Music And Me - Michael Jackson > Reviews > His-Story

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
Value for Money

Advantages:	good music
Disadvantages:	none

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

He is undoubtably one of the most talked about and famous pop legends of all time. Michael was born on the 29th of August 1958 and was the seventh child to be born out of nine to Joe and Katherine Jackson. His heritage comes from a working class background. Michael showed an early interest in music along with other members of his family. Michael began his musical career at the age of 5 as the lead singer of the Jackson 5 who played local clubs and bars around Indiana. Michael's allegedly abusive father, pushed his sons into forming a group called the Jackson 5, which quickly rose from playing local talent shows to landing a contract with the renown Motown label. The Jackson 5 and their family moved to California were they soon became stars. Their first 4 singles, ABC, I Want You Back, The Love You Save, and I'll Be There became no1 hits with Motown. This was just the start of their career and the very beginning of his fame. In total the Jackson 5 released 14 of their own albums with Motown before going to epic in 1976.

Diana Ross Presents The Jackson Five (1970)
ABC (1970)
Christmas Album (1970
Third Album (1971)
Maybe Tomorrow (1971)
Goin Back To Indiana (1971)
Greatest Hits (1971)
Lookin' Through The Windows (1972)
Skywriter (1973)
Get It Together (1973)
Dancing Machine (1974)
Moving Violation (1975)
Joyful Jukebox Music (1976)
Anthology (1976)

Plus there were a later three albums released to commemorate the group

18 Greatest Hits (1983)
Michael Jackson & The Jackson 5 Live (1986)
Soulsation 25th Anniversary Collection (1995)

At this time Jermaine left the group and his brother Randy took his place but they left behind the old name of the Jackson 5 to become just The Jacksons. The Jacksons made 6 albums between the years of 1976 and 1984 and toured several times throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

The Jacksons (1976)
Goin' Places (1977)
Destiny (1978)
Triumph (1980)
The Jacksons Live (1981)
Victory (1984)
2300 Jackson Street (1988)

Although Michael was still working with the Jacksons it was in 1979 when his career really took a big turn around as a solo artist. His solo albums are

Got To Be There (1972)
Ben (1972)
Music And Me (1973)
Forever, Michael (1975)
The Best Of Michael Jackson (1976)
Off The Wall (1979)
One Day In Your Life (1981)
Ain't No Sunshine (1982)
ET Storybook Album (1982)
Thriller (1982)
Motown Super Star Series (1983)
The Great Love Songs of Michael Jackson (1984)
Anthology (1986)
Looking Back To Yesterday: Never Before Released Masters (1986)
Bad (1987)
The Michael Jackson Mix (1987)
Dangerous (1991)
Dangerous Collector's Edition (1991)
Dangerous Tour Souvenir Pack (1992)
HIStory - Past, Present, Future Book 1 (1995)
Blood On The Dance Floor (1997)
Invincible (2001)

His first major album Off The wall was a smash and this blotted out the memories of the fading success of the Jacksons the no1 singles Rock With You and Don't Stop Til You Get Enough and went multi-platinum. After recording and touring again with the Jacksons, Michael returned to solo work. His 1982 album Thriller featured the singles The Girl Is Mine, Beat It, Billie Jean and Wanna Be Startin' Somethin and is the all-time best-selling record in history - spending 37 weeks at no1 and notching up worldwide sales of more than 44 million copies. Must be nice. It was his song Thriller that made him a real success story. Another little fact is that Michael was the first ever black artist to be allowed to have a music video aired on MTV for his Billie Jean production. Plus the making of Thriller is still the worlds largest selling home video.Jackson became a media icon thanks to his trademarks: stunning break-dancing moves especially the Moonwalk, a shy, girlish voice, a single white sequined glove, sunglasses and untied shoe laces. Jackson performed and toured once more with his brothers in 1984, a gracious move which boosted each of the other Jackson's solo careers.

Michael released his 1987 album Bad which he accompanied with his first solo world tour.In 1991 Michael signed the largest ever recording contract with Sony Music and recorded his fourth solo album, 'Dangerous'. He branched out on a solo world tour for the album in 1992, which took him into countries that had never before been visited by a pop artist. Michael performed his first live concert to be telecast on international television with his concert from Bucharest, Romania. At this time Michael also founded his humanitarian organization the 'Heal the World Foundation' which is dedicated to improving the lives of children around the globe.Michael married for the first time in 1994 to Lisa Marie Presley to be his wife in a private ceremony in the Dominican Republic on May 16th. Their marriage only lasted for 19 months.1995 saw Michael record a fifth solo album, titled 'HIStory', which contained 15 new songs in addition to an entire disc dedicated to his greatest hits and it started him on another world tour that took two years to complete.

On November 14 1996, Michael married Debbie Rowe and their first child Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. was born on February 13, 1997. 1997 also saw the emergence of another creation by Michael; his album titled 'Blood On The Dance Floor'. On April 3, 1998 named Paris Michael Katherine Jackson. Michael and Debbie ended their marriage in October 1999 which brings us to 2001 and the release of Invincible. His career has lasted for over 40 years and even though he has been accused of various things we will never know the truth. More than likely most of the stories we hear though are made up to just try and get their hands on some of the wealth that his career has brought to him. There has also been a lot of comments as to why he would want his own arcade and zoo's and such like but if the question was asked to us , that if we had that kind of money to spend would we lavish ourselves like that. More than likely yes but another possible reason could strive from the fact that with Michael being forced to work from such a yuong age he never truly had a childhood so might he not be also spending like that to help recover a bit of what he lost. Well I suppose that we will never truly know.