Jackson was a global figure and is well known in almost every part of the world. He is the eighth child in the Jackson family. He started his professional career in 1964 with four of his brothers, ‘Jackie’, ‘Tito’, ‘Marlon’ and ‘Jermaine’. Their band was named, ‘The Jackson 5’. Later he started his solo career in 1971 at Motown Records. He became a popular figure in the early 1980s. Rockwell was Jackson's childhood friend with whom he also features some songs.
Through various video and stage performances, he popularized a number of complicated dance moves like robot dance, moonwalk, etc. He also has a distinctive style and sound which became an influence on various music genres. One of his albums, ‘Thriller’ became the best-selling album of all time with sales of over 65 million copies throughout the world. Jackson’s other albums like ‘History’ (1995), ‘Dangerous’ (1991), ‘Bad’ (1987), ‘Off the Wall’ (1979), etc. also were also ranked the world’s best-selling albums.
Jackson won hundreds of awards which makes him the most awarded recording artist till date. He falls on the few artists who were included in the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’, not only once, but twice. He also won ‘Guinness World Records’ for most successful entertainer of all time. He also won 13 Grammy Awards, the Grammy Lifetime achievement award, the Grammy Legend Award and 26 American music awards. He was named ‘Artist of the century’ of the 1980s.
In 1993, Jackson was accused by a 13-year-old boy, Jordan Chandler and his father of sexual abuse. The Chandler family demanded payment from Michael but the refused. This led to his a slight decline in his career. In 1984, Michael was badly injured when he was filming a commercial for a product, ‘PepsiCo’. This left bad burns to his scalp and face. Michael had signed a $5 million endorsement deal the previous year with the company. Jackson had to undergo a plastic surgery to repair his injuries.
Moving on to his personal life, he got married to an American singer, Lisa Marie Presley on November 1992 after two years of getting together. They later got officially divorced in 1996. He then got married to his second wife who is an American personality, Debbie Rowe in 1996 itself. The couple had two children together, Prince Jackson who is 20 years of age and Paris Jackson who is currently 19 years of age. The couple got divorced after three years of marriage in 1999.
According to IRS, Jackson’s name and image on his death worth more than $434 million but the estate’s own valuation were just $2,105. During 1985-1995, Michael’s earnings were between $50 and $100 million per year. This includes the earnings from touring, endorsements, merchandise and of course record sales. Michael Jackson even earns a huge sum of money after his death. According to Forbes’ Top-Earning Dead Celebrities of 2017 list, Jackson falls on the fifth position and he earned $75 million between October 2016 -2017.
