THE EARLY YEARS
29th Aug 1958 Born Michael Joseph in Gary, Indiana. Parents were Joseph and
Karen Jackson. Six brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, Steven, and Randy.
Three sisters: Maureen, LaToya and Janet. All eleven family members lived in a
small two-bedroom clapboard house at 2300 Jackson St.
1963 Mother Kath
erine became a Jehovah's Witness. Began to attend school at Garnett Elementary.
Also became "the lead guy" in the Jackson singing group.
1964 Jacksons performed first non-contest show at a Big Top supermarket.
Aug 1967 Jackson Five performed in the Amateur Show. Won in the most
prestigious category the "Superdog".
July 1968 Jacksons signed contract for Motown.
Oct 1969 First single "I want you back" released.
Dec 1969 First album "Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5" released.
31st Jan 1970 "I Want You Back" reached number one in the Billboard chart. Sold
more than six million copies.
STARDOM
1972 "Ben" released as a single was first solo number 1 and sold 1.7 million
copies in the U.S alone.
1975 Jackson Five and Michael signed with Epic. As well as "a signing bonus" of
$750,000 they were
guaranteed $350,000 per album.
1978 Starred in the film "The Wiz" along with Diana Ross. The film flopped but
was notable in Michael's career in that it introduced Michael to Quincy Jones.
1979 Collaborated with Quincy Jones in making "Off the wall". This sold more
than 10 million copies and established Michael as a superstar in his own right.
It included the number one singles "Don't stop till you get enough" and "Rock
with you".
MEGASTARDOM
1982 "Thriller" released. Again produced by Jones, this sold upwards of forty
million copies, which remains a record. It received eight Grammy awards and
charted a record six top ten singles. It made Michael more than £100 million.
28th Jan 1984 While filming a Pepsi Cola commercial in Los Angeles a canister,
designed to send smoke billowing around him, exploded and set fire to Michael's
hair. He subsequently needed laser treatment for his scarred scalp.
1985 Bought "The Beatles" song back catalogue for £31 million.
Nov 1986 Michael revealed that he sleeps in a £90,000 pressurised oxygen
chamber to help stop ageing. He claimed "I believe if I treat my body properly
I'll live to be at least 150."
1987 "Bad" album released. Went straight in at number one in the Billboard
chart.
Apr 1988 Autobiography "Moonwalk" published.
1991"Dangerous" album released.
TROUBLED 90s
1992 Video for single "Black and White" attracted much criticism for the
violence of its ending which featured Jackson grabbing his crotch and smashing
a car with a hammer.
1993 In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Michael said he had been whipped and
abused as a child by his father.
Aug 1993 13 year old Jordan Chandler accused Michael of sexual abuse. Among the
allegations reported over the ensuing months was that Michael repeatedly
"kissed and fondled" Jordan.
25th Jan 1994 Jackson's lawyers announced £26.6 million out of court settlement
with Jordan Chandler.
26th May 1994 Married Lisa Marie Presley in Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic.
21st Sept 1994 LA district attorney Gil Garcetti ruled that no charges would be
brought against Michael because Jordy Chandler had "repeatedly" refused to
testify
1995 "HIStory" double album of past and new songs released. Sales were
disappointing and the new tracks were panned by the critics.
18th Jan 1996 Lisa Marie Presley filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable
differences"
.
19th Feb 1996 Michael Jackson's performance of Earthsong at the Brit Awards
disrupted when Jarvis Cocker jumped on stage and wiggled his bottom at the
audience before being chased off by extras.
14th Nov 1996 Michael married nurse Debbie Rowe, 37 in Sydney.
13th Feb 1997 Debbie Rowe gave birth to Michael's first child called Prince
Michael Jnr.
3rd Apr 199 Second child, a baby girl called Paris born.
8th Oct 1999 Divorce papers were filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court
ending Michael's marriage to Debbie Rowe. Their lawyer, Howard J Rubenstein,
said the couple "mutually agreed to end their marriage".
14th Oct 1999 Was announced that Michael was giving Debbie Rowe £5 million in
exchange for their two children in a divorce settlement.
7th Jan 2000 Reported that Michael was going to quit the music business and
said his next album would be his last.
3rd Sept 2000 Pictures in The News of the World show that Michael's son Prince
had blond hair and baby blue eyes.
6th Mar 2001 Michael addressed the Oxford University Union on the subject of
childcare and promoted his new initiative "Heal the Kids".
7th Sept 2001 Michael Jackson hosted the first of two star studded concerts at
Madison Square Gardens to celebrate his 30 years in showbiz.Marlon Brando, Liza
Minnelli, Elizabth Taylor, Ray Charles, Britney Spears, Destiny's Child and
Yoko Ono were amongst those who appeared. Michael himself only sang one song,
his new single "You Rock My World", it was his first live American concert
appearance in 11 years.
30th Oct 2001 Jackson released the album Invincible.
22nd Aug 2002 It was revealed that Michael Jackson had secretly became a father
for the third time. But even close associates did not know who the child's
mother was.
10th Oct 2002 A book written by Jackson's former brother-in-law Jack Gordon
claimed that Jackson hit his pet chimp Bubbles, paid both his wives to marry
him and used injections to make his skin paler.
19th Nov 2002 Michael Jackson was criticised after he dangled his baby, Prince
Michael the Second aka Blanket, over the fifth floor balcony rail of a hotel in
Berlin.
20th Nov 2002 Jackson took his children Prince Michael and Paris Michael to
Berlin Zoo. The children's faces were obscured by veils prompting concern over
their bizarre upbringing.
