The Wayback Machine - http://web.archive.org./web/20120829120244/http://wn.com:80/Cirque_du_Soleil
Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Cirque du Soleil - Alegria
Alegria Hula Hoops, Cirque du Soleil
Aerial High Bar Act - ALEGRIA (Cirque du Soleil)
Cirque du Soleil Kooza Contortionists
Alegría - CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
Cirque du Soleil - Kooza (Wheel of death)
Cirque Du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil O (Terre Aride)
Cirque Du Soleil - Quidam
Cirque Du Soleil - Quidam German Wheel
16x9 - Getting into Cirque Du Soleil [Audition Documentary]
Cirque du Soleil - Ka FULL PROMO from www.cirquedusoleil.com

Cirque Du Soleil

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    Cirque du Soleil - Alegria/video details
    • Order:
    • Published: 22 May 2007
    • Duration: 6:07
    • Updated: 27 Aug 2012
    Author: Saata
    Cirque du Soleil Alegria Collage Song: Francesca Gagnon - Alegria
    http://web.archive.org./web/20120829120244/http://wn.com/Cirque du Soleil - Alegria/video details
    Alegria Hula Hoops, Cirque du Soleil/video details
    • Order:
    • Published: 18 Oct 2007
    • Duration: 6:44
    • Updated: 27 Aug 2012
    Author: mcirque
    Alegria's hula hoop act, performed by Elena Lev, Cirque du soleil. Singers are Francesca Gagnon and Eve Montpetit. Song's name is Cerceaux
    http://web.archive.org./web/20120829120244/http://wn.com/Alegria Hula Hoops, Cirque du Soleil/video details
    Aerial High Bar Act - ALEGRIA (Cirque du Soleil)/video details
    • Order:
    • Published: 01 Oct 2006
    • Duration: 8:33
    • Updated: 27 Aug 2012
    Author: chicabuena
    A creation of Elena Lev's father, Andrei Lev (the same for Mystere's act). THIS IS FANTASTIC!! Enjoy!
    http://web.archive.org./web/20120829120244/http://wn.com/Aerial High Bar Act - ALEGRIA (Cirque du Soleil)/video details
    Cirque du Soleil Kooza Contortionists/video details
    • Order:
    • Published: 19 Nov 2009
    • Duration: 6:23
    • Updated: 27 Aug 2012
    Author: contortionlvr
    These are the (amazing) contortionists from Cirque du Soleil's Kooza. Their names are Natasha, Julie, and Dasha. (Also, they are also the ones who inspired me to start contortion) Song: Junoon
    http://web.archive.org./web/20120829120244/http://wn.com/Cirque du Soleil Kooza Contortionists/video details
    Alegría - CIRQUE DU SOLEIL/video details
    • Order:
    • Published: 22 Feb 2007
    • Duration: 6:04
    • Updated: 27 Aug 2012
    Author: oGaKirA
    Alegría from Cirque Du Soleil-Midnight sun
    http://web.archive.org./web/20120829120244/http://wn.com/Alegría - CIRQUE DU SOLEIL/video details
    Cirque du Soleil - Kooza (Wheel of death)/video details
    • Order:
    • Published: 04 Feb 2009
    • Duration: 8:00
    • Updated: 26 Aug 2012
    Author: alt137
    The man running in place atop a rapidly spinning metal wheel high in the air is breathtaking. He stumbles. Hearts stop. Somehow he manages to regain his footing fast enough to keep up with the merciless spinning of the round metal cage, propelled by his partner running inside its twin wheel at the other end of a rotating shaft. Then the man leaps - not once but several times, higher and higher, his body floating weightless for an instant before he plummets to barely catch that wheel and keep running as before. That's just the opening of the second act of "Kooza," the new Cirque du Soleil spectacle.
    http://web.archive.org./web/20120829120244/http://wn.com/Cirque du Soleil - Kooza (Wheel of death)/video details
    Cirque Du Soleil/video details
    • Order:
    • Published: 25 Sep 2006
    • Duration: 5:30
    • Updated: 26 Aug 2012
    Author: generalsasso
    Clip from Cirque Du Soleil's 20th Anniversary called 'Midnight Sun'. Filmed in July 2004 in Montreal. The song is 'Mer Noire' - but its a special Midnight Sun Remix
    http://web.archive.org./web/20120829120244/http://wn.com/Cirque Du Soleil/video details
    Cirque du Soleil O (Terre Aride)/video details
    • Order:
    • Published: 29 Apr 2007
    • Duration: 3:08
    • Updated: 26 Aug 2012
    Author: jack134
    I just took this video and overlayed it with Terre Aride. Remous was edited wierd on the original video and feels weird with the video. I think Terre Aride works better with the way the clips are set up (minus the ending).
    http://web.archive.org./web/20120829120244/http://wn.com/Cirque du Soleil O (Terre Aride)/video details
    Cirque Du Soleil - Quidam German Wheel/video details
    • Order:
    • Published: 16 Jun 2007
    • Duration: 4:30
    • Updated: 27 Aug 2012
    Author: janglamdolly
