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Thursday, June 25, 2009
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Current mood:  disappointed Category: Life
I don't want any negitive comments about him. I wasn't a fan but I was in the 80's ...anything negative keep it to yourself....
(CNN) --
Michael Jackson, the show-stopping singer whose best-selling albums --
including "Off the Wall," "Thriller" and "Bad" -- and electrifying
stage presence made him one of the most popular artists of all time,
died Thursday, CNN has confirmed.
Michael Jackson, shown in 2008, was one of the biggest pop stars in history.
He was 50.
He
collapsed at his residence in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles,
California, about noon Pacific time, suffering cardiac arrest,
according to brother Randy Jackson. He died at UCLA Medical Center.
Jackson's
blazing rise to stardom -- and later fall from grace -- is among the
most startling of show business tales. The son of a steelworker, he
rose to fame as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, a band he formed with
his brothers in the late 1960s. By the late '70s, as a solo artist, he
was topping the charts with cuts from "Off the Wall," including "Rock
With You" and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough."
In 1982, he
released "Thriller," an album that eventually produced seven hit
singles. An appearance the next year on a Motown Records 25th-..anniversary special cemented his status as the biggest star in the country. Timeline: The life of Michael Jackson »
For
the rest of the 1980s, they came no bigger. "Thriller's" follow-up,
1987's "Bad," sold almost as many copies. A new Jackson album -- a new
Jackson appearance -- was a pop culture event. iReport: Share your
memories of Michael Jackson
The pop music landscape was
changing, however, opening up for rap, hip-hop and what came to be
called "alternative" -- and Jackson was seen as out of step.
His
next release, 1991's "Dangerous," debuted at No. 1 but "only" produced
one top-ranking single -- "Black or White" -- and that song earned
criticism for its inexplicably violent ending, in which Jackson was
seen smashing car windows and clutching his crotch.
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And
then "Dangerous" was knocked out of its No. 1 spot on the album charts
by Nirvana's "Nevermind," an occurrence noted for its symbolism by rock
critics.
After that, more attention was paid to Jackson's
private life than his music career, which faltered. A 1995 two-CD
greatest hits, "HIStory," sold relatively poorly, given the huge
expense of Jackson's recording contract: about 7 million copies,
according to Recording Industry of America certifications.
A 2001 album of new material, "Invincible," did even worse.
In 2005, he went to trial on child-..molestation charges. He was acquitted.
In
July 2008, after three years away from the spotlight, Jackson announced
a series of concerts at London's O2 Arena as his "curtain call." Some
of the shows, initially scheduled to begin in July, were eventually
postponed until 2010.
Rise to stardom
Michael Jackson was
born August 29, 1958, to Joe Jackson, a Gary, Indiana, steelworker, and
his wife, Katherine. By the time he was 6, he had joined his brothers
in a musical group organized by his father, and by the time he was 10,
the group -- the Jackson 5 -- had been signed to Motown.
He made his first television appearance at age 11.
Jackson,
a natural performer, soon became the group's front man. Music critic
Langdon Winner, reviewing the group's first album, "Diana Ross Presents
the Jackson 5," for Rolling Stone, praised Michael's versatile singing
and added, "Who is this 'Diana Ross,' anyway?"
The group's first
four singles -- "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save" and "I'll
Be There" -- went to No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart, the first time
any group had pulled off that feat. There was even a Jackson 5 cartoon
series on ABC.
In 1972, he hit No. 1 as a solo artist with the song "Ben."
The
group's popularity waned as the '70s continued, and Michael eventually
went solo full time. He played the Scarecrow in the 1978 movie version
of "The Wiz," and released the album "Off the Wall" in 1979. Its
success paved the way for "Thriller," which eventually became the
best-selling album in history, with 50 million copies sold worldwide.
At that point, Michael Jackson became ubiquitous.
Seven
of "Thriller's" nine cuts were released as singles; all made the Top
Ten. The then-new cable channel MTV, criticized for its almost
exclusively white playlist, finally started playing Jackson's videos.
They aired incessantly, including a 14-minute minimovie of the title
cut. ("Weird Al" Yankovic cemented his own stardom by lampooning
Jackson's song "Beat It" with a letter-perfect parody video.)
On the Motown Records' 25th-..anniversary
special -- a May 1983 TV extravaganza with notable turns by the
Temptations, the Four Tops and Smokey Robinson -- it was Michael
Jackson who stopped the show.
Already he was the most popular
musician in America, riding high with "Thriller." But something about
his electrifying performance of "Billie Jean," complete with the
patented backward dance moves, boosted his stardom to a new level.
People copied his Jheri-curled hair and single-gloved, zippered-..jacket
look. Showbiz veterans such as Fred Astaire praised his chops. He posed
for photos with Ronald and Nancy Reagan at the White House. Paul
McCartney teamed with him on three duets, two of which -- "The Girl Is
Mine" and "Say Say Say" -- became top five hits. Jackson became a Pepsi
spokesman, and when his hair caught fire while making a commercial, it
was worldwide news.
It all happened very fast -- within a couple
years of the Motown special. But even at the time of the "Motown 25"
moonwalk, fame was old hat to Michael Jackson. He hadn't even turned 25
himself, but he'd been a star for more than half his life. He was given
the nickname the "King of Pop" -- a spin on Elvis Presley's status as
"the King of Rock 'n' Roll" -- and few questioned the moniker.
Relentless attention
But,
as the showbiz saying has it, when you're on top of the world, there's
nowhere to go but down. The relentless attention given Jackson started
focusing as much on his eccentricities -- some real, some rumored -- as
his music.
As the Web site Allmusic.com
notes, he was rumored to sleep in a hyperbaric chamber and to have
purchased the bones of John Merrick, the "Elephant Man." (Neither was
true.) He did have a pet chimpanzee, Bubbles; underwent a series of
increasingly drastic plastic surgeries; established an estate,
Neverland, filled with zoo animals and amusement park rides; and
managed to purchase the Beatles catalog from under Paul McCartney's
nose, which displeased the ex-Beatle immensely.
In 1990s and
2000s, Jackson found himself pasted across the media for his
short-lived marriages, the first to Elvis Presley's daughter, Lisa
Marie; his 2002 claim that then Sony Records head Tommy Mottola was
racist; his behavior and statements during a 2003 interview with
British journalist Martin Bashir done for a documentary called "Living
With Michael Jackson;" his changing physical appearance; and, above
all, the accusations that he sexually molested young boys at Neverland.
The
first such accusation, in 1993, resulted in a settlement to the
13-year-old accuser (rumored to be as high as $20 million), though no
criminal charges were filed, Allmusic.com notes.
He
also fell deeply in debt and was forced to sell some of his assets.
Neverland was one of many holdings that went on the block. However, an
auction of material from Neverland, scheduled for April, was called off
and all items returned to Jackson.
Interest in Jackson never
faded, however, even if some of it was prurient. In 2008, when he
announced 10 comeback shows in London, beginning in July 2009, the
story made worldwide news. The number of concerts was later increased
to 50.
Seventy-five thousand tickets sold in four hours when they went on sale in March.
However,
when the shows were postponed until 2010, rumors swept the Internet
that Jackson was not physically prepared and possibly suffering from
skin cancer.
At the time, the president and CEO of AEG Live,
Randy Phillips, said, "He's as healthy as can be -- no health problems
whatsover."
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Jackson held open auditions for dancers in April in Los Angeles.
He is survived by his three children, Prince Michael I, Paris and Prince II
 | Currently listening:
Number Ones
By Michael Jackson
Release date: 2003-11-18 |
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11:49 PM
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