Jackson, Michael

1958-1975: Childhood and The Jackson 5

Michael was born on August 29, 1958 in the family of Joseph (1928–2018) and Catherine (born 1930) Jackson in the city of Gary ( Indiana ). He was the eighth of ten children. Jackson claimed that his father repeatedly humiliated him morally and physically. However, he respected the strict discipline of his father, which played a large role in the success of Jackson ^{[15] [16]} . In one of the clashes with his father, described by Michael's older brother Marlon, the father, holding him upside down, struck on the back and buttocks ^[17] . One night, when Michael was sleeping, his father sneaked into his room through a window. He was in a frightening mask, screaming and roaring. Joseph explained his act by saying that he wanted to teach his children to close a window before going to bed. Four years later, Michael admitted that he suffered from nightmares in which he was abducted from the bedroom ^[17] . In 2003, Joseph admitted to the BBC that he beat Michael when he was a child ^[18] .

For the first time, Jackson spoke openly about the humiliations he had to endure as a child in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 1993 . He said that in childhood he often cried from a feeling of loneliness and vomited after talking with his father ^{[17] [19] [20] [21]} . In another high-profile interview, Living with Michael Jackson (2003), during a story about childhood violence, the singer covered his face with his hand and began to cry ^[17] . Jackson recalled that Joseph was sitting on a chair with a belt in his hand when he was rehearsing with his brothers, and that “if you did something wrong, he will bring you to tears, he will really get you” ^[17] .

Jackson spoke to classmates at Christmas concerts from the age of five. ^[21] In 1964, Michael and Marlon joined The Jacksons, a band created by their brothers Jackie, Tito, and Germaine, as backup artists, playing the Congo and Tambourine , respectively. Jackson later began performing as a backing vocalist and dancer; at the age of eight, he and Jermaine became the main vocalists, and the group was renamed The Jackson 5 ^[21] . The group toured extensively in the Midwest from 1966 to 1968 . Often they performed in a number of “black” clubs and places known as “ ”, often warming up the audience before a striptease . In 1966, they won the local talent contest, performing with hits from Motown Records and " I Got You (I Feel Good) " by James Brown with Michael as lead vocalist. ^[22]

Soon Jackson rose to the national level, and in 1970 their first four singles were on the first line of the American Billboard Hot 100 . Gradually, Michael stood out as the frontman of the children's quintet, in fact it was he who got the main solo parts. He attracted attention with his unusual style of dance and behavior on stage, which he copied from his idols - James Brown, Jackie Wilson and others.

1975-1981: Contract with Epic and Off the Wall

In 1973, the success of the family project began to decline, the record company limited their financial possibilities, and in 1976 they signed a contract with another company, as a result of which they again had to change their name to The Jacksons, as Motown took the name “Jackson 5” to themselves. From 1976 to 1984, they publish another 6 albums, traveling around the country on tour. Meanwhile, from 1972 to 1975, Jackson released four solo albums: Got to Be There (1972), Ben (1972), Music & Me (1973) and Forever, Michael (1975) ^[23] , as well as a number of successful solo albums singles, including " Got to Be There ", " Rockin 'Robin " and who reached first place on the " Ben " charts in 1972 (a ballad dedicated to his domestic rat).

In 1978, Michael starred with Diana Ross in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical " Vis " based on the tale "The Amazing Wizard of Oz ." On the set, he met music director Quincy Jones , who will be the producer of his most famous albums. The first of them, Off the Wall , was released on August 10, 1979 . At the top of the charts were the hit song “ Don't Stop 'You Get Enough ” and the slower track “ Rock With You ”, and the album sold over 20 million copies. Many music observers ^{[ who? ]} consider Off the Wall the last peak of the disco era .

1982-1983: Thriller and Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever

Thriller went down in history as the best-selling album in the world. Regarding this album, producer Quincy Jones said in an interview with Time magazine:

“Black music was forced to play the second violin for a long time, but its spirit is the whole driving force in pop music, which Michael has connected with every soul in the world.”

Released in November 1982, Thriller gave America nine singles : “ The Girl Is Mine ” (No. 2, a duet with Paul McCartney ), “ Billie Jean ” (No. 1, Grammy Award, Jackson’s biggest hit ever and one of the most sampled tracks of funky music), “ Beat It ” (No. 1, another Grammy), “ Wanna Be Startin 'Somethin' ” (No. 5), “ Human Nature ” (No. 7), “PYT (Pretty Young Thing ) ”(No. 10),“ Thriller ”(No. 4),“ Baby Be Mine ”,“ The Lady in My Life ”.

