15 years ago the “King of Pop” passed away. That June 25, 2009, the musician and dancer Michael Jackson died at the age of 50, in a rented mansion in Los Angeles, United States. Despite having a life full of mysteries and controversies that are still the subject of debate, his legacy as one of the greatest cultural icons of all time is undeniable.
He has been considered “The best male singer in history” by different publications such as the British magazine NME in 2011, following an online poll in which he received 10 million votes. An opinion that has been shared by different artists such as The Weeknd, Beyoncé or Usher, who have recognized the influence it had on their own careers.
Beyond the qualitative, Jackson accumulated during his life, and after it, many recognitions that certify him as the undisputed King of Pop. He received 15 Grammy Awards, 26 American Music Awards and 16 World Music Awards. He also broke the unusual number of 36 Guinness records, including recognition as “The most successful artist of all time” by remaining at the top of the music charts for three consecutive decades.
The five brothers
Michael Jackson was born in the city of Gary, Indiana, on August 28, 1958. He was the eighth of the 10 children of the Jackson family, who lived humbly in a two-bedroom house. His parents, Joseph and Katherine, had aspirations in their youth to be musicians, and they passed that affinity on to all of his children. Thus, from an early age, Michael already showed enormous talent for singing, dancing and playing instruments.
In the early 1960s, Joe created the band The Jacksons with his older children, and Michael joined when he was just six years old as a support member. In 1965 he began to gain prominence in the group, along with his brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon, in nightclubs and talent shows, until in 1968 they signed their first major record contract with the Motown label. By then, magazines like Rolling Stone had already noticed Michael, whom they considered a “prodigy with overwhelming musical gifts.”
Their first singles, “I Want You Back” (1969), “ABC” (1970), “The Love You Save” (1970) and “I’ll Be There” (1970), became smash hits, leading the charts. Billboard charts. The group achieved international fame, with tours in different countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and even Venezuela. Now a teenage Michael was the lead vocalist, while he was taking off with his first solo albums.
The group’s popularity began to decline at the end of the decade, so they decided to change labels, returning to their original name. This reinvention served to give them a second wind, although Michael finally left the group in 1984 to dedicate himself to his own projects. Without the same success, The Jacksons formally disbanded in 1990.
Success from an early age was both a blessing and a curse for Michael, who was never able to enjoy a normal childhood. Despite being the most popular among the girls, behind the scenes he was extremely shy and as a minor he was exposed to the excesses that his father and his older brothers committed in front of him. Years later, Michael himself would also speak about the brutality of Joseph Jackson, who frequently beat and psychologically abused them, especially during rehearsals.
Number 1
Although he had already released several solo albums, Michael Jackson’s first great success without his brothers came in 1979 with his fifth album off the wall. It sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and established him as the first male solo artist to have four songs from the same album in the top 10 in the United States and the United Kingdom. It also earned him three American Music Awards and his first Grammy.
But his consolidation as a pop star would come in 1982 with his sixth album, Thriller. Beyond what can be said as a cultural phenomenon and the revolution that it marked in the music video industry with its homonymous single, it is still listed today as the best-selling album in history with more than 105 million copies. It also earned him eight Grammy Awards.
In 1985 he composed the song “We are the World” with Lionel Riche, which he later recorded with the supergroup USA to Africa, made up of the biggest stars of the time such as Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper or Bruce Springsteen, among others. It was one of the best-selling singles of all time, earning $63 million that went to fighting hunger in Ethiopia and Somalia, as well as being the anthem that launched the legendary Live Aid humanitarian concert.
Jackson’s next album, Bad (1987), was also a success. Five of her songs reached first place on the Billboard Hot 100, a mark that remains unbeatable today. His tour Bad World Tour He also broke a Guinness record by filling Wembley Stadium in London (England) seven times.
From its beginning in 1987 in Japan, until its closure in 1989 in Los Angeles (USA), the tour sold more than 4.4 million tickets, with profits of $125 million, most of which went to hospitals and orphanages. . The artist broke his own record between 1995 and 1997 with his HIStory Tourwhich sold 4.5 million tickets.
