Michael Joseph Jackson was a famous American singer, dancer, song writer, choreographer, philanthropist and an entrepreneur. He won 15 Grammy Awards and hundreds of other prizes during his life. Michael Jackson was born on the 29th of August, 1958, in the state of Indiana. He was the eighth of ten children of Joseph and Katherine Jackson. His father was a former boxer and a guitarist at the local R&B band. Michael was known to have many troubles with his father, who regularly whipped him and verbally abused. As a child Michael was afraid to sleep alone in his own room as he had nightmares.
When he was only five, he was already a member of a family music band “Jackson Five”. He soon got the place of a lead singer. But working with his father wasn’t easy. He had to go through numerous humiliations. Each time he did something wrong, his father would severely punish him. First time he spoke up about his childhood humiliations in 1993 during The Oprah Winfrey Show. When Michael was ten, “The Jackson Five” band signed a contract with Motown Records. It was the time when they recorded the following hits: “I want you back”, “I’ll be there”, etc. In the mid-1970s the popularity of the band began to fall, while Michael’s solo career began to prosper. In 1977, he made his debut in the musical “The Wiz”. It was then that he started the long-term cooperation with a renowned producer and composer Quincy Jones