AP: Michael Jackson

R.I.P.

Michael Jackson is the most influential figure in pop music. I am devastated!

UPDATE: Michael Jackson Was Much More Than The King Of Pop
Posted: Fri., Jun. 26, 2009 08:27:33 AM MST

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- When Michael Jackson anointed himself "King of Pop" over two decades ago, there was considerable rumbling about his hubris: Yes, he may have become a world sensation with record-setting sales of "Thriller," and yes, he may have had a string of No. 1 hits with smashes like "Billie Jean" and "Beat It," but the KING OF ALL POP MUSIC?

Surely, in a modern music history that has given us Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Stevie Wonder and so many musical greats, that title was a more than a bit inflated.

But in actuality, Jackson understated his significance.

While his elaborate, stop-on-a-dime dance moves and sensual soprano may have influenced generations of musicians, Michael Jackson stood for much more than the pop greatness -- or tabloid weirdness. One of entertainment's greatest icons, he was a ridiculously gifted, equally troubled genius who kept us captivated -- at his most dazzling, and at his most appalling.

At the height of his fame, he was among the world's most beloved figures. Heads of state clamored to meet him, screen legends like Elizabeth Taylor were his close friends, and worldwide, simply the mention of his name could make people do the moonwalk, from Los Angeles to Laos (The New York Times once accurately described him as one of the six most famous people on the planet).

His whispery, high-pitched speaking voice was constantly imitated, his fedora hat on his lean frame instantly recognizable, his childlike image endearing.

He influenced artists ranging from Justin Timberlake to Madonna, from rock to pop to R&B to even rap, across genres and groups that no other artist was able to unite. He changed music videos with "Thriller" in 1983, still considered by most to be the greatest music video ever made. Stars like Beyonce still mimic his moves. His one glove, white socks and glittery jackets made him a fashion trendsetter, making androgyny seem sexy and even safe.

Almost everyone wanted that Michael Jackson connection (and those who didn't were afraid to say so out loud). His celebrity and adoration was staggering.

So when his image began to crumble, becoming twisted and disturbed, that aspect, too, was larger than life. His multiple plastic surgeries and his vitiligo illness, which saw him transform from a masculine looking black man to a wispy, pale-faced, almost noseless figure, was held up as the standard for bad plastic surgery, a freakish-looking character.

His eccentric behavior left people confused, and when allegations (and later criminal charges) that accused him of sexually molesting two separate boys surfaced on two separate occasions, people were repelled by his alleged behavior and the man that their former idol had become.

And yet, it was hard to look away.

In the early days, no one wanted to. Jackson came into our public consciousness as an impossibly cute preteen wonder in 1969, an unbelievably precocious singer of his family band, The Jackson 5. The soon-to-be Motown legend channeled songs like "I Want You Back," and "I'll Be There" with a passion and soulfulness that belied his young years. Even then, his dance moves, copped from the likes of James Brown and Jackie Wilson, were exquisite, and his onstage presence outshining season veterans.

The spotlight began to dim when he entered his late teens, however, and while he still had R&B hits with the Jacksons, it seemed as if he would never recapture the pop success that he burst onto the scene with as a child.

But then he met Quincy Jones, and the musical landscape changed. With the legendary producer, Jackson crafted what for most artists would be a career-defining album, from the string-enhanced disco classic "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough," a party staple which he wrote, to the bitter ballad "She's Out of My Life." The best-selling CD showed the world a grown-up Michael Jackson with grown-up artistry, showcasing his breathy alto-soprano voice and providing a springboard to his early videos, which gave a glimpse of the dance wizardry to come.

At the time, it was Jackson's music that was front and center. A 21-year-old who spoke in a breathy, high voice, still lived at home, had his first, barely noticeable nose job and was a self-claimed virgin in an industry known for his hedonism, he was certainly an odd figure, but his personal life had yet to become intertwined with his public image.

That began to change during "Thriller" -- the album that would become his greatest success and his career-defining achievement. Also produced by Quincy Jones, it featured even more of Jackson's songwriting talents; Selling more than 50 million albums worldwide to become the globe's best-selling disc, it spawned seven Billboard top 10 hits, including two No. 1s with "Billie Jean" and "Beat It," won an then-unprecedented eight Grammy awards, and numerous other awards.

It was an impact was measured much more than in stats.

