Personal background
Jackson was born the seventh of nine children in Gary, Indiana to Joseph and Katherine Jackson. The entire family lived in a tiny two-bedroom house., and Jackson's father Joseph Jackson earned a meager living working in a steel mill. Jackson and his sister LaToya both claimed that their father was cruel and physically abusive to his children. Jackson broke down and wept during a television interview when asked about this, and said that even as an adult just meeting his father often made him physically ill.At the behest of their moter Katherine, the Jackson children were raised as Jehovah's Witnesses and practiced door-to-door evangelization. Jackson continued to do so after becoming famous, but then in disguise. His career and flamboyant style led to friction with congregation elders. At one point, his sister LaToya was shunned by Jehovah's Witnesses, and in 1987, he formally left the religion.
Jackson has been living at his 11 km² (2600 acres) ranch in Santa Ynez, California, named 'Neverland' after the magical kingdom featured in the children's story Peter Pan. In December 2003, he said that after it had been searched by police (see below), it no longer felt like a home, and is now a house he just visits. He now lives in Beverly Hills in a $70,000-a-month rented home.He says that, like Peter Pan, he does not want to grow up. Neverland contains a small zoo and amusement park. About once a week he has been inviting a bus full of (especially sick and poor) children there to have a day of fun. Jackson kept a chimpanzee, Bubbles, in Neverland, which he valued highly, treating him more like a friend than a pet. Bubbles was moved from the ranch after reaching maturity because adult chimpanzees are very strong and can be dangerous.
Jackson marriages and children
In 1994 Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley; the marriage lasted less than two years, ending in divorce. In 1996 he married Debbie Rowe. They had a son, Prince Michael, and a daughter, Paris Katherine. They were divorced in 1999. Rowe later said that she let Jackson have the children as a 'gift'. Around February 2002 Jackson had another son, Prince Michael II, also called 'Blanket', with a surrogate mother whose identity has not been disclosed. In late 2002, Jackson stirred up controversy while staying in a hotel in Berlin by briefly suspending him over the edge of the railing of a balcony. In what Jackson explains as a security measure against kidnapping, the children's faces are masked or veiled when they are in public. In December 2003 Jackson's parents promised they would look after the three children if they were taken away from their son. Reportedly the children have been interviewed by social workers.
In March 2004 it was confirmed there was an unspecified family matter between Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe, to be handled in mediation.
In July 2004 news was released that Jackson is to be the father of quadruplets, via artificial insemination. The mother is said to be a 'struggling actress'. Jackson however, strongly denied the allegations.Rumours last year claimed that he had another seventeen-year-old son, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., who apparently has an almost identical resemblance of him as a young man.
Miscellaneous
Jackson, a vegetarian, claims a strong connection to both children and animals. His favorite pastimes include water balloon fights and climbing trees. He has written several songs sitting in his favorite tree at Neverland, which he calls Giving Tree, because he says it is so inspiring.
Another favorite pastime has been sleepovers with children, but because, as he understands now, it violates a social norm and places him in a vulnerable position with regard to suspicions and allegations of sexual abuse, he will no longer have them with children not related to him.
Jackson's celebrity friends have included Quincy Jones, Diana Ross, Marlon Brando, comedians Steve Harvey and Chris Tucker and actress Elizabeth Taylor and former child actor Macaulay Culkin, who are godparents to Prince Michael and Paris. He is also friends with paranormalist Uri Geller. He has also been friends with rabbi Shmuley Boteach, with whom Jackson founded the now defunct 'Heal the World' and 'Heal the Kids' foundations. Michael is also the godfather of Lionel Richie's adopted daughter Nicole Richie.
It has been rumored that Jackson has used extensive plastic surgery to modify his appearance, although he claims to have had only three operations: Two 'nose jobs' (the first of which he claims was to repair a broken nose resulting from a dancing accident in 1978, and the second to correct imperfections in the first surgery) and the surgical creation of a cleft in his chin (Jackson often omits mentioning the cleft when listing his cosmetic surgery, but he confirms the surgery in his 1988 autobiography Moon Walk).Some critics have characterized his plastic surgery and purported 'skin bleaching' as an attempt to hide his African-American ancestry. Jackson has insisted, however, that he only uses heavy makeup to mask the effects of vitiligo, a condition that causes white patches on the skin.
Jackson has received numerous music awards including 18 Grammys. Estimates of his album sales worldwide range from 200 million to well over 300 million. His Thriller video is considered by some to be the best music video of all time and the largest step forward in artistic quality in the history of music videos. MTV and Rolling Stone magazine recently named four of his songs ('Billie Jean' #5, 'I Want You Back' #9, 'Beat It' #23 and 'Rock with You' #82) among the 100 greatest pop songs of all time. His hit album, 'Thriller', was the best selling album of all time, until recently falling to second best selling album of all time when the sales of the Eagle's greatest hits album increased.Quotation about Jackson (Kathleen Parker): Ambivalence personified, he's not quite black, not quite white, not quite man, not quite woman, not quite adult, not quite child.
The Jackson 5
Five of the Jackson brothers, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael, formed the Jackson 5, an R&B musical act, in the mid 1960s. With Michael as the lead singer, the group built up a following and a buzz by playing at clubs and bars throughout the Midwest, and even winning an Amateur Night competition at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. It is alleged that they were beaten and abused by their father if they performed poorly.
The Jackson 5 were discovered and signed to Motown Records in 1969. Label head Berry Gordy moved the Jackson family to California, and proceeded to turn them into international stars. The group's first four singles, 'I Want You Back' from 1969, and 'ABC', 'The Love You Save', and 'I'll Be There' from 1970 all became #1 hits in the US. Later hits included 'Mama's Pearl' & 'Never Can Say Goodbye' (1971) 'Get It Together' (1973) and 'Dancing Machine' (1974). With Motown Records, the Jackson 5 made 14 albums, and Michael recorded four albums as a solo artist.
In 1976, the Jackson brothers signed a better deal with Epic Records, leaving behind at Motown the 'Jackson 5' name and Jermaine (who had married Berry Gordy's daughter Hazel). Now known as The Jacksons, and featuring younger brother Randy in Jermaine's place, the brothers continued their successful career, touring internationally and releasing 6 albums between 1976 and 1984. Hits during this period included 'Enjoy Yourself' & 'Show You The Way To Go' (1976), 'Find Me A Girl' (1977), 'Blame It On The Boogie' (1978), 'Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)' (1979), 'Can You Feel It?' & Heartbreak Hotel (1980) and 'Torture' & 'State of Shock' (1984).Jackson starred in the film The Wiz (alongside Diana Ross) in 1978. It was here that he met Quincy Jones, the producer of The Wiz, who would later produce Michael's three most acclaimed solo albums, Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad. Off the Wall, released in 1979, produced a record four Top 10 hits and sold seven million copies in the United States.