The Man Who Moonwalked

The crowd was out of control with excitement. A sense of nervousness, of tension could be felt throughout the building. Camera flashes were going off left right and centre despite the fact no one was on stage. Dermot O'Leary, a well known British TV presenter, entered and the crowd waited with baited breath. And then hysteria erupts.

The King of Pop had joined O’Leary on stage. Michael Jackson, the Michael Jackson was standing on a podium, as relaxed as possible. "This is it", he told the audience when they had finally calmed down. "This is the final curtain call." He was on stage for no longer than 2 minutes but made headlines across the world - the greatest entertainer in the world was back. He planned to do 50 dates at the 02 arena and then no more. He would retire into his estate with his 3 children.

But just how did he get there? How did he earn the title ‘The King of Pop’ in the first place? How did he cause such excitement by throwing peace signs lazily at the audience with his fingers? This blog follows his journey as he went from a little boy in Gary, Indiana to a mega superstar who had the world at his feet.

Ever since Michael Jackson was a child, his mother always described him as timid and nervous. This was understandable considering he was thrown into the spotlight at such a young age - no doubt the pressure of performance and the media, a problem Jackson never escaped, was enough to silence the young boy. Jackson was just 5 when he made his musical debut in 1963, an age where most children are still growing and playing. The band played small and local gigs that generated a tonne of local interest and soon enough, they were planning opening shows for The Supremes and James Brown. It’s been rumoured that it was Gladys Knight (not Diana Ross, who the boys were forced to name when asked) who introduced the band to Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records. Gordy, who was impressed by the group’s potential, signed them to Motown in 1968. The contract was agreed on the basis that Motown would choose the songs that the Jackson 5 recorded and even then the label was not obligated to release the single. It was a strict starting place for the brothers but Joe Jackson, the father and manager, signed nevertheless. It came about years later that he didn’t read the contract for himself.

Things began to take off for The Jackson 5. By 1969, they were producing singles practically back-to-back, all of which were heading straight to No.1. Joe Jackson was clearly happy with the financial income his sons were creating and so applied more pressure - Michael has admitted during interviews in his later life that his father 'ripped the wire cord off the refrigerator and whooped me with it' simply for getting a move wrong in rehearsal. In another instance where Michael was late for dance rehearsals (of which there were probably many more than is documented) Joe Jackson pushed his son, who was nine years old, into a set of drums and badly bruised him. He then walked away telling Michael "that'll teach you to be late".

Although it's probably unethical to admit it, it was clear Joe Jackson’s assertiveness worked. We’ll never know the extent of the abuse (or indeed if it ever happened at all) but we can see how hard the Jackson boy’s worked. By the time Michael was 11, he had helped to set a chart record with ‘I Want You Back’, ‘ABC’, ‘The Love You Save’ and ‘I’ll Be There’ all reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. They recorded a total of 14 albums with Motown and Michael recorded a further 4 solo albums. Berry Gordy was the man who taught the boys to aim high and reach the goals they set. However, the working relationship between the band and Motown’s founder was about to be broken.

In 1972, the record sales for the Jackson 5 declined slightly and Jacksonmania died down considerably to what it was. Critics became harsher on the LP’s Motown were releasing and there were dips in the financial income that had been consistent for so long - many speculated these issues were caused by Motown’s refusal to update the band’s image. However Michael released a total of four solo albums across a span of three years; the first (‘Got To Be There’) was released January 27th 1972, the second (‘Ben’) on August 4th 1972, ‘Music and Me’ on April 13th 1973 and the last, ‘Forever Michael’ on January 16th 1975. The brothers began writing and recording their own material at Hayvenhurst (their mansion in Encino, California) but Berry Gordy was still adamant that they could not record their own songs in their studio. Joe Jackson began wondering if Motown was really benefiting his son’s careers and started to look for a better deal with another recording company.

It was not long before another record company agreed to represent the Jackson 5. They were still one of the hottest bands around and everyone was dying to own them. CBS Records, who were renamed as Sony Music Entertainment in 1991, offered the group an incredible deal of 20% royalty rates (a considerable amount more than Motown’s pitiful 2.8%) and the chance to write, record and play their own material. However the band was forced to change it’s name from ‘The Jackson 5’ to a simple ‘The Jacksons’ as Motown owned the rights to the name. Another change was made within the group - Jermaine Jackson, who was one of the group’s most prominent voices, married Hazel Gordy (Berry Gordy’s daughter) in 1973. He, therefore, stayed at Motown and was replaced by Randy Jackson, the youngest male Jackson who was an unofficial member. The choice that Jermaine made stung the Jackson’s badly and still to this day, it is rumoured that Joe Jackson hasn’t forgiven him for it.

Berry Gordy suffered when the Jackson 5 left his label - he did not experience such success for the rest of his remainder at the company.

The deal with CBS was beginning to brighten things up for the Jacksons. In the summer of 1976, they broke yet another record and became the first African-American family to host a variety show on CBS. Joining the five Jackson brothers (Michael, Marlon, Tito, Jackie and Randy - Jermaine was still signed with Motown at this point) were the three, previously unsighted Jackson sisters. Rebbie, LaToya and Janet accompanied their brothers as they danced, sang and acted their way through 30 minutes of television. The programme proved to be a success - it ran until March 1977. The Jackson’s continued to rise with big names such as Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff helping them to produce their albums. However after two LPs were written by the soul duo, the band decided to write their next release on their own. This album, which was to be called Destiny, included some of their biggest hits post-Motown. When released, Destiny went platinum and the band was honoured with a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

In 1978, Michael was approached with a pitch to star alongside Diana Ross in an all African-American adaptation of ‘The Wizard of Oz’. It was during the filming of ‘The Wiz’ that he met Quincy Jones, the producer of the film’s music. It was also at the time that Michael fell and broke his nose dancing - this led to the meeting of Jackson and Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who performed the rhinoplasty at the time and the many that would occur afterwards.

Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson began talking about producing Michael’s first solo album since 1975 on the record label ‘Epic’, which was a subsidiary of CBS. Some big names were promised to write songs for the album, which had been named ‘Off The Wall’, such as Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Rod Temperton. With this album, Michael broke yet another record, by producing four US Top Ten hits on one album. The track listing was as follows: 'Don't Stop til You Get Enough', 'Rock with You', 'Workin' Day and Night', 'Get On The Floor', 'Off the Wall', 'Girlfriend', 'She's Out Of My Life', 'I Can't Help It', 'It's the Falling in Love', and 'Burn This Disco Out' It reached No3 on the Billboard 200. Off The Wall won Jackson 6 different awards and 20 million sales worldwide but still he craved more success. He vowed that his next album would create more of an impact - and that it did.

Jackson contributed towards the eventual Grammy award winning E.T. storybook at the beginning of 1982 by singing ‘Someone in the Dark; a song that would eventually be found on the bonus tracks of his next album. After he’d finished that project, Michael began work on the highly anticipated ‘Thriller’ again assisted by Quincy Jones. Recording took place from April 14th to November 8th before it was released on November 30th 1982.

Many critics did not believe this album would go anywhere. After following the semi-successful first release of ‘The Girl Is Mine’, a duet with Paul McCartney, the media believed it would only be a minor accomplishment for Jackson. However, when the second single ‘Billie Jean’ was released, critics were to be proved completely wrong. Thriller flew to the top of the charts in countries globally. An average of 1 million copies were being sold a week. This album was proving to be the success that Michael Jackson had strived for and within merely a year, it became the best-selling album of all time. Even now, 27 years after its original release, Thriller still holds that title. The track listing was as follows: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”, “Baby Be Mine”, “The Girl is Mine” (which featured Paul McCartney),“Thriller”, “Beat It”, “Billie Jean”, “Human Nature”, “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” and "The Lady in My Life”.

Seven out of nine tracks were released off the album across three consecutive years and two of those hit the number one spot in America. However, all releases were well within the top ten and that in itself was an achievement for Jackson, who was a perfectionist.

All in all the 80s were shaping up to be fabulous for Michael’s career. In 1983 he was invited to Motown's 25th Anniversary celebrations where he would perform with the Jacksons and as a solo act. This was where he premiered perhaps his most iconic dance move, which inspired a book and a film to be named after it - the moonwalk. 47 million people across America tuned in to see him glide effortlessly across the stage and it quickly became Michael Jackson’s signature move - the star however was modest about the moonwalk and blamed its creation on the black culture in general. "These black children in the ghettos are... They have the most phenomenal rhythm of anybody on the earth", he told Jesse Jackson after its premiere. "I took a mental movie of it. I went to my room upstairs in encino, and I would start doing the dance, and create and perfect it.. From his room in Los Angeles to the stage, it was the move that would send his audience into throes of excitement - thousands of people paid good money to see him perform it.

However disaster struck. On 27th January 1984 Michael was performing 'Billie Jean' in front of 3000 fans as part of a Pepsi commercial. On the sixth or seventh take, as Michael was about to start singing, a pyrotechnic went off seconds before it was supposed to. The effect was meant to surround him in a magnificent array of sparks - instead, a stray explosion landed on his head and engulfed it in flames. Jackson suffered second degree burns and scarring that marred his hair follicles, which left him with a visible bald patch. Not long after the accident he underwent laser surgery to repair the damage on his scalp - he revisited the burns unit in later life and donated $1.5 million to what is now called the Michael Jackson Burn Centre for Children. This, some may claim, is where the drug dependency and plastic surgery 'obsession' began.

Despite the accident obviously scarring him mentally as well as physically, 1984 wasn’t a completely horrifying year for Jackson. On February 28th, he was awarded a record amount of 8 Grammy’s which all recognised his efforts with Thriller and E.T. The star walked away with the award for ‘Record of the Year’ (Beat It), ‘Album of the Year’ (Thriller), ‘Best Recording for Children’ (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial), ‘Best Video Album’ (Thriller), ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance’ (Beat It), ‘Producer of the Year’ (Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson), ‘Best R&B Vocal Performance’ (Billie Jean), ‘Best Rhythm and Blues song’ (Billie Jean) and ‘Best Rock Vocal Performance’ for ‘Beat It’. The only artist to achieve 8 Grammy’s since is Carlos Santana in 2002.

Although ‘Thriller’ didn’t have a promotional tour like Jackson’s later albums, he was still kept busy by the Jackson’s ‘Victory’ tour. This was to be the last time the brothers toured together and the 55 dates across the USA and Canada earned the group a total of $75 million, breaking the last record the Jackson’s would ever break together as the largest grossing tour at the time. Adding more to his humanitarian record, Michael donated his share of the money ($5 million) to the T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukaemia and Cancer Research, The United Negro College Fund, and the Ronald McDonald Camp for Good Times. The setlist included a lot of Michael and Jermaine’s (who had since left Motown and rejoined his brothers) solo work.

Quincy Jones and Jackson were to be reunited again not long after Thriller to create magic once again. Michael and Lionel Richie had begun writing a charity single in 1985 that would eventually raise $7.5 million dollars plus another $55.5 million that would come from releasing an album with the same name. Across the pond in England, a variety of artists were joining together to raise money for famine in Africa - Band Aid tried to set up in America as well but there weren't enough artists to form a group like in England. When Jackson and Richie pledged to form a supergroup however, many jumped at the chance. 'We Are the World' featured many big name artists such as Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Kenny Rogers, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie themselves. The single sold 800,000 copies within 3 days if its release which was the 7th March. It eventually became one of the best-selling singles of all time. This was another huge achievement for Michael to add to his list and the sky seemed to be the limit for the star.

