Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Tribute from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

“Michael Jackson was one of the most creative and successful recording artists of the last 40 years.

He became an instant star when he was only 11 years old, fronting the Jackson 5,” said Jim Henke, vice president of exhibitions and curatorial affairs at the Rock Hall of Fame and Museum. “His solo career was so extraordinary that he became known as the

King of Pop.

Few other artists of his era reached the peaks that he did, both in terms of sales and critical acclaim.

His legacy will live on for a long, long time.

We join the world in mourning the loss of this twice-inducted member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”

Induction Year: 2001
Induction Category: Performer
Inductee: Michael Jackson (vocals; born August 29, 1958, died June 25, 2009)

Michael Jackson is a singer, songwriter, dancer and celebrity icon with a vast catalog of hit records and countless awards to his credit. Beyond that, he has transfixed the world like few entertainers before or since.
As a solo performer, he has enjoyed a level of superstardom previously known only to , and Frank Sinatra.

Jackson became an instant star at age 11 as the cherubic frontman in Motown’s phenomenally successful family act, the .

But that band of brothers, who kicked off their Motown tenure in 1969 with the unprecedented feat of four consecutive #1 singles, was just a prelude to the heights he would scale as a solo artist in the Eighties with the success of Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad.

Those three albums, and their accompanying videos, sent Jackson into a high celebrity orbit. He has been proclaimed “the biggest-selling artist of all time,” “the single most awarded entertainer the world has ever known,” “the most popular artist in the history of show business,” and, not so modestly, “the world’s most famous man.”

Known as the “King of Pop.”

Michael Jackson was groomed as a solo star while still a member of the .
In 1971, having barely turned thirteen, Jackson released a successful string of solo singles that included “Got to Be There,” “Rockin’ Robin” and “Ben” (a #1 ballad sung to a rat).
In 1978, Michael appeared in the film version of The Wiz, where he met musical director Quincy Jones, who would become the producer of his best-known albums.

The first of these, Off the Wall (1979) introduced Michael Jackson to the world as a vibrant, poised young adult bursting with talent and ideas. It yielded chart-toppers in “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and “Rock With You.”

However, it was Thriller that broke all records, revitalizing and revolutionizing the music business.
Released in November 1982, Thriller yielded a staggering seven hits:

“The Girl Is Mine” (#2) “Billie Jean” (#1), “Beat It” (#1), “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” (#5), “Human Nature” (#7), “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” (#10) and “Thriller” (#4).

The album received sales boosts with Jackson’s electrifying performance on the May 1983 Motown 25th Anniversary Special, where he premiered his gravity-defying “Moonwalk,” and the year’s-end release of the 14-minute mini-movie based on the song “Thriller.”
The latter is considered the most important video clip in music history.
Jackson employed the burgeoning medium of music video to maximum advantage, as his revolutionary videos became fixtures on MTV, which was only a year old at the time of Thriller’s release.

Thriller topped the charts for nine months (37 weeks) and remained in Billboard’s album chart for more than two years (122 weeks).
Jackson won eight Grammy Awards and seven American Music Awards for Thriller.
In 1985, it was proclaimed the Best Selling Album of All Time by the Guinness Book of Records.

Beyond the numbers, how important was Jackson’s record-shattering feat?
As producer Quincy Jones told Time magazine, “Black music had to play second fiddle for a long time, but its spirit is the whole motor of pop.
Michael has connected with every soul in the world.”

In 1985, Jackson helped to topple another sales record. As the coauthor of and performer on “We Are the World” - a benefit single for the USA for Africa charity, recorded with a cast of music stars - Jackson had a big hand in what became the top-selling single up to that point in history.
Michael Jackson didn’t quit the , even at the height of his stardom, yet his solo career obviously took precedence. Still he showed family loyalty by joining his brothers for the Jacksons’ 1984 Victory album and tour. In fact, Michael never toured as a solo artist until after the release of Bad (1987), when he undertook a 15-country juggernaut that occupied much of 1988.
Bad was #1 for eight weeks and launched another seven hits, including five that topped the charts:
“I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Bad,” “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Man in the Mirror,” “Dirty Diana.”

Bad’s canny use of urban beats, smooth jazz-funk and rock guitar in the service of some of the sharpest black pop ever recorded reaffirmed Jackson’s peculiar genius and star quality. But some of its songs also hinted at the pressures that lay beneath the surface of his unfathomable superstardom.
Jackson’s every move was reported and analyzed by the media, and his quirks became headlines for a period of years. Some of his behavior engendered real controversy, driving him to exile abroad or behind the walls of the fantasy-filled Los Olivos, California, estate he called “Neverland.”
All the while, Jackson continued to make arresting music in the Nineties, working with cutting-edge artist-producers from the hip-hop arena.
Dangerous appeared late in 1991 and was preceded by an extended video for its leadoff single, “Black or White.” Topping the charts for seven weeks, “Black or White” became Jackson’s biggest hit since “Billie Jean.” Dangerous, like Thriller and Bad, was the source of seven more hit singles.
In addition to “Black or White,” they included “Remember the Time” (#3), “In the Closet (#6) and “Will You Be There” (#7).

In 1995, he issued HIStory: Past, Present and Future - Book I, a double album that paired 15 new songs with a greatest-hits disc. Its first single, “Scream,” was a duet with sister Janet Jackson set to a high-tech groove. He scored his thirteenth #1 hit in 1995 with “You Are Not Alone,” written and produced by urban R&B star R. Kelly.
The album debuted at #1 and sold 7 million copies (15 million worldwide), maintaining the multi-platinum standard set by Bad (8 million U.S., 25 million worldwide) and Dangerous (7 million U.S., 27 million worldwide) - awesome numbers all, paling only next to Thriller’s historic and unbeatable figures.
His first album of the new millennium, Invincible, was released in September 2001.

In 2009, Jackson announced his "This is It" concerts at London’s O2 Arena. Seven hundred fifty thousand tickets sold in four hours when they went on sale in March 2009, selling out a record of 50 shows.

On June 25, 2009, Jackson died from cardiac arrest in Los Angeles.

Source

http://rockhall.com/inductee/michael-jackson