Michael’s Life

When he died in his home on Thursday, June 25 of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles, California, Michael Jackson was considered by most to be the biggest performer in entertainment history.
He was 50 years old.

The legendary pop star was found early Thursday afternoon in his bed by Dr. Conrad Murray, a cardiologist who was working as his personal physician, unconscious and not breathing. Dr. Murray also claimed that Jackson had no pulse and a 911 call was immediately placed.

According to Capt. Steve Ruda of the Los Angeles Fire Department, paramedics arrived shortly and performed CPR, then rushed Jackson to the UCLA Medical Center, approximately 6 minutes from the Bel Air mansion that Jackson was renting temporarily.
Hundreds of reporters quickly converged on the hospital grounds to await the verdict of what would be the biggest announcement of a death in entertainment history. At approximately 2:30 PM Pacific Time, Michael Jackson was officially pronounced dead.
Jermaine Jackson later read a statement from the hospital on behalf of the family confirming the death of his famous brother. He thanked fans for their outpouring of condolences, as well as the paramedics and doctors who attempted to help save his brother’s life.

Jackson leaves behind three children: Prince Michael Joe Jackson, 12, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, 11, and Prince Michael Joe Jackson II, 7.
Shockwaves and grief immediately spread across the world as mourners expressed sadness and disbelief over the passing of possibly the biggest global icon of the last century.
Entertainers like Madonna, John Mayer, Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor and Teddy Riley Twittered and sent statements of condolences to the Jackson family.
U.S. President Barack Obama also wrote a letter of condolence to the Jackson family.
Radio stations all over the world almost all instantly began playing Michael Jackson’s music around the clock, as well as taking thousands of calls from his fans who shared their memories of the legendary singer.
Immediately, speculation began to swirl about the cause of death of the colourful and always controversial entertainer.

