This title includes key elements such as his name, a brief description (biography, music, legacy), and his popular title “King of Pop,” which is likely to attract interest from those searching for information about him.
Michael Jackson – The King of Pop | Biography, Music, Legacy
It was a typical day in Los Angeles, people were going about their daily tasks, some in offices, some on the streets, some listening to music, and some posting their personal activities on social media. At this time news came which shook not only Los Angeles but the entire world.
That day was June 25, 2009, at around 2:26 pm, news came on TV channel and website that King of Pop Michael Jackson, who ruled millions of hearts, is no more. As soon as the news came, there was silence all over America, many people started fainting on the streets and the happy atmosphere of the entire Los Angeles turned into a scene of mourning.
Within minutes, Google, Twitter, Wikipedia crashed due to user traffic. People all over the world wanted to know how Michael Jackson, who wanted to live for 150 years, could suddenly die at the age of just 50.
Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 at around 12 noon. He died due to heart attack due to overdose of heavy medicines like propofol and benzodiazepine. He wanted to live more than 150 years, for which he had kept a team of 12 personal doctors at his home, who provided him medicines and proper diet. Michael’s food was also first tested in the laboratory and then he used to eat it.
His personal doctor, Conrad Murray, was with him in Holmley Hills, Los Angeles, when he died. Michael was given several drug doses to help him sleep quickly. After some time, the doctor saw Michael lying unconscious in the room and immediately gave him CPR. When there was no response, the doctor searched for landlines and mobiles in the house to seek medical help, but due to security, all the landlines in the house were switched off. He immediately ran outside and asked the guard to call 911.
The call to medical helpline number 911 was made at exactly 12:22 am. The ambulance reached the doctors in just 3 minutes. When the doctors arrived, Michael had stopped breathing. He was given CPR, but it did not help. He was immediately taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre. After about two hours of efforts, he was declared dead at 2:26 pm.
Due to the shock of Michael Jackson’s death, 13 people committed suicide. 50 calls were made to the suicide prevention hotline in Australia the day after his death. Those people were so shocked that they wanted to commit suicide. Hotline CEO Don O’Neil said in an interview that he suddenly had an increase in callers.
The dead body was going to be buried without a brain, $9,59,160 were spent on the funeral.
It took months for the police and doctors to find out the exact cause of the death that occurred under suspicious circumstances. Michael’s brain was taken out for postmortem and examined. The family members wanted to hold a funeral, but no result was achieved for 2 months. In such a situation, the family wanted to bury Michael’s body without his brain. However, after people’s persuasion, the family members also agreed to wait.
Michael Jackson’s private funeral took place on September 3, 2009, exactly 39 days after his death, in which only 200 people attended.
There was a fear of theft when buried in a golden coffin-
Michael’s body was placed in a golden coffin and buried in concrete. The make-up artist prepared him in the same way as he used to prepare before the performance. Michael’s family feared that if the location of Michael’s body was disclosed, his loved ones might dig the grave and steal his body.
For this reason, it was decided to bury his body in a mysterious manner. However, Michael’s body was later buried in the Great Mycelium of Forest Lawn, where big Hollywood celebrities like Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Walt Disney are buried.
On February 8, 2010, eight months after Michael’s death, his doctor, Conrad Moore, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
16 lakh applications were received to buy tickets for the memorial, 300 crore people watched-
On July 7, 2009, a memorial to Michael Jackson was erected at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles. 16 lakh people had applied to buy tickets to attend its inauguration. Its streaming was watched by 35 million people in the US while 300 million people around the world watched it. This is the most watched event in history so far.
Michael was the highest earning singer even after 10 years of his death.
According to Forbes, after his death Michael had earned Rs 17,110 crore. According to the 2019 list, Michael was the highest earning singer even 10 years after his death. While at second place was popular singer Elvis Presley. By 2018, Michael had earned Rs 28.40 billion. According to the report, Michael was on the verge of bankruptcy just before his death. In such a situation, the family had paid off his debt from the earnings earned after his death.
King of Pop Michael Jackson has been the best singer in the world. Apart from his songs, moonwalk, dancing style, Michael has also been in the news for his way of looking at the world and challenging science. Michael died at the age of just 50, although he always wanted to live more than 150 years.
For this, he used to sleep in an oxygen chamber every day and got a laboratory built at home and got personal research done to live a long life. Michael Jackson also believed that a time would definitely come in the world when bringing dead people back to life would be possible with the help of science. Michael Jackson is considered to be the most famous singer in the world who has 39 Guinness World Records in his name.
Michael was the youngest among 8 siblings.
Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana. He was the 8th child of his parents. His entire family lived in a 2-room house on Jackson Street. Father Joseph Walter (Joey Jackson) was a former boxer who played guitar, while mother Katherine was also a piano performer.
