Michael Jackson is born
Pop sensation Michael Jackson is born on August 29 1958 in Gary Indiana.Jackson began performing with his four brothers in the pop group the Jackson 5 when he was a child.The group scored its first No.1 single in 1969 with I Want You Back.
By age 11 Jackson was appearing on TV and by age 14 he had released his first solo album.A Jackson 5 TV cartoon series appeared in the early 70s and in 1976 the Jackson family including sister Janet Jackson launched a TV variety show called The Jacksons that ran for one season.Throughout the 70s media attention focused on Michael who piped vocals in his high voice for ABC Ill Be There and many other Top 20 hits.Jackson released several solo albums in the 70s but his great breakthrough came in 1979 with Off the Wall.
He became the first solo artist to score four Top 10 hits from one album including Shes Out of My Life and Rock with You.His next album Thriller (1983) became the biggest selling album up to that time selling some 45 million copies around the world.This time he scored seven Top 10 singles and the album won eight Grammies.
Although his next album Bad (1987) sold only about half as many copies as Thriller it was still a tremendous best-seller.In 1991 Jackson signed an unprecedented 65 million record deal with Sony.That year he released Dangerous.In the late 1980s and early 1990s Jackson developed a reputation as an eccentric recluse.
He moved to a 2700-acre ranch called Neverland which he outfitted with wild animals and a Ferris wheel.He underwent a facelift and nose job and was rumored to have lightened his skin through chemical treatment though he claimed his increasing pallor was due to a skin disease.In 1993 scandal broke when Jackson was publicly accused of child molestation and underwent investigation.
The case settled out of court.In 1994 Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley the couple later divorced.Jackson married Deborah Rowe in 1996 and the couple had two sons Prince and Paris before divorcing in 1999.On June 13 2005 Jackson was acquitted of sexual molestation of a young boy Gavin Arvizo in criminal court. Michael Jackson died on June 25 2009 in Los Angeles California just weeks before a planned concert tour billed as his comeback.
He was 50 years old. A 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland raised two more credible allegations of sexual misconduct from when Jackson was alive.Jacksons family and estate continue to deny the claims.
