For his legions of fans, he was the Peter Pan of pop music: the little boy who refused to grow up. But now he is gone.
Michael Jackson, whose quintessentially American tale of celebrity and excess took him from musical boy wonder to global pop superstar to sad figure haunted by lawsuits and failed plastic surgery, died on Thursday afternoon at UCLA Medical Center after arriving in a coma, according to a city official. He was 50 years old.
At Jackson’s peak, he was the biggest star in the world and has sold more than 750 million albums.
Fom his days as the youngest brother in the Jackson Five to his solo career in the 1980s and early 1990s, Jackson was responsible for a string of hits like Want You Back, I’ll Be There, Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, Billie Jean and Black and White that exploited his high voice, infectious energy and ear for irresistible hooks.
As a solo performer, Jackson ushered in the age of pop as a global product — not to mention an age of spectacle and pop culture celebrity. His early career with his brothers gave way to a solo act in which he became more character than singer: his sequined glove, his whitened face, his Moonwalk dance move became embedded in the cultural firmament.
But after his entertainment career hit high-water marks, it started a bizarre disintegration. His darkest moment came in 2003, when he was indicted on child molesting charges. A young cancer patient claimed the singer had befriended him and then sexually fondled him at his Neverland estate near Santa Barbara, California, but Jackson was acquitted on all charges.
Jackson is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.
Michael Joseph Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, on Aug. 29, 1958. The second youngest of six brothers, he began performing professionally with four of them at the age of 5 in a group that their father, Joe, had organized the previous year. In 1968 the group, originally called the Jackson Brothers but now known as the Jackson 5, was signed by Motown Records.
The Jackson 5 was an instant phenomenon. The group’s first four singles — I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save and I’ll Be There — all reached No. 1 on the pop charts in 1970. And Michael was the center of attention: He handled virtually all the lead vocals, danced with energy and finesse, and displayed a degree of showmanship rare in a performer of any age. The Jackson brothers were soon a fixture on television variety shows.
In 1971 Jackson began recording under his own name, while also continuing to perform and record with his brothers. His recording of Ben, the title song from a movie about a boy and his homicidal pet rat, was a No. 1 hit in 1972.
The brothers left Motown in 1975 and, rechristened the Jacksons, signed to Epic, a unit of CBS Records. Three years later Michael made his movie debut as the Scarecrow in the screen version of the hit Broadway musical The Wiz.
Jackson’s first solo album for Epic, Off the Wall, released in 1979, yielded four No. 1 singles and sold 7 million copies. Thriller, released in 1982, became the best-selling album of all time and helped usher in the music video age. The video for the album’s title track, directed by John Landis, was a horror-movie pastiche that was more of a mini-movie than a promotional clip and helped make MTV a household name.
RSS