Michael jackson

Jump to: • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1958-2009 Who Was Michael Jackson? Known as the “King of Pop,” Michael Jackson was a best-selling American singer, songwriter, and dancer. As a child, Jackson became the lead singer of his family’s popular Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad. Thriller remains one of the best-selling albums in history. In his later years, Jackson was dogged by allegations of child molestation. The 13-time Grammy Award winner died in 2009 at age 50 of a drug overdose just before launching a comeback tour. Quick Facts FULL NAME: Michael Joseph Jackson BORN: August 29, 1958 DIED: June 25, 2009 BIRTHPLACE: Gary, Indiana SPOUSES: CHILDREN: ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Virgo Early Life and Family Michael Jackson, pictured in 1970 as a pre-teen, began his professional singing career at age 5. Getty Images Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana. He was the eighth of 10 children born to Almost all of Jackson’s siblings made marks in the music industry, including The Jackson 5 The Jackson 5, seen performing around 1969, included brothers Tito Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Michael Jackson, Jackie Jackson, and Jermaine Jackson. Getty Images Joseph molded his sons into a musical group in the early 1960s that would later become known as the Jackson 5. At first, the Jackson Family group consisted of Jackson’s older brothers Tito, Jermaine, and Jackie. Jackson joined his siblings when he was 5 years old and emerged as the group’s lead vocalist. He showed remark...

Triumph, 1980 The future King of Pop took on the legacy of the King of Rock & Roll on the Jacksons' 1980 take on "Heartbreak Hotel." Written by Michael, it has little in common with Elvis Presley's 1956 classic; it's a lithe disco-pop tune that takes the original's theme in a darker direction with lyrics about a hotel where relationships break up. "Heartbreak Hotel" became a Number Two R&B hit; then somebody at the Jacksons' label, perhaps sensing legal complications, changed it to the nonsensical "This Place Hotel." • 49. “Who’s Lovin’ You” Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, 1969 "I Want You Back" was a glimpse of Motown's future; its B side gazed at the label's past. A cover of a Smokey Robinson torch song (it first appeared as the B side of the Miracles'"Shop Around" in 1960), it was the sweetest fruit of the Jackson 5's collaboration with R&B singer Bobby Taylor, who brought them to Motown and produced some of their early songs. Backed by Motown house band the Funk Brothers, Michael pushes himself to the top of his range, ripping into every word of Robinson's heartbroken lyrics. • 48. “Blood on the Dance Floor” Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, 1997 A "Dangerous"-era outtake, this was revived as the title track of Jackson's 1997 remix album. The ominously slinking song has a fittingly creepy origin story. Teddy Riley had blown off a party to work on it – and someone had been shot on the party's dance floor. He hadn't mentioned the tragedy to Jackson and was...