Over the last 15 years, reports have continuously circulated about Jackson’s addiction to painkillers, as well as reported interventions by his family to get him off the powerful prescription drugs he apparently became dependant on in the mid-90s to help cope with the stress brought on by charges of child molestation which he eventually was cleared of when he agreed to an out-of-court settlement with the alleged victim for a reported $25 million U.S.
Dr. Conrad Murray was twice interrogated by Los Angeles police over the next couple of days about whether or not he had prescribed the heavy narcotic medication, namely Demerol, to Jackson on the day of his death. Dr. Murray has denied prescribing any such medication. Police also impounded Dr. Murray’s car after finding medication in it. After two interrogation sessions lasting over three hours each, police at this time are saying that Dr. Murray is not a suspect but a witness to the events surrounding Jackson’s death.
Speculators though say that may change after a toxology report is completed after an autopsy performed the day after Jackson’s death showed no signs of outer trauma or any signs of foul play. The toxicology report will take between 4 to 6 weeks to complete.
Dr. Murray was hired by AEG Live, the promoter behind the launching of what had been hoped would be Jackson’s big comeback campaign which was to be launched with 50 sold-out shows at London’s 02 Stadium.
Jackson had undergone an extensive physical by the insurance company that was hired by AEG a few months earlier for the concert residency. Apart from being somewhat underweight, doctors found nothing (medically wrong) to be concerned about.
Jackson, though, who had originally signed on for 10 London shows, recently told a reporter that he had found out like his fans, through television reports, that the London residency had been extended to 50 shows. He told the reporter that he was overwhelmed at the thought of having to perform so many shows at once after such an extended break from the concert circuit.
Jackson also told the reporter that he had hoped to do 10 London shows and take his “This Is It” residency and tour across the world, including a return to U.S. concert stages he has not performed on in almost 14 years.
Jackson was renting the Bel Air mansion he died in with funds advanced to him by AEG as he rehearsed for the London shows 6 hours a day, 4 days a week. He had been working with the world’s top choreographers, musicians, special effects people and concert producers in what many in the industry were saying would be the biggest concert production in show business history.
The frail singer would drag himself to rehearsals everyday and bravely try to perfect his act, but many say he was but a mere shell of his former self as the rehearsals seem to drain him physically.
In a press conference held outside the Jackson family compound in Los Angeles, the Jackson family led by Michael’s father Joe Jackson and Rev. Jesse Jackson (no relation), told reporters that they were suspicious of Dr. Murray and his involvement with the singer in the hours leading up to his death.
Joe Jackson said, “We’d like some answers.” Rev. Jackson told reporters that Dr. Murray’s actions in the death of Michael Jackson were “bizarre.”
Rev. Al Sharpton who is serving as a spiritual advisor to the family as well as a spokesperson is also reportedly helping the Jackson family plan funeral arrangements. At press time, no funeral arrangements had yet been announced, although a service at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem, N.Y., where Michael performed as a child with his brothers as part of the Jackson 5, was mentioned as a possibility.
It was also mentioned that Jackson may be buried at his 2,700-acre Neverland Ranch compound, purchased in 1988 for $17 million. It comes complete with an amusement park, a movie theater, a zoo and several guest houses that employed 40 security guards when Jackson lived there from 1988 to 2005.
Jackson stopped living at Neverland after another child molestation charge surfaced in 2005; it led to a much-publicized trial, but he was eventually acquitted.
Jackson lost the estate due to foreclosure, but eventually regained partial ownership after an investment company purchased it in an auction and went into a partnership with Jackson that left at least part of the property in his name.
Ironically, 2 days after Jackson’s death, at the BET Awards ceremony, which celebrates the best in African-American entertainment, Joe Jackson seemed less interested in discussing his son’s death in detail and more interested in promoting a new record company he was launching.
This strange public behavior sparked outrage among Jackson’s fans who witnessed this bizarre episode on BET and on the internet.
Meanwhile, sister Janet Jackson spoke briefly at the awards, expressing her (and her family’s) sadness at losing her brother. This, notwithstanding the fact that, by her own admission in several interviews over the last few years, she had not spoken to her famous brother in years. She blamed their estrangement on career/time conflicts.
The Monday following Jackson’s death, his mother Katherine was awarded temporary custody of Michael’s 3 children (Prince Michael 1st and daughter Paris, whom Michael fathered with his second wife Debbie Rowe, and youngest son Prince II, with a surrogate mother, by a Los Angeles judge.
Michael Joe Jackson, the 6th of 9 children, was born August 29th, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, to Joe and Katherine Jackson.
Father Joe played guitar in an r’n’b group called The Falcons and quickly tried to instill an interest in music in his brood. He worked by day as a crane operator in the mainly steel industrial town of Gary, Indiana, located minutes from Chicago Ill.
The Jackson 5 as they soon became known performed on the “Chitlin’ Circuit” (a series of Black clubs around the U.S. where most legendary soul and r’n’b performers first cut their teeth) in the mid-west. Michael quickly became the lead singer of the group. The group also had a short stint as James Brown’s opening act in the late 60s, acquiring experience from the “Hardest Working Man In Show Business.” He became a mentor of sorts to the young group.
The Jackson 5 also performed in strip clubs with Michael performing comedic but suggestive routines with strippers during their performances.
Some have said the sexually charged routines performed by Michael were more cute and good-natured comedy than anything else may have had a negative effect on Michael’s sexual development, which would be the subject of controversy in the latter part of the singer’s life, eventually landing him in legal hot water.
The Jackson 5 signed their first recording contract in 1967 with the Gary Ind.-based indie label Steeltown Records, and had a small regional hit with a song called “Big Boy.”
In 1969, Gladys Knight and The Pips who were signed to Motown Records at the time brought the young group to the attention of Suzanne Depasse who worked as an A&R person for the Detroit-based Motown label and its founder Berry Gordy.
Gordy had no interest in signing another child act after Stevie Wonder; another young Motown act had cost the label so much in tutoring as well as other expenses that a label would have to incur because of laws involving minors and show business quickly changed his mind after reluctantly agreeing to an audition at the label’s Detroit studios.
Performing James Brown’s “I Got The Feelin’” complete with Michael’s mimicking the legendary Godfather Of Soul’s dance routines, Gordy immediately changed his mind and signed the group to a contract and put Motown’s legendary marketing machine to work to quickly make The Jackson 5 a household name.
The Jackson 5 sold millions of albums and spawned 4  #1 consecutive hits in a row: “I Want You Back”, “ABC”, “The Love You Save” and “I’ll Be There.”
Sold-out tours followed, as well as television specials and merchandising to rival The Beatles and Kiss.
After 1973, sales began to dwindle and conflicts surfaced between the label and father Joe Jackson, who was now the group’s manager, and sought creative control of the group’s recordings.
Michael at the time secretly arranged a meeting with owner Gordy who was so impressed with the young singer’s initiative and professionalism agreed to a hastily arranged private meeting with Michael who plead the group’s issues in a calm and collected manner, a contrast to father Joe’s aggressive and abrasive temperament.
The positive meeting extended the group’s tenure with the Detroit label by another 2 years, which saw The Jackson 5 and Motown go their separate ways.
The group first went to the Philadelphia International label, home to soul legends, The O’Jays, Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes and Teddy Pendergrass. Their stay at the label spawned no hits.
Eventually they signed to Epic Records which began to revive their career.
A weekly television variety show which bombed in the ratings, did help to bring the Jackson brand back to the public’s attention. The album “Destiny” in 1978 produced 2 big hits “Shake Your Body” (Down To The Ground) and “Blame It On The Boogie.”
Meanwhile, while rehearsing for an upcoming tour with his brothers, Michael attempted a complicated dance step, fell and broke his nose. Some reports, however, said MJ was punched in the nose by his father during an altercation.
Years later, his father would admit in an interview with the BBC that he had physically disciplined Michael in the past, but remained vague about the methods he used. However, the incident resulted in the first of Michael’s cosmetic surgeries, which markedly change his original features. 
Epic was now more concerned with focusing on Michael and what seemed to like an inevitable solo career.
Michael who already had successful solo albums on Motown while still with the Jackson 5 with “Ben” and “Got To Be There” began to rekindle the solo fever by appearing as the Scarecrow in Sidney Lumet’s Black adaptation of “The Wizard Of Oz” called “The Wiz,” co-starring one of Jackson’s Motown idols Diana Ross (who had falsely been credited in the past with discovering The Jackson 5) as well as Richard Pryor, Lena Horne and Nipsey Russell.
Quincy Jones, who scored “The Wiz” met Jackson on the set of the film and forged a relationship which eventually saw him produce Jackson’s first solo album for Epic “Off The Wall.”
“Off The Wall” was a smash album, producing hits like “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”, “Rock With You”, “Girlfriend” (written by Beatle Paul McCartney and “Working Day And Night” and the title track. All have since become classics.
Although “Off The Wall” garnered a few American Music Awards, it was snubbed at the Grammy’s, leaving Jackson sobbing in the limousine after leaving the awards ceremony.
Jackson vowed that his next effort would not be denied.

