Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, dancer and philanthropist whose 1982 album Thriller became the best-selling album in history. Known as the “King of Pop,” he was one of the defining figures in 20th-century popular culture, combining pop, R&B, funk, rock and dance music with elaborate visual presentation. His songs, videos, concerts and fashion helped reshape the scale of mainstream pop performance, while bringing dance moves including the moonwalk, the robot and the anti-gravity lean to a worldwide audience.

Born in Gary, Indiana, on August 29, 1958, Jackson was the eighth of ten children in the Jackson family. He made his public debut at six as lead singer of the Jackson 5, then developed into a solo star with Off the Wall in 1979. Produced with Quincy Jones, the album set the stage for the global reach of Thriller, whose videos for “Billie Jean,” “Beat It” and “Thriller” changed expectations for the music-video medium and helped break American racial barriers in pop music.

Jackson followed Thriller with Bad in 1987, the first album to generate five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Bad,” “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Man in the Mirror” and “Dirty Diana.” Dangerous arrived in 1991 and HIStory in 1995, both successful releases that extended his sound into the 1990s. His final studio album, Invincible, was released in 2001 and is described as the most expensive album ever made.

His commercial record was exceptional. Jackson sold an estimated 500 million records worldwide as a solo artist, scored 13 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles and became the only artist with a US top-ten single in six decades. He was one of three musicians, alongside Paul McCartney and Phil Collins, to sell more than 100 million records both as a solo artist and as a principal member of a band. His honors included 13 Grammy Awards, Grammy Legend and Lifetime Achievement awards, 26 American Music Awards, 12 World Music Awards, eight MTV Video Music Awards, six Brit Awards and three US presidential honors. He was inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Dance Hall of Fame.

From the mid-1980s, Jackson faced sustained public scrutiny over his private life and changing appearance. He was accused of child sexual abuse in 1993 and settled out of court in 1994. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted on other child sexual abuse charges. The 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland presented further allegations.

While preparing This Is It, a planned series of comeback concerts, Jackson died on June 25, 2009, after an overdose of propofol administered by his personal physician, Conrad Murray. Posthumous releases included the documentary Michael Jackson’s This Is It, the album Michael and Xscape. He was also associated with charitable giving estimated at $500 million.