Thriller led Billboard 200 for nine months (37 weeks) and did not leave the limits of this chart for more than two years (122 weeks). For this album, Jackson received seven Grammy Awards (including the Best Album of the Year Award, and the eighth Grammy Award was for the audio recording of the story “Alien” from the film of the same name) and seven American Music Awards (American Music Awards). In 1985, the album was declared the Guinness Book of Records "the best-selling album of all time." As of July 2001, 26 million copies of the album were sold in the United States ^[24] , making it the second most sold album in American history after The Eagles' The Greatest Hits (27 million). Thriller was sold all over the world with a record print run of 109 million copies.

Jackson and his producers used an actively developing music television: his revolutionary videos were the first clips of a black artist in the constant rotation of MTV , which was only one year old when the album was released.

The 1980s can be described as the "golden" era of Michael Jackson. On November 30, 1982, Thriller was released, which remains the best-selling album in the world so far. On March 25, 1983, at the anniversary show "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever", which was broadcast throughout North America, during the performance of the song "Billie Jean", Michael Jackson first demonstrated his famous "moon walk." This performance was included in the list of the most significant moments on American television.

1984-1985: Pepsi, “We Are the World,” and Business Career

In February 1984, the 14-minute film “Thriller”, created by Michael Jackson and director John Landis , sets new standards for music video and, together with other Jackson music videos, contributes to the emergence of the video music industry in the face of the recently appeared MTV channel.

On May 14, 1984, at the White House, Jackson received an award from President Ronald Reagan for supporting charities that help people overcome alcohol and drug abuse.

From July 6 to December 9, 1984, the Jackson brothers held the largest Victory Tour for the bands of that time in America and Canada: 55 concerts, more than 2 million spectators, more than $ 75 million in profit. At that time it was a record world achievement. Michael donated all his income from this tour to charity - $ 5 million.

In 1984, Jackson again led the American charts, this time with the song Say Say Say recorded in a duet with Paul McCartney . The following year, Jackson bought up most of the shares of ATV Music Publishing, which had the rights to most of The Beatles songs, which caused a split with McCartney, who himself wanted to buy these shares. Michael Jackson also worked with Freddie Mercury , making several test recordings with him ^[25] , but the collaboration did not take place due to the busyness of both musicians.

On March 7, 1985, the single “ We Are the World ” ( Rus. “We are the World” ) was released. The song was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and performed by famous US musicians. Funds raised from sales of $ 61.8 million were allocated to help the hungry in Ethiopia .

On January 27, 1984, Jackson and his brothers starred in Pepsi commercials. At the request of the director, he lingered dangerously close to pyrotechnic devices. His hair caught fire, and Jackson received a scalp burn of 3 degrees ^{[26] [27]} .

While in the hospital, Jackson visited the children's burn ward, and after that decided instead of receiving multimillion-dollar compensation from Pepsi to open his own burn center with Pepsi. This was the beginning of Jackson's charity work, which he did not stop until the end of his days. At the opening of the center, Jackson was asked to pose in an oxygen chamber for patients with extensive body burns. He posed lying on his back, and then turned on his side and pretended to be sleeping. So the most famous myth in show business was born, that Michael Jackson allegedly wants to live 150 years and for this he sleeps in a pressure chamber every night. In fact, this was the only time that Jackson "slept" in a pressure chamber.

Another consequence of the burn was that the stress transferred by the body provoked the development of vitiligo , a disease transmitted by Jackson on the maternal side, and disrupting skin pigmentation. This led to the need to apply enhanced makeup and avoid sunlight. Another consequence: Jackson did not recover from this injury, the pain did not leave him until the end of his life, and he was forced to start taking painkillers regularly.

In addition, after a burn, Jackson began to restore damaged skin and scalp. After that, he decided to undergo nose and chin surgery. All this, together with the transition to a vegetarian diet, and weight loss led to significant changes in the singer's appearance, which was constantly food for discussion in the press ^{[28] [29]} .

1986-1990: Bad , Movies, Autobiography, and Neverland

In September 1986, Michael Jackson starred in the movie for the first time in 8 years (from the time of the film " Visas ").

It was a 17-minute 3D movie " Captain Io ", shot by George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola specifically for the demonstration in Disneyland parks.

August 31, 1987 the album Bad . The circulation is over 45 million. This is the first ever album containing five singles that were on the first line of Billboard .

