Michael Jackson Biography

Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29,
1958), often referred to as MJ and The King of Pop, is an American musician
and entertainer, who debuted on the professional music scene at the age of
ten as a member of the Jackson 5, and went on to become a pop icon as a
solo artist. His successful career and frequently controversial and
enigmatic personal life have been a part of pop culture for almost four
decades.



Jackson has dominated pop music since the late 1970s,
becoming the first black entertainer to amass a strong cross-over following
on MTV with his revolutionary transformation of the music video as an art
form and as a promotional tool. The popularity of videos aired on MTV such
as "Beat It", "Black or White", "Scream" and "Billie Jean" created a
tremendous synergy that helped to put the relatively young channel "on the
map". BMI, The performing rights organization that represents Jackson and
hundreds of other artists, stated that Jackson also popularized
physically-complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the
moonwalk, that have redefined mainstream dance and entertainment. His
distinctive style, dance moves, and vocals have influenced a whole
generation of hip hop, pop, and R&B artists. He has been cited as the "Most
Successful Entertainer of All Time" by Guinness World Records, and holds
the record for the best-selling album ever, Thriller.



Michael
Jackson has received thirteen Grammy Awards (eight on a single night in
1984) and two of his solo albums have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of
Fame. Jackson has charted thirteen #1 singles in the United States, more
than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era. In November 2006, the World
Music Awards announced that Jackson had sold over 750 million units
worldwide and given $300 million to charity, making Jackson one of the
best-selling music artists and the most charitable celebrity apart from
Oprah Winfrey whose efforts on the latter front have been acknowledged with
a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. However, Jackson's controversial
appearance and actions have damaged his reputation in the eyes of some of
the public and album sales have been in decline since the mid 1990s.



From 1988 to 2005, Jackson lived on his Neverland Ranch property,
where he built an amusement park and private zoo that was frequently
attended by disadvantaged and terminally ill children. Rumors of sleepover
parties received both negative media coverage and public attention after it
was revealed that children frequently slept in his bed or bedroom. This
first came to light when he was accused of child sexual abuse in 1993.
Michael Jackson's relationship with children was brought into the
spotlight again in 2003 when the TV documentary Living with Michael Jackson
was broadcast. This resulted in Jackson being tried, and later acquitted,
of more child molestation allegations and several other charges in 2005.
After this, Jackson went on hiatus, traveling to countries such as Bahrain,
before starting work on new material in Ireland. He released an album on
February 11, 2008 called Thriller 25 (a special edition of the "Thriller"
album) which included some new material.