ITA PRATIWI

12 IPA 7 / 14

THE BIOGRAPHY ABOUT KING OF POP

MICHAEL JACKSON

Michael's father, Joseph Jackson, was a crane operator during the 1950s, in Gary, Indiana – a
place in which, according to Dave Marsh's Trapped: Michael Jackson and the Crossover
Dream, quotas were imposed on how many black workers were allowed to advance into
skilled trades in the city's mills. Michael's mother, Katherine Scruse, was from Alabama but
was living in East Chicago, Indiana, when she met Joe. She had grown up hearing country &
western music, and although she entertained her own dreams of singing and playing music, a
bout of polio had left her with a permanent limp. Joe and Katherine were a young couple,
married in 1949, and began a large family immediately. Their first child, Maureen (Rebbie),
was born in 1950, followed by Sigmund (Jackie) in 1951, Toriano (Tito) in 1953, Jermaine
in 1954, La Toya in 1956 and Marlon in 1957. Michael was born on August 29th, 1958, and
Randy was born in 1961. Janet, the last born, wouldn't arrive until 1966.

Behind the scenes, Joseph Jackson pushed his sons to succeed. He was also reportedly
known to become violent with them. Michael and his brothers spent endless hours rehearsing
and polishing up their act. At first, the Jackson 5 played local gigs and built a strong
following. They recorded one single on their own, "Big Boy" with the b-side "You've
Changed," but it failed to generate much interest.
The Jackson 5 moved on to working an opening act for such R&B artists as Gladys Knight
and the Pips, James Brown, and Sam and Dave. Many of these performers were signed to the
legendary Motown record label, and it has been reported that Gladys Knight may have been
the one to tell Motown founder Berry Gordy about the Jackson 5. Impressed by the group,
Gordy signed them to his label in 1968.
Relocating to Los Angeles, Michael and his brothers started work on their music and dancing
with their father as their manager. They lived with Gordy and also with Supremes singer
Diana Ross when they first arrived there. In August 1969, the Jackson 5 was introduced to
the music industry at a special event, and later served as the opening act for the Supremes.
Their first album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, hit the charts in December of that
year. It's first single, "I Want You Back," hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January
1970. More chart-topping singles quickly followed, such as "ABC," "The Love You Save"
and "I'll Be There."

At the age of 13, Jackson launched a solo career in addition to his work with the Jackson 5.
He made the charts in 1971 with "Got to Be There" from the album of the same name. His
1972 album, Ben, featured the eponymous ballad about a rat. The song became Jackson's
first solo No. 1 single.
For several years, Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 maintained a busy tour and recording
schedule, under the supervision of Berry Gordy and his Motown staff. Gordy wrote many of
the songs recorded by the group and by Michael Jackson as a solo artist. The group became
so popular that they even had their own self-titled cartoon show, which ran from 1971 to
1973.
Despite Jackson's individual achievements and the group's great success, there was trouble
between the Jacksons and their record company. Tensions mounted between Gordy and
Joseph Jackson over the management of his children's careers, and their level of participation
in making their music. The Jacksons wanted more control over their recordings, which led to
most of the Jacksons breaking ties with Motown in 1975. Jermaine Jackson remained with
the label and continued to pursue a solo career, having previously released several albums—
none of which had matched the success of his younger brother Michael.

His success resulted in him being dubbed the "King of Pop".Michael Jackson always had a
glamour performed with his style.

Jackson also broke numerous records as an artist. He earned several Guinness World
Records titles, including achieving the longest span of U.S. Top 40 singles—from November
6, 1971, to January 1, 2011. He won a total of 13 Grammy Awards—eight of them in one
night in 1984—and was the first artist to have five singles reach No. 1 from the same album
(1987's Bad). He was also a double inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, for both
his work with the Jackson 5 and as a solo artist.
In the summer of 1993, Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy
named Jordan Chandler and his father, Evan Chandler, a dentist. In January 1994, however,
after investigation on allegations of extortion against the singer by Chandler, deputy Los
Angeles County district attorney Michael J. Montagna stated that Chandler would not be
charged due to lack of cooperation from Jackson's camp and its willingness to negotiate with
Chandler for several weeks among other reasons. Other people said that Michael Jackson
negotiated with them because in March 1988, Jackson purchased land near Santa Ynez,
California, to build Neverland Ranch at a cost of $17 million for all children around the
world.

In May 1994, Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis and Priscilla
Presley. The marriage lasted less than two years and ended with an amicable divorce
settlement. In late 1996, Jackson remarried, to nurse Debbie Rowe,( Klein's nurse ); over the
next two years, the couple had two children, son Prince Michael Jackson, Jr. and daughter
Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. Michael Joseph Jackson Jr (commonly known as Prince)
was born on February 13, 1997; his sister Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson was born a year
later on April 3, 1998. And the last child of Jackson and Rowe is Prince Michael Jackson II.
Since then up to 2004, Michael's physical appearance changed drastically. He was reported
being addicted to extensive plastic surgery although he insisted to have only three
operations. He said that the first two were a rhinoplasty to repair a broken nose after a
dancing accident in 1978, and the third was a surgical operation of a cleft in his chin. The
operations affected his skin condition so that he used a mask or makeup to protect his face.

When Jackson died on June 25th, 2009, of apparent cardiac arrest in Los Angeles at age 50,
the outpouring of first shock, then grief, was the largest, most instantaneous of its kind the
world had ever known, short of the events of September 11th, 2001. What immediately
became obvious in all the coverage is that despite the dishonor that had come upon him, the
world still respected Michael Jackson for his music – for the singles he made as a Motown
prodigy, for the visionary disco he made as a young adult, for Thriller, a stunningly vibrant
album that blew up around the world on a scale we'll never see again, for his less impactful
but still one-of-kind later work, even for his cheesy ballads. In 2009 Jackson was the biggest-
selling artist in the world.