From September 12, 1987 to January 14, 1989 the grandiose Bad Tour lasted. 123 concerts in 15 countries, attended by 4.4 million spectators. The tour raised over $ 125 million and became the largest in the world.

In London, a new record was set - 504 thousand spectators ^{[30] [31]} .

On October 29, 1988, the musical film “ Moonwalk ” was released, which was a success at the box office and earned $ 67 million, and after which it was published on video in the amount of 800 thousand copies (for 1989).

In 1989, at the Soul Train Music Award ceremony, actress Elizabeth Taylor in her speech called Michael Jackson “the true king of pop, rock and soul” ( Russian “real king of pop, rock and soul music” ), and the unofficial title of “the king of pop” was entrusted to Michael Jackson forever.

1991-1997: Dangerous, History I & II

Due to the increased attention to his person, Jackson spent most of his time in seclusion at his Neverland ranch, which was strictly guarded from strangers. He was visited by few friends, including Elizabeth Taylor . According to bodyguards, Michael did not let his own brothers and father go there without a special pass, but Jackson's mother Katherine was allowed to enter the ranch without permission. There were also children at the ranch, to whom the singer was always partial. In 1991, he wrote two singles for the animated series The Simpsons , of which he was a fan. However, due to restrictions imposed by the contract, his name was not mentioned in the credits ^[32] .

On November 26, 1991, the Dangerous album was released, the release of which was preceded by the premiere of a large-scale video clip for the single “ Black or White ” ( Russian “Black or White” ). For five weeks, Black or White was at the top of the charts and became Jackson's biggest hit after Billie Jean. As with the previous ones, seven singles were released from this album. In addition to Black or White (No. 1), they included Remember the Time (No. 3), In the Closet (No. 6) and Will You Be There (No. 7). For “Remember the Time”, a clip was shot with a multi-million dollar budget and computer special effects, in which the Egyptian pharaoh and his wife were portrayed by Eddie Murphy and the top model Iman .

On June 16, 1995, the double album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I was released : on the first disc - a collection of greatest hits, on the second - 15 new songs. It was supposed that this would be the first part of the trilogy. The first single was released " Scream " - a duet of the singer and sister, Janet Jackson . The song was accompanied by a futuristic video clip, the shooting of which was spent over seven million dollars.

The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and sold over 20 million copies (7 million copies in the United States). Many new songs from it were released by singles, among them a ballad about Moscow (“ Stranger in Moscow ”; Jackson promised to record a song about the Russian capital, having been there for the first time in 1993), an environmental song “ Earth Song ” (five weeks on the first location in the UK) and a contemporary rhythm-and-blues song “ You Are Not Alone ” (his thirteenth “number one” on the Billboard Hot 100 ), written and produced for him by Ar Kelly . In the video for “You Are Not Alone,” Michael appeared half-naked with his first wife, Lisa Maria Presley , daughter of Elvis Presley .

In 1997, the album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix : the soundtrack to the film " Ghosts " and a collection of dance remixes to tracks from HIStory . Reviews on this disc were mostly positive, and the title track topped the sales charts in many countries, including the UK. In the USA, the album went almost unnoticed and did not reach the first line in the charts.

Visits to Russia

• In 1986, Michael Jackson was preparing to visit Moscow to open the first Goodwill Games . It was allegedly planned that he would have performed the song “ We are the World ”. But, in the end, Jackson was forced to cancel his trip to the USSR ^[33] .
• For the first time in Moscow, already under the new Russia , Michael Jackson arrived in September 1993. His concert was organized by Dessa, the organizer of the tour was Samvel Gasparov ^[34] . The concert was held on September 15 in an open area - the Large Sports Arena of the Luzhniki Stadium with heavy rain. Soon after the concert, the company ceased to exist due to financial problems, and the stadium was closed for repairs. During the concert it was pouring rain, the puddles of which were cleaned by the service staff during Michael Jackson's performance. In his Moscow hotel room, Jackson wrote a ballad about loneliness - “ Stranger in Moscow ”, which was included in the 1995 album History and was released as a single.
• Jackson’s second appearance in Russia took place on September 17, 1996 at the Dynamo Moscow stadium ^[35] . During the visit, Michael Jackson met with the then mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov , the head of the security service of the President of the Russian Federation Korzhakov, composer Igor Krutoy .

2001-2003: Invincible

Jackson's next studio album was recorded only six years later, its release has been repeatedly postponed. Sony label reluctantly agreed to invest millions of dollars in the lengthy process of recording and subsequent promotion of the album, which ultimately led to a quarrel between the singer and the recording giant. Invincible ( Rus. Invincible ), released in October 2001, contained 16 tracks, including the single “ You Rock My World, ” which featured famous actors Marlon Brando and Chris Tucker in the video. The album was met with controversy by critics, and its sales figures were twice as modest as that of HIStory .

