Hello there young adults, I'm Michael Jackson and I'd like to talk to you today of my accomplishments and struggles throught my career. Ever since I was a young boy I've loved music, in 1964 my brother Marlon and I joined the Jackson Brothers. My brother and I would play the conga and the tambourine in the background, later on when I was eight I began sharing the lead vocals with my brother Jermaine, and the band's name was changed to the Jackson 5. My father was always very strict when it came to our band. I remember he would hold a belt in his hand during rehearsals and if you didn't do it right he would beat you and you would really get it, but I think he has been part of the reason for my success, his strictness and discipline when it came to music. We toured the Midwest from 1966- 1968 we performed generally in black clubs and we would be the opening act to stripteases and several adult acts. We recorded several songs including "Big Boy" , with the record label Steeltown in 1967 before we signed with Motown Records in 1968. We did several songs like Dancing Machine, I am Love, ABC, I Want You Back and several others. My first solo album was Off the Wall which could not have been possible without the cooperation Stevie Wonder, Rod Tempertan, and Paul McCartney. It was released in 1979, and it was the first solo album to create four U.S top 10 hits that included, Dont Stop Till You Get Enough and Rock With You. In the early 1980's I became a dominant figure in popular music thanks to the Lord. Later on, Thriller became the best-selling album of all time, also the albums Off the Wall, Bad, Dangerous and, HIStory were also among the best-selling albums of all time in the world. On May 14, 1984 I was invited by president Ronald Reagan to the White House to receive an award for my support of charities that helped people overcome drug and alcohol abuse. I later helped co-write the charity single "We Are The World" in 1985 with Lionel Richie, the song won four Grammys (one for me for song of the year) and became one of the best-selling singles of all times. In 1988 I released my first autobiography, Moonwalk, which took me four years to complete and it sold 200,000 copies. By that time I had undergone two rhinoplastic procedures, and had a dimple created on my chin. In 1993 I had the first accusation of child abuse by Evan Chandler saying that I malestered his 13 year-old son which was totally false. I was very upset with the matter because I would never do such a thing. We came to an agreement of me paying Evan a sum of $22 million dollars. These things were the little bumps in the road that I had in my career but I never gave up I knew I was innocent and I resolved the matters in a peaceful way not wanting any fights or commotion. The song Black or White was a song that promoted racial harmony in my attempt to try and mend race relations. I hope you learn from my experiences, that life was not always easy and that there were always bumps in the road, but that I never gave up and I hope you do the same. My greatest and most sincerest hopes for your generation is that you will continue to treat each other the same way, that there will always be equality, I hope that all of you succeed in life and follow your dreams.
Sincerely,
Michael Jackson
No comments:
Post a Comment