The last single from Thriller was finally released in 1986. ‘Thriller’ perhaps became better known for its video than the actual song - it begins with Michael and his girlfriend (Ola Ray, a former Playboy centrefold) clad in 50’s clothing. The scene is this; the car they’re driving in has broken down and Michael asks his girlfriend to walk for a while. He produces a ring and asks her to ‘be his girl’ and of course, she agrees. There’s a twist however. As the clouds begin to clear in front of the moon, Michael Jackson transforms into a werewolf and chases his girlfriend through the forest. Just as she trips, we’re thrown back into ‘modern day’ (which is 1986) with Michael and his girlfriend sitting in a cinema.

Ray then proceeds to storm out because the film is too scary - this is where the song finally kicks in. The pair saunter through the darkness playfully, with Jackson confidently fooling around in red leathers and the trademark white socks, until they pass the graveyard and things begin to change. Suddenly a crew of zombies, who happen to be able to dance, surrounds them - Jackson himself transforms into one of the undead and performs perhaps the most iconic dance of all time. Despite the fact ‘Thriller’ was released a full two years after the first single, it still made an impact on the public and set standards for any pop video that was made after it.

The media began to focus more on Jackson’s private life. Rumours of buying the Elephant Man’s bones and freezing his body for 50 years surfaced and the press jumped at the chance to shame him - stories also included him buying a hyperbaric chamber to prolong his youth and journalists eventually came up with the name ‘Wacko Jacko’ for the superstar. It came about years after the articles that Michael loathed the name and found it disrespectful if he was even called 'Jacko' in an interview. It was clear that he was sick of the bad publicity simply because it wasn't true - "Why not just tell people I'm an alien from Mars?" he told his biographer J.Randy Taraborrelli in 1984. "Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They’ll believe anything you say because you're a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, "I'm an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight", people would say, "Oh man that Michael Jackson is nuts. He’s cracked up. You can't believe a damn word that comes out of his mouth." The attention was focused on his private life rather than his upcoming album, which would eventually be released in 1987. It bothered him and that bitter outburst at his biographer proved so.

Along with the pressure of producing a new album and coping with childish rumours about prolonging his life, Michael also had to withstand stories about his health. It was obvious he had had surgery on his nose years before but people were noticing his skin lightening as well. In 1986, it was rumoured Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo, a skin disorder that caused depigmentation of the skin, and lupus which is a disease where your immune system attacks healthy cells and tissue by mistake. The telltale signs of lupus were easy to spot with the red rash in the shape of a butterfly and the tendons not being able to straighten in his fingers. The disease was in remission however but both illnesses made him very sensitive to sunlight – this is the reason why Jackson was spotted with an umbrella many times. He underwent his fourth rhinoplasty in 1986 and also had a cleft put in his chin to masculate his face.

In 1986 he ventured again into the movie world, this time for a 3D Disney project that would be shown in the parks from ’86 to ‘94. 'Captain Eo' follows a crew aboard a spaceship as they embark on a mission to give a wicked alien leader a 'gift'. The video was short, barely 17 minutes long in fact, but some of the biggest names of the moment were working on the set - its director was Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas also offered his producer expertise on the set. Along with Anjelica Huston playing the alien leader, Michael as Captain Eo and thousands of dollars worth of visual effects upon the actual 3D showing, Captain Eo fast became the most expensive short film ever. The climax of the movie was, of course, Michael’s performances of the shows big number ‘We Are Here To Change the World’ and ‘Another Part of Me’.

It had been 5 long years since Thriller. The public was buzzing with excitement. How was Michael Jackson going to top what seemed like the most perfect album of all time? What magic was he going to create this time?

Michael had once again employed the help of musical producer Quincy Jones - the pair had won 8 Grammy’s together not 5 years earlier and this was sure to be the album of the year. Although there was a substantial gap between the two releases, Michael had actually began work on 'Bad' in 1984 but had produced so much material (60 tracks originally) that it took a long time to whittle them down to a certain number. Eventually the album had 11 tracks chosen nine of which Michael had written himself. The track listing was as follows: “Bad”, “The Way You Make Me Feel”, “Speed Demon”, “Liberian Girl” (a track dedicated to Elizabeth Taylor), “Just Good Friends” (a duet with Stevie Wonder), “Another Part of Me”, “Man in The Mirror”, “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” (a duet with Siedah Garrett), “Dirty Diana”, “Smooth Criminal” and “Leave Me Alone”.

A new album meant a new look for Jackson. Instead of the military get-up he so adored, the star decided to dress in harsher gang-related leathers and buckles. He had grown his hair and seemed ready to prove those who called him 'Wacko Jacko' wrong. On the album cover, he's dressed in the same costume as he is in the video for the song of the same name. Viewers watched as Michael, the leader of a gang, danced around a subway to defeat the rival crew - the video concept is very like 'Beat It' in the sense they both use gang rivalry as a topic. The album featured two duets, one with Siedah Garrett and one with Stevie Wonder, and was supposed to play host to a duet with Prince but it was not to be. The star declined the offer on the reasoning that the song would be a hit regardless of his involvement. An astonishing 9 out of the 11 tracks were released and 5 actually reached number one in America. However it was the first, and still remains the first, album to ever have six singles in the Billboard Hot 100. Although it wasn’t as successful as Thriller, it was still a massively successful commercial release and many people actually prefer this album to his first.

Jackson removed himself from the Jehovah’s Witness faith in 1987 because of their disgust at the Thriller video. Despite stating he didn’t believe in what the video promoted at the very start, many people expressed their disapproval and ever the gentleman, he bowed away from the religion to avoid any more upset.

