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Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29 1958, in
Gary, Indiana), is an United States|American
singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer,
actor, entertainer and philanthropist. He began
his career as the lead singer of the Motown act,
The Jackson 5, in the 1960s, and made his first
solo artist|solo recordings in 1971 as part of the
Jackson 5 franchise. Jackson began a full-fledged
solo career in 1979 and formally parted with his
siblings in 1987, and has since become the most
successful recording artist in African
American|black music history, and one of the most
successful solo artists in music history.

His 1982 album Thriller (album)|Thriller currently
holds the title of being the best selling album in
history, it has sold 60 million
copieshttp://www.mjinf.co.uk/Thriller/Thriller.htm
. In addition to his albums, Jackson has also
recorded thirteen number-one hits, including
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", "Rock With You",
"Billie Jean", and "Beat It". His distinctive
dance moves, music videos, and pop appeal have
inspired and influenced many of today's singers,
such as Usher Raymond|Usher, Beyoncé
Knowles|Beyoncé, and Justin Timberlake.

Despite his career success, he has been dogged by
media attention over allegations of child sexual
abuse, which resulted in a 2005 trial of Michael
Jackson|trial and acquittal in 2005. 
 
==Early childhood==
Jackson was born the seventh of nine children in
Gary, Indiana, to Joseph Jackson|Joseph and
Katherine Jackson. The entire family –
including older siblings, Rebbie Jackson|Rebbie,
Jackie Jackson|Jackie, Tito Jackson|Tito, Jermaine
Jackson|Jermaine, LaToya Jackson|LaToya and Marlon
Jackson|Marlon, and younger siblings Randy Jackson
(musician)|Randy and Janet Jackson|Janet –
lived together in a tiny two-bedroom house, and
Jackson's father earned a meager living working in
a steel mill. At the behest of their mother, but
against Joseph's wishes, the Jackson children were
raised as Jehovah's Witnesses and practiced
door-to-door evangelism.

In accordance with Joseph Jackson's strict rules,
the children were kept locked in their house while
he worked the night shift. However, the children
would regularly sneak out of the house to their
neighbors’ homes, where they practiced singing
and playing music. The older Jackson brothers
would sometimes play Joseph’s prized guitar
without his permission while he was at work.
Eventually, Joseph found out about their musical
abilities and decided to capitalize upon it, in
order to leave Gary for California.  



==The Jackson 5 (The Jacksons)==
mainarticle|The Jackson 5
=== Group founding and early years ===
Joseph organized Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and two
unrelated neighborhood youths, Milford Hite (on
drums) and Reynaud Jones (on keyboards), as an act
called "The Jackson Brothers" in 1962. Within two
years, Michael and his older brother Marlon began
playing congas and tambourine, respectively, with
The Jackson Brothers, before the group's name was
changed to "The Jackson 5" in 1966, and
nine-year-old Michael was appointed lead singer.

=== Motown success ===
With Michael on lead vocals, the Jackson 5 built
up a following by playing at clubs and bars
throughout the Midwest, and even winning an
Amateur Night competition at the Apollo Theater in
Harlem, New York. The Jackson 5 signed their first
recording contract with the local Steeltown label
in 1967, and had a regional hit with "Big Boy" in
1968.

The Jackson 5 were discovered by both Gladys
Knight & the Pips and Bobby Taylor & the
Vancouvers, who brought them to Motown Records in
1968. Label head, Berry Gordy, bought out the
Jackson 5's Steeltown contract and signed the
group to Motown in March 1969. Gordy then moved
the Jackson family to Los Angeles, California, and
proceeded to turn them into international stars.
In the fall of 1969, The Jackson 5 were presented
to the public by Diana Ross, and were officially
launched as the next big Motown act.


The group's first four singles, "I Want You Back"
from 1969, and "ABC (song)|ABC", "The Love You
Save", and "I'll Be There" from 1970, all became
number-one hits in the U.S. Later hits included
"Mama's Pearl" and "Never Can Say Goodbye" (1971),
"Lookin' Through the Windows" (1972), "Get It
Together" (1973) and "Dancing Machine" (1974). The
Jackson 5 recorded fourteen albums for Motown, and
Michael, Jermaine, and Jackie all recorded solo
albums as part of the Jackson 5 "franchise".
Michael released four solo albums while at Motown,
spawning the hits "Got to Be There", "Rockin'
Robin", "I Wanna Be Where You Are", and the
number-one hit "Ben (song)|Ben," among others.
Most of the Jackson 5 hits were produced by either
The Corporation (Motown)|The Corporation™
– a collective of songwriters and record
producers, including Gordy, Freddie Perren,
Alphonzo Mizell, and Deke Richards – or by
Motown songwriter/producer Hal Davis.

=== The move to Epic ===
In 1975, the Jackson brothers signed a new
contract with CBS Records, first joining the
Philadelphia International division and later
moving over to Epic Records. The new deal with CBS
provided larger royalties and creative freedom
that the Jackson 5 were not allowed at Motown.
Upon learning that the Jackson 5 had signed a
contract with another label, Motown sued the group
for breach of contract, and as a result, they lost
the rights to use the "Jackson 5" name and logo.
Additionally Jermaine, who had married Berry
Gordy's daughter Hazel, opted to remain at Motown
for a full-time solo career. Now known as "The
Jacksons", and featuring younger brother Randy
Jackson (musician)|Randy in Jermaine's place, the
brothers continued their successful career,
touring internationally and releasing six albums
between 1976 and 1984. Hits during this period
included "Enjoy Yourself (song)|Enjoy Yourself"
and "Show You The Way To Go" in 1976, "Blame It On
The Boogie" in 1977, "Shake Your Body (Down to the
Ground)" in 1978, and "Can You Feel It" and "This
Place Hotel|Heartbreak Hotel" in 1980. The
Jacksons would continue to record together well
into the 1980s, even bringing Jermaine back into
the fold for their 1984 Victory album and tour. By
the end of the decade, Michael and Marlon were no
longer members of The Jacksons, and the group
disbanded in 1990.

==Solo career ==



=== The Wiz and Off The Wall===
In 1978, Michael co-starred in The Wiz as the
Scarecrow, with former labelmate Diana Ross as
Dorothy. The musical film's songs were arranged
and produced by famed producer Quincy Jones, who
found a rapport with Jackson. After Jackson signed
a solo contract with Epic in 1978, he began work
on his first of several albums with Jones.

Michael Jackson's 1979 album Off the Wall was a
worldwide hit, and spawned the number-one hit
singles and music videos "Don't Stop 'Til You Get
Enough" and "Rock With You". The ballad "She's Out
Of My Life" also reached the top ten in 1980. With
that accomplishment, Jackson became the first solo
artist to have four Top 10 hit singles in the
Billboard Billboard|Hot 100 Singles Chart from a
single album. The album went on to sell over seven
million copies in America, establishing Jackson as
a musical force without his brothers.

=== Thriller ===
In the 1980s, Jackson released a progression of
solo albums of slickly-produced synthesizer-heavy
pop. In what was perhaps the "Golden Age" of the
Music video|video clip, some of Jackson's videos
were virtually short film|short films with
detailed plots, special effects, and featuring
Jackson's distinctive dance style.

His Thriller (album)|Thriller album, released in
1982, produced seven top-ten hit singles, broke
sales records, and became the best selling album
in music history, selling 60 million copies. The
"Billie Jean" music video, released to promote
Thriller, became the first video by a black artist
to be aired on MTV. The seven-minute "Thriller
(song)|Thriller" music video / short film became
the world's best selling home video at the time
(packaged with the featurette The Making of
Michael Jackson's "Thriller"), and is considered
by many music industry critics to be one of the
greatest music videos of all time and a large step
forward in artistic quality for music videos. The
album's third major single, "Beat It", was another
#1 pop hit in the U.S., accompanied by a popular
"West Side Story" inspired music video. The videos
for "Billie Jean", "Thriller" and "Beat It"
frequently place highly on MTV and VH1 countdowns
of notable classic videos, and receive airplay on
MTV2 to this day.  

