Michael Jackson Pictures, Biography, Profile, Facts, Discography, Filmography, more.

Grammy Award-winning pop singer and dancer known for his controversial behavior on- and offstage, his phenomenal commercial success and his big-budget, flashy videos. He began his career in the 1960s performing with his siblings in the Jackson Five. In 1978, Jackson re-emerged with his solo album Off the Wall and a new persona and appearance. His other recordings include Thriller (1982), Dangerous (1992), and HIStory: Past, Present and Future (1995). He was married to Lisa Marie Presley (1995–1996) and Debbie Rowe (1996–1999), with whom he has two children. His sister is Janet Jackson.

Has sold 170 million albums worldwide.

He was voted the 35th Greatest Artist of all time in Rock 'n' Roll by Rolling Stone.

"I'm just like anyone. I cut and I bleed. And I embarass easily." - Michael Jackson

Name: Michael Jackson

Real Name / Birth Name: Michael Joseph Jackson

Birthdate: 29 August 1958

Birthplace: Gary, Indiana, USA

Profession: Musician / Pop Singer

Genres: Pop

Sometimes Credited As: Jackson 5, The Jackson 5, The Jacksons, John Jay Smith

Nickname: The Gloved One, Wacko Jacko, Jacko, King Of Pop, MJ

Michael Jackson’s extraordinary musical career started at the age of five as the lead singer of the Jackson Five, alongside four of his brothers. These early days saw the Jacksons play the local clubs and bars near their hometown. They were soon discovered by another artist and got to audition for Motown in 1968.

Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indianaon 29 August 1958 and has been entertaining audiences nearly his entire life. His father, Joseph Jackson, had been a guitarist but was forced to give up his musical ambitions following his marriage to Katherine (Scruse). Together they prodded their growing family's musical interests at home. By the early 60s the older boys Jackie, Tito and Jermaine had begun performing around the city; by 1964 Michael and Marlon had joined in.

A musical prodigy, Michael's singing and dancing talents were amazingly mature and he soon became the dominant voice and focus of "The Jackson 5." An opening act for such soul groups as the O-Jays and James Brown, it was Gladys Knight (not Diana Ross) who officially brought the group to Berry Gordy's attention, and by 1969 the boys were producing back-to-back chartbusting hits as Motown artists. As a product of the 70s, the boys had emerged as one of the most accomplished black pop/soul vocal groups in music history, successfully evolving from a Temptations-like group act to a disco phenomenon.

Solo success for Michael was inevitable, and by the 80s he had become infinitely more popular than his brotherly group. Record sales consistently orbited, culminating in the biggest-selling album of all time, "Thriller." A TV natural, he ventured rather uneasily into films, such as playing the Scarecrow in The Wiz (1978/I), but had better luck with elaborate music videos.

In the 90s the down side as an 80s pop phenomenon began to show. Michael grew terribly child-like and introverted by his celebrity. A rather timorous, androgynous figure to begin with, his physical appearance began to change drastically and his behavior grew alarmingly bizarre, making him a consistent target for scandal-making, despite his numerous charitable acts. Two brief marriages -- one to Elvis Presley's daughter Lisa Marie Presley -- were forged and two children produced by his second wife during that time, but the purposes were obviously image oriented. Despite it all, Michael Jackson's skills as a singer, dancer, writer and businessman are unparalleled, and it is these prodigious talents that will ultimately prevail over the extremely negative aspects of his seriously troubled life.

The Jackson 5:

For the period, 1970-74, there was no Soul group - in fact no musical act in the world - that was bigger than the Jackson 5. The five brothers, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael Jackson were household names among people of every age and race, and set the stage for dozens of child and teenage groups that would later emerge (though none would ever match the intense popularity the Jackson 5 enjoyed).