'Bad’ was the first solo album that Michael Jackson promoted with a world tour. With 123 concerts spreading across 16 months (from September 12th 1987 to January 27th 1989), it grossed a title of $125 million and was nominated for ‘Tour of The Year 1988’ at the International Rock Awards. Although he didn’t get the award, nobody could deny this tour was one of the most successful in history. At every concert the star donated 400 tickets free to underprivileged children and gave much of the money he earned to charity.

In the January of 1988, Michael produced a film called ‘Moonwalker’. The movie is a compilation of his short films including the famous ‘Smooth Criminal’ scene where he performed yet another dance move that baffled the public. He was seen to lean forward so much that his head was further forward than his feet and it proved once again that he was a dancing genius. The film sold more than 800,000 copies in America, and was number one on the Billboard Top Music Video Cassette charts for 22 weeks until he knocked himself off the top spot with ‘Michael Jackson: The Legend Continues, but has yet to be released in Europe

While on tour, Michael decided he had had enough of the media. He wrote a letter to the well-known American magazine ‘People’ and asked them to publish it so the public would see and stop buying the rumours. The note is written untidily and without punctuation but the words are sincere - the star uses metaphors to outline his heartbreak at the media's jibes before ending on a genuinely crushing note. 'But have mercy,' Jackson pleads. 'for I've been bleeding a long time now.' An associate of Michael’s read the magazine when it was published. "He’s losing it...the man is losing it." he told Frank DiLeo. Perhaps Michael was not 'losing it' as his colleague so thoughtfully put it. Perhaps he was just tired of the lies and hurt the media were causing him and needed the release that writing the letter gave him.

On March 3rd 1988, Jackson held a private concert at Madison Square Gardens where all proceeds were donated to the United Negro College Fund. One performance of ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ sparked controversy as Tatiana Thumbtzen, the woman who featured in the video, joined Michael on stage and ended up kissing him. Jackson’s manager Frank DiLeo fired the woman after the concert on the basis she was ‘taking advantage’ of the star and was replaced with backing singer, Sheryl Crowe. The classically trained dancer was clearly hurt by the sacking but never took interviews until a much later date. The same month, Michael performed on TV for the first time in five years. It was at the Grammy’s in Los Angeles. Although he did not receive any awards and was clearly disappointed with this, he did receive standing ovations when he performed 'The Way You Make Me Feel' and 'Man in the Mirror'. Many walked away believing it was the greatest performance ever witnessed at the Grammy’s. It's said that the reason for Michael not winning any Grammy’s was because he walked away with so many the last time. This however did not bother the star for long - he managed to scoop 4 Billboard awards, 3 NAACP awards, 2 Soul Train awards and MTV's Award for Outstanding Contribution to Video Production. 'Bad’ it seemed hadn't been ignored entirely.

It was sometime during his tour in 1988 that the star came across a ranch in Santa Barbara, California. William Bone, who was a well-know golf course entrepreneur, owned Sycamore Valley Ranch. Considering the ranch was bought for between $16.5 and $30 million, it was a good investment for the star seeing as it was worth several hundred million dollars at the time of his death. When the property was his, Jackson went wild and installed many amusements such as a Ferris wheel and a movie theatre. Railroads were put down to carry passengers from the gates to the house and a large floral clock that can be seen from the air was laid down at the entrance. The ranch was his pride and joy for many years but he would later come to resent it.

Everything was going well for Michael Jackson. It was calculated during the year that his album sales and concerts earned him $125 million for just 1989 alone which is an incredible amount of money for just one year.

The ‘Bad’ world tour finally rolled around to the Wembley Stadium in London. Princess Diana was among the big name celebrities who attended this obviously huge event and the two forged a strong friendship that would last until her devastating death in 1997. He awarded prince harry and William the ‘Bad’ tour jacket and Princess Diana and Prince Charles a cheque for £30,000 (the proceeds from the Wembley gig) which was to be donated to The Prince’s Trust and The Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The same year his dear friend Elizabeth Taylor presented him the Sammy Davis Jr, Heritage and Artist of the Decade award. While on stage she dubbed him 'the true king of rock, pop and soul' and the name is still attached him today. President George W Bush also invited him to the White House to award him the White House's artist of the decade. When he appeared at Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th Anniversary Celebration to sing ‘You Were There’ (a song he only sang live once), Michael received an Emmy nomination for the performance.

The 80’s eventually had to end for Michael Jackson. It was truly a fantastic era for him – it saw him collect an astounding 22 awards for the groundbreaking albums he had produced and attracted millions of new fans who would stick with him until the end. There was literally no stopping him as he carried on straight to the top.

The 90’s would also begin well for him. On June 25th 1990, recording began on his eighth album. ‘Dangerous’ was a reportedly a sexier approach to Michael’s original sound and featured Teddy Riley, the ‘New Jack Swing’ inventor and Grammy-winner Bill Bottrell as producers. Recording spanned across 16 months, which was unusual seeing as his previous albums were completed in 6 months, and the album was released on November 26th 1991. The listing was as follows: ‘Jam’, ‘Why You Wanna Trip on Me’, ‘In the Closet’, ‘She Drives Me Wild’, ‘Remember the Time’, ‘Can't Let Her Get Away’, ‘Heal the World’, ‘Black Or White’, ‘Who Is It’, ‘Give In To Me’, ‘Will You Be There’, ‘Keep The Faith’, ‘Gone Too Soon’ and ‘Dangerous’. Out of the 14 tracks (which was 4 tracks more than his last LP and dangerously challenging the capacity of the compact discs of the time) 7 were released in America and 8 were released in the UK.

While Jackson was writing and recording the album, he refreshed his contract with Sony and broke yet another record by renewing it for an exceptional $65 million. With this deal, Jackson was tied to Sony for 16 years and he was set to receive hefty shares of the profits from his next six albums. He also had more control over the direction of his videos. The star was expected to receive millions of dollars from the deal but Sony also was estimated to collect $1 million in profits.

