 30 million of its copies are sold out and the songs make a record of number one hot 100 singles from any album. MJ got Grammy award for best music video in 1989. Bad was also the best selling album in US and worldwide till 1988. The world tour for Bad was itself a huge success as more than three times of previous tours, people drew towards MJ and a Guinness World Record   is set up when 504,000 people attended seven sold-out shows. Overall in 123 concerts, there had been an audience of 4.4 million. In 1988, he published his autobiography in which he mentioned all about his childhood, his career and answered all rumors regarding his face and skin. This was also a best seller and a film was made based on the same subject. In 1991, he released another album Dangerous with contract of $65 million with Sony records. The album produced hits like "Black or White", "Heal the World" and "Remember the Time” which remained top five songs for weeks all over US and worldwide. The album was also given billboard award in 1992. MJ performed in Super Bowl XXVII at half time in 1993 on his famous hit tracks from all albums. He was also given the "Living Legend Award" at the 35th Grammy Awards in 1993. In 1994, MJ get married with Lisa Marie Presley which later resulted in an early divorce with no children. However in 1998, he married with Deborah Jeanne Rowe from whom he got two children. This marriage also resulted in divorce in 1999. In the same year, the American Music Awards honored Jackson as Artist of the 80s. In 2002, MJ was awarded by American Music Award for Artist of the Century. He became the father of his third child the same year, with the unknown mother (Michael Jackson biography. 2012). Although MJ lived like a prince, there had been many accusations upon him. There were two child abuse cases, face surgery rumors and poor matrimonial life. However, he had been a great human fighting for poverty, injustice and chronic diseases like HIV and raising funds for people. On June 25, 2009, he was found dead in his apartment in Los Angeles. Apparently he was very much under mental stress and his physician over dosed him with tranquilizers so he got a cardiac arrest. He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. sBibliography Michael Jackson biography retrieved on 5/1/2012 BIOGRAPHY on Michael Jackson retrieved on 5/1/2012 Michael Jackson retrieved on 5/1/2012 Michael Jackson retrieved on 5/1/2012 Michael Jackson is born retrieved on 5/1/2012 Read More