michael's memorial keepsake

8/14/2019 Michael's Memorial Keepsake

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J osepMich ae l Jackson


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1958-2009


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Michae


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ose h Jackson


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J o s e p h

M i c h a e l

J a c k s o n

Michael Joseph Jackson was born August 29,1958, in Gary, IN. The th son o steelworkerJoe Jackson, Michael displayed a talent or musicand dance rom an extremely young age. Hischildhood was strictly regimented; rom the start,he was to an extent sheltered rom the outsideworld by his mothers Jehovahs Witness aith,and his ather was by all accounts an o ten ill-

tempered disciplinarian. Joe began to organize aamily musical group around his three eldest sons

in 1962, and Michael joined them the ollowingyear, quickly establishing himsel as a dynamicstage per ormer. His dead-on mastery o JamesBrowns dance moves and soul ul, mature-beyond-his-years vocals made him a natural

ocal point, especially given his incredibly youngage. Dubbed the Jackson 5, the group signed toMotown in 1968 and issued their debut single inOctober 1969, when Michael was just 11 yearsold. I Want You Back, ABC, The Love YouSave, and Ill Be There all hit number one in1970, making the Jackson 5 the rst group inpop history to have their rst our singles top thecharts. Motown began priming Michael or a solocareer in 1971, and his rst single, Got to BeThere, was issued toward the end o the year;it hit the Top Five, as did the ollow-up, a covero Bobby Days Rockin Robin. Later in 1972,Jackson had his rst number one solo single,

Ben, the title song rom a childrens thrillerabout a young boy who be riends Ben, the highlyintelligent leader o a gang o homicidal rats. Giventhe subject matter, the song was surprisinglysincere and sentimental, and even earned anOscar nomination. However, the momentumo Jacksons solo career (much like that o theJackson 5) soon stalled. He released his ourthand nal album on Motown in 1975, and the

ollowing year, he and his brothers (save Jermaine)signed to Epic and became the Jacksons.

In 1977, Jackson landed a starring role alongsideDiana Ross in the all-black lm musical TheWiz, a retelling o The Wizard o Oz; here hemet producer/composer Quincy Jones or the

rst time. Encouraged by the success o theJacksons sel -produced, mostly sel -written1978 album Destiny, Jackson elected to resumehis solo career when his management contractwith his ather expired shortly therea ter. With

Jones producing, Jackson recorded his rst soloalbum as an adult, O the Wall. An immaculately

cra ted set o unky disco-pop, smooth soulush, sentimental pop ballads, O the Wall Jackson a star all over again. It produced ourTen singles, including the number one hits DStop til You Get Enough and Rock With and went platinum (it went on to sell over semillion copies); even so, Jackson remained lto his brothers and stayed with the group.

No group could have contained Jacksons raprising star or long; however, there was stisign (i there ever could be) that his next alwould become the biggest in history. Release1982, the Quincy Jones-produced Thriller rethe strengths o O the Wall; the dance andtracks were more driving, the pop tunes aballads so ter and more soul ul, and all o recognizably Michael. Jackson brought in McCartney or a duet, guitarist Eddie Van H

or a jaw-dropping solo, and Vincent Price creepy recitation. It was no surprise that Thrwas a hit; what was a surprise was its staypower. Jacksons duet with McCartney, TGirl Is Mine, was a natural single choice, apeaked at number two; then Billie Jean andVan Halen track Beat It both hit number oneseven and three weeks respectively. Those latwo songs, as well as the uture Top Five title thad one important eature in common: Jack

supported them with elaborately conceived vclips that revolutionized the way music viwere made. Jackson treated them as sonlength movies with structured narratives: BJean set the songs tale o a paternity suit inightmarish dream world where Jackson wasolitary, sometimes invisible presence; the agang-violence Beat It became an homageWest Side Story; and the ten-minute-plus clipThriller (routinely selected as the best video time) eatured Jackson leading a dance trouprotting zombies, with loads o horror- lm maand e ects. Having never really accepted artists in the past, MTV played the clips to degarnering massive publicity or Jackson droves o viewers or the fedgling cable netwJackson sealed his own phenomenon by debuthis signature moonwalk dance step on May1983, on Motowns televised 25th anniversspecial; though he didnt invent the moonwalkhe himsel was quick to point out), it becam

much o a Jackson signature as his vocal hiccor single white-sequined glove.