While performing "Billie Jean" during the Motown
25: Yesterday, Today, Forever special on
television on May 16, 1983, Jackson publicly
performed his moonwalk_(dance)|moonwalk dance for
the first time. In January 1984, at the American
Music Award|American Music Awards, Jackson was
nominated for nine awards, and won a record eight.
At the Grammy Award|Grammy Awards in February,
Jackson was nominated for twelve awards, and won a
record-breaking eight: seven for Thriller and one
for his narrative on The E.T. Storybook. In May,
Thriller was certified by the Guinness Book of
Records as the best selling popular music album of
all time. The same year, he was also awarded the
H. Claude Hodson Medal of Freedom at the NAACP
Image Awards, honored at the White House by
President Ronald Reagan with the Presidential
Special Achievement Award, and was awarded a star
in November on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. By
2005, Thriller had been certified twenty-seven
times RIAA|platinum in the U.S.

==="We Are the World" and Captain Eo===
Inspired by Band Aid (band)|Band Aid,  Michael
Jackson was instrumental in organizing the
recording of the single "We Are the World", which
he co-wrote with former Motown labelmate, Lionel
Richie. The single was released in 1985 to raise
money for USA for Africa, a charity working to
raise awareness about and give aid to impoverished
families in Africa. "We Are the World" featured
forty-four different vocalists, including Jackson,
Ritchie, Harry Belafonte, Cyndi Lauper, Diana
Ross, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, and sold 7
million copies in the United States, becoming one
of the best-selling singles of all time.


In 1986, Jackson starred in the George
Lucas/Francis Ford Coppola 3-D film Captain Eo,
which was shown in The Walt Disney Company|Disney
theme parks until 1998. Minute for minute, it was
the most expensive film ever produced at the time,
with an estimated total production cost of USD 17
million. The film contained the songs "We Are Here
to Change the World" and "Another Part of Me".

===Bad===
In 1987, Jackson released the album Bad
(album)|Bad, and began his first solo world tour,
performing to sold-out audiences across the world.
The Bad world tour broke all existing attendance
records. Jackson would later break the Bad world
tour attendance records with the Dangerous world
tour, and top those records with those for the
HIStory world tour. The following year, Jackson
released a film entitled Moonwalker, and an
autobiography, entitled Moon Walk.

Bad was another multi-platinum success for
Jackson, although it was not as successful as
"Thriller" had been. Its first five singles and
music videos, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad
(song)|Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in
the Mirror", and "Leave Me Alone" provided Jackson
with another string of hits, and made him the
first artist to generate five number one singles
off of one album. The other two singles, "Another
Part of Me" and "Smooth Criminal" kept Jackson on
the charts throughout the year as he toured.

===Dangerous===

Jackson was awarded a new record breaking $890
million contract by Sony in March, 1991, and
released his first album under the new contract,
Dangerous (album)|Dangerous. that November. While
in the U.S., sales for the album only reached
seven million, internationally Dangerous eclipsed
Bad as the second best-selling album of Jackson's
career, reaching over twenty-nine million albums
sold. Its major hit singles included "Black or
White", "Remember the Time", "In the Closet" and
"Jam".

As was becoming the standard for Jackson, the
album's music videos were among the most costly
and innovative of their time.  "Give in to Me"
featured Slash (musician)|Slash from Guns n' Roses
in its video.  The video for "Heal the World"
featured children and adults from throughout the
world, in order to correspond to Jackson's charity
of the same name.  "Will You Be There" showed
Jackson singing in front of scenes from Free
Willy. Several of the other videos had complex
storylines and dance sequences, and featured cameo
appearances by celebrities. The video for "Jam",
directed by David Kellogg, showed Jackson and
Michael Jordan playing basketball and dancing
together, while "Remember the Time" was set in an
ancient Egyptian palace, and starred Eddie Murphy
and Iman Abdulmajid|Iman as the pharaoh and his
queen. Also, it featured a cameo by basketball
player, Magic Johnson. "In The Closet" featured
Jackson and model Naomi Campbell as lovers. 


"Black or White (Michael Jackson song)|Black or
White" probably remains Dangerous most aired and
most remembered video today.  Originally over ten
minutes long, it premiered simultaneously on
November 14 1991, on MTV, VH1, BET, and FOX,
becoming one of the most-watched music video
premieres in history.  The video is technically
noteworthy for featuring one of the earliest
examples of computer-generated morphing.  The last
four minutes of the video also induced much
controversy with parents, as it depicted a
crotch-grabbing Jackson smashing store windows,
and destroying a car with a crowbar.  MTV and the
other music video networks decided to excise the
last four minutes of the "Black or White" video
for all subsequent airings, and Jackson issued a
statement apologizing to anyone who had been
offended, and explaining that he tried to
impersonate panther's wild insticts.

=== HIStory===


In 1995, Epic released Jackson's HIStory|HIStory:
Past, Present And Future - Book 1, his first
double album|double-disc album. In more strict
terms, it was actually boxed set of two albums:
the first, "HIStory Begins", was a fifteen-track
greatest hits album, while the second, "HIStory
Continues", contained fifteen new songs.

The album produced two major hit singles and
videos in America.  "Scream", a duet with
Jackson's pop star sister Janet Jackson|Janet, was
supported by a futuristic music video which
remains, at a cost of USD 7 million, the most
expensive music video ever filmed. Thanks to a
change in Billboard's chart policy, "You Are Not
Alone" became the first song to ever debut at
number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
"You Are Not Alone", written by R. Kelly, was
supported with a music video which featured a
cameo from Jackson's then-wife, Lisa Marie
Presley.

The album's other singles and videos, "Childhood"
(the theme song to Free Willy 2), "Earth Song",
"Stranger in Moscow", and "They Don't Care About
Us" had limited success in America, and were more
successful in Europe. "Earth Song" is an emotional
plea for taking care of our environment. "They
Don't Care About Us" caused a stir when it was
released, due to controversial lyrics which were
considered anti-Semitic, what was denied by the
singer who stated that the most of his best
emloyees, partners and friends are Jews. One of
the two versions of the video to that song was
banned by MTV and VH1, but not for the lyrics,
which were partially noised from the very
beginning, but for the pictures of violence and
war the clip contained. The video continued to air
on The Box. The lyrics "Jew me, sue me/Kick me,
kike me/Don't you black or white me" were modified
on pressing of HIStory a month later after
original release date, more than half year before
the video was filmed. 

The sales performance of HIStory in the United
States was considered a disappointment by both
Epic and Jackson, and to date has sold three and
half million copies (seven million discs) in the
US. In the UK, however, HIStory spawned Jackson's
most successful UK single, "Earth Song", which
stayed at the top of the chart for six weeks and
sold over a million copies, and another two
million copies in the other countries outside of
USA, where it was not released. The HIStory world
tour was launched in September 1996 and ended in
October 1997. Breaking his previous solo tour
attendance records, The HIStory world tour remains
the highest attended tour ever. Two home video
collections, Greatest Video Hits, HIStory
(released in 1995) and HIStory On Film, Volume II
(released in 1997), were released during the
HIStory era, anthologizing Jackson's music videos.

=== Blood on the Dance Floor and Invincible===
In 1996, the members of The Jackson 5 were
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Michael Jackson would be inducted into the Hall of
Fame as a solo performer in 2001.

The following year 1997, Jackson released Blood on
the Dance Floor, a remix album of several of the
new tracks from HIStory. Five new songs were also
included on the LP, which has since become the
biggest-selling remix album of all time.  The
album only had one single and official music
video, the title track, which failed to catch on
in America, and again proved a far more popular
hit in Europe.  However, Jackson also produced
"Ghosts," a forty-minute short film, which was
shown in several movie theaters and uses the songs
"Ghosts" and "2 Bad" on its soundtrack.  The short
film "Ghosts" is occasionally played as an
hour-long special, with space made for
commercials, on MTV and VH1, especially during the
Halloween season.

Michael released his next studio album, Invincible
(album)|Invincible, in 2001. It debuted at number
one on the Billboard 200|U.S. charts, selling two
million copies in the United States and twelve
million worldwide. These sales figures were below
expectations, considering Jackson's previous
success and the cost of the album. As opposed to
his earlier albums which each spawned at least six
singles, most of which were generally worldwide
smashes, "Invincible" produced only the singles
"You Rock My World" and "Butterflies" in America;
"Cry" was issued as a third single in Europe. "You
Rock My World" managed to enter the top ten in
America, but only for a week, and its big-budget,
fourteen-minute music video received only sparse
airplay on MTV, VH1, MTV2, and BET, usually in a
shortened five-minute version.  "Butterflies" was
a number-two hit on the R&B charts, but did not
reach the top ten, despite a popular radio remix
featuring rapper Eve (rapper)|Eve. The song peaked
at number sixteen, and its relative lack of
success also allowed no budget for a music video.