The song “Invincible” is dedicated to a 15-year-old Afro-Norwegian boy named Benjamin Hermansen, who was killed by a group of neo-Nazis in Oslo (Norway, January 26, 2001). Omer Bhatti, a close friend of Jackson, was a good friend of Benjamin Hermansen. Michael Jackson writes in a message:

“This album is dedicated to Benjamin“ Benny ”Hermansen. We must remember - One must judge a person not by the color of his skin, but by his personal qualities. Benjamin ... We love you ... Rest in peace. "

In order to promote the album, a performance was organized in honor of the 30th anniversary of Michael Jackson's solo career at Madison Square Garden, held in September 2001 . Michael Jackson appeared on the scene next to his brothers, for the first time since 1984. Benefit also included performances by Britney Spears , Mýa , Usher , Whitney Houston , Tamia , 'N Sync , Slash , Aaron Carter. A world tour was also planned in support of the album, but the tour was canceled due to the September 11 attacks. The album spawned three singles, " You Rock My World ", "Cry" and "Butterflies", the last of which had no music video. “Unbreakable” was supposed to be released as a single, however, due to a number of financial issues, Sony refused to release it.

In November 2003, Jackson released the hit collection Number Ones . The 18 tracks included in the collection included 16 previously released hits, a live performance of the song “ Ben ” and the new single “ One More Chance ”. By the end of 2004, Number Ones worldwide sales exceeded 6 million copies.

2003-2009: Recent Years and This Is It Tour

In 2003, Jackson had to stand trial on charges of child molestation . After a lengthy trial, the musician was acquitted. After the trial, Michael Jackson retired from journalists in Bahrain and began preparing a recording of a charity single in memory of victims of Hurricane Katrina . It soon became clear that not all invited musicians wanted to participate in a project led by Jackson. Although the song “I Have This Dream” was recorded, it never came out as a single, due to unclear circumstances.

November 16, 2004 Michael Jackson released " Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection " - a set of 5 discs - containing 57 tracks and 13 previously unreleased recordings, covering the period from 1969 to 2004 , plus the previously unreleased live concert of 1992 on DVD.

In the summer of 2008, Sony BMG launched a global campaign in which residents of more than 20 countries voted for their favorite songs of Michael Jackson, and thus participated in the compilation of the collection of hits “King of Pop” in their country. 122 tracks were presented to the fans. The album, which became unique in each country, included about 17-18 tracks on each disc (there were 1 or 2 of them in total, depending on the country).

In addition, Michael Jackson recorded his new solo album, which was scheduled for release in 2009. Rappers Will.I.Am , Kanye West and R&B singer Akon participated in the recording of the album.

In November 2008, the son of King Bahrain , Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Khalifa, at whose invitation the singer was in this country, filed a lawsuit against Michael Jackson for failure to fulfill contractual obligations. Sheikh demanded payment of seven million dollars to him. ^[36]

In March 2009, Michael announced that he was about to give his last series of concerts in London called “This Is It Tour”. Concerts were supposed to begin on July 13, 2009 and end on March 6, 2010. When Jackson announced his return to the stage at a special press conference on March 5, 2009, they were talking about 10 concerts at The O ₂ arena stadium, which seats 20 thousand people. However, the demand for tickets was so high that we had to plan another 40 performances. The concert tour did not take place due to the death of the singer.

Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 as a result of an overdose of drugs, in particular propofol ^[37] . On the morning of June 25, 2009, Conrad Murray injected propofol to Michael Jackson and left the singer alone. After about 2 hours, Murray returned and saw his patient lying on the bed with his eyes and mouth wide open. The doctor tried to reanimate the singer, but the attempts were unsuccessful. At 12:21 PST, a call to 911 was registered ^[38] . Arriving after 3 minutes and 17 seconds, doctors discovered Jackson, who was no longer breathing, with a stopped heart ^[39] and immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation ^[39] . Attempts to bring Jackson back to life continued along the road and for an hour after arriving at the University of California Medical Center at 13:14 ^[40] . These attempts were unsuccessful ^[41] . Death was ascertained at 14:26 local time ^[42] . The news of his death was publicized in the first minutes after the incident. Rumors and news about the death of Michael Jackson broke network records, provoking peculiar Internet traffic jams ^[43] and a sharp increase in traffic on sites such as Google ^[44] , Facebook ^[44] , Yahoo! ^[45] , Twitter ^[46] and Wikipedia ^[47] .

