// The Chapters
From Gary to the Stars
Six acts. Fifty years. One voice that changed everything it touched.
1958 – 1975 · The Beginning
A Boy From Gary
Joe Jackson had nine children. He turned five of them into the biggest act in Motown history.
Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in a two-bedroom house at 2300 Jackson Street in Gary, Indiana. His father Joe was a crane operator at U.S. Steel and a frustrated musician who had played guitar in a local R&B band called the Falcons. He rehearsed his children with a discipline that crossed into cruelty — a belt in hand during practice, perfection as the only acceptable standard. By age five, Michael was the lead vocalist. By age ten, the Jackson 5 had signed with Motown Records. Their first four singles — "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save," and "I'll Be There" — all hit number one. No group had ever done that before.
2300 Jackson Street
1958–1966 · Gary, Indiana
A cramped two-bedroom house in a steel town. Nine children. One bathroom. Joe Jackson runs rehearsals in the living room with a switch in his hand. Michael watches his older brothers play, then opens his mouth and everything changes. The family will never be the same. Neither will music.
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Motown Records · Detroit
#1 Debut
"I Want You Back"
October 7, 1969 · Released on Motown
A ten-year-old boy sings with a joy and precision that grown men cannot replicate. Berry Gordy hears the audition tape and signs the Jackson 5 immediately. The single debuts at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 31, 1970. Three more consecutive #1 hits follow.
#1 Hot 100
4 consecutive #1s
The Ed Sullivan Show
December 14, 1969 · CBS Studios, New York
The Jackson 5 perform on national television. Michael is eleven. He dances like James Brown, sings like a man twice his age, and smiles with a radiance that melts through the television screen. America falls in love with a child who was never allowed to be one.
Off the Stage
Joe Jackson's methods produced results and left scars that never healed. Michael would later describe his childhood as stolen — rehearsals instead of play, hotel rooms instead of schoolyards, a father whose approval came only through perfection. "He would tear you up. I'd be so scared I'd start regurgitating." Michael said this in a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey, watched by 90 million people.
1975 – 1982 · The Emergence
Off the Wall
He left Motown, found Quincy Jones on a movie set, and became the biggest solo artist in the world — and he wasn't even close to his peak.
The Jacksons left Motown for Epic Records in 1975, and Michael began building a solo career. He starred as the Scarecrow in The Wiz (1978), a box-office disappointment that produced something far more valuable: his partnership with producer Quincy Jones. Together they made Off the Wall (1979), which sold 20 million copies and produced four top-ten singles, including two #1 hits. It was the best-selling album by a Black artist at the time. Michael was furious it didn't win Album of the Year at the Grammys. He decided the next one would be undeniable.
Meeting Quincy
1977 · Set of The Wiz, New York
Michael Jackson meets Quincy Jones on the set of The Wiz, where Jones is conducting the film's score. Michael asks Quincy to suggest producers for his solo album. Quincy says: "Why not me?" The most important creative partnership in pop music history begins over a casual question on a movie set.
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Epic Records
20M Sold
Off the Wall Drops
August 10, 1979 · Released Worldwide
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You" both hit #1. The album is a critical and commercial triumph — funk, disco, pop, and soul fused into something new. Twenty million copies sold. Michael wins his first Grammy. He is 21 years old and already unsatisfied.
The Grammy Snub
February 27, 1980 · Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
Off the Wall wins one Grammy — Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. It's not nominated for Album of the Year. Michael is devastated. He tells Quincy Jones: "The next album will be so good that they can't ignore it." He isn't exaggerating.
Off the Stage
During this period, Michael underwent his first rhinoplasty in 1979 after breaking his nose during a dance rehearsal. He was deeply self-conscious about his appearance — his father had mocked his nose as a child, calling him "Big Nose." The surgery was the beginning of a physical transformation that would become one of the most discussed aspects of his life.
1982 – 1987 · The Apex
Thriller
He didn't make an album. He made a cultural event. Then he made the moonwalk, and the event became a religion.
Released on November 30, 1982, Thriller became the best-selling album in history. Seven of its nine tracks were released as singles. Seven made the top ten. It spent 37 weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200. It won a record eight Grammys in a single night. The "Thriller" music video, directed by John Landis, was a 14-minute short film that transformed what a music video could be. On March 25, 1983, at the Motown 25 television special, Michael performed "Billie Jean" and debuted the moonwalk. An estimated 47 million people watched. The next morning, every kid in America was trying to glide backward across their kitchen floor.