The first song from 'Dangerous’ was released in October 1991 - 'Black Or White’ featured Slash’s expertise guitar-playing in the introduction and Bill Bottrell, the album’s producer, wrote and performed the rap which was the centrepiece of the song. It reached number one in America and the UK and is still to this day considered the biggest selling rock song of the 90’s. It was also considered a bigger success than Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ was. The song addressed the issue of racial equality but it’s video sparked massive controversy – in the last 4 minutes of the original video, Jackson is seen vandalising the scene around him complete with smashing windows (with racist slurs such as ‘Hitler Lives’ and ‘KKK Rules’ scrawled against them) and destroying a car. He also performs a few sexually suggestive dance moves that involved him unzipping his trousers and messing with his crotch in general as he usually did. It was obvious that the window breaking was meant to symbolise the metaphorical smashing of racism and the characteristics of the panther he morphs into towards the end but the star apologised regardless. During the ‘Dangerous World Tour’, a 20 second segment of the controversial video was shown between songs with the sexually suggestive scenes taken out but oddly enough, the zipping up of the trousers left in.

‘Dangerous’ was Michael’s fastest-selling album ever in the United States, spent 23 weeks in the Top Ten in the UK and a total of 96 weeks in the Top 75. The biggest selling single from the album was ‘Heal the World’ - it sold a total of 450,000 copies in the UK but was his second single in America to not reach the Top 20. It was the second album of Jackson’s to be supported by a world tour. In 1992, Michael Jackson founded the ‘Heal The World’ organisation, a non-profitable foundation which donated millions of dollars to underprivileged children. All profit from the ‘Dangerous’ world tour was given to the trust which, in turn, paid for a Hungarian child’s liver transplant. The tour began in Munich, Germany on June 27 1992 and concluded in Mexico City, Mexico on 11th November 1993. He cancelled the remainder of the tour on the basis that he was getting treatment for dependency on painkillers but many people assumed it was the stress of what had happened earlier in 1993.

He visited Africa in 1992 on his first non-performing tour, the Back to Eden tour. He travelled around poverty-stricken countries raising awareness of its seriousness and going back to his true roots regardless of the colour of his skin at that time. When he arrived in Gabon, Michael attracted a bigger audience than Nelson Mandela had before him. While in Gabon he received the ‘Medal of Honour’ from President Omar Bongo - he was the first entertainer to obtain the award as the others were statesmen and politicians. Moving onto the Ivory Coast, he attracted a bigger audience there than the Pope himself. In the village of Abidjan where the Agni tribe resided, Amon n'djaolk, the tribal chief of the Krindjabo, crowned him the official King of Sani. An overwhelmed Michael Jackson thanked the tribe in French, signed the documents and sat upon a golden throne as the natives danced and chanted for him, a true king it would seem amongst his true people who did not tear him to shreds as people back home did.

In February 1993, Michael Jackson gave a one-off interview to Oprah Winfrey, which was his first since 1979. It was here that he admitted to having vitiligo and denied bleaching his skin; Jackson also used the programme to contradict earlier rumours of owning a hyperbaric chamber and the Elephant Man’s bones. 90 million American’s tuned in to watch the interview making it the fourth biggest non-sport programme in U.S. history. The interview caused ‘Dangerous’ to re-enter the album chart a year after it’s original release. Also in this month, Michael won the ‘Living Legend’ award at the Grammy’s at just 34 years of age.

The summer of 1993 was a terrible time for Michael. He had befriended a 13-year old boy called Jordie Chandler and had become relatively close to the teen and his family. It was well known that Michael had a lot of child friends because he entertained them at Neverland many a time. However Chandler's father Evan had grown suspicious of the relationship between the two. He confessed later that he was jealous of their friendship and had even asked Jackson if he’d had sex with his son. When Michael denied any allegation, Evan Chandler became less hostile towards him and offered to build another wing on the Chandler’s home to accommodate the singer. Not long after though, his suspicions returned. Evidence that Evan Chandler was substantially behind in his child support payments eventually came to surface just after the man demanded $20 million or the matter would be taken to court. At the time Jackson declined the offer and his legal team proposed a $1 million payout to the family. When neither team could come to an agreement, Chandler took it to court. Jordie Chandler gave a description of Jackson’s penis to Los Angeles Police Department's Sexually Exploited Child Unit who then did a strip search of Michael, involving taking photographic evidence of his genitalia. The pictures taken and Jordie’s description did not match up enough to charge the star properly.

In a private phone call that was tape recorded, Chandler said, “There's no way I lose. I will get everything I want and they will be destroyed forever... Michael's career will be over.” And when asked how it’d affect his son the man replied, “That's irrelevant to me.. It will be a massacre if I don't get what I want. It's going to be bigger than all us put together...This man [Jackson] is going to be humiliated beyond belief... He will not sell one more record.”

It is worth noting that one particular set of evidence against Chandler wasn’t heard in court. Chandler, a dentist, was removing a tooth from his child’s mouth and used the controversial drug ‘Amobarbital’ which experts confirmed can create ‘false memories’. The boy then 'admitted', if you can really call it that, Michael forced him to engage in sexual acts. He also gave a description of Jackson’s penis to Los Angeles Police Department's Sexually Exploited Child Unit who then did a strip search of Michael, involving taking photographic evidence of his genitalia. The pictures taken and Jordie’s description did not match up enough to charge the star properly. It is also worth nothing that Jordie Chandler’s mother did not believe Jackson had molested her child at all.

La Toya Jackson made a comment at the time that was most probably the worst blow of them all - "I can no longer be a silent collaborator of his crimes against small innocent children", she claimed. La Toya has since retracted the statement and explained that her husband was abusive, controlling and forced her to make such a statement. Although many would probably think she was bluffing, her husband was arrested for striking her with a chair leg years later that may prove her innocence.