On June 25–26, 2009, performers: The Game , Chris Brown , Diddy , DJ Khalil , Polow da Don , Mario Vinens , Usher and Boyz II Men recorded the single " Better on the Other Side ", dedicated to the death of Michael Jackson. The lyrics were written by Jason Taylor (The Game). On June 30, 2009 a video was released for the song ^[48] .

A farewell ceremony was held in Los Angeles on July 7, 2009, consisting of a family service in the Freedom Hall in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills , followed by a public farewell at the Staples Center. Jackson's coffin stood in front of the stage during a ceremony broadcast live around the world, which was watched by about a billion people, but no information about the whereabouts of the body was not made public ^[49] . Stevie Wonder , Lionel Richie , Mariah Carey , Jennifer Hudson , Asher , Jermaine Jackson and Shahin Jafargoli performed Jackson's songs. Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson uttered panegyrics , and Queen Latifa read " We had him " ( English We had him ) - a poem written on the occasion of Maya Angel ^[50] . Rev. El Sharpton tore off the applause of the audience when he said to the children of Jackson: “There was nothing strange about your father. What was strange about what your father faced ” ^[51] . Jackson's 11-year-old daughter, Paris Catherine, said with tears: “From the moment I was born, daddy was the best father you can imagine ... I just wanted to say that I love him so much!” ^[52] .

There were reports that Michael Jackson was secretly buried on August 8 or 9, 2009, at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles, but later it was reported that he would be buried only in September. Jackson's final burial took place on Thursday, September 3 at Forest Lawn Cemetery in a suburb of Los Angeles.

Los Angeles authorities launched an investigation into the death of Michael Jackson. The Los Angeles coroner qualified the actions of doctors as murder and did not rule out a trial of them ^[53] . In November 2011, Conrad Murray was convicted of manslaughter ^[54] and was sentenced to 4 years in prison ^{[55] [56] [57]} , having lost his license to practice medicine. On October 28, 2013, he was prematurely released for exemplary behavior ^[58] .

Posthumous albums

Sony has signed with Michael's family a contract to release ten new Jackson albums. These will include re-releases of some old albums and collections of never-released songs.

The first of these albums was Michael , released as early as 2010. He received mixed reviews from critics, but admittedly came out significantly better than expected. Four singles were released from the album, and clips were shot for each. Michael himself is involved in them on insert frames from intravital clips.

A year later, a remix album Immortal was released, consisting of remixes of Michael's best hits. This album served as the soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil 's Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, which included numbers based on Jackson's songs and his dances. The choreographers who previously worked with Michael during their lifetime took part in creating the numbers.

In May 2014, Michael's second posthumous studio album, Xscape , was released . This album consisted of 8 songs, and one of them, the single Love Never Felt So Good , was made in two versions: a solo and a duet with Justin Timberlake (the clip was shot for the second version). On May 18, 2014, at the Billboard ceremony, an illusory image of Jackson was created using Pepper 's Ghost technology (although most prefer to call it a hologram ^[59] for convenience), “performing” a song from the album “Slave To The Rhythm”. The reaction of the fans was mixed; many believe that a double was actually used ^[60] .

In 2017, the premiere of the television feature film “ Michael Jackson: Finding Neverland ”, which tells about the life of Michael in the last three years of his life, took place. The film was based on the book Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Last Days, written by his bodyguards Bill Whitfield and Javon Beard ^{[61] [62]} .

The focus is on Michael's attempts to lead a normal family life with his children against the backdrop of numerous debts and insane public attention, as well as the evolution of his relationship with Bill and Javon from the “employer-worker” to close friends. The role of Michael in the picture was played by his double Navi, who in the past personally knew him and sometimes replaced him in public ^{[63] [64]} . Jackson’s music doesn’t sound in the picture, because the filmmakers could not get the rights to it.