When “Thriller” was released in 1982, there was little fanfare. The lead- off single “The Girl Is Mine”, a duet with Paul McCartney, was very pop light and unimaginative.
But a new cable network channel called MTV, had just hit the airwaves playing music promotional clips, later to be dubbed “music videos” around the clock. At this time most video clips were essentially filmed on a soundstage with artists lip-synching their singles before a camera with little production around it.
The new format began in the mid 60s when The Beatles were accidentally double-booked for 2 television appearances on the same night. Rather than cancel one of them, they filmed a performance clip for the song “Rain” and sent it to the producers of one of the 2 programs to broadcast while they appeared live on the other.
When Epic sent MTV the video clip for Thriller’s second release, “Billie Jean”, MTV programmers told Epic that MTV was not targeting African-American audiences, and was not interested in playing “videos” by African-American artists either.
Epic president Walter Yentikoff personally contacted the president of MTV at the time and threatened not to send them any video clips by Epic artists or artists from its parent company at the time, CBS, the biggest record label in the industry.
MTV relented and put “Billie Jean” in its rotation and almost over night, Michael Jackson and MTV became giants in the industry and changed the very mechanics of the music business.
A video for “Beat It” a rock-edged song featuring Eddie Van Halen on guitar became an even bigger hit and its chorus line dance choreography became a staple of music videos, still heavily utilized today.
Finally, the video for the title track, “Thriller”, was filmed. A 14-minute mini film directed by John Landis with a horror movie theme was released and took the genre to yet a whole other level.
The album broke down many color barriers in the music business, making Jackson the biggest Black crossover success in music history.
Eventually the album sold 40 million copies in the U.S. and 50 million copies worldwide, becoming the biggest selling album of all time – up to this day.
This time Michael Jackson took home 8 Grammy’s.
A reunion tour with his brothers in 1984 for the first album they would record together in 6 years was a financial success, despite difficulties in ordering tickets as well as sound and technical problems. Michael donated his complete share of the tour profits to charity. It would spark his longtime involvement with charities which would eventually see him donate large sums of money to 39 different charities.
That same year he co-wrote “We Are The World” with Lionel Richie, an all-star-studded song featuring the biggest names in the music industry, including Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, The Pointer Sisters and countless others. The song was dedicated to famine relief in Africa. The following year he took home the Grammy award for Song Of The Year.
Jackson had now found fame, bigger than anything that The Beatles or Elvis Presley had experienced since their fame had essentially been relegated to North America and Europe. Jackson was now known in every corner of the globe.
Later, while visiting the Ivory Coast, he was crowned King Sani and marched through the streets on a throne.

