Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the next-to youngest brother of seven and the eighth of ten children of Joseph and Katherine Jackson. His career began unofficially at the age of five where he began singing at school recitals and officially at the age of seven as the lead singer for the “Jackson Brothers” a rock group featuring all of his older brothers. In 1966, the group’s name was changed to the “Jackson Five.” They played local clubs and bars and eventually signed a contract with Motown Records in March of 1969. Their first four singles catapulted the group to stardom as they all reached number-one on the ” Billboard Hot 100.” Michael made his first solo recording in 1971 and had many hits, including “Ben,” “Got to Be There” and a remake of an old rock favorite, Rockin’ Robin.” He formally parted with his siblings in 1984.
Jackson’s “Thriller” album, which was the best selling album of all time (worldwide sales of 51 million) received thirteen Grammy Awards and charted thirteen number-one singles in the United States. Late in 1984, Michael won eight Grammy awards and seven were for this much critically acclaimed album. The other was for the “ET Storybook”, and Michael Jackson broke the record for the most Grammy awards won by an artist in a single year. In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the hit charity single, “We Are The World”, which did much to create both funds and awareness for famine in East Africa and rendered him a humanitarian public image for the very first time.
His successful career and controversial personal life have made the name of Michael Jackson a household world. Allegations of life in an oxygen tent, the fact that he married Lisa Presley, public incidents involving turning babies upside down and charges of child molestation all provide interesting fodder for the media. Whether or not all the charges made against him are true, I know that I for one would not want Michael Jackson’s life. I see him as a talented but lonely and tormented soul who knows no inner peace. He cannot decide it seems, if he is male or female, black or white, adult or child.
I wish him all the best for he is, ultimately, an immensely talented young man.
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