Michael Jackson
1958 – 2009 American singer, songwriter, dancer
American pop superstar whose album Thriller and music videos defined the MTV era, later dogged by child abuse allegations.
- Affiliations
- Motown, Epic Records
Michael Jackson started as a child star with the Jackson 5 on Motown and became the biggest pop star of the 1980s. His 1982 album Thriller is among the best-selling records ever, and its cinematic videos helped make MTV a cultural force and pressed the channel to feature Black artists. In his later years he faced allegations of child sexual abuse; he settled one civil case and was acquitted in a 2005 criminal trial, and the accusations, which he denied, remain part of how his legacy is debated.
Connections
- mentor of Berry Gordy — Signed him and the Jackson 5 to Motown as a child.
- mentor of Berry Gordy — Signed the Jackson 5 to Motown, giving Jackson his start as a child star.
In the timeline
- 1982 Michael Jackson's Thriller and the MTV era the artist
- 2009 Conspiracy theorists claim Michael Jackson was targeted or controlled by the Illuminati central figure