Clips and Choreography

Jackson is also called the King of Music Video ^[65] . Steve Hay of Allmusic watched Jackson turn the clip into a work of art through complex storylines, dances, special effects and the appearance of celebrities in episodic roles, while also breaking down racial barriers. Before Thriller, Jackson tried in vain to break into MTV, allegedly because he was African American. The pressure from CBS Records convinced MTV to start showing “ Billie Jean ” and then “ Beat It, ” which leads to a long partnership with Jackson and also helps other black musicians gain recognition. MTV employees deny racism in their shows or pressure to change their position. MTV claims that they played rock music regardless of race. The popularity of his MTV video helped put the relatively young channel at stake; attention to MTV has shifted towards pop and R&B ^{[66] [67]} . His performance on Motown: Yesterday, Today, Forever changed the scope of a live stage show; “The fact that Jackson performed synchronously“ Billie Jean “is not extraordinary in itself, but the fact that this did not change the impression of the performance was unusual, whether this performance was live or synchronized, it does not affect the audience”, thereby creating an era, in which artists recreate images of a music video on stage. Short films such as Thriller, for the most part, remained unique to Jackson, while the dance group dance in Beat It was repeatedly imitated. Thriller's choreography has become part of global pop culture, copied everywhere from Indian films to prisons in the Philippines. The short video Thriller is marked by an increase in the level of music videos and was named the most successful music video ever to hit the Guinness Book of Records.

In a 19-minute video for the song “ Bad, ” directed by Martin Scorsese , Jackson began using sexual images and choreography not seen before in his work. From time to time, it grips or touches the chest, trunk and perineum. Answering Oprah’s question in an interview in 1993 about why he grabs his crotch, he replied: “I think this happens subconsciously,” and he described it as something that was not planned, but rather as something that was forced by music. “Bad” received a mixed reception from fans and critics; Time magazine called it “shameful.” The film also shows Wesley Snipes , in future Jackson videos, celebrities will often receive episodic roles. For Smooth Criminal , Jackson experimented with an innovative “anti-gravity tilt” in his speeches. This maneuver requires special shoes, for which he received US patent No. 5255452. Although the video for the song “Leave Me Alone” was not officially released in the US, in 1989 he was nominated for three Billboard Music Video Awards; in the same year he received the Golden Lion Award for the quality of special effects used in his productions. In 1990, Leave Me Alone won a Grammy as the best music video, short form.

He received the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1988 and the Artist of the Decade MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1990 to commemorate his artistic achievements in the 1980s, and in 1991 the first prize was renamed in his honor. " Black or White " was accompanied by a controversial video, which premiered on November 14, 1991, simultaneously in 27 countries, with an estimated audience of 500 million people, the largest ever to watch a music video. The scenes shown were construed as having a sexual nature, as well as an image of violence. Offensive scenes in the final part of the 14-minute version were edited to prevent the ban on the video, and Jackson apologized. Along with Jackson, Macaulay Culkin , Peggy Lipton and George Wendt participated in the video. This work helped introduce morphing as an important technology into music videos ^[68] .

Family

Michael Jackson was twice married. From 1994 to 1996, he was married to Lisa-Marie Presley , daughter of Elvis Presley . They first met in 1975 during one of the celebrations at the MGM Grand Hotel, in the casino. Through a mutual friend in early 1993, they met again, and their relationship reached a serious one. Every day they called up.

When Jackson was accused of child molestation and this became public, Jackson became dependent on Presley: he needed emotional support, and Presley explained:

“I believed that he did nothing wrong, and that he was innocent, I became closer to him. I wanted to save him. I felt I could do it. ”

Soon, she persuaded him to settle the charges out of court, as well as the need for rehabilitation to restore health. In October 1993, Jackson suggested Presley over the phone: “If I asked you to marry me, would you do this?” They got married on May 26, 1994 in the Dominican Republic in secret, denying it for almost two months. The wedding took place in the house of the local judge Hugo Alvarez Perez in the city of Santo Domingo ^[69] . The wedding took place in the church of St. Stanislav in the town of Altos de Chavon . The marriage was called “semi-fictitious” ^[69] , because according to the laws of the Dominican Republic, no woman can marry again if three months have not passed since the divorce. And Lisa Maria in those days only divorced her ex-spouse ^[69] . Jackson and Presley divorced in less than two years, but remained friends. In 1997, Presley accompanied Michael, married to Debbie Rowe, on a HIStory tour.

In November 1996 , after divorcing her, Jackson married Debbie Rowe (a former nurse), from whom he has two children: son - Prince Michael Jackson I (born February 13, 1997 ) and daughter - Paris-Michael Catherine Jackson (born April 3, 1998 ). In 1999, Debbie Rowe and Michael Jackson divorced. The second son - (blanket - Eng. Blanket) (born February 21, 2002 ) was born from a surrogate mother, whose identity is unknown ^[70] . A scandalous story is connected with this child, when Michael, showing his fans on Prince Street, staggered a little and it seemed to many that Michael almost dropped him ^[71] . Jackson always tried to hide his family from the press and fans: when he appeared in public with his father, children put on masks ^[72] . Custody of the children after the death of Jackson was taken by his mother - Katherine Jackson.

