All about Michael Jackson (MJ); Life, Family, Career, Scandals & Memories
- Memories of Michael Jackson.
American superstar Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana on August 29, 1958 and entertained audiences nearly his entire life. His father, Joseph Jackson, had been a guitarist but was forced to give up his musical ambitions following his marriage to Katherine (Scruse).
Together they prodded their growing family’s musical interests at home. By the early 60s the older boys Jackie, Tito and Jermaine had begun performing around the city; by 1964 Michael and Marlon had joined in.
Michael Jackson (MJ) and Music:
A musical prodigy, Michael’s singing and dancing talents were amazingly mature and he soon became the dominant voice and focus of “The Jackson 5.”
An opening act for such soul groups as the O-Jays and James Brown, it was Gladys Knight (not Diana Ross) who officially brought the group to ‘Berry Gordy”s attention, and by 1969 the boys were producing back-to-back chart-busting hits as Motown artists (“I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “Got to Be There,” etc.). As a product of the 70s, the boys emerged as one of the most accomplished black pop/soul vocal groups in music history, successfully evolving from a Temptations-like group act to a disco phenomenon.
The Jackson 5 stayed with Motown until 1976, wanting more artistic freedom they felt they had to move on and signed up with Epic.
The group name Jackson 5 had to be changed as it was owned by Motown, so they reverted to The Jacksons as they had been known in the early days. Brother Jermaine married Berry Gordy’s daughter and stayed with Motown. Youngest brother Randy joined in his place.
The Jacksons had a number of hit records and in total made 6 albums between the years of 1976 and 1984.
In 1977 Michael made his first film debut when he starred in the musical ‘The Wiz’ playing Scarecrow with Diana Ross in the lead role of Dorothy. It was at this time Michael met Quincy Jones who was doing the score for the film.
Michael Jackson’s Early Life:
Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, an industrial suburb of Chicago, Illinois, to a working-class family on August 29, 1958. The son of African-American parents Joseph Walter “Joe” Jackson and Katherine Esther (née Scruse), he was the seventh of nine children. His siblings are Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon, Randy and Janet.
Joseph Jackson was a steel mill employee who often performed in an R&B band called The Falcons with his brother Luther. Jackson was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness by his devout mother.
From a young age Jackson claims he was physically and emotionally abused by his father, enduring incessant rehearsals, whippings and name-calling, but also contends that his father was a strict disciplinarian that played a large part in his success.
In one altercation—later recalled by Marlon Jackson—Joseph held Michael upside down by one leg and “pummeled him over and over again with his hand, hitting him on his back and buttocks”.
Michael Jackson Abused in Childhood:
Jackson first spoke openly about his childhood abuse in a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey. He said that during his childhood he often cried from loneliness and would sometimes get sick or start to vomit upon seeing his father.
In Jackson’s other high profile interview, Living with Michael Jackson (2003), the singer covered his face with his hand and began crying when talking about his childhood abuse.
Scandals and Michael Jackson (MJ)
Child Molestation
In 1993, a 13-year-old boy accused Michael Jackson of sexual molestation. Jackson had befriended the boy in 1992. Soon the boy became a regular guest at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in Santa Ynez, California. Jackson gave the boy gifts and paid for several vacation trips around the world.
In 1993, the boy started to spend the night at Jackson’s residence. This was not unusual as Jackson would often have children sleep over at his Neverland Ranch. According to the allegations, Jackson had kissed and fondled the boy while they were alone in bed. Allegedly, this repeatedly took place during a four-month period.
At the suggestion of the boy’s father, a civil lawsuit was filed in 1993. Jackson denied the accusations. He continued to tour and make public appearances. The boy’s father talked to the Jackson camp about a financial settlement while the police continued their investigation.
On January 25, 1994, Michael Jackson settled the civil lawsuit paying an undisclosed amount to his accuser. Many believe that he paid between 15 and 20 million dollars. After receiving the settlement, the boy refused to testify in any criminal matters. Therefore, the prosecution was not able to pursue a criminal case.
Michael Jackson Lawsuit
According to court documents filed in Los Angeles, Billie Jean Jackson, whose real name is believed to be Lavon Powlis, claims she’s married to Michael Jackson and is seeking joint custody of the pop legend’s youngest child, 6-year-old Blanket.
