Michael Jackson - musician, dancer, environmentalist, icon… the list could go on. He was born on August 25, 1958 in Gary, Indiana. His mother and father, Katherine and Joseph Jackson, always had a love for music. They were devoted Jehovah’s Witnesses, but he later converted to Islam. When Michael was 6, his father decided to create ‘The Jackson 5’, a musical group consisting of his 4 older siblings. Although Michael wanted to pursue music, he was regularly beaten and threatened by his authoritarian father. His father disciplined in odd ways. If the kids left their doors open while sleeping, he would sneak in with a mask and scream at them. Michael also told the media he remembered the thrashings his father considered necessary to keep the young band in line. Michael’s life seemed to play out in reverse. His childhood was more like an adulthood and vice versa. He also to Oprah Winfrey that everyone called him ‘a 45-year-old midget', wherever he went’. He felt his best on the stage; he would get sad after he was done performing. He was meant to be a star.
The group was signed to Motown Records after being discovered by Gladys Knight while performing in Harlem in 1968. That’s when Michael’s career took off. Their single ‘I Want You Back’ debuted in November of 1969 and went straight to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In March of the following year, ‘ABC’ was released and had the same outcome. The group kept releasing hits after hits, and fans demanded a tour. The tours robbed Michael of having a ‘normal’ childhood. His father would beat the children if they missed a dance move or sang off-key. Michael was absolutely scared of his father and become physically ill every time they were close. Motown’s founder, Berry Gordy Jr, was quite controlling, like Joseph. He also forced Michael to release his first solo single ‘Got to Be There’. The group wanted to perform their own music, but Mr. Gordy refused to let them do so. Conflict arose between the two parties, and the Jackson 5 ended up leaving Motown Records in 1976.
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They soon signed with Epic, who gave them the freedom to write what they want. Jermaine, one of the brothers stayed with Motown to be a solo artist, so he was replaced by the younger brother, Randy. Their name then changed to ‘The Jacksons’. Within the next four years, the group released four albums named ‘The Jacksons’, ‘Goin’ Places’, ‘Destiny’, and ‘Triumph’. While filming for ‘The Wiz’, he met Quincy Jones who wrote the scores for the film. Since Quincy Jones was also a producer, he agreed to produce Michael’s album ‘Off the Wall’ in 1979. His debut album contained ‘Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough’, ‘Rock with You’ and ‘She’s Out of My Life’. This album won many awards and broke records. It attained 4 spots on the Billboard Top 10 singles, won a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance, and three AMA’s. Three years later, he released his most famous album ‘Thriller’ which contained one of his most famous songs ‘Billie Jean’. His fame in pop music rose. Some other songs that blew up were ‘Beat It’, ‘Thriller’, and ‘P.Y.T’. This album remained in the charts for 37 weeks.
Motown reached out to Jackson in 1983 to have him perform for their 25th anniversary. He only agreed to perform under one condition: only if he could perform ‘Billie Jean’. During his performance on the show, he premiered his signature dance move on live television. The dance was called ‘Moonwalk’. One year later, he and his brothers came together and recorded an album named ‘Victory’; this year happened to be its 35th anniversary. After this, he continued to release hits, but some of them were viewed as controversial.
‘Black or White’ was released on the ‘Dangerous’ album in 1991. This song points out that racism is still here and alive. There were many innuendos in this song like “I ain’t scared of no sheets”, “I’m not going to spend my life being a color”, and “and I told about equality, it’s true, you're either wrong or you're right”. Another civil rights movement arose in the 90s. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 imposed the same but stricter laws as the Civil Right Act of 1964. The Equal Opportunity Act of 1995 made it illegal to discriminate against anyone of race, gender, age, etc. I believe ‘Black or White’ brought light to racism still happening, and people did something about it. Another notable song from the ‘Dangerous’ album was ‘Heal the World’. This song led to the establishment of the Heal the World Foundation. In the song, he claims the world would be a much better place if we all cared for each other. That’s what the foundation’s mission statement was. Michael performed his international ‘Dangerous’ tour in 1992 and millions of dollars in profits went to his Heal the World Foundation.
Michael’s career started to get hectic in 1993. He was accused of molesting a thirteen-year-old who visited his Neverland Ranch, located in Los Olivos, CA, pretty often. The family attempts to extort the star for $20 million, but ends up settling the case privately. Later that same year, Michael’s sister, LaToya, speaks out about her brother’s actions. She claims that all allegations are true. She states that she will not be a silent collaborator of his crimes against small, innocent children and how her and her siblings were sexually abused by their parents.
He continued to make music and release albums like ‘HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I’ and ‘Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix’. Once the 2000s hit, his music production slowed as his rape accusations grew. On November 20, 2003, he was booked into the Santa Barbara County jail for child molestation charges, but the charges were unclear. He was released until trial. Jackson is eventually indicted on 10 criminal counts, including child molestation, abduction, false imprisonment and extortion and awaits the trial that comes in February of 2005. Macaulay Culkin and Wade Robson are present to testify in his defense. The two boys claim that Mr. Jackson has never touched them in a sexual manner. The victim in this case in 14-year-old Gavin Arvizo who claims that Jackson masturbated him. Arvizo’s brother stated that Michael also gave the kids alcohol and showed them porn. Robson later admits that he lied in his 1993 case. These cases left Michael stressed. He began taking anesthetic propofol which was said to be the leading cause of his sleep deprivation. The drug put Michael in a drug-induced coma and he was left unable to sleep properly. He claims he was unable to remember his songs or learn dances. His health tragically declined and ended up passing away in June of 2009. He left a legacy behind.
Despite all of his criminal charges, Michael Jackson changed the world and how we viewed music. He has the record for winning the most awards as a recording artist, he donated to 30+ charities, and broke racial boundaries. He is easily one of the most popular artists in the world, and he’s colored. I chose Jackson because made music for the people. He cared what the people thought and put it into words. He is a phenomenal artist who recorded plenty of genres so everyone could listen and enjoy his music.
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