Arts
Remembering the King of Pop
Michael Jackson, whose death anniversary falls on June 25, left a void in the world of music which can never be filled
Paramjit Singh

About the fifth of her nine children, Michael Jackson's mother Katherine, would say there was something special about him. "I don’t believe in reincarnation," she said, "but you know how babies move uncoordinated? Michael never moved that way. When he danced, it was like he was an older person". Katherine taught her children folk songs and her husband Joseph, played guitar and coached his sons. The boys were soon performing at local benefits. After brilliant performances in Steeltown (An Indiana Label) and at a Beverly Hills club called, The Daisy, the Jacksons released their first independent album Diana Rose Presents the Jackson 5 in December 1969. It consequently yielded the No. 1 hit I want you back with 11-year-old Michael Jackson on the lead vocals. ABC, I Will be There and other hits followed it.

Though Michael Jackson earned fame but at the back of his mind, he always missed his childhood. Whenever he was asked about his childhood days, he would put up a serious face and say, "I never had the chance to do the fun things kids do. There was no Christmas, no holiday celebrating. My father ruled the family with his fists and a bellowing rage. He often brandished a belt during rehearsals and hit or shove us into walls if we made a misstep."

By 1972, Jackson had his first solo album Got To Be There, which included the title hit as well as Rocking Robinson. His first solo No. 1 single came the same year — the forlorn theme song from the movie BEN. In 1978, he made his film debut in The Wiz. This movie launched a creative and commercial partnership with Wiz music director Quincy Jones. The first fruit of their collaboration was Off The Wall (1979). It sold five million copies in the US and two million abroad and generated four Top 10 Singles. In a Motown TV Special in 1983, Michael then 24, electrified the nation with his Moonwalk, a dance step that created the illusion of levitation.

His bestseller Thriller (1983) not only smashed sales records but also made him the first artiste to top four charts simultaneously. It earned five Grammy Awards too. Jay Cocks wrote in the TIME magazine that Jackson, "Just may be the most popular black singer ever".

Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994 but his marriage was shortlived. Soon he became a prisoner of his own celebrity status. He became so accustomed to bodyguards and assistants that he once admitted that he trembled if he had to open his own front door. He compared himself to "a haemophiliac who can’t afford to be scratched in any way." Then came the dark whispers about the nature of his relationship with boys.

First in 1993 and then in 2003, Michael Jackson was accused of molesting two boys below 13. Though he was rewarded acquittal in both the cases yet these cases tarnished his public image so much that he began to remain under mental stress. Apart from it, the excessive skin surgeries and over-intake of painkillers also exercised a fatal blow to his physical and mental health. In the end, Michael Jackson, the undisputed king of Pop and inventor of Moon Walk ultimately walked to heaven on June 25, 2009. Paying him a heart-rendering tribute on his death anniversary, Quincy Jones had rightly said, "Jackson had it all... talent, grace, professionalism and dedication. His legacy will be felt upon the world forever."

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