Eventually Michael paid the Chandler’s the original $20 million offer even though the court had come to the agreement there was not even evidence against Jackson. This was perhaps not the wisest thing to do seeing as it sparked more suspicion about his behaviour - if he had nothing to be guilty of then why pay the family off? When asked why he paid the family off Jackson said, “I wanted to go on with my life. Too many people had already been hurt. I want to make records. I want to sing. I want to perform again... It's my talent. My hard work. My life. My decision.” It was an understandable and completely justifiable thing for Michael to do although many people use this as fuel against the star.

Michael never really recovered from the allegations it would seem. However during the months where he was most under pressure, he had re-established contact with Lisa Marie Presley who was an old childhood friend. She was one of the people who most understood the pressure of being in the limelight at such a young age - her father was, of course, Elvis Presley and she’d spent many years in the public eye because of it. The pair first met in 1975 during a Jackson family party at MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas - seven-year-old Presley had attended many of Michael’s shows and was a considerable fan. It was early 1993 when they were eventually put back into contact with each other and they continued talking to one another every day. When the child molestation allegations were ultimately publicised, it was Lisa Marie who Michael Jackson depended on for emotional support. His addiction to painkillers progressed and his health began to deteriorate dramatically so Presley thought it her duty to save him from himself. “I believed he didn't do anything wrong and that he was wrongly accused and yes I started falling for him.” She said about the situation. “I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it.” During the fall of 1993, the star proposed to her over the phone (perhaps in a less than traditional manner - he allegedly asked, “If I asked you to marry me, would you do it?” They tied the knot in the Dominican Republic in 1994. Their marriage came to an end in 1996.

June 1995 brought the release of another LP from Jackson. ‘HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I’ (shortened to HIStory) was a double album containing a disc full of singles and another full of new material. The first disc’s track listing was as follows: "Billie Jean”, “The Way You Make Me Feel”, “Black or White”, “Rock With You”, “She’s Out Of My Life”, “Bad”, “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”, “Man in the Mirror”, “Thriller”, “Beat It”, “The Girl is Mine”, “Remember the Time”, “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” and “Heal the World”. There were a total of 15 new tracks on the second disc and they were “Scream” (a duet with his younger sister, Janet Jackson), “They Don’t Care About Us”, “Stranger in Moscow”, “This Time Around”. “Earth Song”, “D.S.”, “Money”, “Come Together” (a Beatles’ cover originally recorded in 1988 for ‘Moonwalker’), “You Are Not Alone”, “Childhood”, “Tabloid Junkie”, “2 Bad”, “HIStory”, “Little Susie” and “Smile”, a cover of Charlie Chaplin’s recording. 6 of the 15 tracks were released, the lowest number of singles that he had released to date.

The first single to be distributed was “Scream/Childhood” on a double A-side which was released May 31st 1995. Its video was choreographed by Michael Jackson but directed by Mark Romanek, a renowned music video director and is still the most expensive music video of all time, with costs of $7 million. Its concept was completely sci-fi with visual effects that were way ahead of the time in retrospect. The single was a worldwide hit - by the end of August 1995, it was certified Gold and Platinum by the RIAA for shipments of a million copies in the U.S. However when “Earth Song” was released, it sold 3.15 million copies worldwide and succeeded in becoming the UK’s Christmas number one in 1995 and his most successful in the country, selling a total of one million copies.

At least two of the tracks from this album caused yet another load of controversy for Michael Jackson. The video for "You Are Not Alone” starred him and his wife Lisa Marie unclothed apart from a flimsy cloth and in 2007, a Belgium court banned it’s airplay in the country because of alleged plagiarism. The judgement has not been recognised in any other country and the rights still belong to R.Kelly everywhere else. “They Don’t Care About Us” also caused altercations because of it’s lyrics - in the second verse, Michael sang the words, “Jew me, sue me, everybody do me/ Kick me, kike me, don't you black or white me” and The New York Times picked up on this. They labelled the lyrics ‘slurs’ and Michael himself an anti-Semitic. He issued a number of apologies for the lyrics, claiming “I am the voice of everyone. I am the skinhead, I am the Jew, I am the black man, I am the white man. I am not the one who was attacking.” He also changed the lyrics to suit everyone.

Overall the album was a success for Jackson. Perhaps he had assumed sales would dip after the allegations in ’93 but they remained as consistent as ever, proving that there were fans to stick by him whatever the media wrote about him. HIStory was, and still remains, the best-selling multi-disc album of all time with 20 million sales to back it up. It won one Grammy (not surprisingly ‘Best Music Video’ for ‘Scream’) and was nominated for 5 in total. It was also Jackson’s third studio album to be promoted by a world tour. The HIStory World Tour covered Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and Hawaii with its dates and grossed $163.5 million in total. Its first leg began in Prague, Czech Republic on September 7th 1996 and completed in Honolulu, Hawaii on January 4th 1997. Its second leg began in Bremen, Germany on May 31st 1997 and concluded on October 15th 1997, making the tour dates a total of 82.

The tour was clearly a special time for Jackson – during the Australian section of it, he married his dermatologist Debbie Rowe who he’d met originally in 1988 when he was diagnosed with vitiligo. They tied the knot on November 13th 1996 in a low-key and spontaneous ceremony in Sydney. Before the marriage Rowe and Jackson were good friends anyway - she treated his skin disease and also offered emotional support about the matter. They founded a strong friendship there and eventually got romantically involved after Michael’s divorce from Lisa Marie. The only reason they actually got married, according to close friends, was because of Jackson’s pining to be a father - ever since the Thriller days he’d wanted children and Rowe had offered him the chance to have as many as he’d like. They only really married because of Rowe’s Jewish background and problems when it came to childbearing outside of marriage.

