Michael Jackson

Here's a timeline of Michael Jackson's life:

• 1958 - Gary, Indiana
• 1964 - The eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his professional debut
• 1971 - Began his solo career
• 1975 - The Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records, and renamed themselves the Jacksons.
• 1980 - Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music
• 1982 - His music videos, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" are credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. The popularity of these videos helped bring the television channel MTV to fame.
• 1987 - Jackson's album Bad spawned the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana", becoming the first album to have five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100.
• 1990 - He continued to innovate with videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream", and forged a reputation as a touring solo artist.
• 1993 - He was accused of child sexual abuse, but the civil case was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount and no formal charges were brought.
• 2000 - The Guinness World Records recognized him for supporting 39 charities, more than any other entertainer.
• 2005 - He was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury found him not guilty on all counts.
• 2006 - The main house at the Neverland Ranch was closed as a cost-cutting measure. There were numerous reports around that time that Jackson had been having financial problems. He had been delinquent on his repayments of a $270 million loan secured against his music-publishing holdings, even though those holdings were reportedly making him as much as $75 million a year.
• 2008 - Fortress Investments threatened to foreclose on Neverland Ranch, which Jackson used as collateral for loans running into many tens of millions of dollars. However, Fortress opted to sell Jackson's debts to Colony Capital LLC.
• 2009 - Jackson fell unconscious while lying in bed at his rented mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles. While preparing for his comeback concert series, This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication after suffering from cardiac arrest. Attempts at resuscitating him by Conrad Murray, his personal physician, were unsuccessful.
• 2014 - He became the first artist in history to have a top ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades when "Love Never Felt So Good" reached number nine.
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"The meaning of life is contained in every single expression of life. It is present in the infinity of forms and phenomena that exist in all of creation."

If you have time, you should read more about this incredible human being on his Wikipedia entry.