Millionaire
By the end of the 1980s, Michael Jackson was the highest-paid artist in the world. In 1984 he signed a contract with Pepsi for $5 million, the most expensive yet made with a celebrity. He also received 32% of the profits from each of his albums, which led him to amass an estimated net worth of $6 billion, holding the Guinness record for the richest artist in history.
This allowed Jackson to spend his money on all kinds of whims, such as rights to songs and movies he liked. In 1985, Jackson purchased the rights to 250 Beatles songs for a reported $47.5 million. This caused him friction with Paul McCartney, until then his friend, and who had been trying for years to recover the legacy of his old band.
In 1988 he bought a 11-square-kilometer piece of land outside of Santa Barbara, California, where he built the famous Neverland Ranch, which he used as his home. Opened in 1989, it had amusement parks, a zoo, movie theaters and life-size figures of Jackson’s favorite superheroes. In fact, during the nineties Jackson tried to buy the publisher Marvel Comics, by then close to bankruptcy.
It is said that the singer’s goal was to acquire the rights to Spiderman to make a film with himself as the protagonist. Later he met with the head of Marvel, Stan Lee, to whom he proposed the idea of producing said film, although the writer responded that he could not help him, since he did not have that type of rights over his characters either.
Final hour
Starting in 2000, Jackson’s career had gone into decline despite the success of albums like Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995) the previous decade. This is partly due to accusations of alleged child sexual abuse that were resolved out of court, but which considerably affected his public image. Among more lawsuits for abuse, and disputes with the Sony record label, Jackson lowered the profile of his career.
In 2006, authorities ordered the closure of Neverland for non-payment, and Jackson entered into legal proceedings to prevent the ranch from being seized and auctioned. That did not prevent it from being sold in 2008, as the musician stated that he “no longer felt it was his home.” Perhaps in an attempt to wipe the slate clean in his life, on March 5, 2009, Jackson announced the tour in London. This Is It. It would be his great return to the stage in seven years, with unreleased songs that would have made their way to a new album. But none of that was completed.
The physical demands of rehearsals compromised Jackson’s health, and he became dependent on painkillers and sedatives to control his insomnia. On the night of March 24, 2009, the tour doctor, Conrad Murray, administered several sedatives, but Jackson still did not sleep. Already at 10:40 am on June 25, she tried a combination of Benzodiazepine (drug for anxiety and insomnia) and Propofol (a strong anesthetic).
Intoxication from both substances caused Jackson to go into cardiorespiratory arrest. Murray tried to revive him while emergency services arrived, but he did not have the equipment or medications necessary to counteract the overdose. At noon he was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was pronounced dead. Murray had to face a trial for involuntary manslaughter and malpractice of which he was found guilty, serving four years in prison.
Infinite
Jackson’s funeral took place on July 7, 2009, with a private ceremony for the family at Forest Lawn Memorial Park’s Hall of Liberty in the Hollywood Hills, and a public event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The latter is considered one of the largest funerals in modern history, with more than 70,000 attendees, surpassing those of Elvis Presley and Princess Diana. It was also watched by approximately 2.5 billion people on television.
After his death, he was the best-selling artist of 2009 with 35 million albums sold, including This Is It, which brought together the unreleased songs that he planned to sing on his tour, as well as the premiere of a documentary of the same name. In 2010 she launched Michael, with songs composed by the artist between 2001 and 2007; and in 2014 it came out Xcape second posthumous album with more unreleased songs.
At the time of his death, Jackson’s estate was reduced to $1 billion, but then his sales increased by 150%, and he was listed by Forbes magazine as the celebrity who has generated the most money posthumously, a title he has held for 11 years. in a row. Currently, its official Spotify channel has more than 41.2 monthly listeners, while songs like “Billie Jean” and “Beat it” accumulate 1.7 and 1.1 billion views respectively.
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