I AM GOING TO FEATURE THE MUSICAL LIFE OF MR. MICHAEL JOSEPH JACKSON ALL WEEK IN HONOR OF HIS BIRTHDAY THIS FRIDAY. HE WOULD HAVE BEEN 56 YEARS YOUNG. AND A FELLOW VIRGO LKE MYSELF. The eighth child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971. In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of Beat It, Billie Jean, and Thriller, were credited with breaking down racial barriers and with transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. The popularity of these videos helped to bring the then-relatively-new television channel MTV to fame. With videos such as Black or White and Scream, he continued to innovate the medium throughout the 1990s, as well as forging a reputation as a touring solo artist. Through stage and video performances, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop, and rock artists. The Jackson 5 recorded several songs, including Big Boy (1968), their first single, for Steeltown Records, a Gary, Indiana, record label, before signing with Motown Records in 1969. The Jackson 5 left Gary in 1969 and relocated to the Los Angeles area, where they continued to record music for Motown. Rolling Stone magazine later described the young Michael as a prodigy with overwhelming musical gifts, writing that he quickly emerged as the main draw and lead singer. The group set a chart record when its first four singles—I Want You Back (1969), ABC (1970), The Love You Save (1970), and Ill Be There (1970—peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In May 1971, the Jackson family moved into a large home on two-acre estate in Encino, California, where Michael evolved from child performer into a teen idol. As Jackson began to emerge as a solo performer in the early 1970s, he continued to maintain ties to The Jackson 5 and Motown. Between 1972, when his solo career began, and 1975, Michael released four solo studio albums with Motown: Got to Be There (1972), Ben (1972), Music and Me (1973), and Forever Michael (1975). Got to Be There and Ben, the title tracks from his first two solo albums, produced successful singles, as did a remake of Bobby Days Rockin Robin. (wikipedia)
Posted on: Tue, 26 Aug 2014 04:08:31 +0000
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