Michael Jackson, The Story
Michael Jackson T Shirts - A Kings’ Tale
Few moments live long in the memory as to what you were doing any particular day. A moment so significant that for the rest of your life the mere hearing of such news burns an imprint into memory so deep you’ll never forget the exact time and place you were upon hearing it. Princess Diana’s death, the assassination of John F Kennedy and now Michael Jackson’s passing on 25th 2009. Here at www.michaeljacksontshirts.com we’d like to pay our own tribute to the ‘King of Pop’ by reminding you of the incredible life of what can only be described as one of a select few who truly were a superstar. Thank you for the thrills Michael!
With a trademark black fedora and a lone sequined glove Michael Jackson stood at the summit of world pop. The extrovert, the entertainer wowing the world with dance, music and songs that will live on way past his death, classic anthems that have spanned generations far and wide around the globe. Four decades he ruled over the pop world and his subjects would follow him around the globe, waiting on his every word, every beat, and every new song he made. Don’t stop til’ you get enough was certainly true of his fans as they lived his life with him. The pain, the sorrow, the joy, never has an artist had such an impact on his faithful followers. Opinions are divided over his personal life but this almost added to the appeal. Some loved others didn’t but they always spoke of him, the shy extrovert, adored by millions accused by a few. The truth is the debate over his life will never be settled but it will long be forgotten while his music lives on.
Only 11 artists have been included in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame twice. Michael Jackson is one of them. The awards didn’t stop there. Multiple Guinness World Records including ‘Most Successful Entertainer of all Time’ – 13 Grammies, 13 number one hits, 750 million records sold the world over these are just a few of the accolades you associate him with. A committed philanthropist he donates millions of pounds to 39 charities he supported and many more through his own Heal The World foundation. It’s right here in those few lines why we love him so much. The greatest entertainer of all time, he wrote some of the greatest songs there will ever be yet off stage there was no bravado just what seemed a simple loving, generous soul.
Michael was the seventh child of the Jackson family; he made his performing debut in 1964 in a group later to be called The Jackson 5. It was his solo career that was to prove his most influential though. His 1982 album, the genius that is Thriller, remains the best selling album of all time. The other four albums, Off The Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HiStory (1995) are still amongst the best selling albums off all time. With this great music came great dance too. People sometimes forget he popularised dance moves now that are embedded in culture, namely the robot and the moonwalk. Michael Jackson was also the first artist to change the idea of a music video from a promotional tool into what can only be described as an art form. ‘Thriller’, ‘Beat It’ and ‘Billie Jean’ helped Michael become the first African American to amass a strong crossover following on MTV and others such as ‘Black or White’ and ‘Scream’ grew a new younger base that also adored the visual and artistry on both song and video. The life that gave us all these things tragically was cut short at just 50 years of age on June 25th 2009. Let’s remind ourselves of exactly what Michael Jackson did.
Michael Jackson T shirt – Jackson Early Years
Michael Jackson was born August 29th 1958 In Gary, Indiana, an industrial suburb of Chicago to Katherine Esther Scruse, a devout Jehovah’s Witness’ and Joseph ‘Joe’ Jackson a steel mill worker who preformed with a R&B band called the falcons. Jackson had a difficult relationship with his father. Michael said Joe physically and emotionally abused him during incessant rehearsals. Whipping, name calling and beatings were said to have taken place. Michael did however credit his success in part to his fathers’ discipline.
In one altercation recalled by his brother Marlon, Joseph held Michael upside down by ne leg and ‘pummelled him with his hand into his back and buttocks’. One night when Michael slept Joseph put on a mask and climbed through the window and screamed. He said it was to teach them not to leave the window open while they sleep. Michael for many years afterwards would have nightmares and a fear of being kidnapped. Michael has told how he often cried through loneliness and sometimes threw up when he’d see his father.
Early in his life Michael displayed incredible talent. At just 5 he performed for classmates during a Christmas recital. He joined the family band the Jackson brothers soon after and by 8 he was leading on vocals with Tito and was lead dancer too. The band then became the Jackson 5. The band toured the Midwest extensively from 1966 – 1968 and played a string of black clubs known as the ‘chitlin circuit’ where the opened stripteases and other adult acts. In 1966 they won a local talent show with James Brown renditions of Motown hits, led by an innocently young Michael.
They recorded songs on the local label ‘Steeltown’ before being signed to Motown records in 1968. Rolling stone magazine described Michael as a ‘prodigy’ with ‘overwhelming musical gifts’ and the group set a chart record with their first four singles going to number one. ‘I Want You Back’ ‘ABC’ ‘The Love You Save’ and ‘I’ll Be There’ are still easily recognisable to this day. Michael was 11 years old but Motown Records adjusted his age to 9 to make him seem cuter and more accessible. The group’s sales declined in 1973 and although they still had a Top 40 and Top 20 hit.. The Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975. Michael was not ready to leave the stage just yet.
