Illustration
Michael Jackson at the age of twelve in 1970. (© 1970
Soul
magazine. All Rights Reserved.)
The Jacksons posed for a family photo in June 1970. Top row: Jermaine, fifteen; LaToya, fourteen, Tito, sixteen; Jackie, nineteen. Bottom row: Michael, eleven; Randy, seven; Joe; Janet, four; and Marlon, thirteen. (© 1970
Soul
magazine. All Rights Reserved.)
Michael in 1971. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)
An early publicity photo of The Jackson 5 (1969). Top Row: Tito, sixteen; Jackie, eighteen; Jermaine, fifteen. Bottom Row: Marlon, twelve; and Michael, eleven. (Retro Photo)
By the time The Jackson 5 played the Los Angeles Forum in 1970 ‘Jackson Mania’ was in full bloom. Michael seems to be doing his best James Brown impression here. (Retro Photo)
By the end of 1972, the family was enjoying tremendous success. Top row: Jackie, twenty-one; Katherine (with newly frosted hair); Joe; Janet, six; Jermaine, eighteen; Michael, fourteen. Bottom row: Marlon, fifteen; Randy, ten; Tito, nineteen; and LaToya, sixteen. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)
Diana Ross was credited with discovering The Jackson 5. Here, she seems to be telling Michael and Marlon, ‘Now here’s what I want you to say…” (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)
Twelve-year-old Michael doing his slick Frank Sinatra impression on Diana Ross’s
Diana!
Special, April 1971. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)
Thirteen-year-old Michael in his bedroom, posing with one of his many pet rats. The bedroom walls were always covered with cartoon figures and publicity photos of entertainers (note the pictures of The Jackson 5 and The Supremes). (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)
Tito was the first brother to marry. Dee Dee Martes was told to sign a prenuptial agreement before the wedding on 17 June 1972. (Retro Photo)
When Jermaine Jackson married Berry Gordy’s daughter, Hazel, the ceremony made the worldwide news. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)
Jackie married Enid Spann on 24 November 1974. Theirs was a sometimes difficult union and Enid held on as long as she could. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)
When Marlon married Carol Parker on 16 August 1975, the couple kept their union a secret… rather than risk the wrath of Marlon’s father, Joe. (Retro Photo)
Michael in 1977, at the age of nineteen, before plastic surgery. (© 1977
Soul
magazine. All Rights Reserved.)
Michael Jackson and J. Randy Taraborrelli as youngsters in the late 1970s, before the madness set in…
Michael turned twenty-one in August 1979. Here, he poses for a photo wearing a rebel cap – perhaps signifying a newfound independence. From this time on Michael would have a hand in all of his business matters. (© 1979
Soul
magazine. All Rights Reserved.)
An extremely rare photograph of Michael Jackson’s half-sister, the lovely Joh’ Vonnie Jackson, sixteen when this picture was taken in February 1991. Ms Jackson hopes to follow in the footsteps of her famous half-brothers and –sisters, and become an entertainer. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)
In 1977, the Jackson daughters hoped to start their own singing group. However, since LaToya and Rebbie couldn’t see eye-to-eye on the group’s direction, and Janet wanted to be an actress, the act never got off the ground. Left to right: LaToya, twenty-one; Janet, eleven; and Rebbie, twenty-seven. (© 1977
Soul
magazine. All Rights Reserved.)
Michael in October 1978 as the scarecrow in
The Wiz,
a huge box-office disaster. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)
Jermaine Jackson with author J. Randy Taraborrelli, 1980. Jackson was ambivalent about his decision to stay with Motown when his borthers signed with CBS Records. He told Taraborrelli, ‘I don’t feel I left them. I feel they left me… here at Motown.’ (Mike Jones)
In July 1980, Joe Jackson celebrated his fifty-first birthday. Left to right: Joe’s mother, Chrystal; Gina Sprague, nineteen; Marlon, twenty-three; Janet, fourteen; and Randy, seventeen. Michael did not show up. Katherine, who suspected that Gina and Joe were having an affair, was seated at a nearby table when this picture was taken. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)
By the time this photo was taken, 7 February 1984, Michael Jackson was sitting on top of the world, thanks to his
Thriller
album. ‘You get one frame,’ Michael told photographer David McGough, who waited five hours to take this picture. ‘That’s it. If I close my eyes, too bad.’ McGough took his ‘one frame’, and this was the result. Michael is wearing a hat because his scalp was burned less than two weeks earlier while taping an ad for Pepsi. (David McGough/DMI)
On 7 February 1984, Michael was inducted into the
Guiness Book of World Records
for recording the most successful album in music industry history,
Thriller.