Prince Michael Jackson was born February 13th 1997 and was named after Michael’s grandfather who was also called Prince. The second child Debbie Rowe would bear was Paris Katherine Jackson who was born 3rd April 1998. Rowe and Jackson divorced in 1999, with Rowe going to court and terminating her rights as a mother to enable him to care for the children completely.

Jackson produced and released “Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix” on May 20th 1997. The album featured 8 remixes of songs from HIStory (“Scream”, “Money”, “2Bad”, “Stranger in Moscow”, “This Time Around”, “Earth Song”, “You Are Not Alone” and “HIStory”) and 5 new songs. Six million copies have been sold worldwide which makes it the best-selling remix album of all time. The new material (“Blood on the Dancefloor”, “Morphine”, “Superfly Sister”, “Ghosts” and “Is It Scary?”) was mostly based around the theme of women, paranoid and controversially, drug addiction. “Morphine” is a raw and angry track which includes Jackson cursing, something that had not been witnessed before. The chorus, however, is a different story completely. It starts with

“Relax, this won’t hurt you
Before I put it in close your eyes and count to ten
Don't cry
I won't convert you
There's no need to dismay
Close your eyes and drift away,"

and eventually leads into a eerie hookline. 'Demerol, Demerol.' Jackson sings calmly. 'Oh god he's taking Demerol.' It's a chilling representation of his alleged drug abuse and perhaps a premonition of how his life would eventually end. The album reached number one in the UK but in America was certified platinum.

‘Ghosts’, a film Michael had written, was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997. The film’s score consisted only of Jackson’s remixes and he also played many characters such as The Maestro and The Mayor.

Throughout 1999 Jackson went back to his humanitarian work, performing with Luciano Pavarotti for a benefit concert in Italy. The concert raised $1 million dollars for the charity ‘War Child’ and for the refugees of Kosovo. In June, he organised ‘Michael Jackson and Friends’, concerts which would take place in Germany and Korea. Established artists such as Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey, Luther Vandross, Slash and A.R. Rahman performed to raise money for the "Nelson Mandela Children's Fund", the Red Cross and UNESCO.

The millennium brought yet more conflict for Michael Jackson. Sony had been trying for years to buy his entire share in his music catalogue - if by some chance his career failed later on, he would have to sell his entire back-catalog and by buying his shares, Sony would benefit from it. The star announced he was to leave Sony and in, as it seems, a frenzied temper tantrum, the label halted all promotional adverts, music and videos that surrounded the release of Jackson’s upcoming album.

October 30th 2001 brought the highly anticipated release of ‘Invincible’, Michael’s tenth (and final) studio album. It was his first album since ‘Dangerous’ to feature entirely new material and it was dedicated to Benjamin Hermansen, an Afro-Norwegian boy who had been stabbed to death by a group of Neo-Nazis. Perhaps with a time of nearly 80 minutes originally on the album, the genius that Michael Jackson had maintained for nigh on 20 years didn’t quite reach every corner of the LP - one critic described the record as “running too long, losing steam halfway through.” The track listing was as follows: “Unbreakable”(featuring The Notorious B.I.G.), “Heartbreaker”, “Invincible”, “Break of Dawn”, “Heaven Can Wait”, “You Rock My World” (which featured Chris Tucker on the introductory skit), “Butterflies”, “Speechless”, “2000 Watts”, “You Are My Life”, “Privacy”, “Don’t Walk Away”, “Cry”, “The Lost Children”, “Whatever Happens” and “Threatened”. Out of the 16 tracks, only 3 were released and just one of those (“You Rock My World”) reached the number one spot. “Unbreakable” was due to have been released as a single also but Sony refused to release it as it had pulled all promotion on the album. Invincible was an overall commercial success but its sales were considerably lower than Jackson’s previous albums - this was a result of no promotion, the label argument and no tour.

In an attempt to promote the album himself, an anniversary party celebrating 30 years of being a solo artist was organised. The tickets were the most expensive in pop at the time - the best seats cost $5,000 and included a dinner with the man himself. During the show, the Jackson’s performed together for the first time since 1984 and other artists such as Usher, Destiny’s Child, Luther Vandross, Slash and Whitney Houston were also involved in the two concerts. He reportedly received $7.5 million for each concert.

On September 11th, just hours before the fateful terrorist attacks, Jackson was involved in organising 'United We Stand: What More Can I Give’, a benefit concert. The gig was eventually aired on October 21st 2001 and included performances from many established artists of the time. The finale was Michael Jackson himself performing “What More Can I Give”.

In 2002 Jackson’s third and final child, Prince Michael Jackson II (nicknamed Blanket), was born on October 22nd. He has confirmed that he does not know the true identity of the mother because Blanket was conceived by artificial insemination using his own sperm cells and a surrogate mother. The star would cause dispute yet again in the November of 2002 by holding Blanket over a balcony in Berlin, four stories from the ground. Jackson made a public apology not long after the incident, calling it a ‘terrible mistake’.

2003 arrived and Sony released a ‘Number Ones’ album. Things seemed to be going well for him - up until a programme called ‘Living with Michael Jackson’ was first shown in England.

Martin Bashir was an established English journalist. He’d previously conducted interviews with the likes of Princess Diana and a good friend of Michael, Uri Geller, thought that such an interview would benefit his reputation. Bashir would spend eight months living with Michael and investigating the aspects of his life that he’d previously kept secret, such as the child abuse he suffered during his younger years, plastic surgery and information about the ‘sleepovers’ he held at Neverland. Throughout the programme, Bashir offers a negative and criticising commentary about the way Jackson lived his life. It was this interview that ultimately brought the child molestation charges to light again when Michael Jackson was seen holding hands with Gavin Arvizo, a 13 year old cancer survivor who claimed the star helped him through the most recent bout of illness. Jackson admitted that the boy, and many other children, slept in his bed occasionally whilst he slept on the floor.

