| Michael Jackson |
Jackson performs in 1988 |
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Michael Joseph Jackson[1][2] |
| Also known as |
Michael Joe Jackson |
| Born |
August 29, 1958
Gary, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died |
June 25, 2009 (aged 50)
Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres |
Pop, rock, soul, R&B, funk, disco, new jack swing |
| Occupations |
Musician, singer-songwriter, arranger, dancer, entertainer, choreographer, music producer, actor, businessman, philanthropist |
| Instruments |
Vocals |
| Years active |
1964–2009 |
| Labels |
Motown, Universal, Sony, Epic, Legacy, MJJ Productions |
| Associated acts |
The Jackson 5 |
Michael Joseph Jackson[1][2] (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American
singer-songwriter,
dancer,
businessman and
philanthropist. Often referred to as the "
King of Pop", or by his initials
MJ,
[3] Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by
Guinness World Records. His contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in
popular culture for over four decades.
The eighth child of the
Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of
The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971. In the early 1980s, Jackson became the dominant figure in
popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "
Beat It," "
Billie Jean," and "
Thriller,"
were credited with breaking down racial barriers and transforming the
medium into an art form and promotional tool. The popularity of these
videos helped to bring the then relatively new television channel
MTV to fame. With videos such as "
Black or White" and "
Scream"
he continued to innovate the medium throughout the 1990s, as well as
forging a reputation as a touring solo artist. Through stage and video
performances, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance
techniques, such as the
robot, and the
moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive sound and style has 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 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 only dancer from pop and rock music. 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" and "Artist of the 1980s"; 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 400 million records worldwide.
[4][5][6][Note 1] Jackson won
hundreds of awards, which made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.
[7] In what would have been Jackson's 52nd birthday on August 29, 2010, he became the most downloaded artist of all time.
[8][9]
Jackson constantly traveled the world attending events honoring his
humanitarianism and the 2000 Guinness Book of Records recognized him for
supporting 39 charities.
[10]
Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing
appearance,
personal relationships, and behavior, generated controversy. In the mid-1990s, he was
accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court for about $25 million and $2 million and no formal charges were brought.
[11] 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. 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 a live broadcast of the
public memorial service viewed around the world.
[12]
|
Contents
- 1 Life and career
- 1.1 1958–75: Early life and The Jackson 5
- 1.2 1975–81: Move to Epic and Off the Wall
- 1.3 1982–83: Thriller and Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever
- 1.4 1984–85: Pepsi, "We Are the World", and business career
- 1.5 1986–90: Appearance, tabloids, Bad, films, autobiography, and Neverland
- 1.6 1991–93: Dangerous, Heal the World Foundation, and Super Bowl XXVII
- 1.7 1993–94: First child sexual abuse allegations and first marriage
- 1.8 1995–99: HIStory, second marriage, and fatherhood
- 1.9 2000–03: Label dispute, Invincible, and third child
- 1.10 2003–05: Second child sexual abuse allegations and acquittal
- 1.11 2006–09: Closure of Neverland, final years, and This Is It
- 2 Personal life
- 3 Death and memorial
- 4 Artistry
- 5 Legacy and influence
- 6 Honors and awards
- 7 Earnings and wealth
- 8 Discography
- 9 Filmography
- 10 Tours
- 11 See also
- 12 Notes
- 13 References
- 14 Further reading
- 15 External links
|
Life and career
1958–75: Early life and The Jackson 5
Jackson's childhood home in
Gary, Indiana, showing floral tributes after his death
Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in
Gary, Indiana. He was the eighth of ten children in an African American working-class family who lived in a 3-room house in Gary,
[13] 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.
[14] A sixth brother, Brandon, who was a twin of older brother Marlon, died shortly after birth.
[15]
Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe.
[16][17][18] Joseph acknowledged in 2003 that he regularly whipped Jackson as a boy.
[18]
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.
[16] 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. Jackson's
father was also said to have verbally abused Jackson, saying that he had
a fat nose on numerous occasions.
[19]
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 childlike
throughout his adult life are in many ways consistent with the effects
of this chronic maltreatment he endured as a young child.
[20]
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".
[21][22]
Jackson (center) as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1972
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.
[14] 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.
[23]
The Jackson 5 recorded several songs, including "
Big Boy", for the local record label
Steeltown in 1967, before signing with Motown Records in 1968.
[14] 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."
[24] 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.
[14] 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."
[25]
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.
[26]
1975–81: Move to Epic and Off the Wall
In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with
Epic Records, a subsidiary of
CBS Records[26]
and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally
joined the band around this time, while Jermaine choose to stay with
Motown and pursue a solo career.
