Portal:Michael Jackson

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Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, dancer, and entertainer. Referred to as the King of Pop, he is the most commercially successful and one of the most influential entertainers of all time. His unique contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with a highly publicized personal life, made him a prominent global figure in popular culture for over four decades.

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, as the eighth of ten children in Gary, Indiana, an industrial suburb of Chicago, to an African American working-class family. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and six brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, Brandon and Randy.

Alongside his brothers, he made his debut in 1964 as lead singer and youngest member of The Jackson 5, and later began a successful solo career in 1971. His 1982 album Thriller remains the best-selling album of all time, with Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995) also among the world's best selling albums. He is widely credited with having transformed the music video from a promotional tool into an art form with videos for his songs such as "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and "Thriller" making him the first African American artist to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. With stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of physically complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. His distinctive musical sound, vocal style, and choreography, is credited with stretching across and breaking down cultural, racial, economic, generational, and global barriers that has inspired countless pop, rock, R&B and hip hop artists.

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Sony/ATV Music Publishing is a music publishing company co-owned by The Michael Jackson Family Trust and Sony. The organisation was originally founded as Associated TeleVision (ATV) in 1955 by Lew Grade. In 1957, ATV acquired Pye Records as a wholly-owned subsidiary. At the time, Pye Records was one of the three major record companies in the UK and, along with EMI and Decca Records, accounted for the vast majority of music records sold in the country. ATV Music Publishing was then created to exploit the catalogue of songs written by artists on the Pye Record label, and for the themes to Independent Television Corporation and ATV programmes. Grade established ATV's headquarters alongside those of Pye Records; off of Edgware Road, beside the Marble Arch in central London.

ATV Music Publishing and Pye Records were at the forefront of the British music explosion in the 1960s. The businesses held contracts with several US companies, allowing them to manufacture and distribute records in the UK. ATV Music Publishing and Grade acquired the rights to the Lennon–McCartney song catalogue, Northern Songs, in 1968. The catalogue featured nearly every song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney until The Beatles' split in 1971.

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From the mid-1980s it became clear that Michael Jackson's health and appearance was changing dramatically. His skin tone became lighter, his nose and facial shape changed, and he lost weight. The lighter skin tone was initially caused by vitiligo and lupus — with which Jackson was diagnosed in 1986—and his use of make-up to cover the blotched skin. Surgeons speculated he also had a rhinoplasty, a forehead lift, cheekbone surgery, and altered his lips. Those close to the singer say that, by 1990, he had undergone around ten procedures. Jackson and some of his siblings said they had been physically and emotionally abused by their father, and in 2003, his father admitted whipping Jackson as a child. Jackson rarely spoke about it, but when he did, he became very emotional and said he would vomit before meeting his father. Mental health experts said he had the mind of a regressed ten-year-old, while other physicians said he suffered from body dysmorphic disorder.

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"Human Nature" is an R&B song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was written by Steve Porcaro and John Bettis, and produced by Quincy Jones for the singer's sixth solo album, Thriller (1982). Steve Porcaro wrote the music for his daughter Heather Porcaro. Initially, Porcaro had recorded a rough demo of the song on a cassette, which was then given to Jones. Enjoying the demo, Jones had the ballad included on the Thriller album. The song was the last selected for the album, ousting "Carousel" from the final track listing.

"Human Nature" was released on July 3, 1983, as the album's fifth single. Although not released in the UK, the song achieved chart success in the US. Reaching number two on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary chart and number seven on the Hot 100, the song became Jackson's fifth Top 10 hit from Thriller. In New Zealand the single reached number 11. The ballad garnered many positive reviews from music critics. "Human Nature" has been covered and sampled by numerous artists, including Miles Davis, SWV, Nas, Jason Nevins and Boyz II Men.

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  • ... that Lenny Kravitz wrote the leaked Michael Jackson song "Another Day"?
  • ... that writer Francis Wheen criticized Michael Jackson's book Dancing the Dream and thanked God that "none" of Jackson's fans could read?
  • ... that during Michael Jackson's This Is It concert tour the website that handles pre-sale ticket registration could not deal with the traffic—16,000 applications a second?

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King of Pop is a compilation album released in commemoration of Michael Jackson's 50th birthday. The album differs significantly from each country where it was released as fan voting was employed to determine the songs for each country's version. The album's title comes from the title Jackson acquired approximately 20 years earlier. The album's launch was made public on June 20, 2008 with the official announcement of the Australian version. The first release came with the German edition (which is identical to the Swiss edition) on August 22, 2008.

Fans in countries where Sony BMG operates national offices were given the opportunity to vote for songs from a list of Jackson's back catalogue to be included in their country's version of the album. Aside from the tracks selected by fans, a megamix of songs from the Thriller album by Jason Nevins was also included in the pool.

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Michael Jackson at the Kahala Hilton Hotel 1988


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