Michael Jackson's birthday: Rare pics of King of Pop

Aug 29, 2012 13:57pm

Known as the most successful entertainer across the world, Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana.
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Michael Jackson had six brothers and three sisters. His father was a steel mill worker who performed with a R&B band named The Falcons.
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Though MJ always said that his father's strict discipline played an important role in his career, but he didn't share a cordial relationship with him.
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In 1993, on Oprah Winfrey's show, for the first time Michael Jackson spoke about how his father used to verbally abuse him when he was a child.
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He admitted often crying because of loneliness and was extremely dissatisfied with his looks.
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In 1964, MJ joined a music band called Jackson Brothers, formed by his brothers as a backup musician.
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When he was eight, he started sharing the lead vocals with his older brother Jermaine. Name of the band was also changed to The Jackson 5.
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Michael began his solo career in 1971. MJ's music videos like - 'Beat It', 'Billie Jean' and 'Thriller' changed the way music industry looked at music videos.
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Controversial or otherwise - his videos were a regular on the MTV play lists. As a brilliant dancer, MJ has made the moonwalk and the signature pelvic thrusts eternal.
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Jackson's 1982 album 'Thriller' is the best-selling album of his entire career and of that era. His other records - 'Off the Wall', 'Bad', 'Dangerous' and 'HIStory' also rank among the world's best-selling.
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MJ is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame' twice.
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He was also inducted into the 'Dance Hall of Fame' as the first and till now - the only dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll.
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MJ also has multiple Guinness records to his name. He has won 13 Grammy Awards, as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
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MJ also won 26 American Music Awards, which is more than any other artist, including the 'Artist of the Century' award.
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He also has 13 number one singles to his name in his solo career. His music recorded an estimated sale of 750 million records worldwide.
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MJ's personal life was full of speculations about the number of surgeries he might have had for his looks, his changing appearance, the child sexual abuse case and his relationship stories.
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In May 1994, MJ married the daughter of Elvis Presley, Lisa Marie Presley. The couple parted ways amicably after their divorce two years later.
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In 1996, he married his longtime friend Deborah Jeanne Rowe. Rowe was six months pregnant with the couple's first child at the time. Michael Joseph Jackson Jr, commonly known as Prince, was born on February 13, 1997.
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Prince's sister Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson was born a year later on April 3, 1998. In 2002 MJ had his third child through artificial insemination.
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On June 25, 2009, Jackson died while in his bed at his rented mansion in Los Angeles. It is believed that he died of acute propofol intoxication after suffering from cardiac arrest.
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