Today marks one year since the unbelievable and shocking news hit the world over that Michael Jackson had died. Immediately an out-pouring of tributes came from fans across the globe as they mourned the death of a man described as the greatest entertainer that ever lived. Asked by my editor to write a memorial piece on the anniversary of Jackson’s death, I really didn’t know where to begin. How do I define the works of an entertainer who never allowed anyone to take his title. There is none that can be compared to him not even in death. To get my mind in complete focus I went out and bought the movie This is it, after viewing it all I can say is that Michael Jackson is undeniably the undisputed king of pop and might I add the king of music—bar none. The king influenced all Growing up as a child I can recall my siblings and I having “dance outs”— dance competitions to see who could imitate Michael the best. I often hurt my ankle trying to get his famous moon walk right. But we won’t the only kids who wanted to be like Mike. There were other kids in the neighbourhood who did very much the same, even at class parties when the teacher said dance, on the first move, especially among the boys would be to do the Michael Jackson. On a global scale he has influenced many. His intricate dance moves, distinctive musical sound and vocal style is reminiscent in r&b hip hop, pop, contemporary r&b and rock artistes such as Usher, Chris Brown, Ne-yo, Justin Timberlake, Genuine, Ciara, Mario, Bobby Brown, Robin Thicke, Lloyd and the list goes on. The beginning of the world’s best Born Michael Joseph Jackson of Katherine Esther Scruse and Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson on August 29th 1958 in Gary Indiana, a suburb of Chicago. Michael began his musical career at the age of five as the lead singer of the Jackson 5 who formed in 1964 under the Motown label. In these early years the Jackson 5, Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, Marlon and lead singer Michael played local clubs and bars in Gary Indiana and moving further afield as there talents grew and they could compete in bigger competitions. But in 1977 after 14 albums by the Jacksons 5 and four solo albums by Michael Jackson the group severed ties with Motown records and signed to Epic Records. It was during Michael’s film debut when he starred in the musical The Wiz playing Scarecrow with Diana Ross in the lead role of Dorothy, He met with producer/writer Quincey Jones who was doing the score for the film. A perfect meet, as Michael would let Jones produce his first album—Off The Wall—which earned him the tittle of the first artiste to have an album that released a record breaking four number one singles in the US. Michael went on to gain further success when he released the world’s largest selling album of all time, Thriller in 1982. This album produced seven hit singles, breaking yet again more records, and went on to sell over 50 million copies worldwide. Michael was keen to use music videos or short films as he called them to promote his singles from the album. He worked with the best directors and producers, using the latest technology and special effects. The short film Thriller used the latest make-up artists technology combined with fantastic dancing and choreography, to produce a 14-minute video, with a start, a middle and an ending. So successful was the video for Thriller that The Making Of Michael Jackson’s Thriller became the world’s largest selling home video combined with soaring album sales. In 1984 Michael won a record breaking eight Grammy awards in one night. The awards were for his work on the Thriller album and his work on the narrative for the ET Storybook. Two years later Michael released his much awaited third solo album, titled Bad, and launched his record breaking first solo world tour. In 1988, he wrote his first autobiography, Moonwalk, which gave a sneak peak into of his early childhood years. At the end of the 1980s Michael was named Artist Of The Decade for his success off of his Thriller and Bad albums. In 1991 he signed with Sony Music the largest ever recording contract and released his fourth solo album, Dangerous. He toured the world again in 1992, taking his concerts to countries that had never before been visited by a pop/rock artiste. A troubled star With all the fame and fortune Michael Jackson acquired throughout his career, there was always a sadness and an unfulfilling feeling that haunted him. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 1993 Michael spoke for the first time openly about his troubled relationship with his father. He admitted to being often physically and emotionally abused by “Joe” during incessant rehearsals. He said he would often cry from loneliness and vomit on the sight of his father. Michael also endured verbal abuse from his father who would tell him he had a fat nose on numerous occasions. This coupled with the many lickings Michael received on a daily basis brought Michael a deep dissatisfaction with his appearance, his nightmares and chronic sleep problems and child-like disposition are in many ways consistent with the effects of this chronic maltreatment he endured as a young child. Throughout his career he also had to deal with the media who continuously painted negative pictures of the star with over sensationalised stories that sent Michael into deep, dark depressions. His worse ordeal—accused of sexual abuse in 1993 by Evan Chandler, on behalf of his then 13 year old child, Jordan Chandler—a humiliation Michael never got over. The king sleeps Sadly on June 25, 2009 Micheal Jackson was no more. Dead at the age of 50 years old of acute propofol intoxication administered to him by his personal physician Dr Conrad Murray. His death was ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles County Coroner. Michael never got to see his planned comeback series of concerts in London come to life. The concert series which was titled This Is It...The Final Curtain, truly manifested the power of words. With only memories of the stars work embedded in our minds. A man who was a great philanthropist, won hundreds of awards, broke records in the music fraternity. A man who carved his name in every thing he touched— a perfectionist—musical genius. A man who was literally tortured by the media and gold diggers seeking a piece of the pie, is gone...gone. We miss you Michael Jackson. This world will never have another you. Rest in peace.
