Singer-songwriter Michael Jackson's award-winning career as the King of Pop transformed the face of pop music and popular culture. Learn more at Biography.com. Jurors hearing the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial may again be faced with a stark vision of the dead pop icon on Tuesday.
People v. Jackson (full case name: 1133603: The People of the State of California v. Michael Joseph Jackson) was a 2005 trial involving American recording artist. Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958. He was the eighth of ten children in an African-American working-class family who lived in a two-bedroom house on. The seventh child of the Jackson family, Michael Jackson begun his career aged 11, as a member of the family pop group, Jackson 5. He later went on to become one of. Powered by imdb. Michael Joseph Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana on August 29, 1958, and entertained audiences nearly his entire life. His father, Joe Jackson, had.
Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson. AKA Michael Joseph Jackson.
Born: 2. 9- Aug- 1. Birthplace: Gary, INDied: 2. Jun- 2. 00. 9Location of death: Los Angeles, CACause of death: Accident - Overdose[1]Remains: Buried, Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, CAGender: Male. Religion: See Note [2]Race or Ethnicity: Black. Sexual orientation: Matter of Dispute[3]Occupation: Singer, Dancer. Nationality: United States. Executive summary: King of Pop.
The proclaimed King of Pop, Michael Jackson was an icon of 2. Raised in a tough showbusiness family, he was a natural performer thrust into the limelight at a young age. At the height of his popularity, with 1. Thriller, he was a superstar beloved by millions. But by the time of his death, his glories had been overshadowed by plastic surgery and public trial, and a life cut short just as he was about to stage his comeback. Michael Jackson was born into a poor family in Gary, Indiana, in 1. At age five, his family discovered his vocal talent, and the boy was recruited into his brothers' music group.
Managed by their domineering father, the family spent their youth rigorously touring the midwest chitlin' circuit, until they were discovered by a Motown talent scout in 1. Assured of their talent, Berry Gordy signed the family to a five- year contract (which none of the Jacksons actually read). With the backing of Motown's staff songwriters, session musicians, and marketing department, the Jackson 5 was launched onto the national stage. Their first albums went platinum, and their first four singles - - I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save and I'll Be There - - went to number one.
Early on, Michael was recognized as the standout performer in the group, and he was the first Jackson to enjoy a solo career on the side, releasing a handful of albums and three popular singles - - Got to Be There, Ben, and Rockin' Robin. Up until this time, all the songs the Jackson 5 performed were written by Motown songwriters; in 1. Motown to sign with CBS, so that they could record their own material and benefit from publishing royalties. Michael wrote the biggest hit of this later period, Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground), and began to break out on his own, making his motion picture debut as as the Scarecrow in The Wiz (1.
His album Off The Wall (1. Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough and Rock With You.
It is difficult to overstate the success that followed. Michael Jackson's next album, Thriller (1. Produced by Michael and Quincy Jones, the album spawned seven singles - - Billie Jean, Beat It, P.
Y. T., The Girl is Mine (written with Paul Mc. Cartney), Wanna Be Startin' Somethin, Human Nature, and of course Thriller.
Five of the songs received music video treatment - - Thriller itself can be considered a short film, and a documentary about its production was also released. At its peak, Thriller sold one million copies per week. From this point, each of Michael's albums was guaranteed to sell in the millions, though none could match the success of Thriller.
He counted on staging several sold- out world tours, though these increasingly took a toll on his body. Jackson also made a coup by acquiring the publishing rights to the Beatles catalogue through his purchase of ATV, and then monetizing songs like "Revolution" for commercial advertisement. Yet though savvy in business, his bizarre behavior in adulthood eventually overshadowed the music to many. Despite his undisputed success, Michael Jackson's personal life was filled with discord. His father had abused him as a child; he often complained that his childhood was lost to his career.
In adulthood, he built walls between himself and the other Jacksons. Foremost was his plastic surgery; it began with his first rhinoplasty when he broke his nose during a rehearsal in 1.
In part Michael was probably motivated by a desire to not resemble his father, but by the 1. Afflicted with vitiligo and acne, he began bleaching his skin, and typically went out in public in a surgical mask. Drastic changes were exaggerated by publicity attempts gone awry: after Michael posed in a hyperbaric chamber, and had the photo leaked to get attention, the tabloids willfully began calling him Wacko- Jacko. Jackson's sexuality was also long an open question.
Rumors that he was secretly gay dogged him for most of his life. His lack of interest in women came in part by the trauma of witnessing his father's infidelity while on tour, and by having to share rooms with his brothers who likewise took advantage of groupies.
It's believed that Lisa Marie Presley was the only woman he was ever sexual with, after she helped him out of painkiller addiction brought on by the molestation accusations of Jordy Chandler. Michael began nurturing the companionship of young boys while in his twenties, seemingly as a way to cling to his own image as a child star. Various child actors, including Emmanuel Lewis, Corey Feldman and Macaulay Culkin, were all young companions of Michael at one time, though all attested that nothing untoward happened in their friendship. Part of his charitable work included bringing underprivileged children to his home at Neverland Ranch; it was not uncommon for him to surround himself with children, or have a room filled with babies and plop himself in the middle. This infantile fantasy clearly went too far, especially after the Chandler allegations and settlement. Jackson continued to flaunt his friendships with children for years after.
His next accuser was a cancer patient who had appeared in an exploitative documentary by Martin Bashir in 2. The molestation trial in 2. While much of the world expected a guilty verdict, in a high- profile trial Jackson was acquitted of child molestation charges on 1. June 2. 00. 5, with the assistance of attorney Tom Mesereau.
Santa Barbara County district attorney Tom Sneddon's case was very weak, particularly in that it brought the issue of the motives of the accuser's mother into question. Bringing the first charge, that of child abduction, was an error of strategy that likely killed the entire case. Two days before he was to have begun his comeback tour, Michael Jackson died while under heavy sedation, a circumstance which led to the prosecution and conviction of Jackson's personal physician, cardiologist Conrad Murray. The drug in question, propofol, is normally used to induce coma; he had been taking the drug off and on since the 1.