[27]
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".
[23] 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.
[28] In 1979, Jackson broke his nose during a complex dance routine. His subsequent
rhinoplasty was 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.
[29]
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".
[30][31] It reached number three on the
Billboard 200 and eventually sold over
20 million copies worldwide.
[32] 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".
[33][34] That year, he also won
Billboard Year-End
for 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".
[30] Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist.
[35] 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.
[36] In 1980, he secured the highest
royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.
[37]
1982–83: Thriller and Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever
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 artist in one night for both award shows.
[38][39] These awards were thanks to the
Thriller album, released in late 1982, which was 1983's best-selling album worldwide
[40][41] and became the best-selling album of all time in the United States,
[42] as well as the
best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated
65 million copies.
[43] The album topped the
Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven
Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "
Billie Jean", "
Beat It", and "
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".
[44] Thriller was 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.
[45]
Jackson's attorney
John Branca
noted 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 Thriller sold
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.
[46] 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."
[47] In 1985,
The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Longform.
[38] In December 2009, the music video for "Thriller" was selected for the
National Film Registry by the
Library of Congress, "Thriller" is the first (and currently only) music video ever to be inducted.
[48][49][50]
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".
[46] The New York Times wrote that, "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".
[51]
On March 25, 1983, Michael Jackson reunited with his brothers for a legendary live 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"
which gave him his first Emmy nomination.
[52] 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
Shalamar member
Jeffrey Daniel
had taught him three years before. The performance almost did not
happen with Jackson originally turning down the invitation to perform,
however at Berry Gordy's request, Jackson agreed to do the show.
Jackson's performance drew comparisons to
Elvis Presley's and
The Beatles' appearances on
The Ed Sullivan Show.
[53] 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."
[54]
Berry Gordy said of the performance, "from the first beat of Billie
Jean, I was mesmerized, and when he did his iconic moonwalk, I was
shocked, it was magic, Michael Jackson went into orbit, and never came
down."
[55]
1984–85: Pepsi, "We Are the World", and business career
On January 27, 1984, Michael and other members of the Jacksons filmed a Pepsi Cola commercial, overseen by executive
Phil Dusenberry,
[56] 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.
[29]
Jackson never recovered from this injury. 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.
[57] 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.
[58] 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.
[59] 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. Michael won the award for the creation of the song.
[60][61][62][63]
In 1984,
ATV Music Publishing, which had the copyrights to nearly 4000 songs, including the
Northern Songs catalog that contained the majority of the
Lennon–McCartney compositions recorded by
The Beatles, was put up for sale by
Robert Holmes à Court.
[64] 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.
[65] In 1981,
[66] McCartney was offered the ATV music catalog for £20 million ($40 million).
[65][67] 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.
[65][67]
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.
[66][67]
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."
[68]
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".
[65][66]
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.
[64] Jackson's agents thought they had a deal several times, but encountered new bidders or new areas of debate.
[64] 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.
[64]
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.
[64]
But in early August, Holmes à Court's team contacted Jackson 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.
[64] He also agreed to visit Holmes à Court in Australia, where he would appear on the
Channel Seven Perth Telethon.
[64][68] Jackson's
purchase of ATV Music was finalized August 10, 1985.
[64]
1986–90: Appearance, tabloids, Bad, films, autobiography, and Neverland
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.
[69] 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.
[70] Jackson was also diagnosed with vitiligo in his autopsy.
[71]
By the mid-1990s several surgeons speculated that he had undergone
various nasal surgeries, a forehead lift, thinned lips, and cheekbone
surgery—although Jackson denied this and insisted that he only had
surgery on his nose.
[72]
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.
[73] Jackson lost weight in the early 1980s because of a change in diet and a desire for "a dancer's body".
[73] 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.
[74]
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. He also relied heavily on Klein for medical and
business advice.
[75]
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.
[76][77] When Jackson bought a chimpanzee called
Bubbles from a laboratory, he was reported to be increasingly detached from reality.
[78] 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.
[76][77]
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.
[77][79][80] These reports became embedded in the public consciousness, inspiring the nickname "Wacko Jacko", which Jackson came to despise.
[81] 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.
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."[82]
Jackson wore a gold-plated military style jacket with belt in the
Bad era
Jackson collaborated with
George Lucas and
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: the Paris installation
was the last one to close, in 1998.
[83] The attraction would later return to Disneyland in 2010 after Jackson's death.
[84]
In 1987, Jackson disassociated himself from the
Jehovah's Witnesses, in response to their disapproval of the
Thriller video.