He broke the MTV's color barrier, becoming the first artist played on the young, rock-oriented channel when the success of "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" became so overwhelming it could not be ignored. He also established the benchmark for the way videos would be made, with stunning cinematography, precision choreography that recalled great movie musicals. Jackson's amazing talents as a dancer were also displayed to the world during his Emmy-nominated performance for Motown's 25th anniversary, is still considered one of TV's most thrilling moments, from his moonwalk strut to his pulsating pelvic movements.

But as Jackson's fame grew, his eccentricities, from his strange affinity for children and all things childlike, to his at times asexual image to his fascination with plastic surgery, began to dull the shine off of his sparkling image. As the years went by, those "eccentricities" would become more bizarre, and completely tarnish it.

His skin, once a dark brown, became the color of paste, a transition he blamed on the skin disease vitiligo, though some believed he simply bleached his skin in order to appear more Caucasian. That belief was rooted in his frequent plastic surgeries, which whittled his nose from a broad frame to an almost impossibly narrowed bridge. His image was a tough one to look at, much yet embrace.

If his plastic surgery made him disturbingly unwatchable, soon, allegations of child abuse would make him reviled among many. He was first accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 1993; no charges were ever filed, a civil lawsuit was settled out of court and he always maintained his innocence. Although he had a chart-topping album with "HIStory" in 1995 and was still a superstar, he was a damaged one -- and would never fully recover from the allegation.

A criminal charge of molestation of another young boy 2004, which resulted in his acquittal in 2005, further stripped his marketability and his legacy; after the trial ended, he went into seclusion, and while top hitmakers from Ne-Yo to Akon courted him to make new music, no new CD was ever released. He was overwhelmed with legal and financial troubles, with what seemed like weekly lawsuits against him seeking money owed.

A comeback seemed to be most unlikely. His reputation was considered irreparably damaged, his image mocked and his name an automatic punchline. But when he announced he'd be doing a series of comeback concerts at London's famed O2 Arena in London, not only did the initial dates sell out immediately, the demand was so insatiable he was signed on for an unprecedented 50 shows, and was expected to embark on a worldwide tour sometime after the concert series was complete in March.

Of course, there will be no comeback now, no Jackson 5 reunion, no new music to share with millions of fans. But the legacy he leaves behind is so rich, so deep, that no scandal can torpedo it. The "Thriller" may be gone, but the thrill will always remain.

Michael Jackson, King Of Pop, Reigned In TV Land

Michael Jackson is forever linked with music, but the King of Pop reigned in a visual world, where TV could never take its eyes off him.

He changed the visual medium during his long, if abruptly cut short, career.

Over and over, he was commanding in a way approached by few others who have ever stepped in front of a camera.

As a singer-dancer-songwriter, he helped create new languages for the eye and ear. He made magic, even before the sound and visual effects were added. His presence on TV made TV an event.

His moonwalk, on live television during a Motown anniversary special a quarter-century ago, is still astonishing to see played back on tape -- or played back in your memory.

That year, 1983, his "Thriller" video premiered on MTV, just one example of how he remade "music" into a new kind of sound-and-pictures storytelling (while enabling sound-and-video channels such as MTV). He helped invent a new art form, as well as a merchandising tool for selling that art.

He also knew how to sell a good cause, as with his celebrity-packed "We Are the World" video in 1985 to raise money for starving people in Ethiopia.

Jackson, whose presence on TV reaches back at least to the "Jackson 5ive" kids' cartoon series in the early 1970s, was perfect for the television medium.

On Thursday, Martin Scorsese, who directed Jackson's 1987 video, "Bad," marveled at his "absolute mastery of movement on the one hand, and of the music on the other. Every step he took was absolutely precise and fluid at the same time."

But even as Jackson played a major influence on TV, it wasn't always under his control.

Shooting his ill-fated Pepsi commercial at the height of his fame, he suffered second-degree burns when pyrotechnic effects accidentally set his hair on fire. This was surely one of the most famous TV commercials few if any viewers have ever seen. But it had a powerful, if unintended, message that had nothing to do with soft drinks: The biggest stars in the world can be hurt by TV worse than anyone else.

As the years went by, TV magnified Jackson's eccentricities, whether he was playing to the cameras or attempting to shy from them.

His vain attempts to hide his bizarrely changing face from public view with a surgical mask, or the video seen around the world with him dangling his baby from the fourth-floor balcony of a Berlin hotel as if for sport: Those images compete cruelly in the public's mental clip reel with the magnificence of his halftime extravaganza at the 1993 Super Bowl.

The creepiness factor steadily overtook Jackson's TV image, and TV ate it up. As surely as Jackson had given a boost to MTV years before, he helped tabloid TV (and online tabloid video) gain a sure grip on the public's attention.

