Michael was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. He is dubbed the King of Pop in 1989 by Elizabeth Taylor. He is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a four-decade career, his contributions to music, dance, fashion, and philanthropy, along with his much publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture. He is the most awarded artist in the history of popular music.
Michael was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana to parents Katherine and Joseph Jackson. He is the seventh of the Jackson family. Michael made his professional debut in 1965 with his elder brothers Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5. Michael began his solo career in 1971 while at Motown Records, and became a solo star with his 1979 album Off the Wall.
His music videos, such as "Billie Jean", "Beat It", and "Thriller" are credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. Michael helped propel the success of MTV and continued to innovate with videos on the albums "Bad", "Dangerous", and "HIStory". While "Thriller" became the best-selling album of all time, "Bad" became the first album to generate five consecutive number one singles with "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana".
In the late 1980s, Michael became a figure of controversy and speculation due to his changing appearance, relationships, behavior, and lifestyle. In 1993, Michael was accused of sexually abusing the child of a family friend. The lawsuit was settled out of civil court and was not indicated due to lack of evidence. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several other charges.
In 2009, while Michael was preparing for his comeback tour entitled "This Is It", Michael passed away from an overdose of Propofol that was administered by his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
Michael is one of the best selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 750 million copies worldwide. He had 13 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era, and was the first artist to have a top-10 single in the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades. Michael's honors include 15 Grammy Awards, 6 Britt Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and 39 Guinness World Records, including the "Most Successful Entertainer of all Time". Michael's inductions include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Dance Hall of Fame (the only recording artist to be inducted), the Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame, and the R&B Music Hall of Fame. In 2016, his Estate earned $825 million, the highest yearly amount for a celebrity ever recorded by Forbes.
On June 25, 2009, Michael passed away from cardiac arrest. Paramedics received a call @ 12:22pm and arrived 3 minutes later. Michael was not breathing and CPR was performed. Resuscitation efforts continued en route to UCLA Medical Center and for more than an hour after arriving, but were unsuccessful, and was pronounced dead at 2:26 pm. News of Michael's death spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down from user overload and putting unprecedented strain on websites and services such as Google, AOL Instant Messenger, Twitter, and Wikipedia. Overall, web traffic rose by between 11%- 20%. MTV and BET aired marathons of Michael's music videos, and Jackson specials aired on TV stations around the world.
Michael's memorial service was held on July 7, 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, preceded by a private family service at Forest Lawn Memorial Park's Hall of Liberty. Over 1.6 million fans applied for tickets to the memorial; the 8,750 recipients were drawn at random, and each received two tickets. The memorial service was one of the most watched events in streaming history, with an estimated US audience of 31.1 million and a worldwide audience of an estimated 2.5-3 billion. Michael's body was finally entombed on September 3, 2009 at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
At the 2009 AMAs, Michael won four posthumous awards, including two for his compilation album Number Ones, bringing his total AMAs to 26. In the year after his death, more than 16.1 million of Michael's albums sold in the US, and 35 million albums worldwide, more than any other artist in 2009. He became the first artist to sell one million music downloads in a week, with 2.6 million song downloads. Thriller, Number Ones, and The Essential Michael Jackson became the first catalog albums to outsell any new album. Michael became the first artist to have four of the top 20-best selling albums in a single year in the US.
In 2014, Michael became the first artist to have a top 10 single in the Billboard Hot 100 in 5 different decades. The following year, Thriller became the first album to be certified for 30 million shipments by the RIAA; a year later, it was certified 33x platinum, after Soundscan added streams and audio downloads to album certifications.
In 2013, Wade Robson filed a lawsuit alleging that Michael had sexually abused him for 7 years, beginning when he was seven years old (1989-1996). The following year, a case was filed by James Safechuck alleging sexual abuse over a four-year period from the age of 10 (1988-1992). Both men has testified in Michael's defense during the 1993 allegations; Robson did so again in 2005. In 2015, Robson's case against Michael's Estate was dismissed on the grounds of being filed too late. Safechuck's claim was also time barred. In 2017, it was ruled that Michael's corporations could not be held accountable for his alleged past actions. The rulings were appealed, and on October 20, 2020, Safechuck's lawsuit against Michael's corporations was again dismissed, with the presiding judge ruling that there was no evidence that Safechuck had a relationship with Jackson's companies. On April 26, 2021, Robson's case was dismissed because of a lack of supporting evidence that the defendants exercised control over Michael.
Robson and Safechuck described allegations in graphic detail in the documentary Leaving Neverland, released in March 2019. Radio stations in New Zealand, Canada, the UK, and the Netherlands removed Michael's music from their playlists. Close associates such as Corey Feldman, Aaron Carter, Brett Barnes, and Macaulay Culkin said that Michael had not molested them. Rebuttal documentaries such as Square One: Michael Jackson, Neverland Firsthand: Investigating the Michael Jackson Documentary, and Michael Jackson: Chase the Truth, presented information countering the claims. Michael's album sales increased following the documentary. Billboard senior editor Gail Mitchell said she and a colleague interviewed about 30 music executives who believed that Michael's legacy could withstand the controversy. In late 2019, some New Zealand and Canadian radio stations re-added Michael's music to their playlists, citing "positive listener survey results".
Even though that it has been 12 years after Michael passed away, Michael's legacy will forever live on especially in the hearts of his fans and family. I would like to preserve Michael's legacy by following his message of love and I would like if the world knew Michael the way that I knew him, I think that once the world knows the REAL Michael Jackson all the controversy and confusion about him will go away. I hope that all the allegations about you hurting a child will go away especially that I know as well as your legions of fans knows that the allegations are not true.
I love you Michael and I hope that one day you will be able to rest in peace.
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