[85] With the industry expecting another major hit, Jackson's first album in five years,
Bad (1987), was highly anticipated.
[86] 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
Billboard Hot 100 charts. This was a record for most number one Hot 100 singles from any one album, including
Thriller.[87] 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 2012, the album sold between 30 to 45 million copies worldwide.
[88][89][90][91][92][93] 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.
[38][45] 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
U.S., the first album to top in 25 countries and the best-selling album
worldwide in 1987 and in 1988.
[94][95][96][97] In 1988, "Bad" won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Single.
[98]
The
Bad world tour began on September 12 that year, finishing on January 14, 1989.
[99]
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.
[100] Jackson broke a
Guinness World Record when 504,000 people attended seven sold-out shows at
Wembley Stadium.
[101] He performed a total of 123 concerts to an audience of 4.4 million people.
[102][103]
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 only autobiography,
Moonwalk, which took four years to complete and sold 200,000 copies.
[104] Jackson wrote about his childhood,
The Jackson 5, and the abuse he had suffered.
[105] He also wrote about his facial appearance, saying he had had two rhinoplastic surgeries and a
dimple created in his chin.
[73] 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.
[73] Moonwalk reached the top position on
The New York Times best sellers' list.
[106] The musician then released a film called
Moonwalker, 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.
[107]
In 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 km
2) property. A security staff of 40 patrolled the grounds. In 2003, it was valued at approximately $100 million.
[108][109] In 1989, his annual earnings from album sales, endorsements, and concerts was estimated at $125 million for that year alone.
[110] Shortly afterwards, he became the first Westerner to appear in a television ad in the
Soviet Union.
[107]
His success resulted in his being dubbed the "
King of Pop".
[111][112][113][114] 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."
[115] President
George H.W. Bush designated him the White House's "Artist of the Decade".
[116] 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.
[117][118] Jackson's live rendition of "You Were There" at
Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th birthday celebration allowed Jackson to receive his second Emmy nomination.
[52][107]
1991–93: Dangerous, Heal the World Foundation, and Super Bowl XXVII
In March 1991, Jackson renewed his contract with Sony for $65 million, a record-breaking deal at the time,
[119] displacing
Neil Diamond's renewal contract with
Columbia Records.
[120] He released his eighth album
Dangerous in 1991. The
Dangerous album was co-produced with
Teddy Riley, who convinced Michael to feature a
rapper
on his album for the first time. As of 2013, the album has shipped
seven million copies in the U.S. and has sold approximately 30 million
copies worldwide.
[121][122][123] 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.
[124] 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.
[125] At the end of 1992,
Dangerous
was awarded the best-selling album of the year worldwide and "Black or
White" was awarded best-selling single of the year worldwide at the
Billboard Music Awards. Additionally, he won an award as best-selling
artist of the 1980s.
[126] In 1993, Jackson performed the song at the
Soul Train Music Awards in a chair, saying he had suffered an injury in rehearsals.
[127] 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.
[125]
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.
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 70 concerts.
[125][128] He sold the broadcast rights to his
Dangerous world tour to
HBO for $20 million, a record-breaking deal that still stands.
[129]
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.
[130][131] In a high-profile visit to Africa, Jackson visited several countries, among them
Gabon and
Egypt.
[132]
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."
[132] In his trip to
Côte d'Ivoire, Jackson was crowned "King Sani" by a tribal chief.
[132]
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.
[132]
In January 1993, Jackson made a memorable appearance at the halftime show at
Super Bowl XXVII.
Because of dwindling interest during halftime in the years before, the
NFL decided to seek big-name talent that would keep viewers and ratings
high, with Jackson being selected because of his popularity and
universal appeal.
[133]
It was the first Super Bowl where the audience figures increased during
the half-time show to more than the game itself. 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 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". Jackson's
Dangerous album rose 90 places up the album chart.
[69] 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.
[125] 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.
[38][45][134]
1993–94: First child sexual abuse allegations and first marriage
Jackson gave a 90-minute interview to
Oprah Winfrey
on February 10, 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.
Dangerous re-entered the album chart in the top 10, more than a year after its original release.
[22][69][125]
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.
[135][136][137]
The Chandler family demanded payment from Jackson, and the singer
initially refused. Jordan Chandler eventually told the police that
Jackson had sexually abused him.
[138]
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.
[137]
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.
[137]
In August 1993, Jackson's home was raided by the police who,
according to court documents, found books and photographs in his bedroom
featuring young boys with little or no clothing.
[139] In Dec 1993, Jackson was
strip searched.
