Introduction

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Through stage and video performances, he popularized complicated dance techniques such as the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His sound and style have influenced artists of various genres, and his contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. Jackson is the most awarded artist in the history of popular music. Jackson is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 350 million records worldwide. Thriller is the best-selling album of all time, with estimated sales of 66 million copies worldwide. In addition, the remix album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix (1997) is the best-selling remix album of all time. 

Success Story

From abused child to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson's success story is one of the most inspiring in history. Born on August 29th, 1958, in the small city of Gary, Indiana, Jackson's childhood was an interesting and troubling experience. With nine brothers and sisters, his family lived in a very small home and survived primarily on his father's income as a local steel worker. Throughout his youth, Michael, along with his brothers and sisters, performed as a local song and dance act. Dubbed The Jackson Brothers, the family band performed on television and radio in the area, soon gaining nationwide exposure. They expanded the band's routine, brought in new appeal for listeners, and were soon calling themselves The Jackson Five. An early prodigy under Motown Records, Michael was quickly the star of the group, dominating its vocal lines and standing out due to his eccentric and stylish dance routines. After a series of hits, the band left Motown Records in the mid-1970s, and Michael struck out on his own, searching for solo success.He certainly found it. Working with Epic Records, he released Off The Wall, an album that spawned numerous hits and radio favorites. Searching for a truly iconic release, he spent the next six years in a state of constant business and hard work, completing the legendary Thriller album with producer Quincy Jones. Thriller went on to become the world's highest selling album in history. While Jackson's successes seem to be the product of luck or talent alone, the singer was actually renowned in the industry for his incredible work ethic. The staff that worked with Jackson on the Thriller and Bad albums recall him spending constant late nights in the studio, often trying to add just a single vocal line or make a tiny change to just one bar of a single song.michael jacksonThis work ethic extended to Jackson's live performances. Backup dancers and stage assistants have recalled stories of Jackson spending hours in the late night and early morning practicing his dances, his solo parts, and his stylish stage shows. It wasn't uncommon for Jackson to sleep only one or two hours a night, and spend the rest of his time working endlessly to perfect his performance. Jackson has often attributed his incredible work ethic to his upbringing, which ranged from exciting and confidence-building to terrifying and abusive. His father was a brutal and cold man, who forced his children to practice endlessly to perfect their craft. While Jackson denounced his father's violent and abusive ways, he has always claimed that he was an influence on his work ethic and attitude. Following his death in 2009, Michael's career took on a new light, and the singer's immense and long-lasting success have been seen as a symbol of what can happen through a great deal of hard work and ambition. From pop icon to all-round entertainer, Michael Jackson's immense success, both as an artist and as a commercial property, make him a great source of inspiration. 

Solo Career

By the late 1970s, Michael was increasingly looking to pursue a solo career. With the help of music producer, Quincy Jones, Michael produced the solo album ‘Off The Wall‘. The album was a great success, eventually selling over 20 million copies. The album gained much critical acclaim and Michael secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry (37% of album profit) His second solo album, Thriller, launched Michael Jackson into a position as the most famous pop singer in the world. With little commercial advertising and promotion, Thriller rose to number one on album sales and remained at the number one spot for a total of 37 weeks. It gained one of many Guinness World Records for Michael Jackson, gaining 110 million global sales and 29 million sales in the US. Thriller included number one hits such as Beat It, Billie Jean. In March 1983, Michael Jackson performed live on Motown 25, ‘Yesterday, today, forever’, -a TV special. He performed his distinctive and memorable dance move – the Moonwalk. In the dance routine, he effortlessly moves backwards with seemingly keeping one leg perfectly straight. His performance made him a global icon of not just music, but dance. Michael Jackson pioneered the importance of music video in promoting a pop artist. This performance has been put in the same category as the Beatles’ appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. His next big albums were Bad (1987) and Dangerous (1991). His final album was Invincible (2001). By the late 80s, there was an increasing number of stories speculating on Jackson’s personal life, health and physical appearance. Michael Jackson underwent numerous operations of plastic surgery to fix his nose and add a dimple in his chin. During the 1980s, his skin started to lighten; this was due to a rare skin pigment disease, but it didn’t stop a wave of speculative press stories that he was bleaching his skin colour. The press covered a range of speculative stories over Michael Jackson, including imaginary stories Michael had invented himself (such as sleeping in an oxygen tent to avoid ageing process) The press attention made Michael increasingly reclusive, spending much of his time in his ‘Never land’ ranch. He married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994; it lasted two years though they remained friendly after the divorce. In 1996 he married Deborah Rowe in Sydney. Together they had two children. They divorced in 1999 and Rowe gave full custody of children to Jackson. 

