Michael Jackson Biography (1958–2009)
Michael Jackson was a multi-talented musical entertainer who enjoyed a chart-topping career both with the Jackson 5 and as a solo artist. He released one of the best-selling albums in history, 'Thriller,' in 1982, and had other number-one hits on 'Bad' and 'Off the Wall.' Who Was Michael Jackson? Known as the "King of Pop," Michael Joseph Jackson was a best-selling American singer, songwriter and dancer. As a child, Jackson became the lead singer of his family's popular Motown group, the Jackson 5. He went on to a solo career of astonishing worldwide success, delivering No. 1 hits from the albums Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad. In his later years, Jackson was dogged by allegations of child molestation. He died in 2009 at age 50 of a drug overdose just before launching a comeback tour. Parents and Siblings Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, was a homemaker and a devout Jehovah's Witness. His father, Joseph Jackson, had been a guitarist w