Michael Jackson T Shirts – Off the Wall
The Jackson 5 renamed themselves The Jacksons and had more hits including ‘Can You Feel It’ but it was a chance encounter that was going to change the direction for Michael. He starred as the scarecrow in The Wiz. It was here he teamed up with Quincy Jones, who was arranging the film’s musical score. Jones agreed to produce Jackson’s next solo album ‘Off The Wall’. In 1979 Michael broke his nose whilst making a complicated dance move. His subsequent rhinoplasty was not a complete success. He would complain thereafter of breathing problems throughout the rest of his life. He had subsequent operations after all preformed by the same doctor Dr Steven Hoefflin.
Jackson and Jones produced Off The Wall together and it included work from songwriters such as Stevie wonder and Paul McCartney. It was the first album to generate four U.S Top 10 hits. Including ‘Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough’ and ‘Rock With You’. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Music Awards for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough’ Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release. In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.
Michael Jackson T Shirts – Thriller and the Moonwalk
It was now 1982 and Jackson was heading for greatness. He recorded ‘Someone in the Dark’ for E.T the Extra Terrestrial and later that year Jackson recorded his second epic and most notorious album ‘Thriller’. The most commercially successful album of all time it remained in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 for 80 weeks and 37 of those weeks at number 1. It’s doubtful this feat will ever be achieved again. It was a genius at work. ‘Billie Jean’ ‘Beat It’ ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Sumthin’ smacked of his youthful energy at classic beats and became hugely powerful and influential songs that even children today could probably sing along to.
Michael had the highest royalty rate in the industry $2 from every album sale. He was also making recording breaking profits from CD’s and The Making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, a documentary produced by Jackson and John Landis and paid for by MTV. This sold over 350,000 copies. Dolls and other merchandise followed and Jackson was becoming an Empire. Thriller didn’t sell in the numbers of a hit film or magazine it started selling in numbers that compared to a necessary household item. Jackson was a star of music, records, dance, video a one man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who delivered the beats of the decade. A dancer with the fanciest of feet a singer who transcended all boundaries, race, color, age religion. An icon. On March 25th 1983 he performed on Motown 25 Yesterday, Today, Forever and debuted his Moonwalk. He was watched by over 47 million people. Drawing inevitable comparisons with Elvis and the Beatles.
Michael Jackson T Shirts – Burns and The Beatles
January 27th 1984 Michael Jackson suffered a setback which was to affect his whole life. Whilst filming a Pepsi Cola commercial in Los Angeles. He suffered second degree burns to his scalp after pyrotechnics accidently set his hair on fire. This happened in front of a packed house of fans as he simulated a concert. The incident gave Jackson a wave of public sympathy. Jackson had his third Rhinoplasty soon after and it was then he was rumored that he began using the painkillers he was later to become addicted to. Pepsi settled out of court and Jackson gave his $1.5 million dollar settlement to Brotman Medical Centre in Culver City. Which now has a Michael Jackson burn centre.
On May 14, 1984, he was invited to the White House to receive an award from President Ronald Reagan for his support of charities that helped people overcome alcohol and drug abuse. Jackson won eight awards during the Grammys that year. Unlike later albums, ‘Thriller’ did not have an official tour to promote it, but the 1984 Victory Tour, headlined by The Jacksons, showcased much of Jackson's new solo material to more than two million Americans. He donated his $5 million share from the Victory Tour to charity. He also co-wrote the charity single ‘We Are the World’ in 1985 with Lionel Richie, which was released worldwide to aid the poor in the U.S. and Africa. It became one of the best-selling singles of all time, with nearly 20 million copies sold and millions of dollars donated to famine relief.
While working with Paul McCartney they became friends. McCartney told Jackson how he made a lot of money from other peoples songs by owning their portfolio $40 million in the past year. Jackson became intrigued by this and subsequently started buying and selling rights to other artists songs. Jackson even ended up buying the rights to Lennon-McCartney and The Beatles songs to which he’d hold on to for some time.
Michael Jackson T shirts – Rumours, Bad and his Auto-Biography
Jackson skin had always been a medium brown colour from his days as a child. During the 1980’s though his complexion seemed to fade as his fame grew. The change was widely publicised including the rumours he was even bleaching his own skin. In 1986 he was diagnosed with both Vitiligo and Lupus, the vitiligo lightened his skin and the lupus was in remission both were thought to have made Jackson sensitive to sunlight. The treatments he used lightened his skin as he sought to dilute their impact. The structure of his face seemed to change dramatically lending fuel to rumours of more plastic surgery.
He lost weight in the early 1980’s by changing his diet and searching for the ‘dancers body’ witnesses reported of seeing him feint and dizzy the rumours started again, this time that he suffered from anorexia nervosa. Some say he was suffering from body dysmorphic disorder, a psychological disorder whereby the suffer has an intense dislike for his/her own body and has no idea of reality on how others view them.