    Performed by: Chris Lashua Music:Incantation ACT:German Wheel A gymnastic exercise hailing from Germany, the German wheel is taken to a whole new level in Quidam. Shayne becomes a human spoke as he spins, turns, twists and maneuvers the wheel, performing gravity-defying somersaults and acrobatics. info cirquedusoleil.com
    http://web.archive.org./web/20120829120244/http://wn.com/Cirque Du Soleil - Quidam German Wheel/video details
    16x9 - Getting into Cirque Du Soleil [Audition Documentary]/video details
    • Order:
    • Published: 11 Apr 2012
    • Duration: 45:00
    • Updated: 27 Aug 2012
    Author: 16x9onglobal
    Ever wondered what it takes to be a part of Cirque du Soleil? Getting to be a one of a kind performer is no small feat. For four months, 16x9 followed Cirque Du Soleil scouts as they scoured the world, searching for the best of the best.
    http://web.archive.org./web/20120829120244/http://wn.com/16x9 - Getting into Cirque Du Soleil [Audition Documentary]/video details
    Cirque du Soleil and Michael Jackson : Coming together in 2011-2012!/video details
    • Order:
    • Published: 20 Apr 2010
    • Duration: 1:47
    • Updated: 26 Aug 2012
    Author: cirquedusoleil
    bit.ly | Cirque du Soleil is joining forces with the true entertainment legend Michael Jackson to create shows and special lifestyle projects based on the music and songs of Michael Jackson.
    http://web.archive.org./web/20120829120244/http://wn.com/Cirque du Soleil and Michael Jackson : Coming together in 2011-2012!/video details
    Cirque du Soleil Alegria Collage Song: Francesca Gagnon - Alegria
    6:07
    Cirque du Soleil - Ale­gria
    Cirque du Soleil Ale­gria Col­lage Song: Francesca Gagnon - Ale­gria...
    pub­lished: 22 May 2007
    Au­thor: Saata
    6:44
    Ale­gria Hula Hoops, Cirque du Soleil
    Ale­gria's hula hoop act, per­formed by Elena Lev, Cirque du soleil. Singers are Frances...
    pub­lished: 18 Oct 2007
    Au­thor: mcirque
    8:33
    Aeri­al High Bar Act - ALE­GRIA (Cirque du Soleil)
    A cre­ation of Elena Lev's fa­ther, An­drei Lev (the same for Mys­tere's act). THIS IS...
    pub­lished: 01 Oct 2006
    Au­thor: chi­cabue­na
    6:23
    Cirque du Soleil Kooza Con­tor­tion­ists
    These are the (amaz­ing) con­tor­tion­ists from Cirque du Soleil's Kooza. Their names are ...
    pub­lished: 19 Nov 2009
    6:04
    Alegría - CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
    Alegría from Cirque Du Soleil-Mid­night sun...
    pub­lished: 22 Feb 2007
    Au­thor: oGaKi­rA
    8:00
    Cirque du Soleil - Kooza (Wheel of death)
    The man run­ning in place atop a rapid­ly spin­ning metal wheel high in the air is breath­ta­ki...
    pub­lished: 04 Feb 2009
    Au­thor: al­t137
    5:30
    Cirque Du Soleil
    Clip from Cirque Du Soleil's 20th An­niver­sary called 'Mid­night Sun'. Filmed in...
    pub­lished: 25 Sep 2006
    3:08
    Cirque du Soleil O (Terre Aride)
    I just took this video and over­layed it with Terre Aride. Re­mous was edit­ed wierd on the o...
    pub­lished: 29 Apr 2007
    Au­thor: jack­134
    7:58
    Cirque Du Soleil - Quidam
    Cirque Du Soleil - Quidam...
    pub­lished: 29 Jun 2010
    Au­thor: aireenq
    4:30
    Cirque Du Soleil - Quidam Ger­man Wheel
    Per­formed by: Chris Lashua Music:In­can­ta­tion ACT:Ger­man Wheel A gym­nas­tic ex­er­cise hail­ing...
    pub­lished: 16 Jun 2007
    45:00
    16x9 - Get­ting into Cirque Du Soleil [Au­di­tion Doc­u­men­tary]
    Ever won­dered what it takes to be a part of Cirque du Soleil? Get­ting to be a one of a kin...
    pub­lished: 11 Apr 2012
    1:31
    Cirque du Soleil - Ka FULL PROMO from www.​cirquedusoleil.​com
    One of the great­est shows I ever seen in my whole life......
    pub­lished: 06 Jan 2007
    6:50
    Aeri­al Straps - VAREKAI (Cirque du Soleil)
    Full ver­sion....
    pub­lished: 19 Jun 2006
    Au­thor: chi­cabue­na
    1:47
    Cirque du Soleil and Michael Jack­son : Com­ing to­geth­er in 2011-2012!
    bit.​ly | Cirque du Soleil is join­ing forces with the true en­ter­tain­ment leg­end Michael Jac...
    pub­lished: 20 Apr 2010
    Youtube results:
    0:52
    Zu­man­i­ty by Cirque du Soleil - Wa­ter­bowl
    ...
    pub­lished: 16 Mar 2009
    4:39
    Cyr Wheel Act - COR­TEO (Cirque du Soleil)
    Enjoy!!...
    pub­lished: 11 Jul 2006
    Au­thor: chi­cabue­na
    3:55
    Sol­strom- Boleado­ras
    Saltim­ban­co Boleado­ras act in Sol­strom by Ann Bernard and He­lene Lemay...
    pub­lished: 08 Jul 2006
    6:04
    Jesko, Cirque du Soleil, Saltim­ban­co, Clown part 1/5
    These are the "clown" acts from Saltim­ban­co, The num­ber was orig­i­nal­ly de­vel­oped...
    pub­lished: 22 Mar 2007
    Au­thor: fleur­lotus