Billie Jean claims she is Blanket’ birth mother.
Jesus Take The Wheel.
Billie Jean, 60, is suing the singer for $1 billion dollars “in support of Blanket.” According to the Associated Press, in 1987, the same woman filed a $150 million paternity lawsuit against the singer.
Back then she claimed Michael had fathered three of her children and would not pay child support.
In March of 2008, she was arrested by Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies for trespassing on Michael’s Neverland Ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley.
MJ’s Great Albums
Michal Jackson – The Real Pop Star. HIS MUSIC WILL LIVE FOREVER.
OFF THE WALL
Released in August 1979 “Off The Wall” was Michael’s first solo album as an adult artist.
He wanted this album to be the best it could be. He needed someone with great experience and had met Quincey Jones on the set on the movie “The Wiz” and Quincey produced the album.
Michael wanted the sound of the album to be different from that of the Jacksons who had just had there biggest album success with “Destiny”.
Michael wanted songs that were good for him to sing and that he could move to. In came Rod Temperton who penned “Rock With You” a big hit, “Burn This Disco Out” and the title track.
Thriller
Ever since Michael was a young boy he had dreamed of recording the biggest selling album of all time.
Released in 1982 that album was “Thriller”. Again Michael worked with Quincey Jones as producer and Rod Temperton writing some of the songs including the title track.
The aim was for every song to stand on its own as a single.Quincey had kept telling Michael they needed a great rock song on the album, Michael had “Beat It” but Michael wasn’t confident enough in his own song writing at this stage in his career and held onto the song, but eventually he played it to Quincy who loved it. Michael was trying to get the message across of not turning to violence and avoid the trouble.
Michael again collaborated with Paul McCartney and they came up with “Say Say Say” which Paul had on his album and Michael had “The Girl Is Mine” both hit singles. The massive hit “Billie Jean” a song penned based on experiences Michael and his brothers had from girl fans was a massive worldwide hit Billie Jean.
Sisters Janet and LaToya featured on back up vocals on “Pretty Young Thing” The album was also boosted with groundbreaking videos that helped album sales soar.
The album has sold over 50 million copies.
Bad
Released in 1987 Michael devoted two and a half years to recording the follow up up to Thriller.
Michael again worked with Quincy Jones, and they both set out to make the most perfect album humanly possible.
Michael wrote all but 2 of the songs on the album, “Man In the Mirror” a great self message song co-written by Siedah Garrett who co sings on the love song “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” and “Just Good Friends” the duet with Stevie Wonder were the only other tracks not written by Michael.
On the Cd, new technolgy allowed space for an extra track “Leave Me Alone” a simple message and along with the video gets the message across of him wanting some privacy and trying to dispell some of the ludicrious stories constantly surrounding the now global superstar.
DANGEROUS
The Dangerous album was released on November 26, 1991, and became the fastest selling number one album, breaking the records by entering the charts at #1 only 3 days after it’s release! It was also the first album released by Sony music that had a Thursday release date, rather than the traditional Monday release.
This was the first solo album by Michael Jackson that was not produced by Quincy Jones.
The ‘Dangerous’ album produced 9 singles from it’s 14 tracks; “Black Or White”, “Remember The Time”, “Jam”, “In The Closet”, “Heal The World”, “Who Is It”, “Will You Be There”, and “Gone Too Soon”. The “Black Or White” single made a 32-spot jump on the Pop singles charts, breaking the Beatles’ record set by their song “Let It Be” in 1970.
The album has sold over 21 million copies worldwide to date.
Guest appearances on this album were made by rapper L.T.B, Princess Stephanie of Monacco (credited as the “Mystery Girl”), and Slash.
HISTORY: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
The History album was released on June 20, 1995, and was Michael’s first solo album to contain a greatest hits package along with new tracks!
In total the two-disc album contains 30 songs adding up to over 150 minutes of music! Special editions of the History album were released in Canada, Germany, Holland, and France in which Michael spoke directly to his fans of these countries thanking them for their support over the years and promising to tour their countries soon.
The first disc “History Begins” of this album contains 15 of Michael’s number one hits – songs that made him the ‘King’ of the entertainment industry.
