2. Michael Joseph Jackson was an
American singer-songwriter, dancer,
businessman and philanthropist

3. Michael Jackson was born on
August 29, 1958, in Gary,
Indiana. He was the eighth of
ten children in an African-
American working-class family
who lived in a 3-room house in
Gary, an industrial city near
Chicago.

4. Jackson was born Michael Joseph Jackson in
Gary, Indiana on August 29, 1958, and
entertained audiences nearly his entire life. His
father Joe Jackson had been a guitarist, but was
forced to give up his musical ambitions,
following his marriage to Katherine (Scruse).
Together, they prodded their growing family's
musical interests at home. By the early 1960s,
the older boys Jackie, Tito and Jermaine had
begun performing around the city; by 1964,
Michael and Marlon had joined in.

5. THE JACKSON FIVE

7. Michael Jackson's best selling studio albums
1. Thriller, 109 million: the
only album in music history
to have sold over 100 million
copies, Thriller was a
commercial and critical
success for Jackson. The
album won an unprecedented
eight Grammys and,
according to Time magazine,
at the height of Thriller's
popularity Epic Records was
selling more than a million
copies a week worldwide.
2. Dangerous, 32 million:
Jackson's eigth studio album
was a slickly produced affair,
not only winning a 1992
Grammy for Best Engineered
Non-Classical Album, but it
was also supported by lavish
music videos featuring child
actor Macaulay Culkin,
basketball star Michael
Jordan, comedian and actor
Eddie Murphy and model
Naomi Campbell.

8. 3. Bad, 30 million:
almost five years after
Thriller, the album was
launched with an 18
minute long short film of
the lead single, Bad,
written by Richard Price,
directed by Martin
Scorsese and featured an
early screen performance
by Wesley Snipes.
4. HIStory, 20 million
copies (40 million units):
this double album from
1995 contained a selection
of Jackson's previous hits
on one disc together with
new material, some of
which clearly referenced
the media frenzy and legal
scandals surrounding the
artist.

9. 5 .Off the Wall, 20 million: released in
August 1979, Off the Wall was Jackson's
fifth studio album and a conscious move
away from his Motown work. Collaborating
with Quincy Jones and Paul McCartney,
amongst others, and writing a number of the
tracks himself, including the hit single Don't
Stop 'til You Get Enough, the album was a
major breakthrough for Jackson.
6. Invincible, 10 million: Jackson's tent
and last studio album, which enjoyed
lacklustre critical reception, still managed t
sell more than 10 million copies worlwid
and reached pole position in the US
Billboard 200 and UK album chartsim

10. On June 25, 2009, Jackson died
while in his bed at his rented
mansion at 100 North Carolwood
Drive in the Holmby Hills district
of Los Angeles. Attempts at
resuscitating him by Conrad
Murray, his personal physician,
were unsuccessful