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Motown 25 · Pasadena Civic
47M Viewers
The Moonwalk
March 25, 1983 · Pasadena Civic Auditorium
He performs "Billie Jean" on the Motown 25 special. Black sequined jacket. Single white glove. He sings, spins, and then — at the 3:37 mark — glides backward across the stage as if gravity has been suspended. The audience screams. Fred Astaire calls him the next morning to say it was the greatest performance he has ever seen.
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Shrine Auditorium · Los Angeles
8 Grammys
Eight Grammys in One Night
February 28, 1984 · Shrine Auditorium
Michael Jackson wins eight Grammy Awards in a single ceremony — a record that stood for 16 years. Album of the Year. Record of the Year. Best Male Pop Vocal. Best Male Rock Vocal for "Beat It." The industry that snubbed Off the Wall has no choice but to kneel.
8 Grammys
1 record broken
The Pepsi Fire
January 27, 1984 · Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles
During the filming of a Pepsi commercial, pyrotechnics ignite Michael's hair. He suffers second and third-degree burns to his scalp. The $1.5 million settlement goes to the Brotman Medical Center burn unit. The accident leads to reconstructive surgery, and according to multiple sources, marks the beginning of his dependence on painkillers.
Off the Stage
Thriller broke the color barrier on MTV. Before "Billie Jean," MTV had played almost no music videos by Black artists. CBS Records president Walter Yetnikoff reportedly threatened to pull all CBS content from the network unless they aired it. The video premiered on March 10, 1983, and MTV was never segregated again. Michael didn't just make music — he desegregated the most powerful music platform of the 1980s.
1987 – 1993 · The Reign
Bad / Dangerous
How do you follow the best-selling album in history? You go on the highest-grossing tour of all time, buy a ranch, and perform at the Super Bowl.
Bad (1987) sold 35 million copies and produced five consecutive #1 singles — an unprecedented achievement. The Bad World Tour grossed $125 million and played to 4.4 million fans across 123 concerts in 15 countries. In 1988, Michael purchased the 2,700-acre Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, California, for $19.5 million. Dangerous (1991) sold 32 million copies and debuted "Black or White," which premiered simultaneously in 27 countries to an audience of 500 million. On January 31, 1993, he performed the Super Bowl XXVII halftime show at the Rose Bowl, standing motionless on stage for 90 seconds before the crowd erupted. It was the most-watched Super Bowl halftime in history at the time.
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Bad World Tour · 15 Countries
4.4M Fans
Bad World Tour Opens
September 12, 1987 · Korakuen Stadium, Tokyo
The tour opens in Japan to 45,000 screaming fans. 123 concerts across 15 countries. $125 million gross. Michael performs for 4.4 million people in total. He dances until his shoes fill with blood, then dances through the encore. The show averages two hours and fifteen minutes. Every night.
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Rose Bowl · Pasadena
133M Viewers
Super Bowl XXVII Halftime
January 31, 1993 · Rose Bowl, Pasadena
He stands perfectly still on stage for 90 seconds. Doesn't move. Doesn't speak. 133 million people watch in silence. Then the sunglasses come off, the music hits, and he explodes into "Jam." It redefines what a halftime show can be. The NFL will build its entire halftime strategy around this template for the next three decades.
133M viewers
90 sec still
"Black or White" Premieres
November 14, 1991 · Worldwide Simulcast
The music video premieres simultaneously on Fox, BET, and MTV, plus networks in 27 countries. An estimated 500 million viewers watch — the largest audience for a music video premiere in history. The morphing sequence at the end, directed by John Landis, becomes a landmark in visual effects.
500M viewers
27 countries
Off the Stage
In 1985, Michael co-wrote "We Are the World" with Lionel Richie. Produced by Quincy Jones, the charity single for USA for Africa raised over $63 million for famine relief. The recording session on January 28, 1985, assembled 46 of the biggest artists in music — Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, Ray Charles. A sign on the door read: "Check your egos at the door." Michael arrived first and left last.
