His Walk to Fame

Michael's Early Childhood

Michael Jackson was born on August 29th, 1958 in Gary, IN to the Jacksons. He was one of 8 children in the family. He along with his 4 brothers started to go into the music industry in 1964 making Jackson only 5 at the time. The group was known as the Jackson 5 and they made their first performance at Glen Park in 1965 and had their last at Philadelphia Civic Center in 1970. Throughout the 70s Michael became the lead in the group and was favored by fans. Life Books biography about Michael mentions that as he grew up fans noticed a change in his persona which caused the star to face some hate. Much of the hate he faced was from people who loved his cute and more childish persona. The group was signed by Diana Ross. During all of this, he decided to kick off his solo career as well as being the leader of the group, now renamed the Jacksons. The Jacksons made their first performance at Mount Vernon Memorial Stadium in 1975 and finished their last group tour with a concert at the Dodger Stadium in 1984. After the last big Jackson performance, Michael focused mostly on his solo career.

Credits

Katherine and Joe Jackson to Divorce | Complete Music Update. https://completemusicupdate.com/article/katherine-and-joe-jackson-to-divorce/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2022.

Grant, Adrian (2009). Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary. Omnibus Press. ISBN 971 84938-261-8. Accessed 20 Apr. 2022

History 1980 | The Jacksons | The Official Website. https://www.thejacksons.com/history/the-jacksons-1980/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2022. Sullivan, Robert, editor. Michael. Life commemorative ed., Life Books, 2009.

"Victory Tour 1984". jacksondynasty. Retrieved 2022-04-19.

First Solo World Tour

Michael Jackson started his solo career at age 13 while performing and touring with his brothers. Due to his busy schedule among other things he didn't go on his first solo tour until 1987. This world tour spanned 15 countries and lasted for 2 years and was called Bad Tour.

• Japan
• Australia
• United States
• Italy
• Austria
• Netherlands
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• West Germany
• France
• England
• Wales
• Belgium

Bad Tour while being Michael's first solo one, was not his only experience performing all around the world. This tour is one of the most highly attended and highest-earning tours of all time and truly helped with his career's peak and set 2 world records in the 80s.

Credits

Brooks, Darren (2002). Michael Jackson: An Exceptional Journey. Chrome Dreams. ISBN 1-84240-178-5. Accessed 18 Apr. 2022

"Billboard Boxscore" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 100, no. 11. March 12, 1988. p. 22. ISSN 0006-2510.

Katherine and Joe Jackson to Divorce | Complete Music Update. https://completemusicupdate.com/article/katherine-and-joe-jackson-to-divorce/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2022.

Grant, Adrian (2009). Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-84938-261-8. Accessed 20 Apr. 2022 Sullivan, Robert, editor. Michael. Life commemorative ed., Life Books, 2009. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022

Height of His Career

After the success of his first tour in the late 80s Michael's career really took off. During the 90s Jackson held more tours including his Dangerous World Tour and his History World Tour. Both tours did very well and occurred over the course of a year each. Dangerous World Tour grossed `over $140 million dollars and was attended by a little over 4 million people, while History World Tour grossed over $165 million and was attended by over 4.5 million people. History World Tour overall was the more popular of the two and spanned 35 countries and 58 cities. This tour took place from 1996 to 1997 and had 82 concerts. His first performance was in Prague, Czech Republic. and his last was in Durban, South Africa. The average attendance per concert for this tour was 54,878 and was his third and final worldwide tour. His performance at Welbey Stadium during this tour had an attendance of 212,601 and earned him $9,236,683 in revenue. This performance was his highest-earning and highest attended concert on the tour. After his History tour, the artist waited 2 years before playing another 2 concerts with his friends. After this, in 2001 Michael was given a spot in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame not long before the start of the downfall of his career.

Credits

"Billboard". 23 August 1997. Accessed 20 Apr. 2022

"Billboard". 30 August 1997. Accessed 21 Apr. 2022

"Billboard". November 1997. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022

"Billboard". 13 September 1997. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022

Michael Jackson | Biography, Albums, Songs, Thriller, Beat It, & Facts | Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Jackson. Accessed 20 Apr. 2022.

Katherine and Joe Jackson to Divorce | Complete Music Update. https://completemusicupdate.com/article/katherine-and-joe-jackson-to-divorce/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2022.

Grant, Adrian (2009). Michael Jackson: The Visual Documentary. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1-84938-261-8. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022 Sullivan, Robert, editor. Michael. Life commemorative ed., Life Books, 2009. Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2004). The Magic and the Madness. Terra Alta, WV: Headline. ISBN 0-330-42005-4. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022

Throughout his career, Michael faced many sexual abuse accusations as well as civil and criminal lawsuits. These accusations started in 1986 after he met James Safechuck while filming a Pepsi and James accused him of asking him to sleep in be with him. In 1993 police started investigating the star and not long after one family filed suit against him. In November of 1993, his sister La Toya stated that the accusations were true and claimed that their mother showed her checks the star made out to the families of some young boys. Other members of his family came to his defense. La Toya in later years admitted however that she was forced to make these accusations by her husband. In 2003 the star's documentary Living with Michael Jackson comes out depicting Jackson holding children's hands and quoting him saying he was inspired by kids due to their innocence and purity. Jackson reported that he hated the way the film made him look and denied any of his wrongdoings. This movie sparked another investigation which was brought to trial in 2005. The trial ended on June 13th, 2005, and Michael was acquitted of all charges.

