Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer-songwriter, dancer, businessman and philanthropist

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana. He was the eighth of ten children in an African-American working-class family who lived in a 3-room house in Gary, an industrial city near Chicago.

Michael Jackson

Jackson was born Michael Joseph Jackson in Gary, Indiana on August 29, 1958, and entertained audiences nearly his entire life. His father Joe Jackson had been a guitarist, but was forced to give up his musical ambitions, following his marriage to Katherine (Scruse). Together, they prodded their growing family's musical interests at home. By the early 1960s, the older boys Jackie, Tito and Jermaine had begun performing around the city; by 1964, Michael and Marlon had joined in.

Michael Jackson

THE JACKSON FIVE

Group formed in 1964 containing siblings Jackie Jackson, Tito Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Marlon Jackson and Michael Jackson. In 1975, they changed their name to The Jacksons and replaced Jermaine with another brother, Randy Jackson.

Michael Jackson's best selling studio albums1. Thriller, 109 million: the

only album in music history to have sold over 100 million copies, Thriller was a commercial and critical success for Jackson. The album won an unprecedented eight Grammys and, according to Time magazine, at the height of Thriller's popularity Epic Records was selling more than a million copies a week worldwide.

2. Dangerous, 32 million: Jackson's eigth studio album was a slickly produced affair, not only winning a 1992 Grammy for Best Engineered Non-Classical Album, but it was also supported by lavish music videos featuring child actor Macaulay Culkin, basketball star Michael Jordan, comedian and actor Eddie Murphy and model Naomi Campbell.

3. Bad, 30 million: almost five years after Thriller, the album was launched with an 18 minute long short film of the lead single, Bad, written by Richard Price, directed by Martin Scorsese and featured an early screen performance by Wesley Snipes.

4. HIStory, 20 million

copies (40 million units): this double album from 1995 contained a selection of Jackson's previous hits on one disc together with new material, some of which clearly referenced the media frenzy and legal scandals surrounding the artist.

5 .Off the Wall, 20 million: released in

August 1979, Off the Wall was Jackson's

fifth studio album and a conscious move

away from his Motown work. Collaborating

with Quincy Jones and Paul McCartney,

amongst others, and writing a number of the

tracks himself, including the hit single Don't

Stop 'til You Get Enough, the album was a

major breakthrough for Jackson.

6. Invincible, 10 million: Jackson's tenth

and last studio album, which enjoyed a

lacklustre critical reception, still managed to

sell more than 10 million copies worlwide

and reached pole position in the US

Billboard 200 and UK album chartsim

On June 25, 2009, Jackson died while in his bed at his rented mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles. Attempts at resuscitating him by Conrad Murray, his personal physician, were unsuccessful