Father used to beat with a belt when performance deteriorated-
The financial conditions of the house were not good, so Michael’s father formed a band named Jackson Brother in 1964, in which all the brothers and sisters together earned money by giving street performances. Michael’s father did not like him very much. He would often beat Michael by making fun of his nose and facial structure. In an interview, Michael had told that his father used to beat him badly with a belt when his performance deteriorated. Michael’s mind was adversely affected by his father’s attitude.
When Jackson turned 7 years old, his group was named Jackson 5 in 1965 and he started leading it. Jackson 5 started launching their songs continuously and they started getting recognition in the US. In 1977, the Jackson 5 band broke up and Michael moved to New York City to work in films.
His first film was The Wiz, but it flopped. The music director of this film, Quincy Jones, after assessing Michael’s talent, launched 3 solo music albums with him which were greatly liked.
If your nose is broken, your career will be put on break-
In 1978, Michael broke his nose while dancing. He underwent rhinoplasty, but after that he started having trouble breathing. Due to this, he had to stay away from singing for several days and his career took a break even before it started. After a break of 1 year, Michael made a comeback in singing and made a name for himself by giving many hits.
In 1982, Michael’s sixth musical album Thriller was released, which became the world’s best-selling album. Its 7 crore copies were sold. This album received a record 8 Grammy Awards. Michael became the world’s highest royalty taking star, taking $12 royalty on every album sale.
Michael Jackson suddenly became white and was surrounded by controversies-
Till 1983, African-American Michael Jackson had dark skin tone, but after that his skin color suddenly started becoming light. After coming into controversy, his skin doctor Arnold Klein said that he is suffering from vitiligo (white spots), due to which white and black spots have formed on his body. To hide those spots, Michael used to wear white makeup.
While undergoing treatment for vitiligo, he had to bleach his skin and he became fair. People accused of racism that Jackson wanted to change the African skin tone, so he resorted to bleaching. Many people believed that Michael Jackson was very concerned about his skin and looks.
Mother’s claim- He was addicted to cosmetic surgery-
After Michael’s death, his mother claimed that Michael had undergone some surgeries to get rid of vitiligo, but then after seeing himself becoming beautiful, he got addicted to getting cosmetic surgeries done. Michael himself admitted in his biography in 1988 that he had undergone rhinoplasty twice and chin surgery once.
Michael Jackson used to sleep on oxygen bed to stop aging-
In 1986, a photograph of Michael sleeping in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber was revealed. Actually, Michael used to sleep in an oxygen chamber to stop his aging.
Michael Jackson used to take hormonal injections of women-
Michael Jackson used to take shots of female hormonal injections to keep his voice pitch high. One reason for this was that he wanted skin like women and less facial hair. Michael had also undergone surgery on his eyes. At the same time, he liked to dress and prepare like girls.
Michael Jackson had reached the mayor with his chimpanzee-
After becoming successful, Michael Jackson adopted a chimpanzee named Bubble. He used to keep Bubble with him during every tour and travel. Michael even took Bubbles along to meet the mayor of Osaka, Japan once in 1987 during the World Tour Bad.
When Bubbles started growing older, he became aggressive and Michael had to hand him over to the Animal Research Centre despite his unwillingness. Everyone was afraid that Bubbles could hurt Michael’s newborn Prince Michael.
Michael Jackson wanted to buy the bones of a man who died in 1890-
According to the Chicago Tribunal, in 1987 Michael wanted to buy the skeleton of Joseph Merrick, who died in 1890. His publicist had bid Rs 8 crore for it. Actually, Joseph Merrick had a strange disease, due to which he was called the Elephant Man. Michael wanted to buy his skeleton and do research on it, because he was very interested in science.
The house was built on 2700 acres-
In March 1988, Michael built his new home on 2700 acres in California, which he named Neverland. The price of this house was 17 million dollars i.e. 139 crore rupees. This house had a big wheel, a children’s swing carousel, a movie theater and a zoo. He had hired 40 patrolling staff just for this house.
13-year-old boy made allegations of sexual harassment-
In August 1993, 13-year-old Jordan Chandler accused Michael of child sexual abuse. During the case, Jordan and her father Evans also shared some personal details of Michael, which they came to know during the harassment. After a few months, the case slowed down due to lack of evidence and in the meantime, Michael settled out of court. He had given Rs 188 crore to Jordan for this.
Became a drug addict due to bad image-
Michael had to undergo scalp surgery after an accident during a Pepsi ad. After the surgery, Michael started depending on some painkillers, but when his image got spoiled due to the child abuse case, he became a drug addict. This had such an impact on his health that on November 12, 1993, he got all his concerts canceled.
19 fake ID cards were made to buy drugs-
TMZ channel’s documentary ‘Who Really Killed Michael Jackson’ made on Michael Jackson claims that Michael had made 19 fake ID cards to buy drugs. He had a team of personal doctors, who gave him prescriptions for all kinds of drugs. Michael’s skin doctor, Arnold Klein, maintained a diary, noting which medications were being taken under which ID.
