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Michael Jackson

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Michael Jackson (born August 29, 1958) is one of the most commercially-successful pop singers of all time, and the self-titled "King of Pop".

He rose to prominence as a member of The Jackson Five, a funk-influenced pop group of the 1970s, whilst still a child. However, Jackson has stated that his father maltreated his five children in pursuing their achievements, threatening to beat them with his belt if they made mistakes during dance routines.

Jackson went on to release a progression of solo albums of slickly-produced synthesizer-heavy pop in the 1980s.

Thriller, released in 1982, became one of the best-selling pop albums of all time. In what was perhaps the "Golden Age" of the video clip, some of Jackson's videos were virtually short films with considerable plots, impressive special effects, and featuring Jackson's distinctive dance style - notably including a move called the "moonwalk" where he would move backwards while appearing to be walking forward.

Subsequent releases included Bad, Dangerous, and History. In between albums, he wrote and produced the ballad We Are The World which became associated with African famine relief efforts in the 1980s.

Always considered something of an eccentric, as time has gone on he has become something of a recluse, spending most of his time at his ranch in Santa Ynez, Santa Barbara County, California which he titled "Neverland", after the magical kingdom featured in the children's story Peter Pan. He says that, like Peter Pan, he does not want to grow up. Some of his favorite pastimes are water balloon fights and climbing trees. He has written several songs sitting in his favorite tree at Neverland.

It has been claimed that Jackson's interest in children extends to pedophilia. He made an out of court settlement with the parents of 12 year old Jordie Chandler, who alleged Jackson had abused him while he was staying at the ranch. Jackson admits that children (including his friend Macaulay Culkin when he was little) have slept in the same bed as him, but he denies having had sex with any of them. He has admitted that he still sometimes sleeps with a child in the same room including his 12 year old friend Gavin, but, he claims, no longer in the same bed.

It is clear in the opinion of a number of plastic surgeons that he has undergone extensive plastic surgery and it may be said that he is hardly recognizable as the same person he was as an adolescent; but the effectiveness of his cosmetic surgery has been hotly debated.

Jackson was briefly married to Lisa Marie Presley in 1994, in a relationship viewed by many primarily as a publicity stunt. The marriage broke up 18 months later. Jackson has a son, Prince Michael, and a daughter, Paris, by his second wife, Debbie Rowe-Jackson. Jackson and Debbie Rowe-Jackson got divorced in 1999. He says she let him have the children as a gift. In August 2002 it was announced that another son, Prince Michael II (known as Blanket), then six months old; had been born from a black surrogate mother and that he he had made a deal with her to keep her identity secret.

Jackson held his first live concert in some years at Madison Square Garden, New York, in early September 2001.

In late 2002 new scandal arose surrounding Jackson. His most recent album, called "Invincible," had incredibly low sales figures. Instead of blaming this on what was, by most fans and critics, considered mediocre music, he blamed his record label and industry executives, most notably the legendary producer Tommy Matola, whom Jackson likened to Satan. Jackson also recorded a song featuring various celebrities on vocals in an attempt to raise funds for disaster relief following the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack. However, the song was never released when it was discovered the producer of the song had previously worked as a producer of homosexual pornography.

Also, in late 2002, Jackson stirred up more controversy (and unwittingly created an online video game) by dangling his infant son Prince Michael II from the balcony of a German hotel.

In October 2002 it was revealed by various international banks that Jackson was in financial debt into the tens of millions of dollars due to various unpaid loans.

A television documentary about Jackson, in which he was extensively interviewed by UK journalist Martin Bashir, was shown in February 2003. This program was considered something of a coup for Bashir, for it is extremely rare for Jackson to allow such access to his personal life, or indeed to talk so freely about his traumatised childhood. However, he continued to remain guarded on issues concerning the alleged cosmetic surgery to his face (although he admitted having had surgery on his nose) and his relationships with children.

In the UK, children's charities Barnardo's and the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) have voiced their concerns.

Under California law, merely sleeping with a child, without "affirmative, offensive conduct," isn't criminal, said Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas W. Sneddon Jr. in a statement. [1]

Jackson made statements that he felt betrayed by Bashir and that the film gives a distorted picture of his behaviour and conduct as a father [2], and has released video footage of statements of Bashir to prove that either Bashir has been lying to Jackson or has been misleading his audience in his voice-overs on the film; a selection has been shown in a Fox Network special [3].

Amongst many seemingly far-fetched rumors that circulate about him, he is believed by some people to be the same person as his sister, LaToya Jackson. United Kingdom bookmakers allow punters to bet on this subject, with odds of 500-1 payable on the presentation of evidence that they are the same person. [4]. This could be a safe bet for the bookmakers, considering that they have been photographed together many times, and Michael is reputedly a foot taller than LaToya.

Other people with the same name

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