The Jackson 5 in the context of "Boy band"

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is widely regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 20th century. Over a four-decade career, his musical achievements broke American racial barriers and made him a dominant figure worldwide. Through his songs, stages, and fashion, he proliferated visual performance for artists in popular music, popularizing street dance moves such as the moonwalk, the robot, and the anti-gravity lean. Jackson is often deemed the greatest entertainer of all time.

The eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his public debut at age six as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, one of Motown's most successful acts. His breakthrough as a solo artist came with the highly acclaimed album Off the Wall (1979). Jackson achieved unprecedented global success with Thriller (1982), the best-selling album in history. Its short film-style music videos for "Thriller", "Beat It", and "Billie Jean" redefined the medium as an art form. Jackson followed it with Bad (1987), the first album to produce five US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana". In the 1990s, he released the albums Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995). His final album, Invincible (2001), became a 21st-century bestseller.

American singer Michael Jackson is widely regarded as one of the most culturally significant figures of the 20th century. Often considered the greatest entertainer of all time, Jackson broke racial barriers in the United States and profoundly influenced the evolution of pop music, earning him the title of "King of Pop". He is one of the best-selling music artists in history, having sold over 500 million records worldwide. His unparalleled success spans multiple decades, with numerous albums that rank amongst the best-selling of all time, such as Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE - BOOK I (1995); Thriller remains the best-selling album in history. Guinness World Records named him the most successful entertainer of all time. His achievements in the 1980s helped desegregation of popular music in the United States and introduced an era of multiculturalism globally. Through his dance, fashion and redefinition of music videos, Jackson proliferated visual performance for musical artists. Credited for influencing hundreds of musicians, his songs are among the most covered and sampled in music history. His influence extended to inspiring a vast array of trends and raising awareness for social causes around the world; as a result, Jackson is widely regarded as one of the most famous figures in history. Before he died, Jackson was received by over 30 world leaders. Jackson's global brand resulted in celebrity products and commemorations such as video games, documentaries, and monuments.

Popularity of Michael Jackson began as a child star in the 1960s, his introduction as the lead singer of the Jackson 5, a band formed with his older brothers. The group was recognized by U.S. Congress for their contribution to American youth culture, and Jackson was embraced by the American public to a degree not afforded a child star since the height of Shirley Temple in the 1930s. In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular culture and the first African-American entertainer to have a strong crossover fanbase on music television. As he became a rising solo star, his music videos, including those for "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" from his album Thriller (1982), are credited with breaking several racial barriers both in the United States and worldwide, transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. The popularity of these videos helped bring the television channel MTV to fame. Prior to Thriller, timely layoffs were occurring for radio and music record companies, who both suffered during a four year unemployment high between 1978 and 1982 due to the early 1980s recession. Jackson's world record sales and achievements are credited with revolutionizing the music industry by initiating marketing plans on blockbuster albums with an emphasis on video presentation focus going forward.

American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson recorded songs for ten studio albums, two posthumous studio albums, seventy-two compilation albums, three soundtrack albums, one live album and seven remix albums. He has provided background vocals for songs recorded by other artists, as well as featured on duets.

Jackson debuted on the professional music scene at age five as a member of the Jackson 5. The group set a chart record when its first four singles—"I Want You Back" (1969), "ABC" (1970), "The Love You Save" (1970), and "I'll Be There" (1970)—peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. As Jackson began to emerge as a solo performer in the early 1970s, he maintained ties to the Jackson 5 and Motown. Between 1972 and 1975, Michael released four solo studio albums with Motown: Got to Be There (1972), Ben (1972), Music & Me (1973), and Forever, Michael (1975). "Got to Be There" and "Ben", the title tracks from his first two solo albums, became successful singles, as did a cover of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin". In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records, and released six more albums between 1976 and 1984. Michael, the group's lead songwriter during this time, wrote hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" (1979), "This Place Hotel" (1980), and "Can You Feel It" (1980). Jackson's fifth solo album, Off the Wall (1979), co-produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. Songwriters for the album included Jackson, Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney. Off the Wall was the first solo album to generate four top 10 hits in the United States: "Off the Wall", "She's Out of My Life", and the chart-topping singles "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You". This album helped Jackson win three awards at the American Music Awards and a Grammy Award for his solo efforts. Jackson recorded with Queen singer Freddie Mercury from 1981 to 1983, including a demo of "State of Shock", "Victory", and "There Must Be More to Life Than This". Jackson went on to record the single "State of Shock" with Mick Jagger for the Jacksons' album Victory (1984). In 1982, Jackson combined his interests in songwriting and film when he contributed the song "Someone in the Dark" to the storybook for the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The song, with Jones as its producer, won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1983.

American singer Michael Jackson (1958–2009) performed on three concert tours, and three benefit concerts.