    • File - Bolivian United Nations peacekeepers distribute water and meals to the residents of Cité Soleil, Haiti.
      UN / Marco Dormino
    • Night shot of the Grand Chapiteau on tour in Barcelona, Spain. Cirque du Soleil shows normally tour under a Grand Chapiteau (i.e. big top) for an extended period of time until they are modified, if necessary, for touring in arenas and other venues.
      Creative Commons / Elemaki
    • File - A mother and her young child are pictured at a free clinic in Port-au-Prince’s impoverished Cité Soleil neighbourhood, where the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)’s Violence Reduction Section is working with a volunteer association to help disenfranchised women.
      UN / Logan Abassi
    • Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant) (1872). After the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War (19 July 1870), Monet took refuge in England in September 1870,[6] where he studied the works of John Constable and Joseph Mallord William Turner, both of whose landscapes would serve to inspire Monet's innovations in the study of color.
      Creative Commons / Musée Marmottan Monet
    • Soleil (Brisbane)
      Creative Commons / NJMNJM20102010
    • The show Dralion, Cirque du Soleil, introduced in 2004
      Creative Commons
    • Beakhead of the Soleil-Royal
      Creative Commons
    • Backdropped by the Greek Parliament, theatrical performers from the French theatrical company
      AP / Lefteris Pitarakis
    • Acrobat performing with Cirque du Soleil
      Creative Commons / Trusilver
    • UN peacekeepers from Brazil stand guard at the gate of a polling station ahead of the second round of elections in Cite Soleil, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday March 19, 2011. Haiti will hold runoff elections on Sunday.
      AP / Ramon Espinosa
    • Sheikh Zayed highway towers are seen at the skyline of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009. Dubai World, the emirate's main holding company, said Thursday it is shifting executives and real estate from its property division Nakheel to the investment fund that owns Barneys New York and part of Cirque Du Soleil as it scrambles to convince lenders it can pay back its debts.
      AP / Kamran Jebreili
    • A boy suffering cholera symptoms is carried by a relative to the St. Catherine hospital, run by Doctors Without Borders, in the slum of Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010. A month-old cholera epidemic has killed at least 1,000 people and hospitalized thousands.
      AP / Emilio Morenatti
    • A boy suffering cholera symptoms is carried in a wheelbarrow to the St. Catherine hospital, run by Doctors Without Borders, in the slum of Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Nov. 18, 2010. A month-old cholera epidemic has killed at least 1,000 people and hospitalized thousands
      AP / Emilio Morenatti
    • A man with symptoms of cholera lays on a street at the slum of Cite Soleil before being helped by volunteers of Doctors Without Borders in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday Nov. 10, 2010.
      AP / Ramon Espinosa
    • UN peacekeepers from Brazil patrol in the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday Nov. 15, 2010. Protesters who hold Nepalese U.N. peacekeepers responsible for an outbreak of cholera that has killed 1,000 in three weeks threw stones and threatened to set fire to a base in Cap-Haitien, the country's second-largest city Monday, Haitian radio and eyewitnesses reported.
      AP / Emilio Morenatti
    • A woman suffering cholera symptoms is carried to St. Catherine hospital, run by Doctors Without Borders, in the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday Nov. 15, 2010. Thousands of people have been hospitalized for cholera across Haiti with symptoms including serious diarrhea, vomiting and fever and hundreds have died.
      AP / Emilio Morenatti
    • Relatives carry the coffin of Monitha Silney, 8, who died of cholera, to the cemetery for burial in the Cite Soleil slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Sunday Nov. 14, 2010. Thousands of people have been hospitalized for cholera across Haiti with symptoms including serious diarrhea, vomiting and fever and hundreds have died.
      AP / Ramon Espinosa
    • A boy with symptoms of cholera waits for treatment at the St Catherine hospital in Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010. Doctors and aid groups are rushing to set up cholera treatment centers across Haiti's capital as officials warn that the disease's encroachment into the city will bring a surge in cases. Cholera has killed more than 580 people across the country according to the Haiti's health ministry.
      AP / Ramon Espinosa
    • A man carries a child with symptoms of cholera at the entrance of the St. Catherine hospital at the Cite Soleil neighborhood, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010.
      AP / Ramon Espinosa
    • Children watch to a dried water canal filled with garbage at the slum of Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Wednesday Nov. 10, 2010. Doctors and aid groups are rushing to set up cholera treatment centers across Haiti's capital as officials warn that the disease's encroachment into the city will bring a surge in cases. Cholera has killed more than 580 people across the country according to Haiti's health ministry.