In June 2002, Jackson was inducted for his work as
a songwriter into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In
November 2002, Jackson received Germany's Bambi
Award, in recognition of his status as the world's
"greatest living pop icon". The awards recognize
outstanding personalities and performances in
various fields, including show business, film,
politics and sport.



=== "One More Chance" to The Essential Michael
Jackson===
On November 20 2003, Jackson released a new song,
"One more chance (Michael Jackson song) | One More
Chance", written by R. Kelly. It was the only new
track included on his Number Ones greatest hits
album, released the same year. As of 2005, the
album has sold six million copies worldwide. "One
More Chance" went on to become the number-one
track on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales
chart for three straight weeks. An original video
for "One More Chance" was filmed but never
released.

In November 2004, Jackson released his first box
set, Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection, a
four disc collection which included many of his
biggest hits, unreleased material from the past 25
years, demo recordings of some of his biggest
hits, four news songs ("In The Back", "Beautiful
Girl", "The Way You Love Me" and "We've Had
Enough" - all written by Jackson) and a bonus DVD
that featured a concert from the Dangerous world
tour, originally aired on HBO in 1992. Six months
later, Epic released a two-disc compilation, The
Essential Michael Jackson, which focused only on
the hit records. The Ultimate Collection peaked at
#154 on The Billboard 200, while The Essential
Michael Jackson sold 8,000 copies in the first
week in the U.S. (compared to the number-one
album, "Now 19", which sold 436,000 copies in the
same period), though the CD reached #2 in the
United Kingdom|U.K., selling 45,000 copies.
Overall global first week retail sales were about
250,000 units, while wholesale shipment now
estimated to be about 1,500,000 copies.




==Personal life==


Michael Jackson continued to engage in
door-to-door evangelizing as a Jehovah's Witness
after becoming famous, but in disguise. His career
and flamboyant lifestyle led to friction with
congregation elders. At one point, his sister,
LaToya Jackson|LaToya, was shunning|shunned by
Jehovah's Witnesses, and in 1987, he formally left
the religion.

Jackson's most famous home is his 2,600 acre
(eleven square-kilometer) Neverland Ranch in Santa
Ynez, California which he purchased in 1988. It is
named after the magical kingdom, Neverland, from
the children's story, "Peter Pan". Jackson, a huge
Disney fan, built an amusement park on the ranch,
and frequently welcomes sick and poor children
there to visit and sponsors charity drives for
children. Jackson's relationships with children,
both his own and others, have been controversial:
his sleepover parties at Neverland have received
widespread critical media coverage, especially
after he revealed that he sometimes slept in the
same bed with several unrelated children.

He claims that he likes to be surrounded by
children because of their sense of innocence,
which he feels he lost too soon. His song
"Childhood" included the lyric, "It's been my fate
to compensate, for the childhood I've never
known". Jackson is fond of animals: he owns a
private zoo at Neverland, and was often seen with
a chimpanzee named Bubbles and a snake called
Muscles in the 1980s.  Jackson claims that
Neverland has inspired much of his work, having
once told an interviewer that he liked climbing
trees to write songs like "Will You Be There" and
"Heal the World".

Jackson is noted for his humanitarian efforts, and
has often used his music, including the all-star
single "We Are the World" (1985), "Man in the
Mirror" (1987), "Heal the World" (1992), "Earth
Song" (1995), "Cry" (2001), and "What More Can I
Give (2003) to support and promote various causes.
The "Heal the World" foundation was created by
Jackson in 1992, with assistance from former
President Jimmy Carter. Jackson was considering a
tour of Africa in May or June 2004 to raise money
to fight AIDS; Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Senegal
were among the countries he had planned to visit.

Over the years, Michael Jackson maintained a
number of high-profile celebrity friendships with
entertainers such as Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor,
Marlon Brando, Macaulay Culkin, Emmanuel Lewis,
Chris Tucker, and others. Jackson is also the
godfather of Lionel Richie's adopted daughter,
Nicole Richie, while Macaulay Culkin is godfather
of singer's children.

=== Jackson's marriages and children ===
In 1994, Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, the
daughter of Elvis Presley; the marriage was
severely criticized by the media and lasted less
than two years. Despite some comments questioning
the validity of this union, Presley, has always
maintained that they both shared a normal couple's
life during their time together and their romance
started before any allegations broke.

In 1996, Jackson married Deborah Jeanne Rowe, with
whom he had a son, Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr.
(who publicly goes by the name "Prince"), and a
daughter, Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson. They
were divorced in 1999. 
Rowe later said that she wanted Jackson to have
the children as a "gift", which she had offered
even while Jackson was married to Presley. Rowe
had given up her parental rights to the children,
but as of 2005, a family court case is under way
regarding visitation. The godparents of these two
children are Macaulay Culkin and Elizabeth Taylor.

Around February 2002, Jackson had another son,
Michael Joseph Jackson III, called both "Prince
Michael II" and "Blanket", apparently with a
surrogate mother whose identity has not been
disclosed. In late 2002, Jackson stirred up
controversy while staying at the Adlon hotel in
Berlin, by briefly suspending him over the edge of
a balcony so that fans could see him. Jackson
defended his actions, saying that he held the
child very tightly. Jackson's children are veiled
or masked when they appear in public with him,
which he describes as a security measure. Rowe
said it was her idea from the beginning.

After the children were seen in Martin Bashir's
Living with Michael Jackson documetary special,
many in the press and the public questioned
whether Prince and Paris were actually Jackson's
children, as they had no noticeable African
features about them. Jackson explained that his
own father is African-American, but has blue eyes,
and that some of the Jackson family ancestors are
Caucasian, and even Indian. However, during the
interviews for the same special, Jackson revealed
that "Blanket's" mother was black. 

There had been rumors that Jackson was having
children by various women. One woman claimed that
she was giving birth to quadruplets fathered by
Jackson, a claim later proven to be false. Jackson
had suffered the same problem two decades earlier
with a woman claiming Michael was a father of one
of her fraternal twins, a story from which his
memorable hit "Billie Jean" was derived.

== Controversies ==


===Skin color===
Although Jackson's skin color was a medium brown
tone for the entire duration of his youth, his
skin has lightened gradually since 1982, and is
today a light cream color. Jackson has attributed
his changing skin color to vitiligo, a skin
disease in which the body develops antibodies
against its own pigment, resulting in light
patches and an eventual loss of melanin. The
public finally got to know of Jackson's condition
when he first revealed it in an interview with
Oprah Winfrey in 1993. Several members of the
media refused to believe Jackson has vitiligo and
believe that Jackson bleaches his skin, an
allegation which Jackson denies. Jackson's family
members backed up his claim, with Joseph Jackson
stating that his own father (Michael Jackson's
grandfather) had also suffered from vitiligo.
Also, during under oath depositions back in 1994,
both Jackson's dermatologist and his nurse, that
later became singer's wife, confirmed the
diagnosis.

Jackson has been shown in various pictures over
the years to have suffered from the disease. In
several early-1980s concert photos, there was a
white blotch on Jackson's neck which could easily
explained Jackson's lightening condition. After
going to a hospital, he finally received the news
when his doctor diagnosed him with the disease in
1981, at the time he has met with his second wife,
nurse of his dermatologist, Deborah Rowe-Jackson.
Ever since then, Jackson has regularly worn
long-sleeved shirts and pants under an umbrella
while in public to hide from the sun, which he
says he's allergic to because of his condition.

===Plastic surgery===
It has been rumored that Jackson has used
extensive plastic surgery to modify his
appearance, although he claims to have had only
three operations: two rhinoplasty|rhinoplastic
surgeries – the first of which he claims was
to repair a broken nose resulting from a dancing
accident in 1978, and the second to correct
imperfections in the first surgery – and the
surgical creation of a cleft in his chin. When
listing his cosmetic surgery, Jackson often omits
mentioning the cleft; however, he confirmed this
surgery in his 1988 autobiography, Moon Walk.

