The King of Pop Michael Jackson is receiving several tributes from fans and family on social media this Monday (29), the day he would have turned 64 if he were alive. He died on June 25, 2009 at his home after suffering a cardiac arrest. At the time, the singer was preparing to return to the stage.
The death of the King of Pop was surrounded by mysteries and misinformation. After autopsy and toxicology tests, coroners concluded that he died of acute intoxication with the anesthetic Propofol, administered by his private physician Conrad Murad to treat his insomnia. The doctor was sentenced to four years in prison, but was released after two years and regained the right to practice medicine.
Throughout his life, Jackson was involved in controversy and was accused of abusing children in 1993. He was exonerated in 2005 and withdrew from public life. But ten years after his death, the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland exposed the artist’s alleged sexual abuse of minors, infuriating the pop star’s family.
Remember some passages in the singer’s life, including when he was in Brazil doing shows, recording clips at Morro da Dona Marta, in Rio, and at Pelourinho, in Salvador. Also find out that he asked Xuxa to marry him and was not the inventor of the moonwalk dance step, which slid his feet back and forth as if he were walking on the moon.
Paid for drug trafficking to record in a favela in Rio
The King of Pop’s visit to Brazil in 1996, accompanied by his team and director Spike Lee, to record the video for the song “They Don’t Care About Us” was marked by controversy. He was in the country to record in Morro da Dona Marta, in Rio de Janeiro, and in Pelourinho, in Salvador.
But the controversies with the artist started from issuing visas for the team to criticism from politicians, artists and the negotiation with drug trafficking. Rio’s security secretary at the time, Hélio Luz, called Spike Lee a sucker for having paid to record in the favela.
On the recordings, Jackson wore an Olodum t-shirt, after meeting the percussionists while touring the United States.
Hung her 9-month-old son in the window
One of the scenes that most caught the attention of the singer’s fans was when he exposed his Prince Michael, called Blanket, at the time with nine months, in danger. He held the baby out of the window of his fifth-floor room in a luxury hotel in Berlin with just one hand. It looked like it could drop the child at any moment.
Asked Xuxa to marry
Xuxa Meneghel could today be the mother of Michael Jackson’s children (1958-2009). This would have happened if she had accepted his marriage proposal made after a dinner at his Neverland mansion in the 1990s.
“They wanted me to build a family with him, to take his child in my womb. It was in the contract”, said the presenter.
Xuxa said that, when saying goodbye, Jackson’s manager would have delivered a contract that determined that she would marry the singer, who had liked her beauty, and have their children.
“Thriller” Album Gets 40th Anniversary Edition
“Thriller”, one of the best-selling albums of all time, turns 40 and will receive a special anniversary edition in November. Sony Music and the Estate of Michael Jackson release a set with two extra discs, rarities and demo tracks.
The album won eight Grammys in 1984, broke musical barriers and changed the boundaries of pop music and music videos forever. “Thriller” has spent over 500 weeks on the Billboard album chart and has sold over 100 million copies since its release on November 30, 1982.
Video for “Thriller”
The music video for “Thriller” was made to satisfy Jackson’s vanity and his desire to be a monster. The statement was made by the clip’s director, John Landis, to Reuters in 2017. He said he was approached by the pop star to make the video because he liked his feature “An American Werewolf in London”.
“It was a vanity video because Michael wanted to be a monster. And everything that came out of it, it was spectacularly successful and I was totally blown away,” said the director.
Plastic surgery
Jackson’s face has changed dramatically over the years with his nose narrower, his chin more defined and his skin looking increasingly clear. The changes have spawned stories of addictions to plastic surgery and skin whitening.
Jackson has twice admitted to altering his nose and getting a dimpled chin, but told host Oprah Winfrey: “I never did my cheekbones, I never did my eyes, I never did my lips.” About the change in skin color, he blamed it on vitiligo.
Jackson didn’t invent the moonwalk step
The singer didn’t invent the moonwalk dance step, which slid his feet back and forth like he was walking on the moon. But there’s no denying that Jackson popularized the dance and led people all over the world to try to imitate him.
Many dancers did steps similar to the moonwalk before the pop star and he has always admitted to being inspired by them. American dancer and singer Jeffrey Daniel was the one who taught Jackson the step. According to him, the artist worked the choreographies religiously.
hair on fire
Jackson’s hair was accidentally set on fire while singing “Billie Jean” while filming a pyrotechnic commercial for Pepsi at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium in 1984. He was hospitalized for third- and second-degree burns.
“We Are the World”
Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote the single “We Are the World” in 1985 to raise funds for famine-stricken people in Ethiopia. The song was performed by USA for Africa, a supergroup that included Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Richie and Jackson. The profits went to the USA Foundation for Africa.
Neverland
The King of Pop chose to live in an amusement park instead of a castle. He bought a ranch in California’s Santa Ynez Valley in 1988 and built Neverland – never-never land. The venue was a tribute to the world of Peter Pan and had a Ferris wheel and carousel.
He left the ranch after police searched the ranch as part of his 2005 child molestation trial.
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