[140] Jordan Chandler had reportedly given police a description of Jackson's
intimate parts, and the strip search revealed that Jordan had correctly claimed Jackson had patchy-coloured buttocks, short
pubic hair, and pink and brown marked
testicles, but wrongly claimed Jackson was
circumcised, though doctors at the strip search also struggled to tell if Jackson was circumcised.
[140]
Reportedly, Jordan had also previously drawn accurate pictures of a
dark spot on Jackson's penis only visible when his penis was lifted.
[141] This dark spot was corroborated by the sheriff's photographer
[142] and the District Attorney in sworn affidavits.
[143]
Jackson's friends said he never recovered from the humiliation of the
strip search. The investigation was inconclusive and no charges were
ever filed.
[144] Jackson described the search in an emotional public statement, and proclaimed his innocence.
[135][140][145]
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,
[146] after which time the Chandlers stopped co-operating with the criminal investigation around July 6, 1994.
[147][148][149]
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.
[150] Feldman also explicitly stated "nobody bought anybody's silence".
[151]
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.
[148]
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.
[152] According to a friend of Presley's, "their adult friendship began in November 1992 in L.A."
[153]
They stayed in contact every day over the telephone. As the child
molestation accusations became public, Jackson became dependent on
Presley for emotional support; she was concerned about his faltering
health and addiction to drugs.
[154]
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."
[155] She eventually persuaded him to settle the allegations out of court and go into rehabilitation to recover.
[154]
Jackson proposed to Presley over the telephone towards the fall of 1993, saying, "If I asked you to marry me, would you do it?"
[154] They married in the
Dominican Republic in secrecy, denying it for nearly two months afterwards.
[156] The marriage was, in her words, "a married couple's life ... that was sexually active".
[157] At the time, the tabloid media speculated that the wedding was a ploy to prop up Jackson's public image.
[156] The marriage lasted less than two years and ended with an amicable divorce settlement.
[158]
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.
[159]
1995–99: HIStory, second marriage, and fatherhood
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.
[160][161] 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 13 new songs and 2 cover versions. The album debuted at
number one on the charts and has been certified for seven million
shipments in the US.
[162] It is the best-selling multiple-disc album of all-time, with 20 million copies (40 million units) sold worldwide.
[124][163] HIStory received a Grammy nomination for
Album of the Year.
[164]
"
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".
[164] "
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.
[110] It was seen as a major artistic and commercial success, receiving a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Vocal Performance".
[164]
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.
[165] "
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.
[164] The track "
They Don't Care About Us" became controversial when the
Anti-Defamation League and other groups criticized its allegedly
antisemitic lyrics. Jackson quickly put out a revised version of the song without the offending lyrics.
[166]
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.
[38][167]
The album was promoted with the successful
HIStory World Tour.
The tour began on September 7, 1996, and finished on October 15, 1997.
Jackson performed 82 concerts in 58 cities to over 4.5 million fans, and
grossed a total of
$165 million. The show, which visited five continents and 35 countries, became Jackson's most successful in terms of audience figures.
[99] 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.
[168]
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.
[158][169]
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.
[170][171]
Michael Jackson at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for the Ghosts music video premier
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, it is the
best selling remix album ever released.
[172] It reached number one in the UK, as did the
title track.
[172][173] In the US, the album was certified platinum, but only reached number 24.
[121][164] Forbes placed his annual income at $35 million in 1996 and $20 million in 1997.
[109] 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 additional funds for the children of Guatemala.
[174]
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.
[175] From August 1999 through 2000, he lived in New York City at 4
East 74th Street.
[176]
2000–03: Label dispute, Invincible, and third child
At the turn of the century, Jackson won an American Music Award as Artist of the 1980s.
[177] 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 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.
[173]
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 the
catalog at a low price.
[178] Jackson sought an early exit from his contract.
[173] Just before the release of
Invincible, Jackson informed the head of Sony Music Entertainment,
Tommy Mottola, that he was leaving Sony.
[173] 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.
[179] The second of the two shows took place the night before the
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
[180] 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.
[178]
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 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 U.S.
[121][124][181] However, 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.
[178] The album cost
$30 million to record, not including promotional expenditures.
[182] 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.
[178] He charged that Mottola had called his colleague
Irv Gotti a "fat
nigger".
[183] 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.
[182]
In 2002, Michael Jackson won his 22nd American Music Award for Artist of the Century.
[184] In the same year, Jackson's third child, Prince Michael Jackson II (nicknamed "Blanket") was born.
[185] The mother's identity is unknown, but Jackson has said the child was the result of
artificial insemination from a
surrogate mother and his own sperm.