Personal Life

He married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994; it lasted two years though they remained friendly after the divorce. In 1996 he married Deborah Rowe in Sydney. Together they had two children. They divorced in 1999 and Rowe gave full custody of children to Jackson. Allegations of child abuse were first raised in the 1980s and re-appeared in the 1990s. This led to the trial of The People v Jackson on Jan 31, 2005 in Sante Maria, California. After five months of high publicity, Jackson was acquitted. Though the experience left his physically weak and emotionally stressed. He left America for the Persian gulf island of Bahrain. Towards the end of his life, he was increasingly plagued by money troubles and ill health. He increasingly became dependent on a variety of drugs, which was said to have contributed to his ill health and premature death. Despite concerns over finance, he is said to have made career earnings of $500m and had assets in Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog worth over $300m alone. Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 at a rented mansion in the district of Los Angeles. 

Charity Work

Michael Jackson supported many charities. This included a burns charity in Culver City, California. This followed an incident where Michael Jackson was burnt in filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984.

He also supported HIV / AIDS charities at a time when it was still unfashionable.

In 1984, he received an award from President Ronald Reagan for his support of charities which help overcome alcohol and drug abuse.

From his 1984, Victory Tour he donated all funds (around $8million to charity)

In 1985, he also co-wrote the charity single “We are the World” with Lionel Richie. It sold over 30 million copies and the proceeds were sent to poor in the US and Africa.

He continued his charity work to the end of his life supporting charity concerts such as Aid for victims of Kosovo war. 

5 reasons why Michael Jackson was successful

1. He Strived to Be the Best in All He Did

Whether he was hitting the high notes or dancing the robot, Jackson made it his aim to be the best in all he did. He spent countless hours practicing his dancing alone or with choreographers, and even said that sometimes he would lock himself in his home, turn on some music, and just feel the rhythm as he perfected his steps in his dance studio. Jackson believed in working really, really hard and never settling for the ordinary, which no doubt greatly contributed to his success as an entertainer. 

2. He Did Things That Had Never Been Done Before

At a time when MTV would predominately play music videos by white entertainers, Michael Jackson became the first black person to have their music videos played on the network in the early 80’s which paved the way for future black artists to do the same. With the release of his album Thriller, which broke the record for the most Grammy wins in 1984, he also released the groundbreaking music video of the same name which doubled as both a music video and a short film. This style of creating music videos was revolutionary, and since then countless artists after Jackson have used this technique for their own music videos. In all that he did, both in the recording studio and on the film set, Michael Jackson loved pushing the envelope and trying things no one had ever done before. 

3. He Persevered Through Challenging Times in His Life

To say that Michael Jackson had challenging times in his life is an understatement. From the abuse he suffered from his father at an early age to things like third-degree burns on his head and face, vitiligo, drug addiction, and false accusations of child molestation, Jackson had his fair share of misfortunes. However, rather than caving into his surrounding circumstances, he channeled his emotions and used them to create fantastic music throughout the ’90s including the single You Are Not Alone which became the first song ever to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Jackson fought hard to the end, planning to perform 50 consecutive shows at the London O2 arena before tragically dying from an overdose mistakenly administered by his doctor in 2009. Despite everything he went through, Michael Jackson persevered through incredibly challenging times in his life which no doubt greatly attributed to his success. 

4. He Stayed Humble

Humility was an important virtue to Michael Jackson, and his actions spoke to this plainly. From starting charities for sick children to his efforts in helping save the environment, Jackson thought more of others than his own personal success. As a groundbreaking artist who literally changed the world with his talents, he never let the success get to his head and was able to continually churn out fantastic creative work by keeping his focus on others rather than himself. Michael truly knew how to be confident while still maintaining a deep sense of humility and a heart to serve which, no doubt, were huge factors to his success. 

5. He Valued His Audience

Though Michael Jackson had vocalized on numerous occasions how much he did not like to go on tour, he still did because he loved performing for his fans. While rehearsing, his main goal was to always blow his audience’s minds and give them the best performance possible. The reason is simple: he valued his audience. This is an important principle to live by because without an audience it doesn’t matter how great a person’s talents or ideas are if nobody can see or hear them then there’s no point. A perfect example of why Jackson was so successful can be seen in how he treated his audience by providing them with insanely awesome content and recognizing each and every one of them as valuable. 

📜Conclusion:-

If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, then make that change.