Whatever Jackson did or didn't do, he was watchable. And watched by millions.

In 2003, ABC aired a British documentary "Living With Michael Jackson." In it, Jackson made comments about allowing kids to spend the night in his bedroom that prompted authorities to look into his relationships with children. He was arrested months later on child molestation charges and acquitted at trial.

That was long after a live 1995 interview Jackson granted ABC's Diane Sawyer, with his then-wife, Lisa Marie, at his side. He had a new album to promote and, even that far back, child molestation allegations to deny.

He also had an amateur video of his and Lisa Marie's civil ceremony in the Dominican Republic, with the couple coyly exchanging vows. And he had a wife who insisted to the world on live TV that she and Jackson had sex: "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Viewers cringed, but they couldn't turn away.

In 1992, he starred in an HBO special, "Michael Jackson in Concert in Bucharest."

In December 1995, in a relatively intimate theater in Manhattan, he was working on an encore music special. Having removed his surgical mask, he was up on stage, accompanied by a dozen dancers and a pounding rehearsal track. The two-hour show was scheduled to be telecast by HBO a week later, then aired around the world to an audience expected to total a quarter-billion.

A day or two later, Jackson collapsed on stage and was hospitalized, where he was treated for a viral infection that left him severely dehydrated. The show was postponed. It never took place.

Of course, he wasn't through with TV. Or TV with him.

Jackson Lived Like King But Died Awash In Debt

Michael Jackson the singer was also Michael Jackson the billion-dollar business.

Yet after selling more than 61 million albums in the U.S. and having a decade-long attraction open at Disney theme parks, the "King of Pop" died Thursday at age 50 reportedly awash in about $400 million in debt, on the cusp of a final comeback after well over a decade of scandal.

The moonwalking pop star drove the growth of music videos, vaulting cable channel MTV into the popular mainstream after its launch in 1981. His 1982 hit "Thriller," still the second best-selling U.S. album of all time, spawned a John Landis-directed music video that MTV played every hour on the hour.

"The ratings were three or four times what they were normally every time the video came on," said Judy McGrath, the chairman and CEO of Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks. "He was inextricably tied to the so-called MTV generation."

Five years later, "Bad" sold 22 million copies. In 1991, he signed a $65 million recording deal with Sony.

Jackson was so popular that The Walt Disney Co. hitched its wagon to his star in 1986, opening a 3-D movie at its parks called "Captain EO," executive produced by George Lucas and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The last attraction in Paris closed 12 years later.

One of Jackson's shrewdest deals at the height of his fame in 1985 was the $47.5 million acquisition of ATV Music, which owned the copyright to songs written by the Beatles' John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The catalog provided Jackson a steady stream of income and the ability to afford a lavish lifestyle.

He bought the sprawling Neverland ranch in 1988 for $14.6 million, a fantasy-like 2,500-acre property nestled in the hills of Santa Barbara County's wine country.

But the bombshell hit in 1993 when he was accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy.

"That kind of represents the beginning of the walk down a tragic path, financially, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, legally," said Michael Levine, his publicist at the time.

He settled with the boy's family, but other accounts of his alleged pedophilia began to emerge.

When he ran into further financial problems, he agreed to a deal with Sony in 1995 to merge ATV with Sony's library of songs and sold Sony music publishing rights for $95 million. Then in 2001, he used his half of the ATV assets as collateral to secure $200 million in loans from Bank of America.

As his financial problems continued, Jackson began to borrow large sums of money, according to a 2002 lawsuit by Union Finance & Investment Corp. that sought $12 million in unpaid fees and expenses.

In 2003, Jackson was arrested on charges that he molested another 13-year-old boy. The 2005 trial, which ultimately ended in an acquittal, brought to light more details of Jackson's strained finances.

One forensic accountant testified that the singer had an "ongoing cash crisis" and was spending $20 million to $30 million more per year than he earned.

In March of last year, the singer faced foreclosure on Neverland. He also repeatedly failed to make mortgage payments on a house in Los Angeles that had been used for years by his family.

In addition, Jackson was forced to defend himself against a slew of lawsuits in recent years, including a $7 million claim from Sheik Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the second son of the king of Bahrain.

Memorabilia auctions were frequently announced but became the subject of legal wrangling and were often canceled.

Time and again, however, Jackson found a way to wring cash out of high-value assets, borrowing tens of millions at a time or leaning on wealthy friends for advice, if not for money.

