Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror

The Bio History of Michael Joseph Jackson began when he was born on the 29th of August 1958 in Gary, Indiana.
He was the 7th of nine children. (brothers: Sigmund "Jackie", Toriano "Tito", Jermaine, Marlon, Steven "Randy", and sisters Rebbie, Janet and La-Toya Jackson. His father, Joseph Jackson, had been a guitarist but had put aside his musical aspirations to provide for his family as a crane operator. Believing his sons had talent, he molded them into a musical group in the early 1960s.
Michael began his musical career at the age of 5 as the lead singer of the Jackson 5. In these early years the Jackson 5 played local clubs and bars in Gary Indiana and moving further afield as their talents grew and they could compete in bigger competitions. From these early days Michael would be at the same clubs as big talented stars of these days, such as Jackie Wilson and would be learning from them even back then. Behind the scenes, Joseph Jackson pushed his sons to succeed. He was also reportedly known to become violent with them. Michael and his brothers spent endless hours rehearsing and polishing up their act.

In 1968 Bobby Taylor of the music group “The Vancouvers” and Gladys Knight discovered the young group of singers. Very soon after that the group was signed to Motown Records and groomed for stardom by Berry Gordy and Suzanne DePasse. The Jackson 5 signed for Motown and moved to California. Their first 4 singles, "I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There" all made US No1 hits. The Jackson 5 recorded 14 albums and Michael recorded 4 solo albums with Motown.

Despite Jackson's individual achievements and the group's great success, there was trouble between the Jacksons and their record company. Tensions mounted between Gordy and Joseph Jackson over the management of his children's careers, and their level of participation in making their music. The Jacksons wanted more control over their recordings, which led to most of the Jacksons breaking ties with Motown in 1975. Jermaine Jackson remained with the label and continued to pursue a solo career, having previously released several albums—none of which had matched the success of his younger brother Michael.

Now calling themselves the Jacksons, the group signed a new recording deal with Epic Records. With 1978's Destiny, Michael Jackson and his brothers (which by now included younger brother Randy) emerged as talented songwriters, penning all of the record's tracks. Working with producer Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson wowed the music world with his next solo album, 1979's Off the Wall. It featured an infectious blend of pop and funk with such hit tracks as the Grammy Award-winning "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough," "Rock with You," and the title track. He also found success with the ballad "She's Out of My Life."

Michael Jackson became an actor in the mid seventies when he won the role of the Scarecrow in “The Wiz.” The big budget feature also starred Diana Ross and was directed by Sidney Lumet. Michael Jackson moved to New York for the filming was a staple at “Studio 54” at the height of Disco culture.

In 1982 Michael Jackson released the world's largest selling album of all time, 'Thriller'. This album produced 7 hit singles, breaking yet again more records, and went on to sell over 50 million copies worldwide. Michael was keen to use music video or short films as he called them to promote his singles from the album. He worked with the best directors and producers, using the latest technology and special effects for the hit song 'Billie Jean' The short film 'Thriller' used the latest make-up artists technology combined with fantastic dancing and cherography, to produce a 14 minute video, with a start, a middle and an ending. So successful was this video that 'The Making Of Michael Jackson's Thriller' became the world's largest selling home video combined with soaring album sales. In 1983 Michael performed the now legendary moonwalk for the first time on the 'Motown 25 years' anniversary show. This performance alone set Michael undoubtable into the realm of a superstar.
At the top of his game creatively and commercially, Jackson signed a $5 million endorsement deal with Pepsi-Cola around this time. He, however, was badly injured while filming a commercial for the soda giant in 1984, suffering burns to his face and scalp. Jackson had surgery to repair his injuries, and is believed to have begun experimenting with plastic surgery around this time. His face, especially his nose, would become dramatically altered in the coming years.

That same year, Jackson embarked on his final tour with the Jacksons to the support the album Victory. The one major hit from the recording was Michael Jackson's duet with Mick Jagger, "State of Shock." In 1985, Jackson showed his altruistic side, co-writing and singing on "We Are the World," a charity single for USA for Africa. A veritable who's who of music stars participated in the project including Lionel Ritchie, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelso

Raised as a Jehovah's Witness, Jackson was a shy and quiet person off-stage. He was never truly comfortable with the media attention he received and rarely gave interviews. By the late 1980s, Jackson had created his own fantasy retreat—a California ranch called Neverland. There he kept exotic pets, such as a chimpanzee named Bubbles, and had his own amusement rides.n, Bruce Springsteen, and Tina Turner.

In 1987, Jackson released his third solo album, “Bad” with a Martin Scorsese directed short film. Bad went on to have five number one singles and spawned an eighteen-month tour, which grossed more than two hundred million dollars. After his world tour, Jackson wrote his memoirs with an assist from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis called “Moonwalker.” Michael Jackson ended the 1980s by being named MTV's “Artist of The Decade.”