[170] On November 20 of that year, Jackson brought his infant 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".
[186] Sony released
Number Ones,
a compilation of Jackson's hits on CD and DVD. In the U.S., the album
was certified triple platinum by the RIAA; in the UK it was certified
six times platinum for shipments of at least
1.2 million units.
[121][187]
2003–05: Second child sexual abuse allegations and acquittal
Jackson in Las Vegas, 2003
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.
[188]
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.
[188] 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.
[189][190][191] After the trial, in a highly publicized relocation he moved to the Persian Gulf island of
Bahrain, as a guest of
Sheikh Abdullah.
[192]
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.
[193]
2006–09: Closure of Neverland, final years, and This Is It
In March 2006, the main house at the Neverland Ranch was closed as a cost-cutting measure.
[194]
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 publishing holdings, even
though those holdings were reportedly making him as much as
$75 million a year.
[195] 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).
[161] Jackson agreed to a Sony-backed refinancing deal in April 2006, although the exact details were not made public.
[196] 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.
[197][198] 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.
[171] 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.
[198][199]
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.
[124] Jackson performed at the
World Music Awards, in London on November 15, 2006, and accepted a Diamond Award for selling over
100 million records.
[124][200] 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."
[201] 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.
[202] Jackson recorded extensively during this period in New York with songwriter and producer will.i.am and also in
Las Vegas with producers
Akon and
RedOne.
[203][204] 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."
[205]
In September 2007, Jackson was reportedly still working with will.i.am, but the album was apparently never completed.
[206] 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 inspired by his work.
[207] 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.
[207][208][209][210] 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.
[211] 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.)
[212][213]
An aerial view of part of Jackson's 2,800-acre (11 km
2) Neverland Valley Ranch near Los Olivos, CA showing the many rides
In late 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.
[214][215][216] 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 25.
[217]
An exhibition of the lots opened as scheduled on April 14, but the
actual auction was eventually cancelled at Jackson's request.
[218]
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.
[219]
The London residency was increased to 50 dates after record breaking
ticket sales: over one million were sold in less than two hours.
[220] 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.
[221]
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.
[222] 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.
[223][224]
Jackson's first posthumous song released entirely by his Estate was 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.
[225]
Even though it ran for a limited two-week engagement, it became the
highest grossing documentary or concert movie of all time, with earnings
of more than
$260 million worldwide.
[226] Jackson's estate received 90% of the profits.
[227] 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".
[228] 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.
[229][230]
Personal life
Jackson is survived by his parents, eight siblings, his three
children, a host of nieces and nephews also with grand nephews and
nieces.
Death and memorial
Fans flocked to Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, adorning it with flowers and notes on the day of his death.
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.
[231] Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics received a
911 call at 12:22 (
PDT, 19:22 UTC), arriving three minutes later at Jackson's location.
[232][233] He was reportedly not breathing and
CPR was performed.
[234] 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).
[235][236] Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief.
[231]
The news spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down and
crash from user overload. Both
TMZ and the
Los Angeles Times suffered outages.
[237] 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 pm PDT (22:15 UTC).
[238] 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.
[239] 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."
[240]
Around 15% of Twitter posts—or 5,000
tweets per minute—reportedly mentioned Jackson after the news broke,
[241][242] compared to the 5% recalled as having mentioned the
Iranian elections or the
flu pandemic that had made headlines earlier in the year.
[242] Overall,
web traffic ranged from 11% to at least 20% higher than normal.
[241][243] MTV and
Black Entertainment Television (BET) aired
marathons of Jackson's music videos.
[244] 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.
[245] Jackson was the topic of every front-page headline in the daily British tabloid
The Sun for about two weeks following his death.
[246] 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.
[247] Magazines including
Time published commemorative editions.
[248] A scene that had featured Jackson's sister La Toya was cut from the film
Brüno out of respect towards Jackson's family.
[249]
Jackson's memorial was held on July 7, 2009, at the
Staples Center in Los Angeles, preceded by a private family service at
Forest Lawn Memorial Park's Hall of Liberty.
Because of the high demand, organizers of the service fashioned a
lottery style distribution method to give out tickets to members of the
public. 1.6 million fans applied for tickets to the service over the
two-day period that registration was open. 8,750 names were drawn at
random to decide who to distribute tickets to, with each recipient
receiving two tickets each.
[250]
Jackson's casket was present during the memorial but no information was
released about the final disposition of the body. The memorial service
was one of the most watched events in online streaming history.
[251] 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.
[252]
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 by
Maya Angelou.
