Michael Jackson was a versatile musical artist who had an outstanding career as a solo artist and with the Jackson 5. He released one of the best-selling albums in history, ‘Thriller,’ in 1982, and had another great success on ‘Off the Wall’ and ‘Bad.’
Michael Jackson (full name Michael Joseph Jackson) was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, a city in Indiana. Known under the name “King of Pop”, Michael Jackson was a successful American singer, songwriter and dancer. Encouraged by his father, Jackson started his musical career when he was just 5 years old. When he was a child, Michael Jackson became the lead singer of his family’s Motown group, the Jackson 5.
For many years, Jackson and the Jackson 5 kept a busy schedule of tours and recordings, under the supervision of Motown founder Mr. Berry Gordy and his Motown staff. The group became so popular that they even had their own eponymous cartoon show, which ran between 1971 and 1972. In the meantime, Jackson started his solo career.
Some of Michael Jackson’s Songs and Albums include: ‘Got to Be There’ in 1971, ‘Ben’ in 1972, ‘Music and Me’ in 1973, ‘Forever, Michael’ in. 1975, ‘Off the Wall’ in 1979, ‘Thriller’ in 1982, ‘We Are the World’ in 1985, ‘Bad’ in 1987, ‘Dangerous’ in 1991, ‘HIStory: Past, Present, and Future, Book I’ in 1995, ‘Invincible’ in 2001, ‘Michael’ in 2010, and ‘Xscape’ in 2014.
Through stage and video performances, Michael Jackson promoted complicated dance moves such as the moonwalk and the robot. His voice and style have influenced artists of various genres, and his contributions to music, dance, and fashion, as well as his publicized personal life, have made him a global figure in popular culture for the past four decades. He was the most award-winning performer in the history of popular music.
At the age of 50, Michael Jackson passed away on June 25, 2009 at his home in Los Angeles. The cause of his death was a cardiac arrest. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) attempts were unsuccessful and he was rushed to hospital, where his death confirmed by the doctors in the morning.
Assisted by his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson was taking various medications to help him sleep at night. Michael Jackson had developed a particular addiction to propofol and referred to take as his milk. In addition to propofol, he had taken midazolam, lorazepam, diazepam and lidocaine. He died from a propofol overdose just prior to launching a comeback tour.
On July 7, 2009, a TV memorial was organized for fans of the King of Pop at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. While 17,500 free tickets were issued to fans through lottery, it is estimated that around 1 billion viewers watched the memorial on television or online.
