15th anniversary of Michael Jackson’s death: The fallen king of pop

Michael Jackson (1958-2009) is a record-breaking artist in every respect. In the “Guinness Book of Records” alone, 39 world records are currently documented under his name. The top achievements listed include awards such as “Most successful artist of all time”, “Male solo artist with the most number 1 singles in the US charts” (14 in total) and “Artist with the most highly paid recording contract” (890 million US dollars with Sony Music). His album “Thriller” from 1982 is still the best-selling album in music history to date, with over 66 million copies sold.

World record in charity

In addition to such commercial records, there is also an entry that draws attention to another facet of this dazzling and contradictory personality. In 2000, he is said to have supported the most charities worldwide financially and representatively. Michael Jackson was not only incredibly successful, but also extremely generous. For example, he donated all the proceeds (estimated at around 100 million dollars) from the “Dangerous World Tour” in 1992 and 1993 to his “Heal the World” foundation and other charities.

Crash at the height of fame

However, 1993 also marked the biggest turning point in Michael Jackson’s career, which had rocketed to ever higher spheres of success, and it also broke another sad record – probably the biggest artist crash of all time. When the first investigation into alleged child abuse at the singer’s legendary “Neverland Ranch” was opened in August 1993, Jackson’s career suffered a devastating setback from which he never recovered.

In November 1993, the King of Pop, who was in poor health, abruptly ended the ongoing “Dangerous World Tour.” Even though the investigation was closed in January 1994 following an out-of-court settlement in which the plaintiff received a settlement of 20 million US dollars, Michael Jackson’s public reputation had suffered irreparable damage.

From then on, reporting on the fallen pop king focused primarily on his increasingly bizarre appearance and his two marriages to Lisa Marie Presley (1968-2023) between 1994 and 1996 and nurse Debbie Rowe (65) from 1996 to 1999. Further headlines were made by the births of his three children Prince Michael Jr. (27), Paris (26) and Prince Michael Jackson II (22).

Last album “Invincible” was a flop

Before he had to face another child abuse charge between 2003 and 2005 (of which he was ultimately acquitted), his musical career also seemed to be collapsing for good. His last album, with the confident title “Invincible”, set another world record with estimated production costs of 30 million US dollars, but was a commercial mega-flop from which the musician emerged with a huge mountain of debt.

Without having released another album, Michael Jackson surprisingly announced a series of farewell concerts with the telling title “This Is It” at the beginning of 2009, at the age of just 50. After only ten concerts were initially scheduled for the show marathon in London’s O2 Arena, 40 more dates were gradually added due to the enormous demand from alarmed fans, which were to take place between July 2009 and March 2010. However, since Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009, 18 days before the planned start of the tour, from acute poisoning by the anesthetic Propofol, none of these memorable performances were to take place.

“Leaving Neverland” documentary updates abuse allegations

Even fifteen years after his death, the public struggle to properly classify the Michael Jackson phenomenon seems to be far from over. In 2019, the previous allegations of abuse against the music legend were addressed again with new statements from alleged victims, which led, among other things, to numerous radio stations banning Jackson’s super hits from their programs.

After this new wave of outrage subsided, projects dedicated to the more enjoyable aspects of his career and his undeniably gigantic musical work came back into focus. For example, “MJ – The Michael Jackson Musical”, which had its world premiere on Broadway in February 2022 and is scheduled to come to Germany in December 2024, is currently shedding light on the genesis of his “Dangerous” world tour in 1992.

Nephew Jaffar plays Michael Jackson in biopic

Further positive headlines were generated by the announcement of a Michael Jackson biopic entitled “Michael,” which is due to be released in April 2025. In the film adaptation of his record-breaking life story, the controversial music genius will be played by Jaafar Jackson (27), the son of Michael Jackson’s older brother Jermaine (69). A photo released in February by the production company Lionsgate Films shows an astonishing resemblance between the acting nephew and his famous uncle. It remains to be seen whether the film will add another to the long list of Michael Jackson records.