Michael Jackson fact file:

Michael Joseph Jackson was born August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009 was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actor. Called the king of pop his contributions to music and dance, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. Michael Jackson has his own websites so his fans could check out his songs and updates also honour his music. Michael Jackson did his autobiography in a book and was published in February 1 in 1988. Five months after the release of Jackson’s 1987 Bad album, and named after Jackson’s signature dance move, the moonwalk. Michael Jackson was 58 when he died. Dubbed the "King of Pop," singer-songwriter Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana. As a child, he performed as the lead singer of the Jackson family's popular Motown group, the Jackson 5.

No single artist – indeed, no movement or force – has eclipsed what Michael Jackson accomplished in the first years of his adult solo career. Jackson changed the balance in the pop world in a way that nobody has since. He forced rock & roll and the mainstream press to acknowledge that the biggest pop star in the world could be young and black, and in doing so he broke down more barriers than anybody. But he is also among the best proofs in living memory of poet William Carlos Williams' famous verse: "The pure products of America/go crazy."
When Jackson died on June 25th, 2009, of apparent cardiac arrest in Los Angeles at age 50, the outpouring of first shock, then grief, was the largest, most instantaneous of its kind the world had ever known, short of the events of September 11th, 2001. What immediately became obvious in all the coverage is that despite the dishonour that had come upon him, the world still respected Michael Jackson for his music – for the singles he made as a Motown