Michael Jackson - Biography, Achievements and Quotes

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter, entertainer, dancer, arranger, music producer, choreographer, actor, businessman, musician, and philanthropist. Often referred to as the "King of Pop", or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.

The eighth child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971. In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It," "Billie Jean," and "Thriller," were credited with breaking down racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. The popularity of these videos helped to bring the then relatively new television channel MTV to fame. 

Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first and only dancer from pop and rock music. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; 26 American Music Awards, more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century" and "Artist of the 1980s"; 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career, more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era; and the estimated sale of over 400 million records worldwide

Jackson won hundreds of awards, which made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music. In what would have been Jackson's 52nd birthday on 29 August 2010, he became the most downloaded artist of all time. Jackson constantly traveled the world attending events honoring his humanitarianism and the 2000 Guinness Book of Records recognized him for supporting 39 charities; more than any other pop star.

Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, generated controversy. In the mid-1990s, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court for about $25 million and $2 million and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury found him not guilty on all counts.
While preparing for his concert series titled 

This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide, and his personal physician was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief and a live broadcast of the public memorial service viewed around the world. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment and Jackson's estate signed the largest music contract ever, with a $250 million deal to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.

Achievements & Facts About Michael Jackson

• Michael Jackson is the seventh of nine children.
• Three of Jackson's albums - Bad, Dangerous and Thriller - are among the bestsellers of all time.
• Thriller remains the biggest-selling album since records began.
• Jackson has sold more than 300 million records worldwide.
• Jackson picked up his iconic moonwalk moves, which he debuted at the Motown 25th Anniversary show in 1983, from streetdancers he spotted performing outside a hotel.
• MC Hammer once challenged Jackson to a dance-off. He was told to Beat It. Jackson reportedly responded, "I've seen your videos and every single dance move you use, you got off of me."
• Jackson's waxwork features in five Madame Tussauds museums across the world. Only Elvis Presley and Madonna have more Tussaud figures - they have six each.
• Jackson's total lifetime earnings from royalties, solo recordings and music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been estimated at $500 million (#271 million).
• Jackson has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for radio play, located at 1541 Vine Street, and one for recording at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard.
• Jackson received a Presidential Humanitarian Award from Ronald Reagan in 1984 for his support of charities helping people overcome alcohol and drug abuse.
• In 1984, a U.S. library accused Jackson of owing it over $1 million in overdue book fines. Officials said they would scrap the fines if he returned the books autographed.
• Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Jackson 5 on May 6, 1997. He was inducted as a solo artist on March 19, 2001.
• Jackson has several media nicknames. They include The Gloved One, Wacko Jacko, Jacko, The King of Pop, and MJ. Close friends call him Smelly!
• Jackson's music video for Thriller was voted the greatest music video of all time in a recent Channel 4 (UK) poll.
• Michael went skinny dipping with Jane Fonda in 1981.
• Michael has directly intervened in at least two attempted suicides, Janet’s husband James Debarge in the mid 80s who threatened to jump from their roof , and a fan who was threatening to jump off the roof of a hotel across from him in 1992.
• When Michael heard his friend and burn victim, Dave Dave, had attempted suicide because he felt his life wasn’t worth living, Michael hired him at Neverland to run odd jobs, to ensure he would feel as if his life had meaning.
• A friend of Michael’s in the 90s suspected Michael was having an affair with his wife because Michael would spend so long on the phone talking to her, so he set about taping the phone conversations and his son ended up selling them in 2005.
• Michael wanted to sign Lauryn Hill after seeing her in Sister Act 2, but she was already signed with the Fugees.
• Michael had a library of 10,000 books and one of Michael’s favorites was Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. Michael recommended this book to people like Kobe Bryant, Anthony Jackson, Frank Cascio.
• Muhammad Ali had been a friend of the Jacksons and Michael since the 70s , he and Michael bonded especially over their mutual love for magic tricks.
• When Michael heard Magic Johnson had HIV he made sure to hire him for a role in his video, Remember The Time.
• Michael was a secret biker; he owned a Harley and would ride it around late at night in parks. It had to be in secret or else it could jeopardize his insurance.
• He also gave his second wife Debbie Rowe, another ardent biker, a bike after they married, and included her in a painting in 1991 with black biker wings.
• Michael used to steal his mother’s jewelry and give them to his favorite female teachers as gifts in elementary school.
• Michael said he would only buy jewelry for three people: his mother, Elizabeth Taylor, and for any girl he was interested in at the time. Michael gave Elizabeth Taylor a 17 carat gold diamond ring, Brooke Shields an 11 carat and Lisa Marie Presley a 10 carat ring.