[253] 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."
[254]
The memorial is best remembered for when Jackson's 11-year-old
daughter, Paris Katherine, speaking publicly for the first time 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."
[180][255] Reverend Lucious Smith provided a closing prayer.
[256]
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.
[257][258] At the time of death, Jackson had been administered
propofol,
lorazepam and
midazolam.
[259] Law enforcement officials conducted a manslaughter investigation of his personal physician, Conrad Murray.
[260] On February 8, 2010,
Murray was charged with
involuntary manslaughter by prosecutors in Los Angeles.
[261] Jackson was entombed on September 3, 2009, at
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in
Glendale, California.
[262]
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.
[263][264]
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".
[265][266]
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.
[267][268]
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".
[269][270][271]
Aftermath
After his death, Jackson became the best-selling albums artist of
2009. He sold over 8.2 million albums in the United States, and a total
of
35 million albums worldwide, in the 12 months that followed his death.
[272][273]
Jackson became the first artist to sell one million downloads in a week
in download history, with a record-breaking 2.6 million downloads of
his songs. After his death three of his albums sold more than any new
album which was the first time a catalog album has ever scanned more
sales than any new album.
[274]
Jackson also became the first artist in history to have four of the top
20 best selling albums in a single year in the United States.
[275]
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.
[276] 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.
[277] 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".
[278]
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.
[276][279] 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 and
PlayStation Move, the respective motion-detecting camera systems for Microsoft's
Xbox 360 and Sony's
PlayStation 3 due out later that year.
[280]
Michael Jackson was reported to be one of the largest owners of
property on the moon. In 2005, he bought a 1,200-acre (4.9 km
2)
plot in the Lake of Dreams and owned a smaller parcel in the Sea of
Vapours. After his death, a crater on the moon was renamed Michael
Joseph Jackson by The Lunar Republic Society in Jackson's honor. The
crater, officially named Posidonius J, is located on an area of the moon
known as the Lake of Dreams, or Lacus Somniorum. The crater is 22
kilometers across and is situated near Jackson's owned land. A spokesman
for the society said: "The official designation of a Lunar crater is a
singular honour bestowed upon only a select few luminaries. "Among those
receiving this rare tribute over the past century are Leonardo da
Vinci, Christopher Columbus, Sir Isaac Newton, Julius Caesar and Jules
Verne."
[281][282]
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.
[283]
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.
[284] The tour was written and directed by
Jamie King[285]
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."
[286] 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.
[287] A second, larger and more theatrical Cirque show entitled
Michael Jackson: One set for residency at the
Mandalay Bay resort in Las Vegas was announced on February 21, 2013. This show, whose production was written and directed by
Jamie King who produced the Immortal show, is scheduled to begin on May 23, 2013 in a newly renovated theater.
[288]
In April 2011, Jackson's longtime friend and billionaire businessman
Mohamed Al-Fayed, chairman of
Fulham Football Club, unveiled a statue of Jackson outside the club's stadium,
Craven Cottage.
[289] Fulham fans were however bemused by the statue and failed to understand the relevance of Jackson to the club.
[290] Al Fayed however defended the statue and told the fans to "go to hell" if they did not appreciate the statue.
[291]
In 2012, in an attempt to end family public feuding, Jackson's brother
Jermaine Jackson
retracted his signature on a letter made public criticizing executors
of Michael Jackson's estate and his mother's advisers concerning the
legitimacy of his brothers will.
[292]
T.J. Jackson, son of Tito Jackson, was given co-guardianship of Michael
Jackson's children after false reports surfaced of Katherine Jackson
going missing.
[293]
Artistry
Influences
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 musicians such as
Little Richard,
James Brown,
Jackie Wilson,
Diana Ross,
Fred Astaire,
[294] Sammy Davis, Jr.,
[294] Gene Kelly,
[295] David Ruffin,
[296] 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.
[297] 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.
[298][299][300] While Little Richard had a substantial influence on Jackson,
[301][302]
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."
[303]
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."
[304] 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.
[305]
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.
[306] 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.
[2] As a musician, he ranged from Motown's dance fare and ballads to
techno and
house-edged
new jack swing to work that incorporates both
funk rhythms and
hard rock guitar.
[108][307][308]
Jackson in 1988, performing live at his record-breaking Bad world tour
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.
[2] 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)".
[2][307][308][309][310] With
Thriller, Christopher Connelly of
Rolling Stone commented that Jackson developed his long association with the subliminal theme of
paranoia and darker imagery.
[310] Allmusic's
Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".
[308] In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers.
