Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist.His honors include 15 Grammy Awards, six Brit Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and 39 Guinness World Records, including the "Most Successful Entertainer of All Time". Jackson's inductions include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (twice), the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Dance Hall of Fame (making him the only recording artist to be inducted) and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame. Life and career
Early life and the Jackson 5 (1958-1975)
The single-story house has white walls, two windows, a central white door with a black door frame, and a black roof. In front of the house there is a walkway and multiple colored flowers and memorabilia. Jackson's childhood home in Gary, Indiana, pictured in March 2010
Michael Joseph Jackson[9][10] was born in Gary, Indiana, on August 29, 1958.[11][12] He was the eighth of ten children in the Jackson family, a working-class African-American family living in a two-bedroom house on Jackson Street.[13][14] His mother, Katherine Esther Jackson (nee Scruse), played clarinet and piano, had aspired to be a country-and-western performer, and worked part-time at Sears.[15] She was a Jehovah's Witness.[16] His father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, a former boxer, was a crane operator at US Steel and played guitar with a local rhythm and blues band, the Falcons, to supplement the family's income.[17][18] Joe's great-grandfather, July "Jack" Gale, was a US Army scout; family lore held that he was also a Native American medicine man.[19] Michael grew up with three sisters (Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet) and five brothers (Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy).[17] A sixth brother, Marlon's twin Brandon, died shortly after birth.[20]

In 1964, Michael and Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers--a band formed by their father which included Jackie, Tito and Jermaine--as backup musicians playing congas and tambourine.[21][22] Michael said his father told him he had a "fat nose",[23] and physically and emotionally abused him during rehearsals.He recalled that Joe often sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed, ready to punish any mistakes.[16][24] Joe acknowledged that he regularly whipped Michael.[25] Katherine said that although whipping came to be considered abuse, it was a common way to discipline children when Michael was growing up.[26][27] Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon denied that their father was abusive and said that the whippings, which had a deeper impact on Michael because he was younger, kept them disciplined and out of trouble.[28] Michael said that during his youth he was lonely and isolated.[29]

Later in 1965, Michael began sharing lead vocals with Jermaine, and the group's name was changed to the Jackson 5.[30] In 1965, the group won a talent show; Michael performed the dance to Robert Parker's 1965 song "Barefootin'" and sang the Temptations' "My Girl".[31] From 1966 to 1968, the Jacksons 5 toured the Midwest; they frequently played at a string of black clubs known as the Chitlin' Circuit as the opening act for artists such as Sam & Dave, the O'Jays, Gladys Knight and Etta James. The Jackson 5 also performed at clubs and cocktail lounges, where striptease shows were featured, and at local auditoriums and high school dances.[32][33] In August 1967, while touring the East Coast, they won a weekly amateur night concert at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.[34]


Michael Jackson (center) as a member of the Jackson 5 in 1972. The group were among the first African American performers to attain a crossover following.[35]
The Jackson 5 recorded several songs for a Gary record label, Steeltown Records; their first single, "Big Boy", was released in 1968.[36] Bobby Taylor of Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers brought the Jackson 5 to Motown after they opened for Taylor at Chicago's Regal Theater in 1968.In 2009, while he was preparing for a series of comeback concerts, This Is It, Jackson died from an overdose of propofol administered by his personal physician, Conrad Murray, who was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter for his involvement in Jackson's death.He helped propel the success of MTV and continued to innovate with the videos for his subsequent albums: Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995), and Invincible (2001).His death triggered reactions around the world, creating unprecedented surges of internet traffic and a spike in sales of his music.In 1993, he was accused of sexually abusing the child of a family friend.