• Michael was an opening act for strippers as a five year old.
• While being driven to a show Michael once saw prostitutes standing on a street corner in 1984, he thought they looked good so he stuck out his white gloved hand and waved to them, then stuck his head out to confirm it had been him, leaving them shell shocked while he drove off laughing.
• Michael helped pay for the funeral of Temptation’s lead singer David Ruffin.
• At the Oscars in 1991 Madonna and Michael’s entrance at an after party caused such a scene that even celebrities like movie legend Jimmy Stewart stood on a chair to get a good look at them.
• In August 1993 Michael was in Bangkok with his Dangerous World Tour sponsored by Pepsi. The second concert got cancelled because Michael was suffering from acute dehydration. Next day the rescheduled concert got cancelled again because Michael had not fully recovered. Pepsi’s rival run ads reading ‘Dehydrated? There’s Always Coke.’
• The gold leotard Michael wears during his Dangerous World Tour is actually a fencing outfit and was designed by Versace.
• Michael wore the white glove to disguise the beginnings of his vitiligo.  Michael’s eldest son now also  suffers from that same rare skin disorder, with it also beginning on his hand.
• As well as vitiligo, Michael suffered from discoid lupus, another autoimmune disorder.
• Michael once told a friend he wore the mask because he felt ugly sometimes.
• The history of this album is fairly well known. It became the biggest selling album in both American and international history, with over 110 million copies and counting.
• Michael called scouting for hot women “fishing” so that people around him wouldn’t know what he was talking about.
• At its peak Thriller was selling 1 million copies a week.
• Eddie Van Halen performed his Beat It solo for Michael for free.
• The demo title for the song “Bad” was “Pee”, likely because it was due to be a collaboration with the musician Prince and “Pee” was code for his initial “P”.
• There are two naming traditions in the Jackson family: naming a son after yourself and the name Prince. There is a Jackson son named after every male member of the Jackson family (Sigmund, Marlon, Toriano, Stevana/Randy, Jermaine), and Michael had a grandfather and great grandfather named Prince. This is why Michael named his sons as such.
• Michael’s family had a jokey nickname for him, “Doodoohead”, Lisa Marie had her own tongue in cheek take on that, “Turd,” which MJ would sign some of his notes to her as.
• At an after party in 1974 Michael taught David Bowie the Robot.
• One of the only happy memories Michael says he has of his father was of Joe buying the kids donuts to eat because he knew Michael liked them. In the Give In To Me demo Michael sings, “love is a donut.”
• Michael was a notoriously bad driver, Janet said he drove like Ray Charles.
• When Michael took off his sunglasses at the 1984 Grammys one fan yelled from the balcony, “Take it all off!”
• Some of Michael’s disguises: a fat suit, beard and dark make up, prosthetics, a Sheikh outfit, and covered in bandages. [Photos]
• Michael would write all over things, like on the back of paintings, clocks, mirrors, jewelery boxes, tables, figurines and stick notes all over his walls.
• Not realizing he was being taped, Michael can be seen flicking through a Playboy during an interview when he was 12.
• Michael would wear the color red a lot because he felt it gave him energy.
• He had a whole wardrobe full of red shirts/black pants which he would wear all the time, one of the reasons why was so that it would make photographs of him worth less as it would be hard for anyone buying a magazine to see the difference between photos from different weeks.
• Michael had initially turned down doing the 1993 Superbowl performance, and only agreed to do it once they agreed to donate his $100,000 fee to charity. At this, other sponsors then chipped in until the donations reached $2,000,000.
• Michael wasn’t often home at Neverland but would always keep it running so that sick children, children from inner city schools in LA and children from the Los Olivos area could visit it in his absence.
• The Scream music video Jackson made with sister Janet is the most expensive promo ever made, costing more than $7 million (#3.8 million).
• Jackson's double album HIStory is the biggest selling double album ever released in the U.S.
• Jackson's Blood on the Dance Floor is the biggest selling re-mix album of all time.
• Jackson's pre-concert ritual includes drinking Ricola candy dissolved in hot water. He claims the beverage helps to keep his throat and his singing voice clear.
• Jackson shares the record for the most Grammy Awards won in one year with Carlos Santana and Norah Jones - they each won eight.
• Jackson co-wrote charity anthem We Are The World with Lionel Richie.
• Jackson's performance during the 1993 SuperBowl half-time show drew the largest TV audience in American history.
• Jackson appeared on a postage stamp in the Virgin Islands in the mid-1980s after locals voted him the superstar they'd most like to honour.
• An extensive 1997 survey declared Jackson was the Most Famous Person in the World.
• Relocating to Los Angeles, Michael and his brothers started work on their music and dancing with their father as their manager. They lived with Gordy and also with Supremes singer Diana Ross when they first arrived there. 
• In August 1969, the Jackson 5 was introduced to the music industry at a special event, and later served as the opening act for the Supremes. Their first album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, hit the charts in December of that year. It's first single, "I Want You Back," hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1970. More chart-topping singles quickly followed, such as "ABC," "The Love You Save," and "I'll Be There."
• At the age of 13, Jackson launched a solo career in addition to his work with the Jackson 5. He made the charts in 1971 with "Got to Be There" from the album of the same name. His 1972 album, Ben, featured the eponymous ballad about a rat. The song became Jackson's first solo No. 1 single.

