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Michael Jackson (born August 29, 1958) is one of the most commercially-successful pop singers of all time, and the self-titled "King of Pop".

He rose to prominence as a member of The Jackson Five, a funk-influenced pop group of the 1970s, whilst still a child. However, Jackson has stated that his father maltreated his five children in pursuing their achievements, threatening to beat them with his belt if they made mistakes during dance routines.

Michael went on to release a progression of solo albums of slickly-produced synthesizer-heavy pop in the 1980s.

Thriller, released in 1982, became one of the best-selling pop albums of all time. In what was perhaps the "Golden Age" of the video clip, some of Jackson's videos were virtually short films with considerable plots, impressive special effects, and featuring Jackson's distinctive dance style - notably including a move called the "moonwalk" where he would move backwards while appearing to be walking forward.

Subsequent releases included Bad, Dangerous, and History. In between albums, he wrote and produced the ballad We Are The World which became associated with African relief efforts in the 1980s.

Always considered something of an eccentric, as time has gone on he has become something of a recluse, spending most of his time at his California ranch which he titled "Neverland", after the magical kingdom featured in the children's story Peter Pan. He says that, like Peter Pan, he does not want to grow up. Some of his favorite pastimes are water balloon fights and climbing trees. He has written several songs sitting in his favorite tree on Neverland.

Jackson loves children, and it was claimed that such interest extended to pedophilia. He settled out of court with the parents of one boy who alleged Jackson abused him whilst staying on the ranch. He admits that children have been sleeping in the same bed with him, for example his friend Macaulay Culkin when he was little, but denies having had sex with any of them. Currently he still sleeps sometimes with a little friend in the same room (for example with his 12 year old friend Gavin), but, he claims, no longer in the same bed.

Over the years he has undergone extensive plastic surgery, to the point that he is hardly recognizable as the same person. The effectiveness of his cosmetic surgery has been hotly debated, and it is widely believed that he hasn't enjoyed the same success with the surgery as, say, Dick Clark's alleged alterations. Michael did achieve the mannequin look. His look is definitely "different." Amongst many seemingly far-fetched rumors that circulate about him, he is believed by someone people to be the same person as his sister, LaToya Jackson. United Kingdom bookmakers allow punters to bet on this subject, with odds of 500-1 payable on the presentation of evidence that they are the same person . This could be a safe bet for the bookmakers, considering that they have been photographed together many times, and Michael is reputedly a foot taller than LaToya.

Jackson was briefly married to Lisa Marie Presley in 1994, in a relationship viewed by many primarily as a publicity stunt. The marriage broke up 18 months later.

Jackson has a son, Prince Michael, and a daughter, Paris, by his second wife, Debbie Rowe-Jackson. Jackson and Debbie Rowe-Jackson got divorced in 1999. He says she let him have the children as a gift.

Jackson held his first live concert in some years at Madison Square Garden, New York, in early September 2001.

In August 2002 it turned out that he had got another son, Prince Michael II, then six months old; it was born from a black surrogate mother; he has made a deal with her to keep her identity secret. He calls the boy Blanket.

In late 2002 new scandal arose surrounding Michael. His most recent album, called "Invincible," had incredibly low sales figures. Instead of blaming this on what was, by most fans and critics, considered mediocre music, he blamed his record label and industry executives, most notably the legendary producer Tommy Matola, whom Jackson likened to Satan. Jackson also recorded a song featuring various celebrities on vocals in an attempt to raise funds for disaster relief following the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack. However, the song was never released when it was discovered the producer of the song had previously worked as a producer of homosexual pornography.

Also, in late 2002, he stirred up more controversy (and unwittingly created an online video game) by dangling his infant son Prince Michael II from the balcony of a German hotel. This was photographed by the media and no charges were brought against Jackson for doing this.

In October 2002 it was revealed by various international banks that Jackson was in financial debt into the tens of millions of dollars due to various unpaid loans.

A television documentary about Jackson, in which he was extensively interviewed by UK journalist Martin Bashir, was shown in February 2003. This program was considered something of a coup for Bashir, for it is extremely seldom (unprecedented?) for Jackson to allow such access to his personal life, or indeed to talk so freely about his traumatised childhood. However, he continued to remain guarded on issues concerning the alleged cosmetic surgery to his face (although he admitted having had surgery on his nose) and his relationships with children.

Michael Jackson works as an independent consultant in London, England, and also as a part-time researcher at AT&T Research, Florham Park, NJ, USA. In the 1970s he developed Jackson Structured Programming. See http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/jacksonma/

Michael Jackson (aka Beerhunter) is a well known expert on beer and whiskey. Author of several books on the subjects. See http://www.beerhunter.com/