Jackson's alleged extensive use of plastic surgery
has now caused increased concerns of media's
surgeons for possible cartilage and nose collapse.
They agree that Jackson's nose structure could
easily collapse during an altercation. Other
experts, however, claim that in the last
twenty-seven years, Jackson had totally only two
nasal bone structure surgeries, the latest in
1982, and three other minor corrections of the
cartilage in 1983, 1990, and 2000.

In 2005, Jackson had his collapsed nose corrected
by a new plastic surgeon, who used cartliage taken
from one of his ears to rebuild the nose's
structure. However, this tabloid report was never
confirmed to be true, and contradicted to
Jackson's schedule for the year.

===Finances===
Jackson's ATV/Sony music publishing company is
estimated to be worth USD 1.5 billion. In October
2002, various international banks claimed that
Jackson was tens of millions of dollars in debt.
That same month, concert promoter, Marcel Avram,
sued Jackson in a court in Santa Maria,
California, claiming that he reneged on a deal to
perform on a series of millennium concerts
crossing the International Date Line on the
evening of December 31, 1999–January 1,
2000.  Jackson lost the case, and is appealing.

He has been involved in a legal dispute with his
former financial adviser, Union Finance and
Investment Corporation of South Korea, who claim
that Jackson owes the firm twelve million dollars
in fees and expenses, and that Jackson's
extravagant spending may lead to his bankruptcy
(even though there is no way to go bankrupt,
having assets that cost hundreds million dollars
more than liabilities). See also
Michael_Jackson:_Bashir_interview_and_allegations#
Jackson.27s_finances|Jackson's finances in
connection to the trial.

===Alleged child sexual abuse===
Main articles: Allegations of child sexual abuse
by Michael Jackson in the early 1990s and 2005
trial of Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson has also repeatedly been accused
of Sexual abuse#Child sexual abuse|child sexual
abuse. In 1993, Jordan Chandler, the son of former
Beverly Hills dentist Evan Chandler, accused
Jackson of sexual molestation, represented by
civil lawyer Larry Feldman. Jackson was served a
search warrant to have the Santa Barbara Police
Department, headed by District Attorney Tom
Sneddon, view his body. Jackson later complained
in a December 22, 1993 press conference that the
officers violated his privacy, by photographing
his body in order to look for some marks allegedly
described by the young accuser. Jackson settled
out of court with the accuser for at least USD 25
millionhttp://www.courttv.com/news/jackson/061504_
ctv.html.  Jackson's settling out of court brought
suspicion among the media, some of whom claimed
that Jackson avoided a trial because he was afraid
he would have been proven guilty. Critics of the
alledged victim and his family insisted that the
fact that the parents agreed to sell the innocence
of their son for money, refusing to criminally
pursue Jackson, is the most blatant indication
that the allegations were false from the very
beginning.  Others debated whether Jackson chose
to settle or was forced to by his insurance
provider.  When interviewed by Bashir, Michael
Jackson confirmed that the 1993/1994 settlement
was his own personal
decisionhttp://www.mjshouse.com/stories/living_wit
h_mj_transcript.wm, with no mention that it was
also enforced by insurance company, what court
motions showed.


In 2003, Jackson was accused of sexual molestation
by a second young accuser, Gavin Arvizo, who
appeared with Jackson on the Living with Michael
Jackson television documentary. Like Chandler,
Arvizo was represented by civil lawyer Larry
Feldman, and an investigation was once again
launched by Sneddon. Jackson was served a search
warrant for Neverland, and the singer was arrested
in November 2003. In the prelude to the trial,
Jackson allowed a high profile visit of children
to Neverland in December 2004.  Michael Jackson's
spokesperson provided the press with a list of
non-profit children's organizations which had sent
the children. According to Court TV, most of these
organizations turned out to be either non-existent
or were upset that they were falsely associated
with the visit.
http://www.courttv.com/news/jackson/010405_dimond_
ctv.html Critics of CourtTV investigation
questions Diane Dimond's ability to be objective,
due to journalist's siding with prosecution that
started even since 1993 case. Also, since the
visit was not on a paper, but actually had place,
and children belonged to existing community, for
Jackson's employees there was no point to make up
anything from very beginning.

The criminal case was tried in Santa Maria,
California during the spring of 2005. On June 13,
Jackson was acquitted of all charges, including
four additional misdemeanour ones.  CNN later
reported that two of the jurors, Ray Hultman and
Eleanor Cook, claimed to regret their decision to
acquit Jackson that their held under the pressure
and threats from other jurors, and announced
impending books, merchandise and movie deals on
their experiences in the trial.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/08/jackson.jurors.a
p/index.html Both pro-prosecution analysts and
Jackson's defence lawyer, Thomas Mesereau Jr.,
condemned the act of two jurors as contempt to
USA's justice system.

A civil (non-criminal) suit over allegations of
abduction and sexual assault is currently pending
in
Louisiana.http://today.reuters.co.uk/News/newsArti
cle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2005-07-21
T015607Z_01_HAR058177_RTRUKOC_0_PEOPLE-JACKSON2.xm
l
.  Jackson did not appear for the August 17, 2005
court date, and was fined USD 10,000 as a result. 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/416
0796.stm

==Discography==
For a more detailed listing of albums and singles
with chart positions, see Michael Jackson
discography.


===Regular studio albums===
;Motown releases:
* 1972: Got to Be There
* 1972: Ben (album)|Ben
* 1973: Music and Me
* 1975: Forever, Michael

;Epic Records|Epic releases:
* 1979: Off the Wall
* 1982: Thriller (album)|Thriller
* 1987: Bad (album)|Bad
* 1991: Dangerous (album)|Dangerous
* 1995: HIStory
* 2001: Invincible (album)|Invincible

===Number one hits===
The following singles reached number one on either
the Billboard US Hot 100, R&B singles chart, or UK
pop singles charts:

* 1972: "Ben (song)|Ben" (#1 Pop)
* 1979: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (#1 Pop,
#1 R&B)
* 1980: "Rock With You" (#1 Pop, #1 R&B)
* 1981: "One Day in Your Life (song)|One Day in
Your Life" (#1 UK)
* 1982: "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney)
(#1 R&B)
* 1983: "Billie Jean" (#1 Pop, #1 R&B , #1 UK)
* 1983: "Beat It" (#1 Pop, #1 R&B)
* 1983: "Say Say Say" (Paul McCartney with Michael
Jackson) (#1 Pop)
* 1987: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (#1 Pop, #1
R&B, #1 UK)
* 1987: "Bad (song)|Bad" (#1 Pop, #1 R&B)
* 1987: "The Way You Make Me Feel" (#1 Pop, #1
R&B)
* 1988: "Man in the Mirror" (#1 Pop, #1 R&B)
* 1988: "Dirty Diana" (#1 Pop)
* 1988: "Another Part Of Me" (#1 R&B)
* 1991: "Black or White (Michael Jackson
song)|Black or White" (#1 Pop, #1 UK)
* 1992: "Remember the Time" (#1 R&B)
* 1992: "In The Closet" (#1 R&B)
* 1995: "You Are Not Alone" (#1 Pop, #1 R&B, #1
UK)
* 1995: "Earth Song" (#1 UK)
* 1997: "Blood on the Dance Floor (song)|Blood on
the Dance Floor" (#1 UK)

==Filmography==
===Films===
*1974: Free to Be... You & Me
*1978: The Wiz
*1985: Captain EO
*1988: Moonwalker
*2002: Men in Black II (Cameo appearance)
*2004: Miss Cast Away

===Video games===
* Michael Jackson's Moonwalker is an arcade game
that was ported to the Sega Mega Drive/Sega
Genesis and Sega Master System.
* Space Channel 5 for the Sega Dreamcast featured
Michael Jackson in the later levels.
* Space Channel 5 Part 2, a dance game for the
PlayStation 2 and Sega Dreamcast also featured
Michael Jackson in the later levels.
* Ready 2 Rumble Round 2 is a fighting game for
the PlayStation 2 and Sega Dreamcast featuring
Michael Jackson as a hidden character.