Amid the rough steeltown of Gary, Indiana, the Jackson 5 was a dream of guitarist Joe Jackson, the patriarch of a family of photogenic, extremely talented children. Realizing the talent resident in his five boys, he became a tough taskmaster, working on their musicianship, their singing and their dancing with the goal of creating a tight, Soul singing group in the mold of the Temptations, but composed of a group of teen and pre-teen brothers. By 1966 the Jackson boys were winning local competitions and by the next year, when Michael was only 9 years old, they won at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, bringing them their first attention outside of the Midwest. Over the course of the next year word about the boys from Gary spread, and in 1969 they were summoned to Detroit by Motown leader Berry Gordy, Jr., who signed them almost immediately.

Gordy soon had the Jackson Five touring with Diana Ross and working with the new Motown songwriting team The Corporation (whose leader, Freddie Perren, would later write for Tavares, Peaches and Herb and Gloria Gaynor, among others). The J5's first single, "I Want You Back," was a monster, and began a string of four straight number one Pop and Soul singles for the group from their first two albums, including "ABC," "The Love You Save," and the ballad "I'll Be There" (one of the biggest songs of 1970). At a stressful time of national concern about Vietnam and changes in society, the fresh exuberance of Michael Jackson's incredible young voice, the slick dance moves of the handsome siblings and The Corporation's extremely infectious compositions simply took the U.S. and world by storm, and the new decade's first supergroup was born.

The group's exposure reached a peak in 1971, when the "Jackson Five" cartoon hit the Saturday morning airwaves, and over the period 1970-73 the group released an amazing nine studio albums and toured tirelessly (accompanied in 1971 by a virtually unknown new soul/funk group known as the Commodores). At the same time both Michael and Jermaine were launching solo careers, with Michael scoring major hits with the ballad "Ben" and the upbeat cover of "Rockin Robin." A combination of the passing of time, too much product, group fatigue and adolescent voice changes led to a decline in the J5's popularity in the mid-70s, though they scored a major hit with 1974's "Dancing Machine."

In 1976 the group left Motown for Epic Records, leaving Jermaine (who was married to Berry Gordy's daughter Hazel) behind for a moderately successful solo career and replacing him with talented younger brother Randy. They scored in 1976 with "Enjoy Yourself," but otherwise continued their career slide for the next two years. Then in 1978 and '79, as the group members began taking a more active role in the creation of their records, they found a new credibility in the burgeoning dance music world with such songs as "Blame It On the Boogie" and "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground). But while their popularity and creativity appeared to be again on the rise, nothing prepared them for the immense success of brother Michael's 1979 solo effort, Off the Wall. Working with producer extraordinaire Quincy Jones, Michael created that year's best dance album - yielding four top 10 hits - and paved the way for his 1982 Thriller, until recently the biggest selling album of all time.

Michael's solo triumph created increased buzz for the group's 1980 release, Triumph, which featured the hit "Lovely One" but was overall a disappointment. By the time of the group's 1984 Victory album, Michael was the world's biggest musical star and the album appeared more of a family obligation than a joyful reunion (though for the first time all 6 brothers were involved). It made the top 10 because it had to, but was a creative dud and was quickly forgotten. The group then split up, with Jermaine resuming his solo career on Arista Records and Michael continuing his quest to be the King of Pop while engaging in increasingly erratic, enigmatic behavior that would overshadow his music for the next two decades.

Jackie, Tito, Marlon and Randy reunited with their children, nieces and nephews for one final gasp, 2300 Jackson Street, an album that came and went quickly in 1989. The group then disbanded for good, reuniting onstage only for a pretty good performance at a Michael Jackson tribute television special in 2003.

While the events of the past 20 years, particularly the tabloid stuff that has become Michael Jackson's life, have tended to overshadow the work of the Jackson 5, one only has to listen to the group's music from the early 70s to realize what a unique and amazing package of singing and performing talent that this young group brought, and the road the Jackson Five paved for a generation of "boy bands" that would pop up in waves over the next twenty-five years.