Superb Quotes by Michael Jackson

• “In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.”
• “The meaning of life is contained in every single expression of life. It is present in the infinity of forms and phenomena that exist in all of creation.”
•  “I wake up from dreams and go "Wow, put this down on paper." The whole thing is strange. You hear the words, everything is right there in front of your face . . .”
• “If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.”
• I just want to touch and kiss said I wish that I could be with you tonight, you give me butterflies inside.
• Before you judge me, try hard to love me.
• I dont care if the whole world is against you or teasing you or saying you are not gonna make it. Believe in yourself, no matter what.
• If the angels took me from this earth I would tell them bring me back to her. It's a chance I'll take, maybe I'll stay. Heaven can wait.
• In their innocence, very young children know themselves to be light and love. If we will allow them, they can teach us to see ourselves the same way.
• “You never know how long you have with someone, so don’t forget to say I love you while you can.”- Michael Jackson
• “I say, ‘You should blanket me’ or ‘you should blanket her’, meaning like a blanket is a blessing. It’s a way of showing love and caring.”- Michael Jackson
• “The courage to be honest and intimate opens the way to self-discovery. It offers what we all want, the promise of love.”
• “Of course, I believe in love. Its beautiful when it’s right. My love life is like my music.”
• In a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. In a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. In a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.
• The greatest education is watching the masters at work.
• I`m just like everyone. I cut and I bleed. And I embarass easily.
• I am bewildered at the length to which people will go portray me so negatively.
• To Lisa Marie. Your being provides the star that brightens my galaxy and the force that strengthens me. Love, Michael.
• Great. I just got to kiss the most beautiful girl in the world. I hope I`m worthy of her. I think I might marry her.
• I`m happy to be alive, I`m happy to be who I am.
• Let us dream of tomorrow where we can truly love from the soul, and know love as the ultimate truth at the heart of all creation.
• Why can`t you share your bed? The most loving thing to do is to share your bed with someone. It`s very charming. It`s very sweet. It`s what the whole world should do.
• They did it to try and belittle me, to try and to take away my pride. But I went through the whole system with them. And at the end, I - I wanted the public to know that I was okay, even though I was hurting.
• “I can’t take credit for it because its Gods work. He’s just using me as the messenger.”
• “To live is to be musical, starting with the blood dancing in your veins. Everything living has a rhythm. Do you feel your music?”
• “Music is a very important and powerful substance, and all the planets in the universe make music. It’s called music of the spheres. They all make a different note; they make harmony. So there’s harmony even in the universe as we speak.”
• “With my music, with what I do, I would like to bring a light into the world.”
• You know, don't judge a person, do not pass judgment, unless you have talked to them one on one. I don't care what the story is, do not judge them because it is a lie.
•  “And my goal in life is to give to the world what I was lucky to receive: the ecstasy of divine union through my music and my dance.”