1993 – 2005 · The Storm
HIStory
The allegations, the marriages, the trial. The biggest star in the world under the brightest and most unforgiving spotlight in the world.
In August 1993, Evan Chandler accused Michael Jackson of child molestation. Jackson denied the allegations and settled the civil case in January 1994 for a reported $23 million, while maintaining his innocence. He married Lisa Marie Presley in May 1994; they divorced in January 1996. He married Debbie Rowe in November 1996; they had two children, Prince and Paris. HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995) sold 20 million copies and contained "Scream," the most expensive music video ever made at $7 million. In 2003, a second set of allegations led to a criminal trial. On June 13, 2005, a jury acquitted him on all fourteen counts. He left the country for Bahrain.
The Chandler Allegations
August 17, 1993 · Los Angeles
Evan Chandler files allegations against Michael Jackson. The investigation dominates global media. Jackson cancels the remainder of the Dangerous World Tour, citing health reasons related to painkiller dependency. He publicly denies the allegations in a televised statement from Neverland on December 22, 1993, watched by 95 million viewers.
Lisa Marie Presley Marriage
May 26, 1994 · La Vega, Dominican Republic
Michael Jackson marries Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis. The union of pop's two royal families. They appear together on the MTV Video Music Awards in September 1994, where Michael kisses her on stage. "Nobody thought it would last," she later said. "And nobody was wrong." They divorce in January 1996.
The Acquittal
June 13, 2005 · Santa Barbara County Superior Court
After a 14-week trial broadcast live worldwide, a jury of eight women and four men returns not guilty verdicts on all fourteen counts. Michael stands motionless as the verdicts are read. He leaves the courthouse and never returns to Neverland Ranch. He is 46 years old and looks twenty years older.
Off the Stage
The documentary will present these events with journalistic rigor. The 1993 civil settlement, the 2005 criminal trial, and the full acquittal are matters of public record. Evan Chandler died by suicide in 2009, five months after Jackson's death. The documentary presents established facts, notes the jury's verdict, and lets the Legacy Debate section host the community's range of perspectives.
2005 – 2009 · The Final Act
This Is It
He was going to come back. Fifty concerts at the O2 Arena. He rehearsed the show until midnight on June 24. He was dead by the afternoon of June 25.
After the trial, Michael retreated — Bahrain, Ireland, Las Vegas. Debt mounted. In March 2009, he announced "This Is It," a series of 50 concerts at London's O2 Arena. 750,000 tickets sold out in under five hours. Rehearsals at the Staples Center showed an artist still electric at 50. On June 25, 2009, his personal physician Conrad Murray administered a lethal dose of propofol. Michael Jackson was pronounced dead at 2:26 PM at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. He was 50 years old. Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 and served two years. The posthumous "This Is It" documentary grossed $261 million at the box office. His estate has earned over $4.2 billion since his death.
"This Is It" Announcement
March 5, 2009 · O2 Arena, London
Michael takes the stage at the O2 Arena press conference. "This is it. This is really it. This is the final curtain call." 750,000 tickets sell out in under five hours. The comeback is scheduled to begin July 13, 2009. He will not make opening night.
June 25, 2009
June 25, 2009 · Holmby Hills, Los Angeles
Conrad Murray administers propofol at approximately 1:30 AM. By noon, Jackson is unresponsive. Paramedics arrive at 12:22 PM. He is pronounced dead at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center at 2:26 PM. The news breaks online before any television network carries it. TMZ reports it first. Within an hour, Google and Twitter temporarily crash from the volume of searches.
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post-production
Staples Center · Los Angeles
31M Viewers
The Memorial
July 7, 2009 · Staples Center, Los Angeles
1.6 million people apply for 17,500 seats. Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie, and Usher perform. Paris Jackson, eleven years old, steps to the microphone: "Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine." 31 million Americans watch. An estimated 2.5 billion watch worldwide.
2.5B viewers
1.6M ticket requests
Off the Stage
Michael's estate has generated over $4.2 billion since his death, making him the highest-earning deceased celebrity for most of the years since 2009. In 2016, Sony paid $750 million for his share of the Sony/ATV music catalog, which included the Beatles' catalog he famously purchased in 1985 for $47.5 million. In death, Michael Jackson became the most commercially successful artist in history — surpassing even the records he set while alive.