Marriage with Elvis Presley’s daughter amid controversies-
Amidst his deteriorating health and tarnished image, famous singer Elvis Presley’s daughter Lisa proposed to Michael and both of them got married in May 1994. Many people believed that Michael had married to divert people’s attention from the child abuse case. Both their marriages broke up within 19 months. After the divorce, Michael launched the History album, which also broke his previous records. 2 crore copies of this album were sold.
Panic attack in 1995-
In 1995, during a TV show rehearsal, Michael Jackson had a panic attack and fainted. He was admitted to the hospital. A few months later, he performed 58 concerts in 35 countries, which were attended by 4.5 million people.
During the Sydney tour, Michael Jackson remarried Debbie Rowe, an assistant to his skin doctor Klein. Debbie was 6 months pregnant even before marriage. On 13 February 1997, Michael’s first son, Prince Michael, was born. In 1998, Debbie gave birth to daughter Paris.
A few years later, in 2000, the couple got divorced and Michael got custody of the children in a settlement of $8 million. When Michael was again accused of child abuse in 2004, custody of the children went to Debbie.
In the raid on Michael’s house in 1994, the police found a book which contained naked pictures of many children. When the police interrogated him, Michael clarified that someone must have sent him this book, which he never opened. After Michael’s death, his maid had also told that Michael used to keep the children in the house without clothes.
There was a debt of $359,490,088 at the time of death-
At one time Michael used to earn 97 crore every week, but when he died, he was drowned in a debt of $359,490,088 Even after his death, he remained the highest earning singer for many years. Michael Jackson donated approximately $47,95,80,000 in his life.
Here is a list of some of the major awards Michael Jackson received during his illustrious career:
Grammy Awards
- Album of the Year: “Thriller” (1984)
- Record of the Year: “Beat It” (1984)
- Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: “Thriller” (1984), “Man in the Mirror” (1988)
- Best Male Rock Vocal Performance: “Beat It” (1984)
- Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: “Billie Jean” (1984), “The Way You Make Me Feel” (1989)
- Best R&B Song: “Billie Jean” (1984)
- Producer of the Year (Non-Classical): Quincy Jones (for “Thriller”) (1984)
- Best Music Video, Short Form: “Leave Me Alone” (1990), “Scream” (1996)
- Grammy Legend Award: 1993
- Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award: 2010 (posthumous)
American Music Awards
- Artist of the Century: 2002
- Artist of the Decade: 1989
- Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist: Multiple wins
- Favorite Pop/Rock Album: “Thriller,” “Bad”
- Favorite Pop/Rock Single: “Billie Jean”
- Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist: Multiple wins
- Favorite Soul/R&B Album: “Off the Wall,” “Thriller,” “Bad”
- Favorite Soul/R&B Single: “Billie Jean”
MTV Video Music Awards
- Best Overall Performance in a Video: “Thriller” (1984)
- Best Choreography in a Video: “Thriller” (1984), “Scream” (1995)
- Video Vanguard Award: 1988 (later named Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in his honor)
Billboard Music Awards
- Artist of the Century: 2002
- Top Selling Album of the Year: “Bad” (1988)
- Top Selling Single of the Year: “Billie Jean” (1983)
Other Notable Awards
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Inducted twice (as a member of the Jackson 5 in 1997 and as a solo artist in 2001)
- Songwriters Hall of Fame: 2002
- World Music Awards: Best Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium (2000)
- Golden Globe Award: Best Original Song – “Ben” (1973)
This list captures some of the key accolades Michael Jackson earned, reflecting his impact and legacy in the music industry.
Q- What was Michael Jackson’s cause of death?
Ans- On August 28, 2009, the Los Angeles County coroner classified Jackson’s death as a homicide, determining that Jackson died from acute Propofol intoxication, exacerbated by the anxiolytic lorazepam, and less significantly midazolam, diazepam, lidocaine, and ephedrine.
Q- Where is mj buried?
Ans- Forest Lawn, California, United States.
Q- Can I visit Michael Jackson’s grave?
Ans- Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a celebrity among cemeteries. Visitors may stop at the graves of Michael Jackson, Walt Disney, and more to pay their respects.
Q- What were Michael Jackson’s famous last words?
Ans- According to Murray, Jackson’s last words were repeated requests for “milk.” “Milk” was his name for propofol, the anesthetic he overdosed on. Propofol does look like milk, and it’s nicknamed “milk of amnesia.” Picture Jackson deliriously ask for milk, though, and you think of his baby mind, as well as his addiction.
Q- What was MJ’s last song?
Ans- The song “Best of Joy” is one of the last that Jackson recorded during his lifetime and was both written and recorded by him in 2008, one year prior to his death.
Q- What is the most sold album ever?
Ans- Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ of 1982 has sold more than 120 million copies, making it the best-selling album of all time in the world.