Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958), also known as the "King of Pop" and "Wacko Jacko", is an American musician whose successful music career and controversial personal life have been at the forefront of pop culture for the last quarter-century.
Jackson began his musical career at the age of five as lead singer of The Jackson 5 and made his first solo recordings in 1971 while remaining a member of the group. He began a full-fledged solo career in 1979 and formally parted with his siblings in 1984. In his solo career, Jackson recorded and co-produced the best-selling album of all-time(Thriller with approximate worldwide sales of 60 million), received thirteen Grammy awards and charted thirteen number-one singles in the U.S. Michael Jackson has been awarded numerous honors, including the World Music Award's "Best-selling pop male artist of the Millennium" and he is a double-inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and in 2001 as a solo artist.
He has been married twice and has three children: Prince and Paris with Deborah Jeanne Rowe, and Prince Michael II (better known as "Blanket") through surrogacy.
From 1988 to 2005, Jackson lived on his Neverland Ranch property, on which he built an amusement park and private zoo for the enjoyment of economically disadvantaged and terminally ill children. His frequently held sleepover parties have received widespread critical media-coverage, especially after he revealed that he sometimes slept in the same bed with several unrelated children. This led to him being accused of child sexual abuse both in 1993 and 2003. He was eventually tried and acquitted of the latter allegations in 2005
Post-trial life and career: present
After being acquitted of the child molestation charges, Jackson relocated to the Gulf island of Bahrain, where he reportedly bought a house formerly owned by a Bahrain MP. Jackson has spent his time in the Gulf writing new music, including a charity single dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina titled, "I Have This Dream". Ciara, Snoop Dogg, R. Kelly, Keyshia Cole, James Ingram, Michael Jackson's brother Jermaine, Shanice, the Reverend Shirley Caesar and The O'Jays have reportedly lent their voices to the charity song. After many delays, the single is still yet to be released.
On March 9, 2006, it was announced that California state labor officials closed the singer's Neverland Ranch and fined him $69,000 for failure to cover workers' employment insurance. The state "stop order" bars Jackson from "using any employee labor" until he secures required workers' compensation insurance. It also warns that if Jackson fails to abide by the enforced work stoppage, he could be charged with a criminal misdemeanor.
In addition to being fined $1,000 apiece for 69 workers, Jackson is also liable for up to 10 days pay for those employees who now are no longer allowed to report to Neverland for work. 30 Neverland employees have also sued Jackson for $306,000 in unpaid wages. If Jackson did not pay these wages by March 14, 2006, he would be fined an extra $100,000. Jackson's employees were paid by the deadline.
Jackson's spokeswoman Raymone K. Bain announced on Thursday, March 16, 2006 that he was closing his house at Neverland and had laid off some of the employees but added that reports of the closing of the entire ranch were inaccurate. It has been estimated that Neverland has a value of over $50 million[citation needed].
A king of pop, Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958), also known as the "King of Pop" and "Wacko Jacko", is an American musician whose successful music career and controversial personal life have been at the forefront of pop culture for the last quarter-century.
Jackson began his musical career at the age of five as lead singer of The Jackson 5 and made his first solo recordings in 1971 while remaining a member of the group. He began a full-fledged solo career in 1979 and formally parted with his siblings in 1984. In his solo career, Jackson recorded and co-produced the best-selling album of all-time(Thriller with approximate worldwide sales of 60 million), received thirteen Grammy awards and charted thirteen number-one singles in the U.S. Michael Jackson has been awarded numerous honors, including the World Music Award's "Best-selling pop male artist of the Millennium" and he is a double-inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and in 2001 as a solo artist.
He has been married twice and has three children: Prince and Paris with Deborah Jeanne Rowe, and Prince Michael II (better known as "Blanket") through surrogacy.
From 1988 to 2005, Jackson lived on his Neverland Ranch property, on which he built an amusement park and private zoo for the enjoyment of economically disadvantaged and terminally ill children. His frequently held sleepover parties have received widespread critical media-coverage, especially after he revealed that he sometimes slept in the same bed with several unrelated children. This led to him being accused of child sexual abuse both in 1993 and 2003. He was eventually tried and acquitted of the latter allegations in 2005
Post-trial life and career: present
After being acquitted of the child molestation charges, Jackson relocated to the Gulf island of Bahrain, where he reportedly bought a house formerly owned by a Bahrain MP. Jackson has spent his time in the Gulf writing new music, including a charity single dedicated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina titled, "I Have This Dream". Ciara, Snoop Dogg, R. Kelly, Keyshia Cole, James Ingram, Michael Jackson's brother Jermaine, Shanice, the Reverend Shirley Caesar and The O'Jays have reportedly lent their voices to the charity song. After many delays, the single is still yet to be released.
On March 9, 2006, it was announced that California state labor officials closed the singer's Neverland Ranch and fined him $69,000 for failure to cover workers' employment insurance. The state "stop order" bars Jackson from "using any employee labor" until he secures required workers' compensation insurance. It also warns that if Jackson fails to abide by the enforced work stoppage, he could be charged with a criminal misdemeanor.
In addition to being fined $1,000 apiece for 69 workers, Jackson is also liable for up to 10 days pay for those employees who now are no longer allowed to report to Neverland for work. 30 Neverland employees have also sued Jackson for $306,000 in unpaid wages. If Jackson did not pay these wages by March 14, 2006, he would be fined an extra $100,000. Jackson's employees were paid by the deadline.
Jackson's spokeswoman Raymone K. Bain announced on Thursday, March 16, 2006 that he was closing his house at Neverland and had laid off some of the employees but added that reports of the closing of the entire ranch were inaccurate. It has been estimated that Neverland has a value of over $50 million[citation needed].