==See also==
wikinews|

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29 1958, in
Gary, Indiana), is an United States|American
singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer,
actor, entertainer and philanthropist. He began
his career as the lead singer of the Motown act,
The Jackson 5, in the 1960s, and made his first
solo artist|solo recordings in 1971 as part of the
Jackson 5 franchise. Jackson began a full-fledged
solo career in 1979 and formally parted with his
siblings in 1987, and has since become the most
successful recording artist in African
American|black music history, and one of the most
successful solo artists in music history.

His 1982 album Thriller (album)|Thriller currently
holds the title of being the best selling album in
history, it has sold 60 million
copieshttp://www.mjinf.co.uk/Thriller/Thriller.htm
. In addition to his albums, Jackson has also
recorded thirteen number-one hits, including
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", "Rock With You",
"Billie Jean", and "Beat It". His distinctive
dance moves, music videos, and pop appeal have
inspired and influenced many of today's singers,
such as Usher Raymond|Usher, Beyoncé
Knowles|Beyoncé, and Justin Timberlake.

Despite his career success, he has been dogged by
media attention over allegations of child sexual
abuse, which resulted in a 2005 trial of Michael
Jackson|trial and acquittal in 2005. 
 
==Early childhood==
Jackson was born the seventh of nine children in
Gary, Indiana, to Joseph Jackson|Joseph and
Katherine Jackson. The entire family –
including older siblings, Rebbie Jackson|Rebbie,
Jackie Jackson|Jackie, Tito Jackson|Tito, Jermaine
Jackson|Jermaine, LaToya Jackson|LaToya and Marlon
Jackson|Marlon, and younger siblings Randy Jackson
(musician)|Randy and Janet Jackson|Janet –
lived together in a tiny two-bedroom house, and
Jackson's father earned a meager living working in
a steel mill. At the behest of their mother, but
against Joseph's wishes, the Jackson children were
raised as Jehovah's Witnesses and practiced
door-to-door evangelism.

In accordance with Joseph Jackson's strict rules,
the children were kept locked in their house while
he worked the night shift. However, the children
would regularly sneak out of the house to their
neighbors’ homes, where they practiced singing
and playing music. The older Jackson brothers
would sometimes play Joseph’s prized guitar
without his permission while he was at work.
Eventually, Joseph found out about their musical
abilities and decided to capitalize upon it, in
order to leave Gary for California.  



==The Jackson 5 (The Jacksons)==
mainarticle|The Jackson 5
=== Group founding and early years ===
Joseph organized Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and two
unrelated neighborhood youths, Milford Hite (on
drums) and Reynaud Jones (on keyboards), as an act
called "The Jackson Brothers" in 1962. Within two
years, Michael and his older brother Marlon began
playing congas and tambourine, respectively, with
The Jackson Brothers, before the group's name was
changed to "The Jackson 5" in 1966, and
nine-year-old Michael was appointed lead singer.

=== Motown success ===
With Michael on lead vocals, the Jackson 5 built
up a following by playing at clubs and bars
throughout the Midwest, and even winning an
Amateur Night competition at the Apollo Theater in
Harlem, New York. The Jackson 5 signed their first
recording contract with the local Steeltown label
in 1967, and had a regional hit with "Big Boy" in
1968.

The Jackson 5 were discovered by both Gladys
Knight & the Pips and Bobby Taylor & the
Vancouvers, who brought them to Motown Records in
1968. Label head, Berry Gordy, bought out the
Jackson 5's Steeltown contract and signed the
group to Motown in March 1969. Gordy then moved
the Jackson family to Los Angeles, California, and
proceeded to turn them into international stars.
In the fall of 1969, The Jackson 5 were presented
to the public by Diana Ross, and were officially
launched as the next big Motown act.


The group's first four singles, "I Want You Back"
from 1969, and "ABC (song)|ABC", "The Love You
Save", and "I'll Be There" from 1970, all became
number-one hits in the U.S. Later hits included
"Mama's Pearl" and "Never Can Say Goodbye" (1971),
"Lookin' Through the Windows" (1972), "Get It
Together" (1973) and "Dancing Machine" (1974). The
Jackson 5 recorded fourteen albums for Motown, and
Michael, Jermaine, and Jackie all recorded solo
albums as part of the Jackson 5 "franchise".
Michael released four solo albums while at Motown,
spawning the hits "Got to Be There", "Rockin'
Robin", "I Wanna Be Where You Are", and the
number-one hit "Ben (song)|Ben," among others.
Most of the Jackson 5 hits were produced by either
The Corporation (Motown)|The Corporation™
– a collective of songwriters and record
producers, including Gordy, Freddie Perren,
Alphonzo Mizell, and Deke Richards – or by
Motown songwriter/producer Hal Davis.

=== The move to Epic ===
In 1975, the Jackson brothers signed a new
contract with CBS Records, first joining the
Philadelphia International division and later
moving over to Epic Records. The new deal with CBS
provided larger royalties and creative freedom
that the Jackson 5 were not allowed at Motown.
Upon learning that the Jackson 5 had signed a
contract with another label, Motown sued the group
for breach of contract, and as a result, they lost
the rights to use the "Jackson 5" name and logo.
Additionally Jermaine, who had married Berry
Gordy's daughter Hazel, opted to remain at Motown
for a full-time solo career. Now known as "The
Jacksons", and featuring younger brother Randy
Jackson (musician)|Randy in Jermaine's place, the
brothers continued their successful career,
touring internationally and releasing six albums
between 1976 and 1984. Hits during this period
included "Enjoy Yourself (song)|Enjoy Yourself"
and "Show You The Way To Go" in 1976, "Blame It On
The Boogie" in 1977, "Shake Your Body (Down to the
Ground)" in 1978, and "Can You Feel It" and "This
Place Hotel|Heartbreak Hotel" in 1980. The
Jacksons would continue to record together well
into the 1980s, even bringing Jermaine back into
the fold for their 1984 Victory album and tour. By
the end of the decade, Michael and Marlon were no
longer members of The Jacksons, and the group
disbanded in 1990.

==Solo career ==



=== The Wiz and Off The Wall===
In 1978, Michael co-starred in The Wiz as the
Scarecrow, with former labelmate Diana Ross as
Dorothy. The musical film's songs were arranged
and produced by famed producer Quincy Jones, who
found a rapport with Jackson. After Jackson signed
a solo contract with Epic in 1978, he began work
on his first of several albums with Jones.

Michael Jackson's 1979 album Off the Wall was a
worldwide hit, and spawned the number-one hit
singles and music videos "Don't Stop 'Til You Get
Enough" and "Rock With You". The ballad "She's Out
Of My Life" also reached the top ten in 1980. With
that accomplishment, Jackson became the first solo
artist to have four Top 10 hit singles in the
Billboard Billboard|Hot 100 Singles Chart from a
single album. The album went on to sell over seven
million copies in America, establishing Jackson as
a musical force without his brothers.

=== Thriller ===
In the 1980s, Jackson released a progression of
solo albums of slickly-produced synthesizer-heavy
pop. In what was perhaps the "Golden Age" of the
Music video|video clip, some of Jackson's videos
were virtually short film|short films with
detailed plots, special effects, and featuring
Jackson's distinctive dance style.

His Thriller (album)|Thriller album, released in
1982, produced seven top-ten hit singles, broke
sales records, and became the best selling album
in music history, selling 60 million copies. The
"Billie Jean" music video, released to promote
Thriller, became the first video by a black artist
to be aired on MTV. The seven-minute "Thriller
(song)|Thriller" music video / short film became
the world's best selling home video at the time
(packaged with the featurette The Making of
Michael Jackson's "Thriller"), and is considered
by many music industry critics to be one of the
greatest music videos of all time and a large step
forward in artistic quality for music videos. The
album's third major single, "Beat It", was another
#1 pop hit in the U.S., accompanied by a popular
"West Side Story" inspired music video. The videos
for "Billie Jean", "Thriller" and "Beat It"
frequently place highly on MTV and VH1 countdowns
of notable classic videos, and receive airplay on
MTV2 to this day.  