During this period of time, Jackson stopped doing as many concerts and many of them in these later years of his career were canceled. The last tour of his career was in 1999 and it was his MJ & Friends tour that only included 2 concerts, which was very different from his previous tours that had up to 80 concerts. After this Michael had planned 2 concerts to celebrate the New decade taking place on New Years' Eve and New Years' Day, one in Sydney, Australia, and one in Honolulu, Hawaii. Both of these concerts were canceled due to the star not wanting to affect his next album badly. In 2001 he performed his last 2 concerts for his 30th Anniversary Celebration, these concerts were performed at Madison Square Garden, New York City. After this in 2009 Jackson planned his last tour, This Is It. The tour was supposed to happen at the O2 Arena in London from July 2009 to March 2010. These 50 concerts were confirmed to be Jackson's last ones planned forever. However, three weeks before the tour started Michael was found dead on June 25th, 2009 in his hotel room.

Credits

Allard, François; Lecocq, Richard (October 4, 2018). Michael Jackson: All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. Octopus. ISBN 9781788401234 – via Google Books. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022

Australia, Yahoo (October 30, 2009). "Australia part of planned world tour". Yahoo! 7. Archived from the original on November 2, 2009. Accessed 20 Apr. 2022

"Jackson's CBS Special Moonwalks Over Rivals". Billboard. November 15, 2001. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022 BBC staff (March 13, 2009). "Michael Jackson announces comeback gigs". BBC. BBC News. Retrieved November 5, 2009. Accessed 21 Apr. 2022

"Jackson's CBS Special Moonwalks Over Rivals". Billboard. November 15, 2001. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022

"Boxscore Top 10 Concert Grosses". Page 14. Billboard. 6 October 2001. Accessed 21 Apr. 2022

Katherine and Joe Jackson to Divorce | Complete Music Update. https://completemusicupdate.com/article/katherine-and-joe-jackson-to-divorce/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2022.

Kreps, Daniel (March 12, 2009). "Michael Jackson's "This Is It!" Tour Balloons to 50-Show Run Stretching Into 2010". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 13, 2009. Accessed 20 Apr. 2022

Newsday. "BIG-TICKET PARTIES ARE FIZZLING FOR NEW YEAR". OrlandoSentinel.com. Accessed 20 Apr. 2022 Subramanian, Anupama (April 8, 2016). "Prabhu Deva's fanboy moments with Michael Jackson". Deccan Chronicle. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022 Sullivan, Robert, editor. Michael. Life commemorative ed., Life Books, 2009.

The Livedaily Staff (March 9, 2009). "Michael Jackson breaking records with 50-show run in London". LiveDaily. Archived from the original on February 9, 2010. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022 The MTV Staff (November 5, 2009). "This Is It Director Kenny Ortega On Michael Jackson's Final Rehearsals". MTV. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022 Tsioulcas, Anastasia. “Michael Jackson: A Quarter-Century Of Sexual Abuse Allegations.” NPR, 5 Mar. 2019. NPR, https://www.npr.org/2019/03/05/699995484/michael-jackson-a-quarter-century-of-sexual-abuse-allegations. Accessed 24 Apr. 2022

Michael Jackson's impacted many around the world and still does today. Not only did he win over 327 recognized awards, but he also influenced many different cultural changes in our society. The lyrics in his songs went against everything society thought was appropriate for an African-American to say or do. The star lived to challenge societal norms and used his experience with racial injustice to further spread messages about how messed up society can be. Most African-American artists' work was normally geared to other African-Americans while Michael's work went international. After his hit album thriller, many other African-American artists' were promoted more frequently. This isn't his only achievement his career also won him 327 recognized awards, not including his Diamond, Platinum, and Gold Certifications. All of these aspects caused him to be known and live on as the king of pop, even in death.

His death hit the world hard, especially due to its closeness to his final tour which had been sold out months beforehand. The star died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25th, 2009 and his death was ruled a homicide. Many fans were disheartened by this tragic event and indifferent about how to feel due to the artist's more recent allegations. The star's private funeral was attended by around 200 celebrities and another memorial service was held on July 7th, 2009 at the Staples Center; around 2.5 billion people watched his memorial on tv around the world and around 17,500 watched it in person. He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles, CA. Fans still can look back on the star's career today by visiting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame or the Malanday Bay resort in Vegas which has multiple memorials for the star as well as other places.

Credits

Katherine and Joe Jackson to Divorce | Complete Music Update. https://completemusicupdate.com/article/katherine-and-joe-jackson-to-divorce/. Accessed 21 Apr. 2022.

Desborough, Jenny. “Michael Jackson Death: Did Michael Jackson Die at Neverland? Where Was He?” Express.Co.Uk, 25 Nov. 2020, https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/1364173/Michael-Jackson-death-did-Michael-Jackson-die-at-Neverland-cause-of-death-evg. Accessed 21 Apr. 2022

Michael Jackson’s Memorial Service | Michael Jackson World Network. 25 June 2016, https://www.mjworld.net/videos/2016/06/25/michael-jacksons-memorial-service/. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022 Michael Jackson’s House In Beverly Hills | Realtor Los Angeles. 15 May 2020, https://www.jamescolincampbell.com/michael-jacksons-house/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2022

Sullivan, Robert, editor. Michael. Life commemorative ed., Life Books, 2009. Wilburn, Aly. “The King of Pop: How Michael Jackson Revolutionized the Music Industry.” Medium, 2 May 2018, https://medium.com/@aly.wilburn/the-king-of-pop-how-michael-jackson-revolutionized-the-music-industry-f90087dd2928. Accessed 1 May. 2022

Writer, Time Out Staff. Michael Jackson Tourist Attractions | Time Out Abu Dhabi. 6 Oct. 2015, https://www.timeoutabudhabi.com/hotels/66813-michael-jackson-tourist-attractions. Accessed 20 Apr. 2022