The Career of Michael Jackson

The world is still in shock and is morning the death of Michael Jackson, who has been referred to as the “Elvis of this generation”. From a young boy born in Gary, Indiana the world instantly fell in love with the Jackson 5, and their lead known as Michael Jackson. Born on August 29 2009 he was the seventh of nine children.

The Jackson 5 began to perform public by 1963, where their very first performance was at the Apollo theater backed by the legendary record label known as Motown. By 1969 they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show where the Jackson 5 captivated the audience around the nation.

By 1972 the Jackson 5 released their first solo album entitled “Got to Be There” featuring hit singles like “Sweet & Innocent” and “Puppy Love”. By 1979 Jackson released his first solo album “Off the Wall” which to date as gone 7 times Multi-Platinum and has sold an estimate of 20 million records worldwide.

However it would be in 1982 that catapulted Jackson to super-stardom when he released the classic called “Thriller” which at its peak sold well over 1 million copies per week, where it was then inducted into the Guinness Book of Records as the worlds best selling album.

By 1987 his album “Bad” produced 5 number one hits. By 1994 Jackson married the daughter of another pop icon Lisa Marie Presley, however there marriage would only last for two years. In 2002 Jackson was seen dangling his son Prince Michael over a hotel balcony in Berlin. A year afterward on ABC news Jackson openly admitted to sharing his bed with children, which not only raised eyebrows but also prompted investigators to look into the actual relationship Jackson had with children.

He would later have to auction of his Neverland Ranch as well as his Beatles catalog to pay back the debt he had incurred to avoid any potential lawsuit. His total lifetime revenue including his royalties has landed him a net worth of well over $500 million dollars, while some reports claim that his actual earnings were close to a Billion dollars.

As the world morns the death of a pop icon, we should not mourn or reminisce on the hardship he encountered but to celebrate what Michael Jackson has contributed to music, the lives that he has touched and the inspiration that he has created. Michael Jackson is survived by his three children,  Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II. He was 50 years old.