Right, Michael with his manager, Frank Dileo. (David McGough/DMI)
Michael Jackson set a new music industry record on 28 February 1984, when he walked off with an unprecedented eight Grammy Awards, the most won by an artist in one year. Michael gives the thumbs up to photographers as he drops off his date, Brooke Shields, at her Los Angeles hotel following the awards after-party. (John Paschal/DMI)
On 30 November 1983, a press conference was held at Tavern on the Green in New York to announce that the Jackson brothers would be reuniting for a tour. Left to right: Marlon, twenty-six; Michael’s friend, Emmanuel Lewis, twelve; Michael, twenty-five; Randy, twenty-one; Tito, thirty; Jackie, thirty-two; and Jermaine, twenty-nine. Promoter, Don King, with the ‘interesting’ hairdo, is posed flashing the peace sign. (David McGough/DMI)
Michael’s bizarre hyperbaric chamber hoax made worldwide headline news. To this day, many people believe that Michael slept in such a contraption, when actually the whole thing was a publicity stunt concocted by Michael. (Transworld Feature, Synd.)
Twenty-nine-year-old Michael on stage in March 1988 during the
Bad
tour. (David McGough/DMI)
Michael receives the BMI Michael Jackson Award on 8 May 1990, in Beverly Hills. (Kevin Winter/DMI)
Michael and his friend Jordie Chandler (far right) and Jordie’s mother, Lily, in 1993 at the World Music Awards in Monaco. It was during this trip, Jordie alleged, that the sexual misconduct began between him and Michael. (Rex)
On 22 December 1993, Michael gave a speech from his Neverland ranch about the allegations. ‘I ask all of you to wait and hear the truth before you condemn me,’ he said, holding back tears. ‘Don’t treat me like a criminal.’ (Corbis)
Was he telling the truth? Though Michael denied that anything sexual happened between him and Jordie, pictured here in 1993, he ended the ordeal with a huge cash settlement to the youngster and his family. ‘I had to go on with my life,’ Michael explained to the author of this book. ‘Too many people had already been hurt.’ (Rex)
On 26 May 1994, after the Jordie Chandler scandal, Michael went on to marry Lisa Marie Presley. At the time, most observers viewed the union as a public relations manoeuvre. However, as it happens, the truth is stranger than fiction: he and Lisa had a strong sexual chemistry; it was the first time Michael had ever felt so intensely about another person. (Corbis)
On 13 November 1996, Michael married Debbie Rowe. And it was Debbie who gave Michael his longed-for children. (Corbis)
Michael with his daughter, Paris (left), and son, Prince Michael I, on a public outing, in 2002. He covered their faces, he said, in order to avoid kidnapping attempts. (Corbis)
This is the photo that caused a huge sensation in November 2002, when Michael dangled his nine-month-old son, Prince Michael II, from a balcony in Germany. He apologized for it, but he was never able to live it down. (Corbis)
This is a rarely seen photo of Michael and Diana Ross. Michael so loved and respected Diana he stipulated in his will that, in the event of his death, she care for his three children if his mother, Katherine, was unable to do so. (J. Randy Taraborrelli Collection)
Michael’s children have always been a source of fascination. Jackson’s second wife, Debbie Rowe, is the mother of Prince Michael I (left) and Paris (in the middle). Prince Michael II’s mother is unknown. (National Photo Group/Valdez)
The memorial service for Michael Jackson, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7, 2009, was a deeply touching event, with the most moving tribute of all given by Jackson’s 11-year-old daughter, Paris Katherine Michael. Here she is surrounded by members of the family: siblings Janet, LaToya and Jermaine, and Jackson’s older son, Prince Michael I. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)
There were many rumors of Michael’s declining health in the months prior to his death, but he certainly looked fit in this photo taken on June 23, just two days before his death. Michael was in rehearsals for his comeback show in London, which were to have begun in July. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/AEG via Getty Images)