      AP / Ramon Espinosa
    • People walk in a flooded street after the passing of Hurricane Tomas in the neighborhood of Cite Soleil in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday Nov. 6, 2010.
      AP / Ramon Espinosa
    • Le jour du marché à esse anna un village situé dans la préfecture de Yoto.Situé à 100 kilomètres de Lomé la capitale. revendeuse de légume The day of the market at gboto, a village located in the prefecture of Yoto un homme avec un sachet en main . une femme se protégeant du soleil
      WN / Eteh
    • PORT-AU-PRINCE, HaitiU.S. Coast Guard Chief Paul Cormier, a member of Coast Guard Reserve Port Security Unit (PSU) 309, speaks with a United Nations representative about needed medical supplies at a hospital in Liogane, Jan. 25, 2010. Cormiers public non-profit organization, Soleil Foundation, is a charity created to help alleviate poverty in Haiti through providing education. Cormier shares his time between his homes in Michigan and Haiti, where he mentors local children. Photo by Petty Officer
      US Coastguard / Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Blackwell.
    • PORT-AU-PRINCE, HaitiU.S. Coast Guard Chief Paul Cormier, a member of Coast Guard Reserve Port Security Unit (PSU) 309, assesses earthquake damage with a Canadian reporter in Liogane, Jan. 25, 2010. Cormiers public non-profit organization, Soleil Foundation, is a charity created to help alleviate poverty in Haiti through providing education. Cormier shares his time between his homes in Michigan and Haiti, where he mentors local children. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Blackwell. (76385
      US Coastguard / Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Blackwell.
    • PORT-AU-PRINCE, HaitiU.S. Coast Guard Chief Paul Cormier, a member of Coast Guard Reserve Port Security Unit (PSU) 309, talks with orphans in a village outside Liogane, where he mentors local children, Jan. 25, 2010. Cormiers public non-profit organization, Soleil Foundation, is a charity created to help alleviate poverty in Haiti through providing education. Cormier shares his time between his home in Michigan and Haiti, where he has built a home in the village he supports. Photo by Petty Offic
      US Coastguard / Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Blackwell.
    • PORT-AU-PRINCE, HaitiU.S. Coast Guard Chief Paul Cormier, a member of Coast Guard Reserve Port Security Unit (PSU) 309, walks through an earthquake-torn village, where he mentors local orphans, Jan. 25, 2010. Cormiers public non-profit organization, Soleil Foundation, is a charity created to help alleviate poverty in Haiti through providing education. Cormier shares his time between his home in Michigan and Haiti, where he has built a home in the village he supports. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd C
      US Coastguard / Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Blackwell.
    • PORT-AU-PRINCE, HaitiU.S. Coast Guard Chief Paul Cormier, a member of Coast Guard Reserve Port Security Unit (PSU) 309, talks with orphans in a village outside Liogane, where he mentors local children, Jan. 25, 2010. Cormiers public non-profit organization, Soleil Foundation, is a charity created to help alleviate poverty in Haiti through providing education. Cormier shares his time between his home in Michigan and Haiti, where he has built a home in the village he supports. Photo by Petty Offic
      US Coastguard / Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Blackwell.
    • PORT-AU-PRINCE, HaitiU.S. Coast Guard Chief Paul Cormier, a member of Coast Guard Reserve Port Security Unit (PSU) 309, assesses earthquake damage at his home in a village outside Liogane, Jan. 25, 2010. Cormiers public non-profit organization, Soleil Foundation, is a charity created to help alleviate poverty in Haiti through providing education. Cormier shares his time between his homes in Michigan and Haiti, where he mentors local children. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Blackwell. (
      US Coastguard / Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Blackwell.
    • PORT-AU-PRINCE, HaitiU.S. Coast Guard Chief Paul Cormier, a member of Coast Guard Reserve Port Security Unit (PSU) 309, assesses earthquake damage at his home in a village outside Liogane, Jan. 25, 2010. Cormiers public non-profit organization, Soleil Foundation, is a charity created to help alleviate poverty in Haiti through providing education. Cormier shares his time between his homes in Michigan and Haiti, where he mentors local children. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Blackwell. (
      US Coastguard / Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Blackwell.
    • PORT-AU-PRINCE, HaitiU.S. Coast Guard Chief Paul Cormier, a member of Coast Guard Reserve Port Security Unit (PSU) 309, assesses earthquake damage at his home in a village outside Liogane, Jan. 25, 2010. Cormiers public non-profit organization, Soleil Foundation, is a charity created to help alleviate poverty in Haiti through providing education. Cormier shares his time between his homes in Michigan and Haiti, where he mentors local children. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Blackwell. (
      US Coastguard / Petty Officer 3rd Class Brandon Blackwell.