[2] In "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media.
[310] "Beat It" decried gang violence in an homage to
West Side Story, and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey.
[2][108] 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.
[2] 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.
[2]
In
Bad, Jackson's concept of the predatory lover can be seen on the rock song "
Dirty Diana".
[315] 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.
[86] "
Smooth Criminal" was an evocation of bloody assault, rape and likely murder.
[86] Allmusic's
Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that
Dangerous presents Jackson as a very paradoxical individual.
[316] 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".
[316] The first half of the record is dedicated to new jack swing, including songs like "
Jam" and "
Remember the Time".
[317]
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 and drugs.
[317] Dangerous contains sexually charged efforts such as the multifaceted love song, "
In the Closet".
[317] The title track continues the theme of the predatory lover and compulsive desire.
[317] 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.
[317] In the ballad "
Gone Too Soon", Jackson gives tribute to his friend
Ryan White and the plight of those with AIDS.
[318]
HIStory creates an atmosphere of paranoia.
[319]
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.
[320] 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.
[319][320] 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".
[321] Invincible found Jackson working heavily with producer Rodney Jerkins.
[2] 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".
[322][323]
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.
[324] 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.
[325] 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.
[26] 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".
[326][327] 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".
[310]
A distinctive deliberate mispronunciation of "come on", used
frequently by Jackson, occasionally spelled "c'mon", "cha'mone" or
"shamone", is also a staple in impressions and caricatures of him.
[328] 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".
[317] When singing of brotherhood or self-esteem the musician would return to "smooth" vocals.
[317] 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".
[329]
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".
[311]
Music videos and choreography
The iconic crystal rhinestone studded glove worn by Jackson when performing the moonwalk on Motown 25
Jackson has also been referred to as the King of Music Videos,
[330]
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.
[2] Before
Thriller, Jackson struggled to receive coverage on MTV, allegedly because he was African American.
[331]
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.
[332]
MTV employees deny any racism in their coverage, or pressure to change
their stance. MTV maintains that they played rock music, regardless of
race.
[333]
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.
[334][332] 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.
[335] Short films like
Thriller largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has frequently been imitated.
[336] The choreography in
Thriller has become a part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere from
Indian films to
prisons in the Philippines.
[337] 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.
[110]
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.
[79][338] For the "
Smooth Criminal"
video, Jackson experimented with an anti-gravity lean where the
performer leans forward at an angle beyond their center of gravity. To
accomplish this move live, Jackson and designers developed a special
shoe that locks the performers feet to the stage, allowing them to lean
forward. They were granted
U.S. Patent 5,255,452 for the device.
[339] 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;
[340]
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.
[107]
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.
[125] "
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 at that time.
[124]
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.
[341] Along with Jackson, it featured
Macaulay Culkin,
Peggy Lipton and
George Wendt. It helped usher in
morphing as an important technology in music videos.
[342]
"
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.
[343] 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.
[125]
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".
[344]
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.
[345] 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.
[164][346]
"
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.
[164][347] 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 for
Ghosts is over 38 minutes long and holds the
Guinness World Record as the world's longest music video.
[164][173][348][349]
Legacy and influence
The media has commonly referred to Jackson as the "
King of Pop" because, throughout his career, he transformed the art of music videos and paved the way for modern pop music.
Daily Telegraph writer
Tom Utley described Jackson in 2003 as "extremely important" and a "genius".
[253]
For much of his career, he had an "unparalleled" level of worldwide
influence over the younger generation through his musical and
humanitarian contributions.
[166] 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 into a form that proved enduring. Jackson's
work continues to influence numerous
hip hop, rock, pop and
R&B
artists. BET described Jackson "as quite simply the greatest
entertainer of all time" and someone who "revolutionized the music video
and brought dances like the moonwalk to the world. Jackson's sound,
style, movement and legacy continues to inspire artists of all genres."
[350]
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".
[2] In the mid-1980s,
Time magazine'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".
[46] In 1990,
Vanity Fair cited Jackson as the most popular artist in the history of show business.
[107]
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."
[351]
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.
[352]
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.
[353] At the memorial service on July 7, 2009, founder of
Motown Records Berry Gordy proclaimed Jackson as "the greatest entertainer that ever lived".
[354][355][356]
In 2010, two university librarians found that Jackson's influence extended into
academia, and has been mentioned in scholarly literature pertaining to a range of subject matter.
[357][358] The two researchers combed through various scholars' writings, and compiled an
annotated bibliography
of those writings. The bibliography located references to Jackson in
research reports concerning music, popular culture, chemistry and an
array of other topics.
