2. The King of PopMichael Jackson Michael became a superstar at an age when most other children are learning things like the alphabet and how to count to 20. Born on August 29, 1958 he was the seventh child in a family of nine. Michael and his older brothers (Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon) were thrust into the spotlight when their father, Joseph Jackson, a steel mill worker in Gary, Indiana, formed a singing group out of his sons and called them The Jackson 5. Even though Michael was the youngest, it became immediately obvious that he had something special. Armed with a magical voice mature beyond its tender years and a crowd-charming charisma that rivalled any seasoned entertainer, little Michael lead his brothers from winning local talent contests to a recording contract with Mo town Records in the late 1960's. The group quickly began turning out hit after hit for their new record label and remained a hit-making machine throughout the '70's. During their time at Mo town, Michael also began a successful solo recording career that would run parallel to his work with his brothers.
3. 1964 – The Jackson Five‘ABC’ - February 24, 1970 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho7796-au8U Michael and Marlon had joined in 1964 his brothers called ‘The Jackson 5’. "ABC" was the first single from the second Jackson 5 album, ABC. It is considered one of the Jackson 5's signature songs. It is one of the shortest titles to hit #1; and, it is the first song alphabetically in the list of #1 hits of the Billboard Hot 100.
4. 1972 – Solo Career begins‘Ben’ - July 12, 1972 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bverx-nMWQ Jackson's single, recorded for the Mo town label in 1972, spent one week at the top of the U.S. pop chart. It also reached number-one on the Australian pop chart, spending eight weeks at the top spot. The song also later reached a peak of number seven on the British pop chart."Ben" won a Golden Globe for Best Song. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1973, losing to "The Morning After" from The Poseidon Adventure; Jackson performed the song in front of a live audience at the ceremony. The song was Jackson's first #1 solo hit.
5. 1975 – The JacksonsOff the Wall (1975–81) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW1fXL3s7bk In 1975 ‘the Jackson 5’ lost members of the group to future solo careers so the band became, ‘The Jacksons’, who reordered hits such as ‘Can you feel it’ and ‘This palace Hotel’. The Jacksons had changed image from young boys to young adults. The video to ‘can you feel it’ was the first for the music industry as the video included computer generated special effects which was very rare for the era.
6. 1979 – Solo Career ‘Don’t stop Til you get enough - 28, 1979 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yURRmWtbTbo&ob=av2e The music video for "Don’t Stop 'Til You Get Enough" was directed and produced by Nick Saxton and made its world premiere in October 1979.It was Jackson's first music video as a solo artist. The music video features a smiling Jackson floating over a background of abstract geometric figures and performing dance techniques while singing "Don't Stop 'Til You get Enough" in a black and white tuxedo with a black bow tie. At one stage, Jackson is seen dancing in triplicate, which was considered innovative at the time.
7. 1982 – Thriller Album As Michael Jackson continued his solo album career he produced the album, ‘Thriller’. The album included: "Wanna Be Startin' Something'" "Baby Be Mine" "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney) "Thriller" (voice-over by Vincent Price) "Beat It" (guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen "Billie Jean" "Human Nature" "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" "The Lady in My Life" Within this album Michael Jackson sung with very famous songwriters and singers, showing that at the age of 20 he was at the top of his career already.
8. Song from album – ‘Thriller’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA&ob=av2e Jackson’s image change and growing success: Within the video of this song, it showed how the singer was changing and becoming an iconic singer and songwriter with the first of it’s kind yet again with it’s video. The music video, directed by John Landis, was filmed in various locations in New York and Los Angeles. Contrary to reports of $800,000 to $1 million dollar production budgets, Landis stated that the music video was made on a $500,000 dollar budget.
9. Appearance takes a huge change Michael Jackson's skin had been a medium-brown colour for the entire duration of his youth, but starting in the mid 1980s, it gradually grew paler. The change gained widespread media coverage, including rumors that he was bleaching his skin.According to J. Randy Taraborrelli's biography, in 1986, Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo and lupus; the vitiligo partially lightened his skin, and the lupus was in remission; both illnesses made him sensitive to sunlight. The treatments he used for his condition further lightened his skin tone, and, with the application of pancake makeup to even out blotches, he could appear very pale. Jackson was also diagnosed with vitiligo in his autopsy. Several surgeons speculated that he had undergone various nasal surgeries, a forehead lift, thinned lips, and cheekbone surgery—although Jackson denied this and insisted that he only had surgery on his nose.