In life, Michael Jackson's good friends were: Whitney Houston , Diana Ross , Brooke Shields , Elizabeth Taylor , Marlon Brando , Eddie Murphy , Mark Lester , Chris Tucker , Macaulay Culkin , Elton John , Lionel Ritchie , Stevie Wonder , Omer Bhatti.

In addition, Michael Jackson admired the talent of Freddie Mercury and attended concerts by Queen .

He was on friendly terms with Princess Diana .

Health

Since the mid-1980s, the appearance of Michael Jackson has changed markedly ^[73] . His skin was getting brighter. As Jackson himself said, the reason for his “whiteness” is a rare genetic disease of vitiligo and there is a lot of evidence in the photographs where white milk spots on Michael's body are visible ^[74] . These changes were hidden with makeup. Jackson categorically denied the rumors that he was deliberately trying to turn into a white person ^[75] . The illness forced the singer to constantly shut himself out from the sun with the help of umbrellas, masks, and dark layered clothing.

According to some doctors, he underwent several nose operations , as well as raising his forehead, thinning his lips, operations on his cheeks, eyelids ^[76] and creating a dimple on his chin ^[77] . Surgeon Arnold Klein confirmed that he operated on the singer’s nose ^{[78] [79]} . The singer himself said that only 2 times changed the shape of the nose, and also made a dimple on the chin. He categorically denied everything else, explaining the changes in appearance by growing up, a strict vegetarian diet ^[80] . In the future, Jackson experienced problems associated with the consequences of operations.

In the early 2000s, Michael appeared in public for some time in a medical mask. Rumors began to circulate that Jackson's nose was collapsing and that he had to undergo a plastic surgery to restore his nose. Jackson later appeared in public with a band-aid on his nose. The performer himself said that it was an anesthetic patch that he wore due to allergies. Surgeon Arnold Klein subsequently confirmed that he had operated on the singer’s nose to restore Michael’s ability to breathe ^{[78] [79]} .

Accusations of child molestation

Michael Jackson twice appeared before the court on charges of child molestation, both times boys.

In 1993, he was accused of molesting 13-year-old Jordan Chandler. Jordan was a fan of Jackson and often visited his Neverland Ranch. According to the boy’s father, the son admitted to him that the singer forced him to touch his genitals. The police investigated these allegations, during which Michael had to demonstrate his genitals to compare with what the boy described. As a result, the parties concluded a world: Jackson paid the Chandler family $ 22 million, and Jordan refused to testify against Michael.

Ten years later, in 2003, Michael was again charged with a similar charge. This time, the singer was accused of molesting 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo, also a regular guest at the Neverland Ranch. During their stay at the ranch, children often slept in the same room with Jackson, and even on his bed. According to the prosecution, Jackson allegedly gave Gavin a drink, which is already a crime under US law, and then masturbated with him. In addition, he allegedly often felt for Gavin and other children.

On December 18, police raided the Neverland Jackson Estate, and on the 20th, the singer was arrested and released on bail a day later. Like the previous time, Jackson categorically denied the charge, claiming that the Arvizo family was simply trying to extort. The trial of Michael lasted from February to May 2005. More than 2,200 media from around the world have accredited their journalists to cover the scandalous process. The jury ruled that evidence was insufficient and Jackson was innocent.

Constant litigation led to a deterioration in the health of Jackson, he even began to use painkillers to cope with stress. In addition, the court led to the complete devastation of bank accounts: the services of the best US lawyers cost more than $ 100 million .

Religious Views

Michael Jackson was not an open follower of any church, but showed interest in the religion of various faiths.

Katherine Jackson (Michael's mother) was baptized in 1963 when Michael was five years old. His mother tried to raise Michael as a Jehovah's Witness and encouraged him to study the Bible , attend Christian meetings in the Kingdom Halls, and preach. However, his relationship with the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses did not work out.

By 1984, despite his great fame, Michael Jackson continued to preach as Jehovah's Witness twice a week, maybe an hour or two. He also attended Christian meetings in the Kingdom Hall with his mother four times a week when he was in the city. He refused to eat blood, celebrate Easter and Christmas, which he considered “pagan holidays”, to celebrate his own birthday ^[81] .