While performing "Billie Jean" during the Motown
25: Yesterday, Today, Forever special on
television on May 16, 1983, Jackson publicly
performed his moonwalk_(dance)|moonwalk dance for
the first time. In January 1984, at the American
Music Award|American Music Awards, Jackson was
nominated for nine awards, and won a record eight.
At the Grammy Award|Grammy Awards in February,
Jackson was nominated for twelve awards, and won a
record-breaking eight: seven for Thriller and one
for his narrative on The E.T. Storybook. In May,
Thriller was certified by the Guinness Book of
Records as the best selling popular music album of
all time. The same year, he was also awarded the
H. Claude Hodson Medal of Freedom at the NAACP
Image Awards, honored at the White House by
President Ronald Reagan with the Presidential
Special Achievement Award, and was awarded a star
in November on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. By
2005, Thriller had been certified twenty-seven
times RIAA|platinum in the U.S.

==="We Are the World" and Captain Eo===
Inspired by Band Aid (band)|Band Aid,  Michael
Jackson was instrumental in organizing the
recording of the single "We Are the World", which
he co-wrote with former Motown labelmate, Lionel
Richie. The single was released in 1985 to raise
money for USA for Africa, a charity working to
raise awareness about and give aid to impoverished
families in Africa. "We Are the World" featured
forty-four different vocalists, including Jackson,
Ritchie, Harry Belafonte, Cyndi Lauper, Diana
Ross, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, and sold 7
million copies in the United States, becoming one
of the best-selling singles of all time.


In 1986, Jackson starred in the George
Lucas/Francis Ford Coppola 3-D film Captain Eo,
which was shown in The Walt Disney Company|Disney
theme parks until 1998. Minute for minute, it was
the most expensive film ever produced at the time,
with an estimated total production cost of USD 17
million. The film contained the songs "We Are Here
to Change the World" and "Another Part of Me".

===Bad===
In 1987, Jackson released the album Bad
(album)|Bad, and began his first solo world tour,
performing to sold-out audiences across the world.
The Bad world tour broke all existing attendance
records. Jackson would later break the Bad world
tour attendance records with the Dangerous world
tour, and top those records with those for the
HIStory world tour. The following year, Jackson
released a film entitled Moonwalker, and an
autobiography, entitled Moon Walk.

Bad was another multi-platinum success for
Jackson, although it was not as successful as
"Thriller" had been. Its first five singles and
music videos, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad
(song)|Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in
the Mirror", and "Leave Me Alone" provided Jackson
with another string of hits, and made him the
first artist to generate five number one singles
off of one album. The other two singles, "Another
Part of Me" and "Smooth Criminal" kept Jackson on
the charts throughout the year as he toured.

===Dangerous===

Jackson was awarded a new record breaking $890
million contract by Sony in March, 1991, and
released his first album under the new contract,
Dangerous (album)|Dangerous. that November. While
in the U.S., sales for the album only reached
seven million, internationally Dangerous eclipsed
Bad as the second best-selling album of Jackson's
career, reaching over twenty-nine million albums
sold. Its major hit singles included "Black or
White", "Remember the Time", "In the Closet" and
"Jam".

As was becoming the standard for Jackson, the
album's music videos were among the most costly
and innovative of their time.  "Give in to Me"
featured Slash (musician)|Slash from Guns n' Roses
in its video.  The video for "Heal the World"
featured children and adults from throughout the
world, in order to correspond to Jackson's charity
of the same name.  "Will You Be There" showed
Jackson singing in front of scenes from Free
Willy. Several of the other videos had complex
storylines and dance sequences, and featured cameo
appearances by celebrities. The video for "Jam",
directed by David Kellogg, showed Jackson and
Michael Jordan playing basketball and dancing
together, while "Remember the Time" was set in an
ancient Egyptian palace, and starred Eddie Murphy
and Iman Abdulmajid|Iman as the pharaoh and his
queen. Also, it featured a cameo by basketball
player, Magic Johnson. "In The Closet" featured
Jackson and model Naomi Campbell as lovers. 


"Black or White (Michael Jackson song)|Black or
White" probably remains Dangerous most aired and
most remembered video today.  Originally over ten
minutes long, it premiered simultaneously on
November 14 1991, on MTV, VH1, BET, and FOX,
becoming one of the most-watched music video
premieres in history.  The video is technically
noteworthy for featuring one of the earliest
examples of computer-generated morphing.  The last
four minutes of the video also induced much
controversy with parents, as it depicted a
crotch-grabbing Jackson smashing store windows,
and destroying a car with a crowbar.  MTV and the
other music video networks decided to excise the
last four minutes of the "Black or White" video
for all subsequent airings, and Jackson issued a
statement apologizing to anyone who had been
offended, and explaining that he tried to
impersonate panther's wild insticts.

=== HIStory===


In 1995, Epic released Jackson's HIStory|HIStory:
Past, Present And Future - Book 1, his first
double album|double-disc album. In more strict
terms, it was actually boxed set of two albums:
the first, "HIStory Begins", was a fifteen-track
greatest hits album, while the second, "HIStory
Continues", contained fifteen new songs.

The album produced two major hit singles and
videos in America.  "Scream", a duet with
Jackson's pop star sister Janet Jackson|Janet, was
supported by a futuristic music video which
remains, at a cost of USD 7 million, the most
expensive music video ever filmed. Thanks to a
change in Billboard's chart policy, "You Are Not
Alone" became the first song to ever debut at
number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
"You Are Not Alone", written by R. Kelly, was
supported with a music video which featured a
cameo from Jackson's then-wife, Lisa Marie
Presley.

The album's other singles and videos, "Childhood"
(the theme song to Free Willy 2), "Earth Song",
"Stranger in Moscow", and "They Don't Care About
Us" had limited success in America, and were more
successful in Europe. "Earth Song" is an emotional
plea for taking care of our environment. "They
Don't Care About Us" caused a stir when it was
released, due to controversial lyrics which were
considered anti-Semitic, what was denied by the
singer who stated that the most of his best
emloyees, partners and friends are Jews. One of
the two versions of the video to that song was
banned by MTV and VH1, but not for the lyrics,
which were partially noised from the very
beginning, but for the pictures of violence and
war the clip contained. The video continued to air
on The Box. The lyrics "Jew me, sue me/Kick me,
kike me/Don't you black or white me" were modified
on pressing of HIStory a month later after
original release date, more than half year before
the video was filmed. 

The sales performance of HIStory in the United
States was considered a disappointment by both
Epic and Jackson, and to date has sold three and
half million copies (seven million discs) in the
US. In the UK, however, HIStory spawned Jackson's
most successful UK single, "Earth Song", which
stayed at the top of the chart for six weeks and
sold over a million copies, and another two
million copies in the other countries outside of
USA, where it was not released. The HIStory world
tour was launched in September 1996 and ended in
October 1997. Breaking his previous solo tour
attendance records, The HIStory world tour remains
the highest attended tour ever. Two home video
collections, Greatest Video Hits, HIStory
(released in 1995) and HIStory On Film, Volume II
(released in 1997), were released during the
HIStory era, anthologizing Jackson's music videos.

=== Blood on the Dance Floor and Invincible===
In 1996, the members of The Jackson 5 were
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Michael Jackson would be inducted into the Hall of
Fame as a solo performer in 2001.

The following year 1997, Jackson released Blood on
the Dance Floor, a remix album of several of the
new tracks from HIStory. Five new songs were also
included on the LP, which has since become the
biggest-selling remix album of all time.  The
album only had one single and official music
video, the title track, which failed to catch on
in America, and again proved a far more popular
hit in Europe.  However, Jackson also produced
"Ghosts," a forty-minute short film, which was
shown in several movie theaters and uses the songs
"Ghosts" and "2 Bad" on its soundtrack.  The short
film "Ghosts" is occasionally played as an
hour-long special, with space made for
commercials, on MTV and VH1, especially during the
Halloween season.

Michael released his next studio album, Invincible
(album)|Invincible, in 2001. It debuted at number
one on the Billboard 200|U.S. charts, selling two
million copies in the United States and twelve
million worldwide. These sales figures were below
expectations, considering Jackson's previous
success and the cost of the album. As opposed to
his earlier albums which each spawned at least six
singles, most of which were generally worldwide
smashes, "Invincible" produced only the singles
"You Rock My World" and "Butterflies" in America;
"Cry" was issued as a third single in Europe. "You
Rock My World" managed to enter the top ten in
America, but only for a week, and its big-budget,
fourteen-minute music video received only sparse
airplay on MTV, VH1, MTV2, and BET, usually in a
shortened five-minute version.  "Butterflies" was
a number-two hit on the R&B charts, but did not
reach the top ten, despite a popular radio remix
featuring rapper Eve (rapper)|Eve. The song peaked
at number sixteen, and its relative lack of
success also allowed no budget for a music video.