3rd Jan 2003 ITV televised Living with Michael Jackson, a documentary where he
was interviewed by Martin Bashir. He discussed how he let children sleep in his
bed. He admitted that he had had 2 operations on his nose but denied he had
changed his appearance in any other way. He talked about his traumatic
childhood. His three children were also shown, their faces obscured by masks
and veils.
12th Feb 2003 Michael agreed a £1.5 million deal with the Fox network in
America to show his own version of the Bashir documentary entitled Take 2: The
Documentary They Wouldn't Show You.
4th Mar 2003 The magazine Vanity Fair claimed that Michael Jackson paid
£100,000 to put voodoo curses on 25 "enemies" that included Steven Spielberg
and David Geffen. It alleged that to strengthen the spell he spent another
£100,000 on a ritual bath of animals' blood for which eighty beast were
slaughtered.
8th Apr 2003 Michael Jackson put his Californian ranch, Neverland, on sale for
£15million.
27th May 2003 Jackson's former financial advisers, Union Finance and Investment
Corporation, filed court papers suing him for £8million in unpaid debts and
expenses.
13th Sept 2003 Michael opened Neverland to the public attempting to sell
tickets for five thousand dollars each. However, tickets were being sold on
eBay for far less than that.
18th Nov 2003 Dozens of police officers used a warrant to search Michael
Jackson's Neverland mansion. Jackson's lawyer, Brian Oxman, said the search was
connected to sexual abuse allegations brought by a boy aged 12.
20th Nov 2003 Michael Jackson gave himself up to police and was led in hand
cuffs into Santa Barbara sheriff's office. He surrendered his passport and paid
£1.9million in bail.
18th Dec 2003 Michael Jackson was formally charged with performing lewd acts
with a young boy. He was accused of serious sexual conduct with an under age
child and that he plied him with an intoxicating agent. The child involved was
believed to be Gavin Arvizu who featured in Martin Bashir's documentary on the
singer.
16th Jan 2004 Michael Jackson made his first court appearance and pleaded not
guilty to seven charges of child molestation and two of giving a child an
"intoxicating agent". Jackson played to the crowds of supporters when he
arrived at the court in Santa Maria, California, signing autographs and jumping
onto the roof of a jeep for an impromptu song and dance routine.
23rd Jan 2004 Michael Jackson's ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, was said to be suing him
for custody of their two children, Prince, 6, and Paris ,5. The move came amid
claims that the children were not biologically related to Jackson but the
children of an anonymous sperm donor.
29th Jan 2004 Jackson's ex-business manager Myung-Ho Lee claimed that the
singer was addicted to alcohol and painkillers. He claimed that Michael had
been in rehab as recently as 1999 and regularly swigged wine, he dubbed jesus
juice, from soft drinks cans.
30th Apr 2004 Jackson was charged with conspiracy to kidnap a child and false
imprisonment and could be jailed for up to 74 years if found guilty.
29th May 2004 Daniel Kapan, 18, made detailed allegations of abuse which he
claimed was filmed by Jackson and began when he was three-years-old.
16th June 2004 It emerged that Michael Jackson paid 25million dollars to
silence allegations of sexual abuse made by Jordan Chandler eleven years-ago.
31st Jan 2005 Jackson's trial began in Santa Maria, California, where he faced
charges of sexually abusing a 13-year old leukaemia survivor.
28th Feb 2005 Michael Jackson's trial began with Tom "Mad Dog" Sneddon's
opening statement He described how the singer allegedly had visited sexually
explicit websites and showed cancer survivor Gavin Arvizo - who was 13 at the
time - and his younger brother pornography and plied them with alcohol.
10th March 2005 Jackson arrived an hour late at the court in pyjamas.
8th Apr 2005 A former security guard at Michael Jackson's Neverland ranch
testified that he saw the singer sexually abusing a boy in the early 1990s.
Ralph Chacon gave graphic evidence at the trial in California. But defence
lawyers attacked his credibility, painting him as a bitter ex-employee.
11th Apr 2005 June Chandler, the mother of alleged abuse victim Jordy, gave
evidence telling how Jackson had begged her to allow her son to share his bed.
She said she initially refused to let teenager Jordy Chandler sleep in Mr
Jackson's bed, but relented when the singer got upset. "He said, 'You don't
trust me? We're a family... There's nothing wrong,'" she told the court in
California.
11th May 2005 Macaulay Culkin admitted that he had slept in Michael Jackson's
bed but said that allegations of abuse were "ridiculous". Giving evidence at
Jackson's child abuse trial, the former child actor said that he had shared a
"special bond" with Jackson.
3rd June 2005 The jurors retired to consider their verdict on the charges
against Jackson. The trial had lasted sixty days, with 135 witnesses and more
than 1,000 pieces of evidence. Jackson had worn 66 different outfits, including
pyjamas. If convicted Jackson would face twenty years in jail.
13th June 2005 Michael was cleared of all 10 counts of abuse by the jury in
Santa Monica.
7th Oct 2005 Jackson was seen in public for the first time since being cleared
of child abuse charges in June. He attended the Billy Elliot musical in
London's West End and was besieged by fans a day earlier at a recording studio
in the city, where he was believed to be recording a single for the American
victims of Hurricane Katrina.
16th Feb 2006 An appeals court refused to reinstate an order granting pop star
Michael Jackson sole custody of his two children with ex-wife Debbie Rowe.
13th Apr 2006 Michael Jackson relinquished control over the $1 billion Beatles
back catalogue. Sony agreed to pay $200 million for half of Jackson's stake in
order to save him from bankruptcy.
March 2009 After three years largely out of the spotlight, Jackson announces a
comeback show of 50 dates at London's O2 arena.
25 June, 2009 Jackson dies from heart attack at his Hollywood home.
