Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana[22][23]. He was the seventh of nine children, and the fifth of six sons in the working-class family of Joseph (1928-2018) and Katherine Jackson (born 1930). Katherine, who is a Jehovah’s Witness, raised the children in her faith without the involvement of their father. At the age of 17, Michael Jackson became a baptized Jehovah’s Witness (but was later excluded from the community[24]). According to interviews given years later by Michael himself, his father, who was later the manager of their music band, could be ruthless in the discipline imposed on his children and did not refrain from physical violence against them either. Jackson’s father Joe himself admitted in 2003 that he regularly beat Michael[25].
Michael revealed his musical talent at a very early age. In 1964, he and his brother Marlon joined The Jackson Brothers, a band newly formed by brothers Jackie, Tito and Jermaine. Initially, Michael assisted the musicians by playing the congas and tambourine, and later he and Jermaine used their vocal skills together. During this period, the boys gave many concerts in the state of Indiana, and after winning a local young talent contest in 1966 (performing The Temptations’ song “My Girl,” sung by Michael), they began playing professional concerts in Chicago and the Midwest (Midwest) of the United States. Many of these concerts took place in notorious black nightclubs, in places called the “Chitlin’ Circuit,” where young boys had to play before strippers[26] performed.
When the group changed its name from The Jackson Brothers to The Jackson 5 in 1966, young Michael shared vocal duties with his brother Jermain. In 1968, the band signed a contract with Motown Records[27]. Soon after signing, the band gained star status with hits from their first four singles, “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “The Love You Save” and “I’ll Be There,” which topped the Billboard charts. At the time, the young Jackson began his career as a solo artist, releasing the albums Got to Be There (1972) and Ben (1972). These albums, recorded with The Jackson 5, were released under that band’s name; they featured the successful singles “Got to Be There,” “Ben” and a new arrangement of the song “Rockin’ Robin.”
After 1973, the group’s record sales began to decline, and the band itself began to complain about Motown’s control of their work. As a consequence of the disputes, in 1976 the group signed a new contract with CBS Records[28]. In response, Motown Records brought a series of lawsuits against the group for violating the terms of the contract, as a result of which the Jacksons lost the rights to use the name and logo of The Jackson 5. Jermaine Jackson also said goodbye to the band, who, due to his relationship with the daughter of Motown CEO Berry Gordy, preferred to associate with his label[29]. In this situation, the band changed its name to The Jacksons, incorporating – in place of Jermaine – the youngest brother Randy Jackson into the lineup. With this lineup, the brothers continued their career, touring the United States and abroad. Between 1976 and 1984, they released six more albums, operating as a sextet again with Jermain since 1983. From 1976 to 1984, Michael Jackson was the main composer in the band, creating hits such as “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground),” “This Place Hotel” (originally: “Heartbreak Hotel”) and “Can You Feel It.”
In 1978, Jackson played a scarecrow in the film “The Wizard of Oz,” with his friend Diana Ross as Dorothy,[30] a role he played. Songs from the musical were arranged by Quincy Jones, who, having made the acquaintance of Jackson during the production of the film, decided to produce his subsequent albums, including, as it turned out, the groundbreaking Thriller.
The album Off the Wall, released in 1979 as the artist’s 5th solo album, featured songs such as “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and “Rock with You,”[8] which soon took over the charts. The album reached number three on Billboard’s album chart, staying in the top 20 for 48 weeks. The release was produced jointly by Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson, while Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney were responsible for the music and lyrics, in addition to Jackson himself. The album signaled the arrival of a new Michael Jackson, independent of his brothers in his subsequent career,[31] which was also confirmed after time by the number of albums sold – worldwide circulation reached 20 million copies[32].
In January 1980, Jackson won the first American Music Awards for his solo work in the categories of “Best Soul/R&B Album” (for Off the Wall), “Best Male Soul/R&B Performer” and “Best Soul/R&B Single” (for “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”)[8]. He also soon won two Billboard Awards (for “Best Black Artist” and “Best Album by a Black Artist”),[8] and his star status was further confirmed by a Grammy Award for “Best Male Performance” of the song “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.”[8]
More than twenty-five years after its release, Off the Wall remains one of the highlights of Jackson’s musical career, launching his domination of the pop music market. In 2003, Off the Wall ranked thirty-sixth on the VH1 television station’s list of all-time albums; in contrast, it was ranked 68th on Rolling Stone biweekly’s list of 500 all-time albums.
The year 1982 brought two premiere releases featuring Jackson. The first was an audiobook of fairy tales released along with the soundtrack to Steven Spielberg’s film E.T. It included a recording of Michael Jackson reading a fairy tale and a new song, “Someone in the Dark.” Soon the E.T. album was honored with a Grammy Award for “Best Children’s Album.”
His second release, this time a self-titled one, was Thriller, released in December. It was Jackson’s second longplay released on Epic Records. Thriller turned out to be the best-selling album in the history of phonography, with 109 million copies sold, according to January 2009[33]. The album also became the first ever from which seven singles reached the top ten on the Billboard chart, including “Billie Jean,” “Beat It” and the title song, “Thriller.”
The music videos for the singles that accompanied the album also proved to be a major highlight. Lasting thirteen minutes, the music video for “Thriller” was very well received by critics, and the video’s mass broadcast and high popularity led to the release of the short film Making Michael Jackson’s Thriller on videotape, which became the best-selling home video cassette in history[34]. Another important music video was “Billie Jean,” which was the first music video by an African-American performer regularly shown on MTV. Also associated with the song is Jackson’s development of a specific way of moving around the stage, the so-called moonwalk, which became the singer’s trademark and which Jackson first performed at the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever concert in 1983[34]. Moonwalk initiated a new wave of interest in Thriller.
The Thriller album stayed on Billboard’s album chart for 122 weeks, 37 of them at number one. Thriller was a huge commercial and artistic success; to date (through June 2009), it has gone platinum 28 times in the United States alone[35]. The album made Michael Jackson an icon of world pop culture. As early as 1984, Time magazine estimated the revenue generated from album sales at $4.1 billion[36]. Thriller also helped black musicians to get their songs back into wider rotation on major radio stations, from which they disappeared in the mid-1970s.[36] The album, at the height of its popularity, was enthusiastically received by listeners around the world; as one Soviet high school student put it: “His (Michael Jackson’s) music is incredibly exciting. His pulse is the music of our time.”[36]