Birth of a Legend

3-year-old Michael in 1961

Today, Michael Jackson would have been 52 if he were still alive.

Michael lived a sad, hard, yet very succesful life. At the age of four, he was thrusted into the Jackson 5. His talent was evident from a young age.

Publicity shot from 1968.

The Jackson brothers practiced for hours every day and won local talent contests before they got signed to a record label. During this time they took regular beatings from their father, Joe; he would strip them down and have them rubbed in oil before he beat them with a whip. Joe was a nasty, strict businessman. He made no effort to hide Michael from adult things; thus ruining his innocence. Michael and his brothers would often perform at nightclubs where strippers were present. Sometimes I get teary-eyed thinking about his childhood.

Finally in 1968, they got signed to Motown records and were now performing as The Jackson 5.

A $250,000 house bought in May 1971 after their triumphant success.

Jackson 5 on Bob Hope TV Special

LOTS more after the jump. This is a picture and info-heavy post, guys.

Performing I Want You Back at age 11. Cutest little thing.

Michael was (as far as I know) the only child star to remain popular even after he outgrew his young image. Eventually he wanted to break away from The Jackson 5 and establish a solo career because he felt that they weren't developing well enough as a group.

Lookin' hot by the pool with that ginormous afro...LOL

Michael at 19 performing I Want You Back/ABC with his brothers.

At premier of The Wiz in 1977

The Wiz was basically a black version of Wizard of Oz, where Michael played the scarecrow. On the set of the movie he met famous producer Quincy Jones. In 1979 they produced his fifth solo album--also known as his first hit solo album, Off The Wall together.

The background effects in this video always make me LOL.

With Quincy at 1984 Grammy Awards; he won 8 Grammys for Thriller.

Michael and Quincy teamed up for his next two albums as well; Thriller (1982) and my personal favourite: Bad (1987).

Four years later, Dangerous came out but the producer this time was not Quincy Jones. Teddy Riley, Bill Bottrel, and Michael Jackson produced the album together. How many artists come out with 4 ass-kicking, chart-topping, record-breaking albums in a row?

Billie Jean. Michael illuminates the ground with every step he takes.

I actually like Beat It better than Thriller... :X

Just Beat It.

I like to think of Michael as a pop star with a rock n roll attitude. He really was badass.

With Eddie Van Halen, who plays the guitar solo in Beat It.

President Ronald Reagan and the  First Lady honor Michael in 1984 for his charity work and for allowing Beat It to be used in a drunk driving commercial.

One thing that's overlooked by Michael is his extensive charity work. During a Pepsi-Cola commercial, Michael's hair lit on fire and he suffered second degree burns. The company payed him $1.5 million and he donated it to the burns unit at Brotman Memorial Hospital. In the same year he donated $5 million to charity, which came from the earnings of The Jacksons' Victory tour. Michael did this because was against the high ticket prices. This is part of the reason why I always respected and idolized Michael, because he never stopped giving to people even when he raked in millions and millions of dollars. He always wanted to heal the world...

With one of his best friends, Brooke Shields. Never liked her eyebrows...

I think this is his sexiest look no? LOL

With his fellow Thriller zombies.

Poor girl...rofl.

With Elizabeth Taylor at the 1986 American Music Awards

I once read that he wanted to date Liz Taylor, but he didn't because he knew the media would blow it out of proportion and feared the big mess it would cause. Weird. She was 26 years older than him. But I bet she would have done it, too...

Chyeamon.

Famous still from the ever-popular Smooth Criminal video.

The Way You Make Me Feel. One of Fatty Feliux's favourites.

Remember this?! Performing The Way You Make Me Feel on ABC with Britney Spears! Circa 2001

 

My favourite song of his: Dirty Diana.

With Steve Stevens, guitarist for Dirty Diana

The Bad tour. He looked so sexy with those belts and buckles.

Seeing these photos of Michael with Madonna always makes me chuckle. Basically what happened was, they attended the 1991 Grammy awards together. They looked like the perfect powerful pop couple. The King and the Queen. However, things weren't so bright beneath the surface; Madonna wanted to change Michael's look, cut his hair, change his style, and all that jazz. He basically told her, this is me, if you don't like it, then oh well. You can listen to a clip below where Michael Jackson speaks badly about her...LOL.

Dangerous Tour...What was he thinking. That is ugly.

Amazing live performance of Dangerous with a bit of Billie Jean.

With Slash, guitarist for Black or White and Give In To Me.

LULZ

Give In To Me ft. Slash. I love this song, it's so underrated, unfortunately.

Black or White. One of my all-time favourites. This song is so special to me because it got me thinking about equality for the first time ever in my life.

First marraige: Lisa Marie Presley in 1994. A marriage for publicity. Didn't last but they sure looked good together.

Second marriage: Debbie Rowe in 1996, three months after his divorce with Presley. A marriage for children. They looked horrible together.

Michael with son, Prince, and daughter, Paris.

Tell me, are you the ghost of jealousy?

 My FAVOURITE video: Ghost.

You Rock My World, you know you did.

I purposely chose not to talk about any of Michael's trials and hardships with the courts. I don't think it's fair to him and I don't think he deserves to be remembered for that. He was my hero, and many other people's hero as well. His true fans always believed in him and his kind-heartedness and never fell for the media lies and scandals. He had no childhood, and as he grew older he yearned for it more than ever. This man was forced to lose his innocence before he chose to, and got nearly killed every day with his father's beatings. I wish it weren't so, and I wish he could have at least had a nice, easy life in his older years. But there's always a price to pay for mega-stardom. I still love him and respect him for continuing his kind, charitable, loving ways, even after the world treated him poorly.