Al Khalifa, 33, took Jackson under his wing after his acquittal, moving him to the small Gulf estate and showering him with money.

In his lawsuit, Al Khalifa claimed he gave Jackson millions of dollars to help shore up his finances, cut an album, write an autobiography and subsidize his lifestyle -- including more than $300,000 for a "motivational guru." The lawsuit was settled last year for an undisclosed amount. Neither the album nor book was ever produced.

Another wealthy benefactor came to Jackson's aid last year as he faced the prospect of losing Neverland in a public auction.

Billionaire Thomas Barrack, chairman and CEO of Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm Colony Capital LLC, agreed to bail out the singer and set up a joint venture with Jackson that took ownership of the vast estate.

Barrack was unavailable for comment Thursday, but referred to the singer in a statement as a "gentle, talented and compassionate man."

A final piece of the financial jigsaw puzzle fell into place in March, when billionaire Philip Anschutz' concert promotion company AEG Live announced it would promote 50 shows in London's O2 arena. Tickets sold out, and the first show of the "This is It" tour was set for July 8.

Jackson, who has won 13 Grammys, hadn't toured since 1997. His last studio album, "Invincible," was released in 2001.

But the opening date was later postponed to July 13 and some shows moved back to March 2010, fueling speculation that Jackson was suffering from health ailments that could curtail his comeback bid.

His death, caused by cardiac arrest according to his brother Jermaine, raised the question whether an insurer would refund money to ticketholders. AEG Live did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Jackson was practicing for the concert in Los Angeles at the Staples Center with Kenny Ortega, a choreographer and director of the "High School Musical" movies, who has worked on previous Jackson videos like "Dangerous" in 1993.

"We had a 25-year friendship. This is all too much to comprehend," Ortega said in a statement. "This was the world's greatest performer and the world will miss him."

Autopsy Planned After Jackson's Sudden Death

Authorities are seeking to clear up the mystery surrounding Michael Jackson's death, including whether prescription drugs could have been a factor.

An autopsy was planned for Friday, though results weren't likely to be final until toxicology tests could be completed, a process that could take several days and sometimes weeks. However, if a cause can be determined by the autopsy, they will announce the results, said Los Angeles County Coroner Investigator Jerry McKibben.

Police said they were investigating, standard procedure in high-profile cases.

Brian Oxman, a former attorney of Jackson's and a family friend, said he was concerned about Jackson's use of painkillers and he warned the singer's family about possible abuse.

"I said one day, we're going to have this experience. And when Anna Nicole Smith passed away, I said we cannot have this kind of thing with Michael Jackson," Oxman said Friday on NBC's "Today" show. "The result was, I warned everyone, and lo and behold, here we are. I don't know what caused his death. But I feared this day, and here we are."

The 50-year-old musical superstar died Thursday, just as he was preparing for a series of 50 concerts starting July 13 at London's 02 arena.

He died at UCLA Medical Center after being stricken at his rented home in the posh Los Angeles neighborhood of Holmby Hills. Paramedics tried to resuscitate him for nearly three-quarters of an hour, then rushed him to the hospital, where doctors continued to work on him.

His brother Jermaine said it was believed that Jackson suffered cardiac arrest at his home. Cardiac arrest is an abnormal heart rhythm that stops the heart from pumping blood to the body. It can occur after a heart attack or be caused by other heart problems.

A handful of bleary-eyed fans camped out throughout the night with media outside the Jackson family house in the San Fernando Valley and near his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Oxman, who said he was speaking on behalf of no one but himself, and other friends made the rounds among the news outlets, adding to the intrigue of Jackson's early demise. Oxman claims Jackson had prescription drugs at his disposal to help with pain suffered when he broke his leg after he fell off a stage and for broken vertebrae in his back.

"When the autopsy comes, all hell's going to break loose, so thank God we're celebrating him now," Liza Minnelli told CBS' "The Early Show" by telephone.

In 2007, Jackson settled a lawsuit filed by a Beverly Hills pharmacy that claimed the singer owed more than $100,000 for prescription drugs over a two-year period.

After Jackson was acquitted on child molestation charges in 2005, Santa Barbara County District Attorney Tom Sneddon argued returning some items belonging to Jackson he labeled "contraband." Sneddon said those included syringes, the drug Demerol and prescriptions for various drugs, mainly antibiotics, that were in different people's names.

Jackson's 1982 album, "Thriller," is the best-selling album of all time, with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide.

Billboard magazine editorial director Bill Werde said Jackson's 13 No. 1 one hits on the Billboard charts put him behind only Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Mariah Carey.