    Photo: AP / Musadeq Sadeq
    Seventeen civilians beheaded in Afghanistan's Helmand
    Joy Online
    27 Aug 2012
    Seventeen civilians have been beheaded in Afghanistan, local officials say, with 10 Afghan soldiers killed in a separate incident. The civilians died in Musa Qala district, in the southern province of...



    Photo: US DoD
    US Navy (USN) aircrew assigned to Naval Air Station Pensacola (NASP) Helicopter Support Unit (HSU), Florida (FL), survey damage from Hurricane Katrina en route to Stennis Space Center (SSC), Mississippi (MS), from NASP to provide support and relief to vic
    WorldNews.com
    28 Aug 2012
    Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling After just having spent tens of millions of dollars on transportation and a number of armed security guards, President Bill Clinton lands in Guatemala...



    Photo: AP / Shaam News Network, SNN
    This citizen journalism image provided by Shaam News Network SNN, taken on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012, purports to show people killed by shabiha, pro-government militiamen, being prepared for burial in a mass grave in Daraya, Syria.
    Indian Express
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    Syrian opposition activists accused President Bashar al-Assad's army of massacring hundreds of people in a town close to the capital that government forces recaptured from rebels. About 320 bodies,...



    Photo: AP / Yonhap, Kim Sun-ho
    A wave breaks along a bridge over the sea off the southern port city of Busan as Typhoon Bolaven brings heavy downpours and winds to South Korea, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012.
    Yahoo Daily News
    27 Aug 2012
    South Korea was Monday bracing for the arrival of major typhoon Bolaven with a main port and ferry routes closed, classes cancelled and officials put on high alert. Typhoon Bolaven -- one of the most...



    Photo: AP / Sang Tan
    British police officers arrest a man as rioters gathered in Croydon, south London, Monday, Aug. 8, 2011.
    WorldNews.com
    27 Aug 2012
    Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. Death is always an extreme event. It becomes even more severe and excessive for dying empires, their most vulnerable citizens, and their local power...





    Photo: UN / Victoria Hazou
    Isaac drenches Haiti, Cuba, heads toward Florida
    Chicago Sun-Times
    25 Aug 2012
    Updated: August 25, 2012 12:40PM HAVANA — Tropical Storm Isaac pushed into Cuba on Saturday after sweeping across Haiti’s southern peninsula, where it caused flooding and at least three deaths, adding...



