Twice I have had the chance to see Michael Jackson live. It was amazing! I also had tickets ready for his last planned concert series in London. Unfortunately, it was not to be...
Michael Jackson
The American pop singer Michael Jackson (1958-2009) was one of the most successful pop artists of the twentieth century. He was an excellent singer, composer, dancer, actor and also a generous philanthropist. His album Thriller (1982) is considered, with more than 100 million copies sold – according to Billboard magazine in December 2015 – the best-selling album ever.
In total, Jackson sold more than one billion albums and singles. Well-known Jackson hits included ‘Beat It’ (1982), ‘Billy Jean’ (1982), ‘Bad’ (1987), ‘Earth Song’ (1995), ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ (1996) and ‘Like a Stranger in Moscow’ (1996). The music magazine Rolling Stone counts Jackson among the greatest singers of all time. In the top 100 ‘Greatest Singers of All Time’ of that magazine, the singer is ranked 25th. Ahead of him in this – admittedly somewhat subjective – top 100 are singers such as Aretha Franklin (no.1), Elvis Presley (no.3), Bob Dylan (no.7), Paul McCartney (The Beatles, no.11), Freddie Mercury (no.17) and Bob Marley (no.19). After Michael Jackson in the list come artists such as Chuck Berry (no.41), Kurt Cobain (no.45) and Art Garfunkel (no.86).
Michael Jackson was not only often in the news as an artist, but also regularly attracted media attention because of the plastic surgeries he underwent (especially his nose was a topic of conversation). The media also highlighted his alleged child abuse, which supposedly took place on Jackson’s large play estate Neverland. This estate was, by the way, incomparable to Elvis Presley’s park Graceland in Tennessee: it was many times larger than Elvis’ estate, much more expensive and also very differently arranged: not as a children’s amusement park, but as a place of pilgrimage. Neverland, which has been for sale since May 2015 for 100 million dollars, was never set up as a memorial, unlike Presley’s Graceland.
From 2009, Jackson rented a house in Los Angeles, in the Holmby Hills neighbourhood, where he prepared for the concert series he was to give in London from 13 July 2009. On 25 June 2009, Jackson suffered a cardiac arrest around noon in his home. At 12:21 pm (local time), a Jackson employee called the emergency number 911, reporting that the singer was no longer breathing. Around 3:20 pm, the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press reported, based on an anonymous source in the hospital, that Jackson had died.
The pop star was buried on 3 September 2009 at Forest Lawn.
Sunday Morning Classic
On 28 July 2019, the album "Off the Wall" was on the turntable during our Sunday Morning Classics.
After no fewer than eighteen previous performances with The Jackson 5, as a solo artist, and with the renamed Jacksons, Off The Wall offered the chance to determine his own fate, create his own sound and chart his own course. For the first time in his solo career, self-written songs would be recorded.
Off the Wall marks Jackson's first decisive step towards a mature showbusiness personality, and is a great success. A slick, refined R&B pop showcase with a clear disco influence, Off the Wall presents Michael Jackson as the Stevie Wonder of the 1980s. This resemblance is strongest on "I Can't Help It" (co-written by Wonder), where Jackson's vocals resemble the breathless, dreamy style of the master. Everywhere, Jackson's feather-light tenor is extraordinarily beautiful.
The dramatic phrasing of the singer, which carries huge emotional risks and wins every time, squeezes the last drop out of Tom Bahler's tearjerker, "She's Out of My Life."
"Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" (written and co-produced by Jackson) is one of the few recent disco releases that works as a dance track comparable to Earth, Wind and Fire’s "Boogie Wonderland". The rest of the dance music touches on various grooves, from jazzy South American to mainstream pop funk.
A triumph for both producer Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson, Off the Wall represents disco Motown glamour in its most stylish form.
Source Historiek, Wikipedia and Jan Liebregts photo: Constru Centro