In 1991 Michael signed with Sony Music the largest ever recording contract and released his fourth solo album, 'Dangerous'. He toured world again in 1992, taking his concerts to countries that had never before been visited by a pop/rock artist. Also Michael founded the 'Heal the World Foundation' to help improve the lives of children across the world.
Jackson's music continued to enjoy wide-spread popularity in the upcoming years. In 1993, he performed several important events, including the half-time show at Superbowl XXVII. Jackson gave a rare television interview, which aired that February. Sitting down with Oprah Winfrey, he explained that the change in his skin tone was the result of a disease known as vitiligo. Jackson also opened about the abuse he suffered from his father

Jackson's career was interrupted by unfounded allegations of misconduct with a minor. He was never charged but the investigation caused a firestorm of adverse publicity and media intrusion into the life of a celebrity that had never happened before.

Jackson interrupted his tour to go into seclusion after it was announced that he had a dependency to pain killers resulting from an accident filming a Pepsi commercial. Michael Jackson came back to the United States and ended the media firestorm by settling with his accuser without admitting guilt. Thus ended a dark period in the entertainer's life.

In 1994 Michael married Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of rock legend Elvis Presley. The marriage only lasted for 19 months, as they divorced in 1996.
In 1995, Michael Jackson released his greatest hits’ album, HIStory that contained 15 original songs. The first single, "Scream" -- a duet with his superstar sister Janet Jackson -- debut at number five making it the first single to ever debut that high. The next single that Michael Jackson released from the History album was You Are Not Alone, which debuted at number 1 making Jackson the first artist to debut at the top of the charts in America. During this time, Jackson's marriage to Lisa Marie Presley ended before he embarked on his HIStory tour in 1996.

On November 14, 1996, Michael married Debbie Rowe and their first child "Prince" Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., was born on February 13, 1997.The couple had two children. Son Prince Michael Jackson was born in 1997 and daughter Paris Michael Jackson was born in 1998. (Jackson later had a third child, Prince Michael Jackson II, nicknamed "Blanket," from an unknown mother.) Rowe and Jackson divorced in 1999 with Jackson receiving full custody of their two children.

In 2001, Jackson celebrated his thirty years of solo stardom with sold out performances at Madison Square Garden. The television special drew forty-five million viewers. In October of 2001, Michael Jackson released his seventh solo album, Invincible, an album that debut at number one in more than fourteen countries.

Unfortunately, due to record industry politics, the album was abandoned in mid 2002 after the hit single Butterflies. Fans from around the world protested Michael Jackson's treatment by his label. Many demonstrations were organized around the world, with several websites posting information regarding the maneuverings of Sony's mishandling of the Invincible Project.

As for Jackson, he hired several high-powered attorneys to look into possibly suing Sony for breach of contract regarding royalty and other mismanagement issues. Jackson went on the offensive publicly denouncing Sony Music Head, Tommy Mottola as racist and a devil, which caused a firestorm of publicity and increased media scrutiny regarding his alliance with the Reverend Al Sharpton and his music initiative for economic justice for minority recording industry artists.

in late 2002. Michael Jackson teamed with Martin Bashir to do a documentary and interview about his life. Bashir and his television crew filmed Jackson for almost a year with the purpose of piercing the preconceived images the world press had formed about the reclusive superstar.

Bashir was with Jackson in Germany for The Bambi Awards when crowds of fans congregated at the hotel where Michael Jackson was staying with his children. Jackson showed the crowd his youngest son from the balcony of his suite. The incident was caught on tape by the media, which dubbed Jackson's mistake as the "baby dangling" escapade. Jackson apologized for his behavior, however many pundits questioned his ability as a father and whether he should even have custody of his children.

Bashir exploited this angle in his documentary which aired in January and February of 2003.

Jackson fought back with his own documentary which showed video footage of Bashir's manipulative conduct with Jackson. Bashir was showered with criticism based on his deceptive journalistic practices by the world press.

Jackson faced more legal woes in 2004 when he was arrested on charges related to incidents with a 13-year-old boy the previous year. On June 14, 2005, Jackson was acquitted of all charges.

He stayed at Neverland for only a short time after the trial and then moved to Bahrain. A friend of the king of Bahrain's son, Jackson was able to avoid the intense media scrutiny he had been subjected to during the trial.

In March 2009, Michael announced a shock comeback tour at the O2 Arena in London to start in July 2009, initially for 10 dates but the total grew to a sold out 50 dates with over 750,000 tickets sold. All sold tickets sold out within minutes of being released.
Michael Jackson, one of the most popular artists of all time, died suddenly of cardiac arrest on June 25, 2009 in Los Angeles just before the concert series. He was only 50 years old.