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Jackson: Michael Jackson
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Michael Jackson's Thriller is the bestselling album of all time, with 45 million worldwide sales powered by seven Top 10 U.S. singles and eight Grammy Awards. The 1982 album was ... a success from which the pop superstar never really recovered--subsequent albums seemed to have no other goal than to beat the records set by Thriller. The highly-polished sound of Quincy Jones's production sounds almost organic compared to Jackson's more recent work, and in the same regard, Thriller was significantly slicker than its predecessor, Off the Wall. Both albums established a Jackson style that aimed for the dance floor with songs built on a state-of-the-art bed of percussion and keyboards. Elements of milestone Thriller tracks like "Billie Jean" (arguably Jackson's best-ever performance) and "Beat It" (with its hard-rock solo by guitarist Eddie Van Halen) influenced not just Jackson's records, but those of the entire dance-pop world. On the song "Thriller," Jackson indulged his taste for the juvenile and invited Vincent Price to rap in a really scary voice.
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By 1983 Michael Jackson was the hottest pop star around. He was hired as a spokesman by Pepsi and did a sequence of elaborate commercials. During 1984 he went on tour with his brothers to promote the Jackson album, Victory. During the tour he suffered an accident on stage that resulted in third degree burns. Plastic surgery was required to help restore his appearance.
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Jackson took some time to rethink her musical career, and her father hired her a new manager, John McClain, who isolated his young charge to train her as a dancer (and make her lose weight). McClain hooked Jackson up with producers/writers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, whom she'd seen perform as members of the Minneapolis funk outfit the Time. Jackson collaborated with Jam and Lewis on most of the tracks for her next album, Control, which presented her as a confident, tough-minded young woman (with a soft side and a sense of humor) taking charge of her life for the first time. In support of Jackson's new persona, Jam and Lewis crafted a set of polished, computerized backing tracks with slamming beats that owed more to hard, hip-hop-tinged funk and urban R&B than Janet's older brother Michael's music. Control became an out-of-the-box hit, and eventually spun off six singles, the first five of which -- "What Have You Done for Me Lately," the catch phrase-inspiring "Nasty," the number one "When I Think of You," the title track, and the ballad "Let's Wait Awhile" -- hit the Top Five on the pop charts. Jackson was hailed as a role model for young women and Control eventually sold over five million copies, establishing Jackson as not just a star, but her own woman.
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NEW YORK, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Bob Jones, former PR agent to Michael Jackson, will appear on Good Morning America on Wednesday June 22 in his first-ever full length interview about Michael Jackson. Jones, the most visible and well-known representative for Michael Jackson throughout his career, was former head of PR for not only Jackson, but ... for The Jackson 5 in the years before Michael's solo career. Jones was not just an insider, but a confidant of the family-and the only one to have never signed a confidentiality agreement.
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LOS ANGELES, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- "The big lie against Michael Jackson is anchored in the most vicious allegation imaginable, one that resonates across every culture: the spectacle of harming a child. That spectacle invites outrage, and it should. But this spectacle is rooted in a lie."
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March 19, 2007 - Jackson Browne, Don Black and Michael Masser will be among this year's inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, it was announced today. The 38th annual induction and awards dinner will take place June 7 at the Marriott Marquis in Manhattan's Times Square.
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