The second disc “History Continues” of this album contained 15 brand new songs, 12 of which were composed and written by Michael himself. The second disc of the ‘History’ album also credited Michael for the first time with playing the keyboards, Synthesizer, drums and percussion, and guitar.
Special appearances on the album were made by Janet Jackson, Shaquille O’Neal, the late Notorius B.I.G, Boyz II Men, and Slash.
The album was controvercial, with many angry songs – Michael’s reply to the press and allegations that had been plaguing his life and career over the previous few years, as well as had a softer edge with ballads such as “You Are Not Alone”, “Earth Song”, “Stranger In Moscow” and “Smile”.
Shortly after it’s release the ‘History’ album was pulled from the shelves due to the the controvercial lyrics in the song “They Don’t Care About Us”, and new copies of the album were released with a formal apology written by Michael to those who may be offended by the lyrics.
5 singles were released off of this album; “Scream”, “Earth Song”, “You Are Not Alone”, “Stranger In Moscow”, and “They Don’t Care About Us”. The album hit #1 in 19 countries around the world, with world wide sales of over 15 million. The “You Are Not Alone” single broke a world record when it became the first-ever single to debut at #1 on the Billboard music charts.
BLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR
This 13 track album was released in May, 1997 and contained 5 new songs in addition to 8 remixed tracks from the HIStory album.
Due to the fact that Michael was touring at the time of recording the album, many of the tracks were recorded and mixed in countries around the globe such as Sweden, Switzerland and Germany.
The album was originally planned to be a promotional tool for the European leg of the HIStory tour, and for this reason was not widely publisized in most of the world. The album ended up being widely successful around the globe, despite the low promotions, with the album and/or the title single reaching #1 in over 10 countries.
There were two singles released for this album. The first one ‘Blood On The Dance Floor’ was released around the world, and the second single ‘History/Ghosts’ was released in Europe and Australia.
To date the Blood On The Dance Floor album has sold 4 million copies world wide.
INVINCIBLE
On October 29, 2001 (October 30th in North America) Michael Jackson’s latest album was released! Titled, “Invincible”, the 16-track album has been said to be Michael’s best work since ‘Thriller’, and was expected to revolutionize the music industry as we know it today….
The album was released on CD, and vinyl and released with 5 different covers. Album covers were printed in white/silver, blue, green, red and orange, to make collecting the CDs “more fun” for fans!
However, after the first single “You Rock My World” was released it became clear that Sony Music were not interested in promoting the album. Only 1 more single “Cry” written by R. Kelly was released and that was without a proper music video.
Family of Michael Jackson
Wife I- Lisa Marie Presley (26 May 1994 – 18 January 1996) –divorced
At the age of twenty, Presley married her musician boyfriend Danny Keough on October 3, 1988. Twenty days after her divorce from Keough, Presley married singer Michael Jackson on May 26, 1994, in the Dominican Republic. They had first met when the seven-year-old Presley attended several of his shows in Las Vegas. According to Yahoo.com, when they met again years later, “things moved very quickly”, with Jackson proposing over the telephone after four months.
As child molestation accusations became public, Jackson became dependent on Lisa Marie for emotional support; she was concerned about his faltering health and his addiction to drugs. Presley filed for divorce in January 1996, but the couple remained friendly.
Wife II Debbie Rowe (15 November 1996 – 8 October 1999) -divorced- 2 children
Rowe met Jackson when he was diagnosed with vitiligo in the mid-1980s, acting as his dermatologist’s nurse. It was announced she was pregnant in 1996, and the two were later married on November 14, 1996, in Sydney, Australia. They had two children together, son Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr. (born February 13, 1997) and daughter Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson (born April 3, 1998).
The couple divorced on October 8, 1999, with Rowe giving full custody rights of the children to Jackson. Rowe received an $8-million settlement, and a house in Beverly Hills, California. On the stand, in the People v. Jackson case in 2005, she explained that she had been allowed limited visits to her children, for eight hours every 45 days.
Michael Jackson’s Kids
Michael Jackson’s three children – Prince Michael, Paris and Prince Michael II (Blanket) were front row at their father’s memorial service Tuesday and joined their family onstage at the end. The trio have rarely been seen in public before now and sat with their grandmother Katherine.
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