Having toured with his brothers since the early 1970s, Jackson began his first solo world tour, the Bad World Tour, in support of his seventh studio album Bad on September 12, 1987. Beginning in Tokyo, Japan, the tour lasted for 1 year, during which Jackson visited 15 countries and performed to 4.4 million people. Attendance figures for the first 14 dates in Japan totaled a record-breaking 450,000. The most successful of the European dates were those in London at Wembley Stadium, where demand for the five July dates exceeded 1.5 million, enough to fill the 72,000-capacity venue 20 times. Jackson went on to perform seven sold-out shows at Wembley for a total of 504,000 people which entered him into the Guinness World Records, setting a new world record for playing more dates at the stadium than any other artist. The third concert was attended by Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince Charles, and subsequently released as Live at Wembley July 16, 1988. The final European show was held in Liverpool at Aintree Racecourse, where 1,550 fans were reported injured among the crowd of 125,000, the largest show of the tour. Jackson toured the United States for a second time between September 1988 and January 1989, with a return to Japan for nine sold-out shows in Tokyo Dome for a total of 450,000 people in December. The Bad World Tour grossed a total of $125 million, earning two new entries in the Guinness World Records for the largest grossing tour in history and the tour with the largest attended audience. It was nominated for "Tour of the Year 1988" at the inaugural International Rock Awards. The Bad World Tour was the second highest-grossing tour of the 1980s after Pink Floyd's Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour. Jackson also performed at the 30th Annual Grammy awards in 1988 performing his then hit singles Man in the Mirror and The Way You Make Me Feel being nominated for Grammy Award for Album of the Year and Grammy Award for Best Engineered album, Non classical.

The Jackson family is an American family of entertainers from Gary, Indiana. Many of the children of Joseph Walter "Joe" and Katherine Esther Jackson were successful musicians, notably the brothers that formed the Motown boy band the Jackson 5 (later known as The Jacksons). Several of the siblings also had successful solo careers. Joe worked as their manager. The Jackson family, both as a musical group and as solo artists, have achieved success in the field of popular music from the late 1960s and onwards. They are sometimes called the "First Family of Soul" (a title first bestowed on the Five Stairsteps), the "Imperial Family of Pop", or the "Royal Family of Pop", especially following the success of Michael and Janet Jackson, the former of whom is frequently dubbed the "King of Pop".

The Jackson 5 originally consisted of Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael. In 1975, Randy replaced Jermaine. Michael and Janet have both had highly distinguished solo careers and are often hailed as two of the most influential pop and R&B artists in history. Members of the Jackson family have produced a total of 27 US number one hits, and all of the Jackson siblings have gold records to their credits with La Toya holding the distinction of being the first Jackson sister to attain one (awarded by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique for "Reggae Night", which she co-wrote for Jimmy Cliff). Janet is the first black woman to receive the Billboard Icon Award.

American singer Michael Jackson (1958–2009) debuted on the professional music scene at age five as a member of the American family music group The Jackson 5 and began a solo career in 1971 while still part of the group. Jackson promoted seven of his solo albums with music videos or, as he would refer to them, "short films". Some of them drew criticism for their violent and sexual elements while others were lauded by critics and awarded Guinness World Records for their length, success, and cost.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular culture and the first African-American entertainer to have a strong crossover fanbase on MTV. The popularity of his music videos that aired on MTV such as "Billie Jean", "Beat It" and "Thriller"—credited for transforming the music video from a promotional tool into an art form—helped bring fame to the relatively new channel. The success of these music videos helped shift MTV's focus from its original "rock 'n' roll only" format to pop and R&B and saved the channel from financial ruin.Michael Jackson's "Thriller" short film marked a growth in scale for music videos and has been named the most successful music video ever by the Guinness World Records.The 18-minute music video for "Bad", directed by Martin Scorsese, depicts Jackson and Wesley Snipes as members of an inner-city gang. Jackson paid cinematic tribute to West Side Story with the choreography. For the "Smooth Criminal" video, Jackson experimented with an anti-gravity lean, in which the performer leans forward at a 45-degree angle, beyond their center of gravity. Although the music video for "Leave Me Alone" was not officially released in the United States, it won a Golden Lion Award in 1989 for the quality of the special effects used in its production and a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form in 1990. Jackson received the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1988, which was renamed the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award in his honor in 1991. He won the MTV Video Vanguard Artist of the Decade Award in 1990.

"Billie Jean" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on January 2, 1983, as the second single from his sixth studio album, Thriller (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson, produced by Quincy Jones, and co-produced by Jackson. "Billie Jean" blends post-disco, R&B, funk, dance-pop and new wave flourishes. The lyrics describe a young woman, Billie Jean, who claims that the narrator is the father of her newborn son, which he denies. Jackson said the lyrics were based on groupies' claims about his older brothers when he toured with them as the Jackson 5.

"Billie Jean" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, topped the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart within three weeks, and became Jackson's fastest-rising number one single since "ABC", "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There" in 1970, all of which he recorded as a member of the Jackson 5. It was also a number one hit in the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Switzerland and Belgium, and reached the top ten in many other countries. "Billie Jean" was one of the best-selling singles of 1983, helping Thriller become the best-selling album of all time, and became Jackson's best-selling solo single. "Billie Jean" is certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and is one of the best-selling singles of all-time.