A set of Michael Jackson’s ‘Billy Jean’ (The Dirty Funker Remixes) on coloured vinyl.
Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana. And some of his other nicknames were Jacko, Wacko Jacko, King Of Pop, MJ, Mike, and Mikey. By the early 1960s, the older boys Jackie, Jermaine and Tito had begun performing around the city; by 1964, Michael and Marlon had joined the group. As a child, Jackson became the lead singer of his family’s popular Motown group called the Jackson 5. His father Joe Jackson who he had no relation to was also a musician and a guitarist, and he was later forced to give up his music ambitions following his marriage to Michael’s mother Katherine Jackson. Michael was a child prodigy with exceptional singing and dancing talents and he soon became the dominant voice and focus of the Jackson 5. By the age of 13, he had launched a solo career and making the chart in 1971 with “Got to Be there”.
However, the Jackson 5 caught Berry Gordy’s attention in 1969, were they produced back-to-back chart bursting hits as Motown artists such as ABC, I Want You Back, Never Can Say Goodbye and Got to Be There. As a boy band from the 1970s, they quickly transformed as one of the most accomplished black pop and soul vocal group in music history. Though, solo success for Michael was inevitable, and by the 1980s he had become infinitely more popular than his brotherly group. One of his biggest selling albums was Thriller in 1982. He also featured in movies such as The Wiz in 1978 as a Scarecrow character. For several years, Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 maintained a busy tour and recording schedules, under the management of Berry Gordon and his Motown staff. The Jackson 5 even had their own cartoon show which ran from 1971 to 1972. And despite their success, there were tensions between Michael’s dad and Gordon for the management of his children’s’ careers in regards to creative control over their material. In 1976, the group official separated ties with Motown record label.
In 1983, Michael performed his No. 1 hit “Billie Jean” and debuted his soon to be a famous dance move, the Moonwalk. He also choreographed these moves himself by sequences for another album hit called “Beat It”. Furthermore, Michael physical appearance began to change drastically, and his behaviour grew alarmingly bizarre and making him a consistent target for scandal, despite numerous charitable acts. Likewise, he was badly injured filming a commercial for PepsiCo in 1984 and suffered burns to his face and scalp. Moreover, he was married twice and one of those was Elvis Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie Presley.
Additionally, Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, in Los Angeles, California. His passion and originality as a singer, dancer, writer, and entrepreneur were incomparable. And with these prodigious talents that will ultimately prevail over the extremely negative aspects of his troubled adult life.