10. 1987 – ‘Bad’ Album Bad is the seventh studio album by American songwriter and recording artist Michael Jackson. The album was released on August 31, 1987by Epic/CBS Records, nearly five years after Jackson's previous studio album, Thriller, which went on to become the world's best-selling album. Bad itself sold over 30 million copies worldwide, and shipped eight million units in the United States alone, and has been cited as being one of the best-selling albums of all time. Bad was the first album to have five of its singles peak at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Similar to Jackson's previous music material, the album's music features elements of R&B, pop and rock. The album included: "Bad" "The Way You Make Me Feel" "Speed Demon" "Liberian Girl" "Just Good Friends" (featuring Stevie Wonder "Another Part of Me" "Man in the Mirror" "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" (featuring Siedah Garrett) "Dirty Diana" "Smooth Criminal"
11. Song from album – ‘Bad’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsUXAEzaC3Q&ob=av2e The ‘Bad’ music video continued to show Michael Jackson as a singer and chorographer. The video was directed by Martin Scorsese and released in late 1987; in the video, Jackson and a group of background dancers are shown doing dance routines throughout a subway station. The music videos choreographer stated that the plot and video of the background was strongly influenced by the "Cool" scene in West Side Story. The music video received one nomination at the Video Music Awards in 1988. "Bad" has been covered and parodied by multiple artists since its release as well as becoming a frequent song used during tributes to Jackson after his death in June 2009.
12. 1991 – ‘Dangerous’ album Dangerous is the eighth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson, released November 26, 1991 on Epic Records. It became his second to debut at number 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, where it spent the next four consecutive weeks. The album has sold over 32 million copies worldwide.The album won one Grammy for Best Engineered Album – Non Classical won by Bruce Swedien and Teddy Riley, and is the most successful new jack swing album of all time. The album included: "Jam" "Why You Wanna Trip on Me" "In the Closet" (featuring Mystery Girl) "She Drives Me Wild" (featuring Wrecks-N-Effect) "Remember the Time" "Can't Let Her Get Away" "Heal the World" "Black or White" (featuring L.T.B.) "Who Is It" "Give In to Me" (featuring Slash) "Will You Be There" (Theme from Free Willy) "Keep the Faith" "Gone Too Soon" "Dangerous"
13. Song from album – ‘Black or white’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJxOHD3Bsrw The song was mainly to show that appearance shouldn’t make you judge someone due to the time he was going through in his life personally with skin colour change. "Black or White" was written, composed and produced by Michael Jackson and Bill Bottrell, and was picked as the first single from the album Dangerous. An alternate version was first heard by Sony executives on a trip to Neverland, as the third track of the Promo (Flight Only)CD Acetate. It began to be promoted on radio stations the first week of November 1991 in New York and Los Angeles."Black or White" was officially released one week later, on November 5, 1991.The song has elements of dance, rap and hard rock music such as Bill Bottrell's guitars and Jackson's vocal style.
14. When things change Michael Jackson’s career started to go wrong as he faces charges of child sexual abuse as well as divorces and the closure of his theme park, Neverland. His career took a down turn and people became to not trust Jackson as a person anymore due to the bad press and statements used against him.
15. This Is It was a planned series of fifty concerts by Michael Jackson to be held at The O2 Arena in London. They were scheduled to begin in July 2009 and continue through to March 2010. However, with all concerts sold out, Jackson died less than three weeks before the first concert date. Jackson officially announced the concerts at a press conference held inside The O2 Arena and stated that This Is It was going to be his final tour. AEG Live, the concert promoters, released a promotional video that took up an entire commercial break, setting a record for ITV. The shows were to be Jackson's first major series of concerts since the HIStory World Tour finished in 1997, and had been cited as one of the year's most important musical events. Randy Phillips, president and chief executive of AEG Live, stated that the first 10 dates alone would have earned the singer approximately £50 million.
16. June 2009, Michael Jackson’s health takes a turn for the worst while preparing for his ‘This is it’ tour in London. The King of Pop dies age 50.
