Michael Jackson

By age 5, Michael Jackson was stealing the show from the rest of his talented performing family. After capturing the heart and imagination of Motown founder Berry Gordy, Michael (now 10) and older brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon were signed to the label as the Jackson 5 in late 1968. They recorded a few sessions in Detroit, then Gordy moved the boys and their father Joe from hometown Gary, Indiana, to Hollywood to be groomed for stardom.

Michael became one of the most popular teenage singing stars of the '70s. Young fans around the world found his dimples, shy smile, big ’fro, and sweet contralto irresistible. But the adolescent MJ, whether in the Jackson 5 or solo, also transcended the transience of teenybopper fame with a precocious talent for interpreting ballads beyond his years.

Clearly the visual and vocal centerpiece of the Jackson 5, Michael’s solo career was fashioned by Motown almost simultaneously with that of the quintet. Following the group’s fourth consecutive no. 1 hit, “I’ll Be There,” Michael was given solo star status. “Got to Be There” was his first solo single, in late 1971, and it shot to no. 4 on both the pop and R&B charts. His debut solo album of the same name was released in January 1972 and reached the pop Top 20. The album also spun off his hit cover of “Rockin’ Robin” and “I Wanna Be Where You Are.”

Later that year, Michael scored his first solo pop no. 1, the ballad “Ben,” the title song from the movie about a trained rat, again from the album of the same name, which also reached no. 5 pop.  The song won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Oscar®. MJ was still only 14 years old.

But the awkwardness of his teenage years, coupled with the Jackson family’s disagreements with Motown about the group’s career, resulted in a slide. Music and Me, with only the Top 40 R&B “With a Child’s Heart,” was a fan favorite but a sales disappointment in 1973, though the Michel Legrand-Smokey Robinson collaboration “Happy (Love Theme from Lady Sings The Blues)” was an overlooked gem. Forever, Michael, released in 1975, was an R&B hit that featured the Top 10 R&B singles “We’re Almost There” and “Just a Little Bit of You.” Still, it wasn’t the crossover smash to which Motown and MJ were accustomed.

Michael was 17 years old when the Jackson 5 exited the label in the mid-1970s, moved to Philadelphia International and Epic Records, and newly billed itself the Jacksons. Michael temporarily abandoned his solo efforts but he pursued an acting career. In 1978, he appeared with his mentor, Diana Ross, as the scarecrow in the film version of The Wiz. It wasn’t until 1979, when Michael was 21, that he went solo again. This time, the album was the explosive Off the Wall.

Then came Thriller, which received a major boost when Michael gave an electrifying performance of “Billie Jean” on Motown’s 25th anniversary television special, which aired May 1983.  MJ premiered his astonishing “Moonwalk” dance and was launched as an international phenomenon. The rest is entertainment history.

In the wake of his astonishing success Motown reached back into their legendary vault for the releases of the Michael Jackson albums One Day In Your Life (from which the title track was a minor hit) and Farewell My Summer Love, which featured unreleased tracks overdubbed with eighties instrumentation. Later in the decade Motown released two more of the same: Looking Back to Yesterday, with newly discovered masters from the early 1970s, and The Original Soul of Michael Jackson, a mix of released and unreleased tracks with modern overdubs.

While off-stage controversy followed, Jackson’s on-stage greatness remained undeniable. Along with his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Jackson 5 in 1997, Michael was inducted as a solo artist in 2001. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame proclaimed: “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 Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Frank Sinatra.”

It was at Motown where MJ first bared his young soul and was set on his path to becoming the biggest pop star of our time.