Meanwhile Michael was becoming the Jackson 5’s lead vocalist and front man. His adorable image won everybody’s hearts, and so he went on to start his promising solo debut in 1979. His first album, Off the Wall, reached No. 3 in the album charts, and spawned four top ten hits. He then went on to record one more album with his brothers, before releasing the album Thriller. This album transformed Michael
from just another pop star to one of the biggest artists in history. Thriller spent 37 weeks at number one, and is still the biggest selling album ever.
He soon became everyone’s icon with his stunning trademarks. He performed spectacular dance moves such as the famous Moonwalk, he wore a single white glove, sunglasses and untied shoelaces.
But while he was performing all round the world, he was causing more and more controversy over his strange behaviour. In 1984, Michael got his nose slightly narrowed and his eyebrows shaped. It was very uncommon in those days for a man to have plastic surgery, and subsequently started the public talking. But there were many to follow. He had another operation the following year, narrowing his nose further, and permanently tattooing eyeliner around his eyes. People were now really starting to gossip. However they had seen nothing yet until 1987, when Michael had his nose changed again, and suddenly appeared with cheekbones. But most significantly his skin changed from a lovely cocoa bronze to fish belly white colour. Initially Michael denied the colour change, but then goes on to blame it on medical condition, Vitiligo, which causes people of colour to develop light patches of skin that lack pigment. Michael appeared to be growing an addiction to plastic surgery.
Reports were now flooding out of more bizarre antics Michael had been getting up to. There were rumours flying around that Michael was taking female hormones to keep his high-pitched voice, and remove facial hair. He went out in public wearing a medical facemask, saying he wanted to protect his throat from germs. It was also reported that he spent the night in an oxygen chamber to slow down the aging process. His out of the ordinary antics started to make people concern about Michael.
But the most shocking, startling and disturbing news was yet to come. In 1993, a 13 year old boy, only identified as a friend of Michael’s, accused him of sexually abusing him during his stay at his Neverland home. The boy and his family went to the police and filed charges detailing four months of sexual abuse by Michael. Five former bodyguards then claimed to have been sacked from their jobs due to inside knowledge of Michael’s relationship with young boys. His sister LaToya then went public accusing her brother of having an “inappropriate sex life” and saying “he needs help”. A former housemaid then came forward claiming to have witnessed nude sleepovers. Things were just getting worse for Michael, who at the time was on tour, and he, clearly disturbed by these allegations, cancelled his upcoming performances saying he had an addiction to painkillers, and went into drug rehab. Michael, claimed his innocence and paid the boys family an estimated $20 million so that he didn’t go to trial.
Michael’s image was even more damaged now, even though his pop career was still greatly successful. Very soon after these allegations, he married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994. Many people believe this was an attempt to rebuild his image, but the marriage broke down after 19 months, adding to these suspicions.
The following year, Michael released a massive double album featuring fifteen of his greatest hits, and fifteen new songs. By 1996 the album had gone six times platinum in the United States alone, proving his career was still very much alive. In this year he also married his second wife, Deborah Rowe, and in 1997 she gave birth to their first son named Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. A daughter then followed in the next year and Michael said fatherhood was a dream come true.
In 2001, his latest album Invincible was released, and went straight to the top of the US and UK charts. But the albums long-term sales indicated that Michael’s glory days had well and truly passed.
These days Michael Jackson is still one of the most famous artists in the world, even though he still never ceases to amaze people with his crazy behaviour (recently he dangled his new born baby from a hotel balcony). Every person has their own opinion on Michael Jackson. He still has his dedicated fans claiming he’s the King of Pop, but a number of people believe that he has issues, and have nicknamed him ‘Wacko Jacko’. But no matter what anyone thinks, Michael Jackson will always be remembered for being a remarkable, ground breaking performer.