In June 2002, Jackson was inducted for his work as
a songwriter into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In
November 2002, Jackson received Germany's Bambi
Award, in recognition of his status as the world's
"greatest living pop icon". The awards recognize
outstanding personalities and performances in
various fields, including show business, film,
politics and sport.



=== "One More Chance" to The Essential Michael
Jackson===
On November 20 2003, Jackson released a new song,
"One more chance (Michael Jackson song) | One More
Chance", written by R. Kelly. It was the only new
track included on his Number Ones greatest hits
album, released the same year. As of 2005, the
album has sold six million copies worldwide. "One
More Chance" went on to become the number-one
track on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales
chart for three straight weeks. An original video
for "One More Chance" was filmed but never
released.

In November 2004, Jackson released his first box
set, Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection, a
four disc collection which included many of his
biggest hits, unreleased material from the past 25
years, demo recordings of some of his biggest
hits, four news songs ("In The Back", "Beautiful
Girl", "The Way You Love Me" and "We've Had
Enough" - all written by Jackson) and a bonus DVD
that featured a concert from the Dangerous world
tour, originally aired on HBO in 1992. Six months
later, Epic released a two-disc compilation, The
Essential Michael Jackson, which focused only on
the hit records. The Ultimate Collection peaked at
#154 on The Billboard 200, while The Essential
Michael Jackson sold 8,000 copies in the first
week in the U.S. (compared to the number-one
album, "Now 19", which sold 436,000 copies in the
same period), though the CD reached #2 in the
United Kingdom|U.K., selling 45,000 copies.
Overall global first week retail sales were about
250,000 units, while wholesale shipment now
estimated to be about 1,500,000 copies.




==Personal life==


Michael Jackson continued to engage in
door-to-door evangelizing as a Jehovah's Witness
after becoming famous, but in disguise. His career
and flamboyant lifestyle led to friction with
congregation elders. At one point, his sister,
LaToya Jackson|LaToya, was shunning|shunned by
Jehovah's Witnesses, and in 1987, he formally left
the religion.

Jackson's most famous home is his 2,600 acre
(eleven square-kilometer) Neverland Ranch in Santa
Ynez, California which he purchased in 1988. It is
named after the magical kingdom, Neverland, from
the children's story, "Peter Pan". Jackson, a huge
Disney fan, built an amusement park on the ranch,
and frequently welcomes sick and poor children
there to visit and sponsors charity drives for
children. Jackson's relationships with children,
both his own and others, have been controversial:
his sleepover parties at Neverland have received
widespread critical media coverage, especially
after he revealed that he sometimes slept in the
same bed with several unrelated children.

He claims that he likes to be surrounded by
children because of their sense of innocence,
which he feels he lost too soon. His song
"Childhood" included the lyric, "It's been my fate
to compensate, for the childhood I've never
known". Jackson is fond of animals: he owns a
private zoo at Neverland, and was often seen with
a chimpanzee named Bubbles and a snake called
Muscles in the 1980s.  Jackson claims that
Neverland has inspired much of his work, having
once told an interviewer that he liked climbing
trees to write songs like "Will You Be There" and
"Heal the World".

Jackson is noted for his humanitarian efforts, and
has often used his music, including the all-star
single "We Are the World" (1985), "Man in the
Mirror" (1987), "Heal the World" (1992), "Earth
Song" (1995), "Cry" (2001), and "What More Can I
Give (2003) to support and promote various causes.
The "Heal the World" foundation was created by
Jackson in 1992, with assistance from former
President Jimmy Carter. Jackson was considering a
tour of Africa in May or June 2004 to raise money
to fight AIDS; Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Senegal
were among the countries he had planned to visit.

Over the years, Michael Jackson maintained a
number of high-profile celebrity friendships with
entertainers such as Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor,
Marlon Brando, Macaulay Culkin, Emmanuel Lewis,
Chris Tucker, and others. Jackson is also the
godfather of Lionel Richie's adopted daughter,
Nicole Richie, while Macaulay Culkin is godfather
of singer's children.

=== Jackson's marriages and children ===
In 1994, Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, the
daughter of Elvis Presley; the marriage was
severely criticized by the media and lasted less
than two years. Despite some comments questioning
the validity of this union, Presley, has always
maintained that they both shared a normal couple's
life during their time together and their romance
started before any allegations broke.

In 1996, Jackson married Deborah Jeanne Rowe, with
whom he had a son, Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr.
(who publicly goes by the name "Prince"), and a
daughter, Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson. They
were divorced in 1999. 
Rowe later said that she wanted Jackson to have
the children as a "gift", which she had offered
even while Jackson was married to Presley. Rowe
had given up her parental rights to the children,
but as of 2005, a family court case is under way
regarding visitation. The godparents of these two
children are Macaulay Culkin and Elizabeth Taylor.

Around February 2002, Jackson had another son,
Michael Joseph Jackson III, called both "Prince
Michael II" and "Blanket", apparently with a
surrogate mother whose identity has not been
disclosed. In late 2002, Jackson stirred up
controversy while staying at the Adlon hotel in
Berlin, by briefly suspending him over the edge of
a balcony so that fans could see him. Jackson
defended his actions, saying that he held the
child very tightly. Jackson's children are veiled
or masked when they appear in public with him,
which he describes as a security measure. Rowe
said it was her idea from the beginning.

After the children were seen in Martin Bashir's
Living with Michael Jackson documetary special,
many in the press and the public questioned
whether Prince and Paris were actually Jackson's
children, as they had no noticeable African
features about them. Jackson explained that his
own father is African-American, but has blue eyes,
and that some of the Jackson family ancestors are
Caucasian, and even Indian. However, during the
interviews for the same special, Jackson revealed
that "Blanket's" mother was black. 

There had been rumors that Jackson was having
children by various women. One woman claimed that
she was giving birth to quadruplets fathered by
Jackson, a claim later proven to be false. Jackson
had suffered the same problem two decades earlier
with a woman claiming Michael was a father of one
of her fraternal twins, a story from which his
memorable hit "Billie Jean" was derived.

== Controversies ==


===Skin color===
Although Jackson's skin color was a medium brown
tone for the entire duration of his youth, his
skin has lightened gradually since 1982, and is
today a light cream color. Jackson has attributed
his changing skin color to vitiligo, a skin
disease in which the body develops antibodies
against its own pigment, resulting in light
patches and an eventual loss of melanin. The
public finally got to know of Jackson's condition
when he first revealed it in an interview with
Oprah Winfrey in 1993. Several members of the
media refused to believe Jackson has vitiligo and
believe that Jackson bleaches his skin, an
allegation which Jackson denies. Jackson's family
members backed up his claim, with Joseph Jackson
stating that his own father (Michael Jackson's
grandfather) had also suffered from vitiligo.
Also, during under oath depositions back in 1994,
both Jackson's dermatologist and his nurse, that
later became singer's wife, confirmed the
diagnosis.

Jackson has been shown in various pictures over
the years to have suffered from the disease. In
several early-1980s concert photos, there was a
white blotch on Jackson's neck which could easily
explained Jackson's lightening condition. After
going to a hospital, he finally received the news
when his doctor diagnosed him with the disease in
1981, at the time he has met with his second wife,
nurse of his dermatologist, Deborah Rowe-Jackson.
Ever since then, Jackson has regularly worn
long-sleeved shirts and pants under an umbrella
while in public to hide from the sun, which he
says he's allergic to because of his condition.

===Plastic surgery===
It has been rumored that Jackson has used
extensive plastic surgery to modify his
appearance, although he claims to have had only
three operations: two rhinoplasty|rhinoplastic
surgeries – the first of which he claims was
to repair a broken nose resulting from a dancing
accident in 1978, and the second to correct
imperfections in the first surgery – and the
surgical creation of a cleft in his chin. When
listing his cosmetic surgery, Jackson often omits
mentioning the cleft; however, he confirmed this
surgery in his 1988 autobiography, Moon Walk.

