Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and businessman. Popularly known as the King of Pop, his contributions to music, dance, and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for almost four decades.
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10. He owned a wax figure of a little girl:
Michael Jackson owned a wax figure of a girl that looked like one of those serial killer dolls you see in horror movies that come to life and try to kill you. Her head was too big for her body, her face was smeared with dirt, and her red hair was unkempt and untidy. Nothing that you want to give your child. Now why would anybody want to look at something like this on a daily basis? Michael Jackson was one strange man.
MJ enjoyed the company of children very much. In the mid-1990s, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court for about $25 million and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury found him not guilty on all counts. He commissioned another painting of him and his children in the park (seen here) and bought another painting which depicted seven children playing (see below).
9. He wanted a Giant Robot to roam the Nevada desert and promote his tour:
Before the ill-fated “This Is It” concert series, Michael Jackson had planned a big comeback Las Vegas tour in 2005. This was not going to be some classics concert—Michael had a grand vision in mind, which included solar-powered costumes that would change color. The show would be promoted by a massive, 15-meter (50 ft) tall robot version of Michael, which would roam through the Nevada desert within view of McCarran airport. When this turned out to be impossible, another plan was hatched to build a Michael Jackson–themed hotel and casino, which would have laser-blasting androids at the entrance.
8. Billie-Jean:
When the video of ‘Billie Jean’ first aired on MTV, it was the first one by a black artist to do so! It was written and composed by Michael Jackson and produced by him and Quincy Jones. Jones originally hated the song. The track was almost removed from the album after he and Jackson had an argument about it. There are contradictory claims to what the song’s lyrics refer to. One suggests that they are derived from a real-life experience, in which a female fan claimed that Jackson had fathered one of her twins. Jackson later stated that the basis of the song “Billie Jean” were the groupies he had encountered.
7. He was diagnosed with Vitiligo:
Did you know that MJ was diagnosed with vitiligo in 1993 by his dermatologist? It is a rare skin disease which causes a person to lose pigmentation of their skin. The cause of of the disease is unknown, but research suggests that it may arise from autoimmune, genetic, oxidative stress, neural, or viral causes. The incidence rate worldwide is less than 1%. Although patches are initially small, they often enlarge and change shape.When skin lesions occur, they are most prominent on the face, hands and wrists.
6. He had plastic surgery done in 1979:
In 1979, the same year Michael Jackson released his fifth solo album “Off the Wall,” it is believed he also took another big step: his first stab at plastic surgery. Jackson reportedly underwent his first rhinoplasty at age 21, after breaking his nose during a dance rehearsal. The doctor who performed the surgery was Dr. Arnold Klein, who performed plastic surgeries on other celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor. He himself admitted to having two nose jobs.
5. He was a vegetarian:
Michael stayed off meat – he was a pure vegetarian! He still ate fish.
4. He had some guy create a wax figure of Superman:
He had some lucky man create a life-size wax figure of Superman. It stood about in his mansion and stared at every body who happened to walk by it. Imagine banging into it in the middle of the night. Jackson hoped he would one day become Superman.
3. Bad Tour:
When the Bad tour concluded it grossed a total of $125 million, adding two new entries in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest grossing tour in history and the tour with the largest attended audience.
2. He had the voice of Minnie Mouse:
Jackson described his own voice on early Jackson 5 records as “like Minnie Mouse”. I would have thought it would Mickey Mouse, but after doing some research I learned that it was in fact Minnie Mouse. Quincy Jones, his producer, also nicknamed him “smelly” – a slang term which refers to people that are funky.
1. He paid for the publishing rights to the Beatles Back Catalogue:
Jackson paid $47 million for the publishing rights to the Beatles back catalogue in 1985 and sold a share of to Sony in 1995 for $95 million. He was The Beatles’ biggest fan growing up. Between 1982 and 1984 he invested millions of dollars buying publishing rights from a wide variety of artists. His first big purchase was the entire catalogue of Sly and the Family Stone. He then bought a series of classic singles like “Great Balls of Fire”, “Shake Rattle Rattle and Roll”, “When a Man Loves a Woman” and “Runaround Sue”. When Jackson’s long time lawyer John Branca got wind that ATV was for sale in 1984, he approached Michael about making an offer. Michael instructed Branca to spare no expense in acquiring The Beatles catalogue.
Despite earning millions of dollars from music sales, publishing, and touring, shockingly by the time Michael died in 2009 he was roughly $500 million in debt. As money poured in during his life, much more poured right out. Michael’s lavish lifestyle cost as much as $50 million per year just to maintain. He spent $12 million to pay off his baby-momma Debbie Rowe, another $20 million settling a child molestation case plus tens of millions more on lawyers and another few million on unnecessary memorabilia.