During this time he was presented an award by President Ronald Reagan at The White House for all his contributions as an artist as well as his charitable work and campaigns to save young people from alcohol and drug abuse.
This newfound and extraordinary fame, though, also began to take its toll on Jackson emotionally; he became an extreme recluse. He no longer gave interviews and actually took a 5-year gap in releasing his next album “Bad” in 1987, also produced by Quincy Jones.
The formula for a perfect pop record which was only still an experiment on “Thriller”, was now mastered on “Bad”, as Jackson now produced what some called a perfect record.
The video for the title track was a mini film a la “Thriller.” Jackson surged to the top of the charts again with the title track “The Way You Make Me Feel”, “Another Part Of Me”, “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”, “Smooth Criminal”, “Dirty Diana” and “Man In The Mirror.”
Bad sold over 20 million copies in the U.S. and 30 million worldwide.
At this time President George H. W. Bush presented Jackson with an award naming him the Artist Of The Decade.
In 1992 he recorded his next album entitled “Dangerous”, this time parting ways with Jones as the producer and working mainly with New Jack Swing-style creator Teddy Riley.

“Dangerous” spawned the smash hits “Black Or White”, “Jam”, “In The Closet”, “Heal The World” (whose title eventually became a foundation Jackson established to help sick and under-privileged children all over the world) and “Remember The Time.”
Jackson promoted the album with a prime time ABC special hosted by Oprah Winfrey in 1993 in which he let Winfrey interview him at his Neverland ranch in southern California. He spoke extensively about his childhood, his career and family. He also claimed he had only 3 cosmetic procedures done in his life.
Although his nose had now changed considerably, a cleft had been put into his chin, his eyeliner and lipstick had been tattooed on as well as having his skin lightened. Jackson claimed that he had contacted vitiligo years ago, a skin blotching disease that left his skin an uneven tone.
As Jackson embarked on a world tour to promote “Dangerous”, the tour was suddenly halted when he was accused of sexually molesting 13 year-old Jordan Chandler. He was questioned by the police and was facing charges when Jackson suddenly settled with the boy’s family out of court for a reported $25 million.
In 1994, Jackson married Elvis Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie. They divorced less than two years later. Jackson, though, seemed to never fully recover from the ordeal, which saw detectives investigate and photograph his genitals to see if the y matched reports given by his young accuser.
It was at this time, some say, that he became addicted to painkillers and began a downward health spiral and had to eventually halt the “Dangerous” tour altogether and check into a drug rehab center to seek treatment.
In 1995 he released “HIStory” a double c.d. of his greatest hits as well as new hits such as “You Are Not Alone”, “They Don’t Care About Us” and “Scream”, a long-awaited duet with his sister Janet. Most of the album was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.
The album was nominated for album of the year.
In 1996 he married long-time friend Debbie Rowe, who was actually the nurse of the dermatologist who had treated Jackson for vitiligo since the early 80s.
The couple had 2 children Prince and Paris and divorced two years later with Rowe willingly giving up her parental rights to Jackson who raised his children with the assistance of a nanny.
In 2001, Jackson released “Invincible” working with producers Darkchild and R. Kelly, whom he had previously worked with on “HIStory”. It was the first album in Jackson’s career that failed to go platinum.
Jackson accused Epic Records President Tommy Mottola of being racist and responsible for the poor marketing and promotion of the album.
In 2005, Jackson was again accused of child molestation by Garvin Arviso, a 13-year-old cancer survivor, whose family Jackson housed at his Neverland ranch for months and whose cancer treatments Jackson paid for.
After a California jury acquitted him, Jackson fled the U.S. for Bahrain, U.A.E and Ireland after an emotional trial which saw him show up in court in his pyjamas after a warrant was issued for his presence, when he failed to show up in court in the morning during the middle of the trial.
He returned to the U.S. a couple years ago to mark the beginning of a comeback which was to begin with the London concerts, followed by a new album which would see Jackson collaborating with The Black-Eyed Peas, Ne Yo and reuniting him with R. Kelly and Darkchild.
Films, a Broadway show, as well as Thriller themed casino in Las Vegas were all in the works.
Jackson has won hundreds of awards, including 13 Grammy’s, amassed 13 #1 hits in his career and sold over 800 million albums worldwide.
Michael Jackson’s legend reigns.