[357][359]
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.
[179][360] 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 and the
Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002.
[179]
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.
[361] His awards include many
Guinness World Records (eight in 2006 alone),
[362] 13
Grammy Awards (as well as the
Grammy Legend Award and the
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), 26
American Music Awards (including the "Artist of the Century" and "Artist of the 1980s")—more 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
[363]—and estimated sales of up to 400 million records worldwide,
[4][5][6][Note 1] which makes him one of
the best selling artists of all time.
[364][365][366][367][368]
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."
[369] Michael Jackson also received a Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from the United Negro College Fund
[370] and also an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Fisk University.
[371]
Earnings and wealth
It is estimated that Michael Jackson earned about $750 million in his lifetime.
[372]
In the last several decades of his life, sales of his recordings
through Sony's music unit have earned him an estimated $300 million in
royalties. He may have also earned an additional $400 million from
concerts, music publishing (including his share of the Beatles catalog)
endorsements, merchandising and music videos. Estimating how much of
these earnings Jackson was able to personally pocket is difficult
because one has to account for taxes, recording costs and production
costs.
[373]
There have also been several detailed estimates of Jackson's net
worth and these range from negative $285 million to positive $350
million.
| Michael Jackson's estimated net-worth over the years |
| Year |
Assets |
Debt |
Net worth |
Source |
| 2002 |
$130 million |
$415 million |
-$285 million |
Forensic accountant in 2005 recalling Jackson's 2002 balance sheet under oath[374] |
| 2003 |
$550 million ($100 million in properties including Neverland ranch;
Encino and Las Vegas homes and other properties and $450 million in
music holdings including 50% stake in Sony ATV and other music
publishing) |
$200 million |
$350 million |
Forbes magazine, Nov 21, 2003[375] |
| 2007 |
$567.6 million (includes 50% share of the Sony/ATV catalog valued at
$390.6 million, Neverland valued at $33 million, cars, antiques,
collectibles and other property valued at $20 million, and $668,215 in
cash) |
$331 million |
$236 million |
Michael Jackson's March 2007 statement of financial condition
prepared by Washington-based accounting firm Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio
& Associates; described by CBS News as the clearest account yet of
Jackson's finances.[376] |
Discography
Filmography
Tours
See also
Notes
Note 1^
References
Citations
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- ^ Campbell, Lisa D (1993). Michael Jackson: the King of Pop. Branden Books. p. 251. ISBN 978-0-8283-1957-7. Retrieved July 5, 2010.
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- ^ Press references to Jackson as a music "king" appeared as early as 1984 after he swept the Grammy Awards, and "king of pop" appeared as early as 1987. MTV and Fox used the title in joint press releases and ads for the "Black or White"
video at Jackson's request, but MTV denied a report that VJs were
required to use it on-camera. Writers described the title as
self-proclaimed from then on.
- ^ Arar, Yardena (February 29, 1984). "Michael Jackson coronated latest king of rock 'n' roll". Boca Raton News. p. 7A.
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- ^ Eng, Joyce (August 10, 2009). "Judge Approves Michael Jackson Film". TV Guide. Retrieved August 10, 2009.
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- ^ "Jacko news spreads to Eastenders". MSN Entertainment. June 28, 2009.
- ^ The Sun, July 8, 2009, pp. 10–11.
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Bibliography
- 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.
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- Guinness World Records (2005). Guinness World Records 2006. Guinness. ISBN 1-904994-02-4.
- Jackson, Michael (2009) [First published 1988]. Moonwalk. Random House. ISBN 978-0-307-71698-9.
- Ramage, John D.; Bean, John C.; Johnson, June (2001). Writing arguments: a rhetoric with readings. Allyn and Bacon. ISBN 0-205-31745-6.
- 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.
Further reading
- Dineen, Catherine (1993). Michael Jackson: In His Own Words. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-3216-6.
- Grant, Adrian (1994, 1997, 2002 and 2005). Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-432-2.
- Giambusso, David (June 25, 2009). "Michael Jackson memorabilia owner recalls turbulent past with musical family". The Star-Ledger (New Jersey).
- Jackson, Michael (2006). My World, The Official Photobook, Vol. 1. Triumph International. ISBN 0-9768891-1-0.
- Jones, Bob (2005). Michael Jackson: The Man Behind the Mask. Select Books Inc. ISBN 1-59079-072-3.
- Jefferson, Margo; Brown (2007). On Michael Jackson. Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-307-27765-7.
- Noonan, Damien (1994). Michael Jackson (Audio book). Carlton Books. ISBN 1-85797-587-1.
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