Michael Joseph Jackson was born on 29 August 1958, in Gary, Indiana USA, the fifth brother and member of the singing group which became The Jackson Five, which he joined in the mid-’60s, and a future genuine super-star in his own right. He passed away in 2009.
So just how rich is Michael Jackson, even years after his death? It has been estimated by authoritative sources that Pop King’s net worth reaches $600 million – even after his death Michael is still adding millions of dollars to his net worth year after year. In October 2017, for the fifth successive year Michael was named by Forbes magazine as topping the list of earning dead celebrities with $75 million. In addition to being one of the major influences on pop scene, he was also involved in acting, a source which also helped to accumulate Michael’s net worth.
Michael Jackson Net Worth $600 Million
Michael was born into a musical family, although his parents were amateurs only – his mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, worked as a devout Jehovah’s Witness, whereas his father, Joseph Walter “Joe” Jackson, a former boxer, worked as a steelworker at US Steel, but he also played the guitar with a local R&B group. All Michael’s older three sisters and five brothers were into music from early on in their lives.
Michael Jackson started his career as well as the accumulation of his net worth being just five years old, first as something of a novelty. In 1968 Michael appeared on the professional stage in the band called The Jackson Five singing together with his brother, then in 1971 Michael started singing solo, after a few years he began to tour internationally. In 1979, Jackson released his ‘Off the Wall’ album which established him as a solo performer. It was the first solo album to generate four chart-topping singles in the US, and the album subsequently sold over 20 million copies worldwide. Jackson’s net worth rose, especially as he was considered to be breaking down racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form, with his music videos including ‘Beat It’, ‘Billie Jean’, ‘Thriller’ and many others.Through stage and video performances, Jackson disseminated a number of difficult dance techniques, as follows the robot or the moonwalk, which were named by Michael himself. His distinctive sound and style sunsequently influenced a number of hip hop, post-disco, R&B, pop and rock artists too.
Michael’s net worth rose with album after album – his sixth studio album ‘Thriller’ is thesecond best-selling album of all time, after The Beatles SGT Pepper, moreover, several other albums including ‘Off the Wall’, ‘Bad’, ‘Dangerous’ and ‘HIStory’ are ranked among the world’s best-selling as well. Jackson has been enrolled into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame twice, as well as the Dance Hall of Fame, as his performances on stage have been lauded as perhaps the best ever by a pop singer.
Michael’s net worth increased with these achievements, which included thirteen number-one singles in the US alone in his solo career. Jackson is the winner of hundreds of awards, which makes him a legend in the history of popular music, such as multiple Guinness World Records, thirteen Grammy Awards, and a Grammy Legend Award as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, twenty-six American Music Awards. In 2014, Jackson became, posthumously, the first and so far only artist in music history to have a top ten single in the Billboard Top 100 in five decades.
In his personal life, Michael Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994 but they divorced in 1996. The same year he married Deborah Jeanne Rowe, with whom he had a daughter and two sons before they divorced in 1999.
Jackson was also a philanthropist, instituting charitable fundraising within the entertainment industry, later taken up by many other artists for a variety of causes.
An allegation of sexual abuse leveled against Jackson in 1993 was settled out of court, without any admittance of guilt, and no charges were ever laid. Further claims were dismissed as attempts at publicity and/or extortion by the claimants.
Michael Jackson died as a result of a concoction of drugs administered by his physician, Conrad Murray, apparently to help him sleep. Murray was subsequently convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and served two years in jail. Michael passed away on 25 June 2009, in Holmby Hills, California, mourned worldwide by millions of fans both at the time of his funeral and since.