It was Arvizo who later claimed he’d been sexually molested while at Neverland. Bashir then went on to say Neverland was a “dangerous” place for minors but was contradicted massively by a later programme called "Take Two: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See” that showed the journalist saying “he thinks it's wonderful that he allows children to come to Neverland”. This shows that perhaps Bashir was trying to stir things up for Jackson and create more newsworthy items on the superstar; the plan backfired considerably with Michael Jackson enduring yet more media speculation and Bashir not obtaining any other jobs since. Ironically, his last project was presenting Michael’s memorial service in America, where he still managed to criticise the upbringing of the children and the general standard of his life.

Shortly after the programme was aired in America, Michael Jackson was charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of ‘administering an intoxicating agent’ to minors. A mental health professional Dr Stan Katz examined Michael’s behaviour in a several-hour investigation and eventually came to the conclusion that Jackson was, in fact, a ‘regressed 10 year old’ and ‘did not fit the profile of a paedophile’. Debbie Rowe went back to court after the allegations were made public and reclaimed her rights as a mother to the two children she’d actually give birth to. The trials lasted two years and on June 13th 2005, Jackson was acquitted of all charges. He moved away from Neverland (presumably because of the memories attached to the valley) and immigrated to Bahrain as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah.

Nobody saw much of Michael Jackson in the next couple of years. He re-emerged on November 15th 2006 to receive a Diamond Award at the World Music Awards for selling over 100 million albums and returned to America to pay tribute to the late James Brown who died December 30th 2006. James Brown was always an inspiration to him as a child and you could always post certain characteristics of Brown’s in Jackson’s dance moves. Michael and Sony bought Famous Music LLC from Viacom in late 2007 in a deal that gave him rights to songs by Eminem and Shakira among others.

To mark its 25th anniversary, ‘Thriller 25’ was released on February 8th 2008, with songs remixed by Will.I.Am and Fergie and old material that had been recorded but never released. It debuted at number one in countries worldwide and proved that this was still probably the most perfect album of all time - in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Ireland, Mexico and a number of other countries the album was certified gold and platinum.

On March 5th 2009, a press conference was held to announce the ‘This Is It’ tour. With 50 dates and an estimated gross of £250 million that would clear the debts that he’d recently acquired, this was reported to be the musical event of the year. Ticket sales added to his list of broken records and his promotional video took up an entire commercial break on ITV, which set a record for the television station itself. Michael Jackson fans worldwide were excited; this was his first tour since the HIStory tour in 1997 and it was sure to be a magnificent affair.

However the world would never get to see such an affair. An ambulance was called to his rented mansion in Los Angeles; he was not breathing and CPR wasn’t making an effect. Efforts to resuscitate Jackson were continued on the way to The Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and medics continued to work on him for an hour after they arrived.

Michael Jackson, The King of Pop, The Moonwalker and musical genius was pronounced dead on June 25th 2009 at 14:26.

Tributes from around the world began to pour in. People began to gather around his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Flowers and candles were left outside Neverland and Hayvenhurst. A kind of sadness lingered in the air - after all, the most talented man that this millennium (and the decades before) had gone. The world, perhaps, will never witness such talent for a long time.

A public memorial service was held on 7th July 2009. One billion people worldwide watched as a series of artists performed at the Staples Centre in front of his casket, wheeled out by his brothers who were wearing one glittery glove and sunglasses. Jermaine Jackson, Brooke Shields, Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Queen Latifah, Al Sharpton, Lionel Richie, John Mayer, Jennifer Hudson, Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Shaheen Jafargholi and Usher were just a few of the people who gave tribute to Michael but perhaps the most striking and touching of them all was his own daughter. Paris, just 11 years old, stood in front of the world and spoke few but heartbreaking words about her daddy who “had been the best father you could ever imagine.” She then collapsed into her auntie Janet’s arms, sobbing her little heart out.

Towards the end of the memorial, Michael’s backing singers, who had been rehearsing with him not weeks before, came out and performed a touching rendition of ‘We Are the World’. Everyone who had given eulogies or performed joined them on stage to sing along before it led into the final song, which was the song Jackson was most proud of writing - ‘Heal the World.’ Everyone on stage sang as loud as their hurting hearts would let them, including Michael’s three children who were right at the front of the choir. Many thought this a travesty because the star had worked tirelessly towards protecting his children and in one instant, all of his hard work had been destroyed.

Everyone has an opinion on Michael Jackson. You either don’t believe he was a paedophile or you do; you either believe he’s a musical genius or you don’t. I believe Michael Jackson was a pure and honest man. He was far too genuine and believing for his own good which probably caused him to end up in many situations where he didn't want to be. I also believe Jackson was incredibly naive - it was clear from watching any interview that he thought sleeping with children was genuinely okay. Of course, in today’s society, a man cannot sleep with a child in his bed but Michael Jackson obviously thought he was doing right by offering a child his bed - in the infamous interview with martin Bashir (who I, as I said before and will say, believe betrayed Jackson completely) Michael claimed the most loving thing you can do is share your bed. Perhaps in the Neverland world that Jackson had set up for himself that was true but in this day and age, it's clear that everything (including sharing a bed with a child WITHOUT conducting any sexual acts) is a crime. Michael Jackson was just foolish and completely innocent in thinking that was okay. The strenuous trials along with the media (who are suddenly his biggest fans) tore the man to shreds and kicked him while he was down. That, I believe, was the only crime committed.

I can't really end this in an overly positive way so I will leave it up to a quote from Pastor Lucious Smith who spoke at Michael's memorial service. Thank you for reading.

"All around us are people of different cultures, different religions, different nationalities. And yet the music of Michael Jackson brings us together."