    Photo: UN / Victoria Hazou
    Tropical Storm Isaac drenches Haiti, swipes Cuba
    The Star
    25 Aug 2012
    PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Isaac dumped torrential rains on Haiti and flattened tent camps housing survivors of a devastating earthquake, then began an assault on eastern Cuba on...



    noodls Québec joint venture to create television, film, digital, and gaming media content for worldwide distribution Partnership builds on Bell's strategy to invest in Québec media and French-language content, led by Bell's upcoming acquisition of Astral Media MONTRÉAL, August 28,...(size: 7.0Kb)
    CBC Bell has run off to join the circus – specifically the Cirque du Soleil – announcing a joint venture production deal with the world-famous circus troupe to develop TV, film and digital content. BCE’s Bell Media division said its alliance with the Quebec-based circus would develop entertainment...(size: 2.3Kb)
    The Hollywood Reporter share Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images The Canadian phone giant has enlisted the circus troupe's world-beating performers to help get through regulatory hoops for its $3.38 billion takeover of Astral Media....(size: 2.6Kb)
    The Examiner Tweet 0 Email Report Advertisement Photo 1 of 13 Some of the costumes for Cirque du Soleil's 'Quidam.' Credit: James Castree Some of the costumes for Cirque du Soleil's 'Quidam.'More of the costumes.The hand-painted details on the costumes of...(size: 4.5Kb)
    The Examiner Tweet 0 Email Report Advertisement Photo 1 of 2 Dralion Mask Credit: T. Browne Smith Dralion MaskDralion CostumesMore >You might also like Summer Travel Guide to Family Hotels 3 Photos Brookside Gardens...(size: 3.8Kb)
    The Examiner Related topics Cirque du Soleil Dralionbaltimore Advertisement It's hard not to be a Cirque du Soleil fan when you experience productions like Dralion, a feast for the eyes. If you appreciate Asian culture, the circus arts, live music, bold sets, and the color red, no matter how many Cirque shows...(size: 7.9Kb)
    The Examiner Related topics Cirque du SoleilZarkanaRadio City Music HallDJ RekhaBollywood Advertisement She’s having the Cirque du Soleil experience of her life, but Meetu Chilana, who previously toured in Cirque’s production of Koozå and is currently winding up her run at Radio City Music Hall in the company’s...(size: 14.0Kb)
    IMDb Sneak Peek the first James Cameron-produced "Cirque du Soleil" 3D feature film, "Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away", opening December 2012. Quebec-based "Cirque du Soleil"...(size: 1.1Kb)
    New York Daily News While Julie Dionne spins through the air, her boyfriend, Jeremie Robert, slides through a round band on the stage below. Talk about making a lover jump through hoops. It’s anything but a conventional relationship, but welcome to Cirque du Soleil, where acrobatic storytelling is a family affair....(size: 4.1Kb)
    Cirque du Soleil Inc.
    Type Private company
    Industry Entertainment
    Founded 1984
    Founder(s) Guy Laliberte
    Headquarters Montreal, Quebec, Canada
    Area served Worldwide
    Key people Daniel Lamarre, President and COO
    Revenue increase C$ 850 million (FY 2010)[1]
    Employees 5,020
    Divisions Cirque du Soleil Images, Cirque du Soleil's Merchandising
    Subsidiaries Cirque du Soleil Musique
    Website www.cirquedusoleil.com

    Cirque du Soleil (/ˈsɪərk d sˈl/; "Circus of the Sun") is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment." Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Daniel Gauthier.[2]

    Initially named Les Échassiers, they toured Quebec in 1980 as a performing troupe and encountered financial hardship that was relieved by a government grant in 1983 as part of the 450th anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cartier's discovery of Canada.[3] Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil was a success in 1984, and after securing a second year of funding, Laliberté hired Guy Caron from the National Circus School to re-create it as a "proper circus". Its theatrical, character-driven approach and the absence of performing animals helped define Cirque du Soleil as the contemporary circus ("nouveau cirque") that it remains today.[4]

    Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world, with its own central theme and storyline. They draw the audience into the performance through continuous live music, with performers rather than stagehands changing the props. After financial successes and failures in the late 1980s, Nouvelle Expérience was created – with the direction of Franco Dragone – which not only made Cirque profitable by 1990, but allowed it to create new shows.[5]