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Showing no signs o slowing down, Thrillerjust kept spinning o singles, including

Wanna Be Startin Somethin, the airyballad Human Nature, and P.Y.T. (PrettyYoung Thing); in all, seven o its nine

tracks wound up in the Top Ten, obliteratingconventional ideas o how many singlescould be released rom an album be ore it

ran its course. Thriller stayed on the chartsor over two years, spent 37 nonconsecutive

weeks at number one, and became the best-selling album o all time; it went on to sell 25million copies in the U.S. alone, and aroundanother 20 million overseas. Naturally,Jackson won a slew o awards, includinga record eight Grammys in one night, andsnagged the largest endorsement deal everwhen he became a spokesman or Pepsi (hewould later be burned in an accident while

lming a commercial). At the end o 1983,Jackson was again on top o the singlescharts, this time as part o a second duetwith McCartney, Say Say Say. In 1984,Jackson rejoined his brothers one last time

or the album Victory, whose supporting tourwas one o the biggest (and priciest) o theyear. The ollowing year, he and Lionel Richieco-wrote the anthemic We Are the World orthe all-star amine-relie e ort USA or A rica; it

became one o the astest-selling singles ever.In late 1996, Jackson remarried, to nurseDebbie Rowe; over the next two years,the couple had two children, son PrinceMichael Jackson, Jr. and daughter ParisMichael Katherine Jackson. However,Jackson and Rowe divorced in late 1999.In 2001, Jackson was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall o Fame, and later held amassive concert at Madison Square Gardencelebrating the 30th anniversary o his rstsolo record. Among many other celebrityguests, the show eatured the rst on-stagereunion o the Jacksons since the Victorytour. In the wake o September 11, Jacksonput together an all-star charity bene t single,What More Can I Give. His new album,Invincible, was released late in the year,marking the rst time hed issued a collectiono entirely new material since Dangerous; it

ound him working heavily with urban soul

production wizard Rodney Jerkins. Invincibledebuted at number one and quickly went

double platinum; however, its initial singles,You Rock My World and Butterfies, hadrather disappointing showings on the charts,with the latter not even reaching the TopTen. To compound matters, the expensiveWhat More Can I Give single and videowere canceled by Sony when executiveproducer Marc Scha el was revealed to

work in pornography. Jacksons camp triedto distance the singer rom Scha el, andthe various corporations that were attachedto it (McDonalds, Sony) claimed they hadminimal involvement i any with the song.Sony and Jackson began a press war in thesummer o 2002, starting with Jacksonsclaims that the label asked or 200 milliondollars to pay them back or marketing costs.

Although they had spent 55 million on hisdisappointing comeback, Sony released astatement saying that no such request hadever been made. Jackson stewed or a

ew weeks be ore launching a press attack on Sony Music chairman Tommy Mottola,calling him devilish and making claims thathe used racist language and held down black artists. Many Sony artists, including MariahCarey and Ricky Martin, de ended Mottola,but Jackson and his amily maintained thatracism ended their pro essional relationship.

From that point, Jacksons career took anextreme turn toward the bizarre, starting withMTVs annual Video Awards. When BritneySpears presented him with a birthday cake,an o hand remark about being the artist othe millennium inspired a rambling Jacksonto accept a meaningless trophy (whicheveryone presenting on-stage received) asan actual Artist o the Millennium award.Next came accusations rom a promotionalcompany over his promises o a tour andseveral appearances that he then canceled.Jackson arrived in court late, gave a drowsytestimony, and inspired gasps when heremoved a surgical mask to reveal his nosehad caved in rom a botched cosmeticsurgery. Only days later, German answere horri ed when Jackson came to thebalcony o his hotel suite and briefy dangledhis 11-month old baby Prince Michael II(nicknamed Blanket by Jackson) over the

edge with one arm. Although he apologizedthe next day, claiming he had gotten caught

up in the moment, this only did more cement the King o Pops public image as out-o -control millionaire. 2003 turned ounot be Jacksons year as in November hiNeverland Ranch was extensively searchby police, whereby he was subsequentarrested on charges o child molestation. Thsame month the single disc retrospectiv

Number Ones hit the stands with one nesong, One More Chance. A year laternearly to the day - the our CD and one Dbox set The Ultimate Collection appearwith numerous rarities including the origidemo or We Are the World. In Janu2005 his child molestation trial began anby May he was acquitted on all countJackson soon relocated to the Persian Guisland o Bahrain and began working on nmusic including a charity single that woubene t victims o Hurricane Katrina. single never appeared but the two disc ThEssential Michael Jackson did and in 200the strange box set Visionary was release

eaturing 20 DualDiscs replicating 20 bigsingles with their videos included on the DVside. In early 2007 it was announced that comeback album was planned or late in tyear; the album never materialized.

While in the middle o rehearsing or a seo 50 comeback concerts scheduled or tsummer o 2009, Michael Jackson collapse

rom a cardiac arrest on the a ternoon June 25, 2009. He was rushed to the UCLMedical Center where he was pronouncedead at the age o 50.- Steve Huey, All Music Guide


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