Michael Jackson 11th Death Anniversary: 16 Rare and Interesting Facts About the King of Pop You May Not Have Known!
It is Michael Jackson’s 11th death anniversary today, June 25. As the world observes the death anniversary of the cult figure of the music industry, we take a deep dive at some of the lesser-known and interesting facts about Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson Death Anniversary: It’s almost a decade since Michael Joseph Jackson passed away due to cardiac arrest. It is Michael Jackson’s 11th death anniversary today, June 25. Widely regarded as the ‘King of Pop’, Michael Jackson is credited to transform the landscape of pop music and culture manifolds over the years. Jackson’s style and choice of music have inspired music artists across generations. His contribution to the field of music, fashion, dance etc. has been immense. One simply cannot wrap up the pop icon’s extravagant, larger-than-life, and glittery life in an article. However, as the world observes the death anniversary of the cult figure of the music industry, we take a deep dive at some of the lesser-known and interesting facts about Michael Jackson. Tiger Shroff, Hrithik Roshan and other Indian Celebs Who Have Paid Tribute to the King of Pop.
1. Did you know that Michael Jackson was the 8th child in the 10-children family?
2. It is a little-known fact that Michael Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson was a clarinet and piano player. Surprised yet? Well, not many people know that his father Joseph Walter Jackson was a boxer, a crane operator, and a guitarist too.
3. Michael Jackson didn’t have an easy childhood, rather an emotionally abusive one. He was whipped with belts and straps by his father when he committed a mistake during his rehearsals.
4. In one of the interviews in 1993, with Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson revealed that ‘his youth had been lonely and isolated’.
5. It is not known to many people that more than 1.5+ million people had applied for tickets to his memorial service in Los Angeles. However, only 8,750 were randomly picked, and given two tickets each.
6. Michael Jackson remained a star even at the time of his death. Over 31 million people watched the live streaming of his memorial service on July 7, 2009 – one of the most-watched events back then.
7. A year after his death, in 2010, Sony signed a deal worth $250,000 with Jackson Estate to sell Jackson’s music catalogue till 2017. The deal was originally supposed to end in 2015.
8. It may not surprise you, but Michael Jackson remains to be the most awarded music artist of all times. He has 23 Guinness World Records, 40 Billboard Awards, 26 American Music Awards, 13 Grammys, and a plethora of other awards against his name.
9.. Michael Jackson happens to be the first (black) artist to air on MTV for his music video ‘Billie Jean’.
10. If you want to know what cuisine was Micheal Jackson’s favourite; turns out, he loved Mexican food – burrito and tacos – a lot.
11. A quick look at Michael Jackson’s childhood facts: His first band was a family band, i.e. Jackson 5. His first public performance at the age of 5, where he sang ‘Climb Every Mountain’.
12. In 1983, Michael Jackson introduced the world to ‘moonwalk’ while performing ‘Billie Jean’. The rest they say is history.
13. It’s said that during the filming of a commercial with Pepsi-Cola, Michael Jackson burnt a major portion of his face and scalps. This incident and the process of recovery made him experiment with plastic surgery.
14. A lot is said about the colour of his fair skin too. Well, not many people know that Michael Jackson suffered from vitiligo – a disease that causes a person to lose skin colour, and turn pale.
15. Michael Jackson was fond of pets. He had birds, mice, tigers, dogs, snakes, cats, etc. as his pets. Do you know his favourite pet? Well, it was Bubbles (a chimpanzee).
16. It is a little-known fact that Michael Jackson was a big fan of Spiderman. Not just that, he also tried to buy Marvel Comics in the 90s and wanted to produce the movie, in and as Spiderman. Well, destiny had other plans for him.
The more you say about Michael Jackson, the lesser it will be. Jackson did have his share of controversies during his lifetime too, but he changed the face of the music industry and got the world grooving to his tunes. It is a rare instance to excel in music and video together, but Jackson had mastery in this art. As the world observes the 11th death anniversary of Michael Jackson today, we at LatestLY wish 'King of Pop's soul rests in peace.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 25, 2020 10:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).