Micheal Jackson
Micheal JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson, 29 August 1958, Gary, Indiana, USA. Jackson has spent almost his entire life as a public performer. He was a founder-member of the Jackson Five at the age of four, soon becoming the group’s lead vocalist and frontman. Onstage, he modelled his dance moves and vocal styling on James Brown, and portrayed an absolute self-confidence on stage that belied his shy, private personality. The Jackson Five were signed to Motown Records at the end of 1968; their early releases, including chart-toppers ‘I Want You Back’ and ‘I’ll Be There’, illustrated his remarkable maturity. Although Michael was too young to have experienced the romantic situations that were the subject of his songs, he performed with total sincerity, showing all the hallmarks of a great soul artist. When MGM Records launched the Osmonds as rivals to the Jackson Five in 1970, and singled out their lead singer, 13-year-old Donny Osmond, for a solo career, Motown felt duty bound to reply in kind. Michael Jackson’s first release as a solo performer was the aching ballad ‘Got To Be There’, a major US and UK hit. A revival of Bobby Day’s rock ‘n’ roll novelty ‘Rockin’ Robin’ reached the top of the US charts in 1972, while the sentimental film theme ‘Ben’ repeated that achievement later in the year. Motown capitalized on Jackson’s popularity with a series of hurried albums, which mixed material angled towards the teenage market with a selection of the label’s standards. They also stockpiled scores of unissued tracks, which were released in the 80’s to cash in on the success of his Epic recordings. As the Jackson Five’s sales slipped in the mid-70s, Michael’s solo career was put on hold, and he continued to reserve his talents for the group after they were reborn as the Jacksons in 1976. He re-entered the public eye with a starring role in the film musical The Wiz, collaborating on the soundtrack album with Quincy Jones. Their partnership was renewed in 1979 when Jones produced ‘Off The Wall,’ a startlingly successful collection of contemporary soul material that introduced the world to the adult Michael Jackson. In his new incarnation, Jackson retained the vocal flexibility of old, but added a new element of sophistication and maturity. The album topped the charts in the UK and USA, and contained two number 1 singles, ‘Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough’ (for which Jackson won a Grammy award) and ‘Rock With You’. Meanwhile, Motown capitalized on his commercial status by reissuing a recording from the mid-70s, ‘One Day In Your Life’, which duly topped the UK charts. Jackson continued to tour and record with the Jacksons after this solo success, while media speculation grew about his private life. He was increasingly portrayed as a figure trapped in an eternal childhood, surrounded by toys and pet animals, and insulated from the traumas of the real world. This image was consolidated when he was...
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