However, in 1987, Jackson left the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses in response to disapproving reviews of the Thriller movie ^[82] . This, in particular, was facilitated by the fact that Michael La Toya 's sister Jackson was expelled from the organization around the same time. Michael, like all other members of the organization, was forbidden to communicate with her on spiritual topics (on everyday topics in a forced situation you can communicate), which was a blow to him. Michael violated this principle and as a result, he stopped attending meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses ^[83] . In 1987, it was announced that Michael Jackson was no longer Jehovah's Witness. ^[84]

Michael's brother, Germain Jackson, openly professes Islam , and often gave books to his brother about this religion. Jermen hoped that a religious interest would protect Michael from nervous breakdowns and bad habits ^[85] .

On November 21, 2008, The Sun's tabloid reported that Jackson at the shahada ceremony, "evidence that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger," allegedly changed his name to Mikael in acceptance of Islam when he was in Los Angeles with composer Steve Porcaro ^{[86 ]} . This information has never been verified by Jackson himself. Jackson’s lawyer Londell Macmillan denied this report, saying about him that “this is nonsense. This is completely untrue ” ^{[87] [88]} .

Jackson was also closely acquainted with Andre Crouch, a Christian musician and gospel performer. Shortly before his death, the singer visited the Christian church with Crouch and performed several Christian songs. According to Crouch and his sister, Jackson asked about their customs, but did not say anything about the desire to join their denomination ^{[89] [90]} .

Achievements of Jackson - one of the few musicians twice entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as part of the Jackson 5 team and as a solo artist) - include a number of records in the Guinness Book of Records , the title of "The Most Successful Artist of All Time", 15 Grammy Awards ^{[7] [8] [9]} . Even during the life of Michael Jackson, people, at the suggestion of Elizabeth Taylor, unofficially called him “King of Pop”, but this title stuck so strongly to Jackson that the music society officially recognized him as such.

Jackson's 1982 album Thriller remains the best-selling album of all time, and four more of his solo studio albums are among the best-selling in the world: Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995). Jackson popularized difficult-to-perform dance techniques - such as the robot and moonwalk .

Jackson was also awarded the “Outstanding Contribution to World Culture” for his contribution of hundreds of millions of dollars to 39 charitable organizations he supported and his own foundation, Heal the World ^[91] .

He was awarded (posthumously) at the “ Muz-TV 2010 Award” for his enormous contribution to the global music industry. The prize was awarded to singer LaToya Jackson's sister.

Studio Albums

• Got to Be There (1972)
• Ben (1972)
• Music & Me (1973)
• Forever, Michael (1975)
• Off the Wall (1979)
• Thriller (1982)
• Bad (1987)
• Dangerous (1991)
• HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)
• Invincible (2001)

Posthumous releases

• Michael (2010) ^[92]
• Xscape (2014)

See also: The Jackson 5 Song List and The List of Songs Written and Produced by Michael Jackson

Main article: Videography of Michael Jackson

Feature Films

Short films

Television appearances

The list included only those programs in which Michael Jackson showed the acting (in comedy sketches or voice acting), and not only performed.

Other

2004 - Michael Jackson: The One / Michael Jackson: The One - Executive Producer (documentary television movie).

In February 2019, the BBC channel spoke about the filming of the documentary film “Michael Jackson: The Rise and Fall” (“Michael Jackson: Rise and Fall”), which should be released on the tenth anniversary of the singer’s death ^[93] .

Main article: List of concert tours by Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5

• Bad Tour (1987-1989)
• Dangerous World Tour (1992-1993)
• HIStory World Tour (1996-1997)
• This Is It (2009—2010) (Canceled)

• Jackson, M. Moonwalk. - L .: William Heinemann, 2009 .-- ISBN 0-434-02027-3 .
• Jackson, M. Dancing the Dream. - DoubleDay, 1992. - ISBN 0-385-42277-6 .

Postage stamps and other philatelic materials of the British Virgin Islands , the islands of Saint Vincent , Angola , Burundi , Burkina Faso , Guinea and other countries are devoted to Michael Jackson.

• List of the most expensive music videos
• Hollywood Walk of Fame - List of Winners for Contributing to the Recording Industry
• Mesoparapylocheles michaeljacksoni - extinct hermit crab , named after the singer in 2012

• Nadezhdin, N. Ya. Michael Jackson: "Thriller." - M .: Major (Osipenko A.I.), 2012 .-- 192 p. - (Informal biographies). - 2000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-98551-200-7 .
• Campbell, LD Michael Jackson: The King of Pop. - Branden Books, 1993 .-- 391 p. - ISBN 0-828-31957-X .

• Official website
• Official site (Russian)
• Songs of Michael Jackson on Yandex.Music