He was subject to increasingly sensational stories. One of which that he slept in an oxygen chamber to slow down the ageing process. When Jackson bought Bubbles a Chimpanzee many believed it was an example for how detached from reality he was becoming and gave him the unfortunate nickname that stuck for a while ‘Wacko Jacko’. Some say this was from the claims that he taught bubbles to clean his room and use the toilet others from the story he tried to buy the remains of Joseph Merrick ‘The Elephant Man’. Despite his remarks that these stories were completely untrue, the stories still serve a purpose. Michael was becoming increasingly lonely even finding comfort with a member of the ape family rather than his own. He was finding out it was lonely at the top and he now trusted very few people.
“Why not just tell people I'm an alien from Mars. Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They'll believe anything you say, because you're a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, "I'm an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight," people would say, "Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts. He's cracked up. You can't believe a damn word that comes out of his mouth”
Michael Jackson
The world had waited 5 years for another Jackson album and after these stories the question on everybody’s lips was what was he going to come back with? Bad! Was the answer. His genius turned the tables on those who slandered him. Making his own album with the headline song about how bad he was. The album was another substantial success with another 5 number 1’s in the U.S including ‘Bad’ ‘Dirty Diana’ ‘Man In The Mirror’ and ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’.
In 1987 Jackson cut ties with Jehovah’s Witness due to their castigation of the video Thriller even though he said in no way was it a reflection of his spiritual beliefs but a piece of art. He began the Bad World Tour on September 12th 570,000 people went to see him in Japan and over half a million over just 7 nights at Wembley. The King was back!
Michael Jackson T Shirt – Dangerous
Many awards followed invitations to the White House being named Artist of The Decade. This along with his best selling auto biography and film Moonwalker with Joe Pesci les actress Elizabeth Taylor to name Michael Jackson the ‘undisputed King of Pop, rock and soul’ it was the pop title that later stuck. In 1991 Jackson renewed his contract with Sony for $65million a record at the time. He released his 8th album Dangerous shipping 32 million copies worldwide. Huge hits were once again coming ‘Black or White’ ‘Remember The Time’ ‘Heal The World’ with the later becoming the biggest success of the album selling 450,000 copies in the U.K alone and spending 7 weeks at number 1.
In 1992 Michael Jackson showed his nature again by setting up the ‘Heal The World Foundation’. The foundation brought under privileged kids his homeland theme park Neverland as was never seen as the gift it was due to the accusations and slurs that would follow and cast a shadow over is life.
One of Jackson's most acclaimed performances came during the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXII. As the performances began, Jackson was catapulted onto the stage as fireworks went off behind him. As he landed on the canvass, he maintained a motionless "clenched fist, standing statue stance", dressed in a gold and black military outfit and sunglasses; he remained completely motionless for several minutes while the crowd cheered. He then slowly removed his sunglasses, threw them away and began to sing and dance. His routine included four songs: "Jam", "Billie Jean", "Black or White" and "Heal the World". It was the first Super Bowl where the audience figures increased during the half-time show, and was viewed by 135 million Americans alone; Jackson's ‘Dangerous’ album rose 90 places up the album.
Michael Jackson T Shirt - HIStory
In 1995, Jackson merged his Northern Song catalog with Sony's publishing division creating Sony/ATV Music. Jackson retained half-ownership of the company, earned $95 million upfront as well as the rights to even more songs. He then released the double sided album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book. The first disc, HIStory Begins, was a 15-track greatest hits album, and was later reissued as Greatest Hits – HIStory Vol. I in 2001, while the second disc, HIStory contained 15 new songs. The album debuted at number one on the charts and has been certified for seven million shipments in the US. It is the best-selling multiple-disc album of all-time, with 20 million copies (40 million units) sold worldwide. HIStory received a Grammy nomination for best album
The first single released from the album was the "Scream/Childhood". "Scream" was a duet, performed with Jackson's youngest sister Janet. The single had the highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100 at number five, and received a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals". "You Are Not Alone" was the second single released from HIStory; it holds the Guinness World Record for the first song ever to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was seen as a major artistic and commercial success, receiving a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Vocal Performance". In late 1995, Jackson was rushed to a hospital after collapsing during rehearsals for a televised performance; the incident was caused by a stress related panic attack. "Earth Song" was the third single released from HIStory, and topped the UK singles chart for six weeks over Christmas 1995; it sold a million copies, making it Jackson's most successful single in the UK. The HIStory World Tour began on September 7, 1996, and finished on October 15, 1997. Jackson performed 82 concerts in 58 cities to over 4.5 million fans. The show, which visited five continents and 35 countries, became Jackson's most successful in terms of audience figures
Michael Jackson T Shirt – Present
Much of his life could be defined as controversial. Here at the Official Michael Jackson T Shirts.com we will leave that to the tabloids and peoples own thoughts. We’re here not to judge but celebrate the greatest artist that ever lived and give you something to hold on to. There have been rumors of sexual and financial problems. All that we know is musically we were ready to welcome him back with open arms. His proposed tour before he died was as eagerly awaited as any tour ever made. With the circumstances around his death still unclear comment isn’t possible. However we would like to say this Michael as long as we have your music you are not alone and you may have left the stage but you’ll never leave our hearts. Thank you Michael the King of Pop