Jackson's alleged extensive use of plastic surgery
has now caused increased concerns of media's
surgeons for possible cartilage and nose collapse.
They agree that Jackson's nose structure could
easily collapse during an altercation. Other
experts, however, claim that in the last
twenty-seven years, Jackson had totally only two
nasal bone structure surgeries, the latest in
1982, and three other minor corrections of the
cartilage in 1983, 1990, and 2000.

In 2005, Jackson had his collapsed nose corrected
by a new plastic surgeon, who used cartliage taken
from one of his ears to rebuild the nose's
structure. However, this tabloid report was never
confirmed to be true, and contradicted to
Jackson's schedule for the year.

===Finances===
Jackson's ATV/Sony music publishing company is
estimated to be worth USD 1.5 billion. In October
2002, various international banks claimed that
Jackson was tens of millions of dollars in debt.
That same month, concert promoter, Marcel Avram,
sued Jackson in a court in Santa Maria,
California, claiming that he reneged on a deal to
perform on a series of millennium concerts
crossing the International Date Line on the
evening of December 31, 1999–January 1,
2000.  Jackson lost the case, and is appealing.

He has been involved in a legal dispute with his
former financial adviser, Union Finance and
Investment Corporation of South Korea, who claim
that Jackson owes the firm twelve million dollars
in fees and expenses, and that Jackson's
extravagant spending may lead to his bankruptcy
(even though there is no way to go bankrupt,
having assets that cost hundreds million dollars
more than liabilities). See also
Michael_Jackson:_Bashir_interview_and_allegations#
Jackson.27s_finances|Jackson's finances in
connection to the trial.

===Alleged child sexual abuse===
Main articles: Allegations of child sexual abuse
by Michael Jackson in the early 1990s and 2005
trial of Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson has also repeatedly been accused
of Sexual abuse#Child sexual abuse|child sexual
abuse. In 1993, Jordan Chandler, the son of former
Beverly Hills dentist Evan Chandler, accused
Jackson of sexual molestation, represented by
civil lawyer Larry Feldman. Jackson was served a
search warrant to have the Santa Barbara Police
Department, headed by District Attorney Tom
Sneddon, view his body. Jackson later complained
in a December 22, 1993 press conference that the
officers violated his privacy, by photographing
his body in order to look for some marks allegedly
described by the young accuser. Jackson settled
out of court with the accuser for at least USD 25
millionhttp://www.courttv.com/news/jackson/061504_
ctv.html.  Jackson's settling out of court brought
suspicion among the media, some of whom claimed
that Jackson avoided a trial because he was afraid
he would have been proven guilty. Critics of the
alledged victim and his family insisted that the
fact that the parents agreed to sell the innocence
of their son for money, refusing to criminally
pursue Jackson, is the most blatant indication
that the allegations were false from the very
beginning.  Others debated whether Jackson chose
to settle or was forced to by his insurance
provider.  When interviewed by Bashir, Michael
Jackson confirmed that the 1993/1994 settlement
was his own personal
decisionhttp://www.mjshouse.com/stories/living_wit
h_mj_transcript.wm, with no mention that it was
also enforced by insurance company, what court
motions showed.


In 2003, Jackson was accused of sexual molestation
by a second young accuser, Gavin Arvizo, who
appeared with Jackson on the Living with Michael
Jackson television documentary. Like Chandler,
Arvizo was represented by civil lawyer Larry
Feldman, and an investigation was once again
launched by Sneddon. Jackson was served a search
warrant for Neverland, and the singer was arrested
in November 2003. In the prelude to the trial,
Jackson allowed a high profile visit of children
to Neverland in December 2004.  Michael Jackson's
spokesperson provided the press with a list of
non-profit children's organizations which had sent
the children. According to Court TV, most of these
organizations turned out to be either non-existent
or were upset that they were falsely associated
with the visit.
http://www.courttv.com/news/jackson/010405_dimond_
ctv.html Critics of CourtTV investigation
questions Diane Dimond's ability to be objective,
due to journalist's siding with prosecution that
started even since 1993 case. Also, since the
visit was not on a paper, but actually had place,
and children belonged to existing community, for
Jackson's employees there was no point to make up
anything from very beginning.

The criminal case was tried in Santa Maria,
California during the spring of 2005. On June 13,
Jackson was acquitted of all charges, including
four additional misdemeanour ones.  CNN later
reported that two of the jurors, Ray Hultman and
Eleanor Cook, claimed to regret their decision to
acquit Jackson that their held under the pressure
and threats from other jurors, and announced
impending books, merchandise and movie deals on
their experiences in the trial.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/08/08/jackson.jurors.a
p/index.html Both pro-prosecution analysts and
Jackson's defence lawyer, Thomas Mesereau Jr.,
condemned the act of two jurors as contempt to
USA's justice system.

A civil (non-criminal) suit over allegations of
abduction and sexual assault is currently pending
in
Louisiana.http://today.reuters.co.uk/News/newsArti
cle.aspx?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=2005-07-21
T015607Z_01_HAR058177_RTRUKOC_0_PEOPLE-JACKSON2.xm
l
.  Jackson did not appear for the August 17, 2005
court date, and was fined USD 10,000 as a result. 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/416
0796.stm

==Discography==
For a more detailed listing of albums and singles
with chart positions, see Michael Jackson
discography.


===Regular studio albums===
;Motown releases:
* 1972: Got to Be There
* 1972: Ben (album)|Ben
* 1973: Music and Me
* 1975: Forever, Michael

;Epic Records|Epic releases:
* 1979: Off the Wall
* 1982: Thriller (album)|Thriller
* 1987: Bad (album)|Bad
* 1991: Dangerous (album)|Dangerous
* 1995: HIStory
* 2001: Invincible (album)|Invincible

===Number one hits===
The following singles reached number one on either
the Billboard US Hot 100, R&B singles chart, or UK
pop singles charts:

* 1972: "Ben (song)|Ben" (#1 Pop)
* 1979: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" (#1 Pop,
#1 R&B)
* 1980: "Rock With You" (#1 Pop, #1 R&B)
* 1981: "One Day in Your Life (song)|One Day in
Your Life" (#1 UK)
* 1982: "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney)
(#1 R&B)
* 1983: "Billie Jean" (#1 Pop, #1 R&B , #1 UK)
* 1983: "Beat It" (#1 Pop, #1 R&B)
* 1983: "Say Say Say" (Paul McCartney with Michael
Jackson) (#1 Pop)
* 1987: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (#1 Pop, #1
R&B, #1 UK)
* 1987: "Bad (song)|Bad" (#1 Pop, #1 R&B)
* 1987: "The Way You Make Me Feel" (#1 Pop, #1
R&B)
* 1988: "Man in the Mirror" (#1 Pop, #1 R&B)
* 1988: "Dirty Diana" (#1 Pop)
* 1988: "Another Part Of Me" (#1 R&B)
* 1991: "Black or White (Michael Jackson
song)|Black or White" (#1 Pop, #1 UK)
* 1992: "Remember the Time" (#1 R&B)
* 1992: "In The Closet" (#1 R&B)
* 1995: "You Are Not Alone" (#1 Pop, #1 R&B, #1
UK)
* 1995: "Earth Song" (#1 UK)
* 1997: "Blood on the Dance Floor (song)|Blood on
the Dance Floor" (#1 UK)

==Filmography==
===Films===
*1974: Free to Be... You & Me
*1978: The Wiz
*1985: Captain EO
*1988: Moonwalker
*2002: Men in Black II (Cameo appearance)
*2004: Miss Cast Away

===Video games===
* Michael Jackson's Moonwalker is an arcade game
that was ported to the Sega Mega Drive/Sega
Genesis and Sega Master System.
* Space Channel 5 for the Sega Dreamcast featured
Michael Jackson in the later levels.
* Space Channel 5 Part 2, a dance game for the
PlayStation 2 and Sega Dreamcast also featured
Michael Jackson in the later levels.
* Ready 2 Rumble Round 2 is a fighting game for
the PlayStation 2 and Sega Dreamcast featuring
Michael Jackson as a hidden character.

==See also==
wikinews|