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Michael Jackson
Age: 50 (passed away Jun. 25th, 2009)
Height: 5' 10"
Birth Place: Gary, Indiana, USA
Born: Aug. 29th, 1958
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Michael Jackson's Main TV Roles
NOTE: Complete List of Works can be found at
IMDB
BIOGRAPHY: American superstar Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, on August 29, 1958, and entertained audiences nearly his entire life. His father, Joe Jackson (III), had been a guitarist but was forced to give up his musical ambitions following his marriage to Katherine (Scruse). Together they prodded their growing family's musical interests at home. By the early 1960s, the older boys Jackie, Tito and Jermaine had begun performing around the city; by 1964, Michael and Marlon had joined in.
A musical prodigy, Michael's singing and dancing talents were amazingly mature, and he soon became the dominant voice and focus of The Jackson 5. An opening act for such soul groups as the O-Jays and James Brown (I), it was Gladys Knight (not Diana Ross (I)) who officially brought the group to Berry Gordy's attention, and by 1969, the boys were producing back-to-back chart-busting hits as Motown artists ("I Want You Back," "ABC," "Never Can Say Goodbye," "Got to Be There," etc.). As a product of the 1970s, the boys emerged as one of the most accomplished black pop/soul vocal groups in music history, successfully evolving from a group like The Temptations to a disco phenomenon.
Solo success for Michael was inevitable, and by the 1980s, he had become infinitely more popular than his brotherly group. Record sales consistently orbited, culminating in the biggest-selling album of all time, "Thriller" in 1982. A TV natural, he ventured rather uneasily into films, such as playing the Scarecrow in The Wiz (1978), but had much better luck with elaborate music videos.
In the 1990s, the downside as an 1980s pop phenomenon began to rear itself. Michael grew terribly child-like and introverted by his peerless celebrity. A rather timorous, androgynous figure to begin with, his physical appearance began to change drastically, and his behavior grew alarmingly bizarre, making him a consistent target for scandal-making, despite his numerous charitable acts. Two brief marriages -- one to Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie Presley -- were forged and two children produced by his second wife during that time, but the purposes behind them appeared image-oriented. Despite it all, Michael Jackson's passion and artistry as a singer, dancer, writer and businessman are unparalleled, and it is these prodigious talents that will ultimately prevail over the extremely negative aspects of his seriously troubled adult life.
For it all to end on June 25, 2009, with his sudden death at age 50 of a drug-induced cardiac arrest, just as he was coming out of a four-year reclusive period and rehearsing for a sold-out London concert "comeback" in July, seems uncommonly cruel and tragic. Millions upon millions of dedicated fans will remember where they were "the day Michael died".
TRIVIA:
- Was asked to write and perform the songs for _Batman (1989)_ (qv), but had to turn it down due to his concert commitments.
- He was the highest earning singer of 1988-1989, with $125 million from his worldwide "BAD" album tour.
- "The Essential Michael Jackson", another greatest hits package, debuted at a surprisingly high Number 2 on the UK charts and sold 200,000 copies within five months. In the United States it only reached Number 96 and soon disappeared.
- Spent his last days at a rented mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive in Los Angeles. The property was once owned by 'Sean Connery' (qv).
- Winner of the British Phonographic Industry Award for International Solo Artist in 1988.
- "Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection", his third greatest hits package in less than ten years, sold 250,000 copies worldwide following its release in October 2004.
- Made an out-of-court settlement with the family of 13-year-old 'Jordie Chandler' (qv) for an estimated $25 million in January 1994 following allegations of sexual abuse against children.
- (3 April 1998) Second child, with 'Debbie Rowe' (qv), daughter Paris Michael Katherine Patricia Jackson, is born.
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