    Cirque expanded rapidly through the 1990s and 2000s, going from one show to 19 shows in over 271 cities on every continent except Antarctica. The shows employ approximately 4,000 people from over 40 countries and generate an estimated annual revenue exceeding US$810 million.[6][7] The multiple permanent Las Vegas shows alone play to more than 9,000 people a night, 5% of the city's visitors, adding to the 90 million people who have experienced Cirque worldwide.[7] In 2000, Laliberté bought out Gauthier, and with 95% ownership, has continued to expand the brand.[8] In 2008, Laliberté split 20% of his share equally between two investment groups Istithmar World and Nakheel of Dubai, in order to further finance the company's goals. In partnership with these two groups, Cirque plans to build a residency show in the United Arab Emirates by 2012. However, since Dubai's financial problems in 2010 caused by the 2008 global recession, it has been stated by Laliberté it may be looking for another financial partner to bankroll the company's future plans, even willing to give up another 10% of his share.[9] Several more shows are in development around the world, along with a television deal, women's clothing line and the possible venture into other mediums such as spas, restaurants and nightclubs.[10] Cirque also produces a small number of private and corporate events each year (past clients have been the royal family of Dubai and the 2007 Super Bowl).[11]

    Cirque's creations have received numerous prizes and distinctions, including a Bambi Award in 1997, a Rose d'Or in 1989, Drama Desk Awards in 1991 and 1998, three Gemini Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards,[12][13] and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[14]

    Contents

    Origins[link]

    Madame Corporation with a little girl at The Mirage in Las Vegas

    Seeking a career in the performing arts, Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté toured Europe as a folk musician and busker after quitting college. By the time he returned home to Canada in 1979, he had learned the art of fire breathing. Although he became "employed" at a hydroelectric power plant in James Bay, his job ended after only three days due to a labour strike. He decided not to look for another job, instead supporting himself on his unemployment insurance. He helped organize a summer fair in Baie-Saint-Paul with the help of a pair of friends named Daniel Gauthier and Gilles Ste-Croix.[5][8]

    Gauthier and Ste-Croix were managing a youth hostel for performing artists named Le Balcon Vert at that time. By the summer of 1979, Ste-Croix had been developing the idea of turning the Balcon Vert, and the talented performers who lived there, into an organized performing troupe. As part of a publicity stunt to convince the Quebec government to help fund his production, Ste-Croix walked the 56 miles (90 km) from Baie-Saint-Paul to Quebec City on stilts. The ploy worked, giving the three men the money to create Les Échassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul. Employing many of the people who would later make up Cirque, Les Échassiers toured Quebec during the summer of 1980.[15][16]

    Although well-received by audiences and critics alike, Les Échassiers was a financial failure. Laliberté spent that winter in Hawaii plying his trade while Ste-Croix stayed in Quebec to set up a nonprofit holding company named "The High-Heeled Club" to mitigate the losses of the previous summer. In 1981, they met with better results. By that fall, Les Échassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul had broken even. The success inspired Laliberté and Ste-Croix to organize a summer fair in their hometown of Baie-Saint-Paul.[15]

    This touring festival, called "La Fête Foraine", first took place in July 1982. La Fête Foraine featured workshops to teach the circus arts to the public, after which those who participated could take part in a performance. Ironically, the festival was barred from its own hosting town after complaints from local citizens.[17] Laliberté managed and produced the fair over the next couple years, nurturing it into a moderate financial success. But it was in 1983 that the government of Quebec gave him a $1.5 million grant to host a production the following year as part of Quebec's 450th anniversary celebration of the French explorer Jacques Cartier's discovery of Canada. Laliberté named his creation "Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil".[5][18]

    Shows[link]

    Overview[link]

    Name Premiere Type
    Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil 1984-JUN-16 Touring (Retired)
    La Magie Continue 1986-APR-20 Touring (Retired)
    Le Cirque Réinventé 1987-MAY-07 Touring (Retired)
    Nouvelle Expérience 1990-MAY-08 Touring (Retired)
    Saltimbanco 1992-APR-23 Touring / Arena (since 2007)
    Mystère 1993-DEC-25 Treasure Island, Las Vegas
    Alegría 1994-APR-21 Touring / Arena (since 2009)
    Quidam 1996-APR-23 Touring / Arena (since 2010)
    O 1998-OCT-15 Bellagio, Las Vegas
    La Nouba 1998-DEC-23 Downtown Disney, Lake Buena Vista, Florida
    Dralion 1999-APR-22 Touring / Arena (since 2010)
    Varekai 2002-APR-22 Touring
    Zumanity 2003-JUL-31 New York-New York, Las Vegas
    2005-FEB-03 MGM Grand, Las Vegas
    Corteo 2005-APR-21 Touring
    Delirium 2006-JAN-26 Arena (Retired)
    Love 2006-JUN-02 The Mirage, Las Vegas
    Koozå 2007-APR-19 Touring
    Wintuk 2007-NOV-01 Madison Square Gardens, New York City (Seasonal – Retired)
    Zaia 2008-JUL-26 The Venetian Macao, Cotai Strip, Macau (Retired)
    Zed 2008-AUG-15 Tokyo Disney Resort, Tokyo, Japan (Retired)
    Criss Angel Believe 2008-SEP-26 Luxor, Las Vegas
    Ovo 2009-APR-23 Touring
    Banana Shpeel 2009-NOV-19 Arena (Retired)
    Viva Elvis 2009-DEC-16 Aria Resort & Casino, Las Vegas
    Totem 2010-APR-22 Touring
    Zarkana 2011-JUN-29 Touring / Arena
    Iris 2011-SEPT-25 Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles
    Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour 2011-OCT-2 Touring / Arena
    Amaluna 2012-APR-19 Touring

    Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil[link]

    On stage at the 1994 finale of Nouvelle Expérience.

    Originally intended to only be a one-year project, Cirque du Soleil was scheduled to perform in 11 towns in Quebec over the course of 13 weeks running concurrent with the third La Fête Foraine. The first shows were riddled with difficulty, starting with the collapse of the big top after the increased weight of rainwater caused the central mast to snap. Working with a borrowed tent, Laliberté then had to contend with difficulties with the European performers who were so unhappy with the Quebec circus's inexperience, that they had at one point sent a letter to the media complaining about how they were being treated.[5]

    The problems were only transient, however, and by the time 1984 had come to a close, Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil was a success. Having only $60,000 left in the bank, Laliberté went back to the Canadian government to secure funding for a second year. Unfortunately, while the Canadian federal government was enthusiastic, the Quebec provincial government was resistant to the idea. It was not until Quebec's Premier, René Lévesque, intervened on their behalf that the provincial government relented.[5]

    The original big top tent that was used during the 1984 Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil tour can now be seen at Carnivàle Lune Bleue, a 1930s-style carnival that is home to the Cirque Maroc acrobats.[19]

    La Magie Continue[link]

    After securing funding from the Canadian government for a second year, Laliberté took steps to renovate Cirque from a group of street performers into a "proper circus". To accomplish this he hired the head of the National Circus School, Guy Caron, as Cirque du Soleil's artistic director. The influences that Laliberté and Caron had in reshaping their circus were extensive. They wanted strong emotional music that was played from beginning to end by musicians. They wanted to emulate the Moscow Circus' method of having the acts tell a story. Performers, rather than a technical crew, move equipment and props on and off stage so that it did not disrupt the momentum of the "storyline". Most importantly, their vision was to create a circus with neither a ring nor animals. The rationale was that the lack of both of these things draws the audience more into the performance.[5][20]

    To help design the next major show, Laliberté and Caron hired Franco Dragone, another instructor from the National Circus School who had been working in Belgium. When he joined the troupe in 1985, he brought with him his experience in commedia dell'arte techniques, which he imparted to the performers. Although his experience would be limited in the next show due to budget restraints, he would go on to direct every show up to, but not including Dralion.[5]

    By 1986, the company was once again in serious financial trouble. During 1985 they had taken the show outside Quebec to a lukewarm response. In Toronto they performed in front of a 25% capacity crowd after not having enough money to properly market the show. Gilles Ste-Croix, dressed in a monkey suit, walked through downtown Toronto as a desperate publicity stunt. A later stop in Niagara Falls turned out to be equally problematic.

    Several factors prevented Cirque from going bankrupt that year. The Desjardins Group, which was Cirque du Soleil's financial institution at the time, covered about $200,000 of bad checks. Also, a financier named Daniel Lamarre, who worked for one of the largest public relations firms in Quebec, represented the company for free, knowing that they didn't have the money to pay his fee. The Quebec government itself also came through again, granting Laliberté enough money to stay solvent for another year.[5]

    Le Cirque Réinventé[link]

    In 1987, after Laliberté re-privatized Cirque du Soleil, it was invited to perform at the Los Angeles Arts Festival. Although they continued to be plagued by financial difficulties, Normand Latourelle took the gamble and went to Los Angeles, despite only having enough money to make a one-way trip. Had the show been a failure, Cirque would not have had enough money to get their performers and equipment back to Montreal.[5][21]

    The festival turned out to be a huge success, both critically and financially. The show attracted the attention of entertainment executives, including Columbia Pictures, which met with Laliberté and Gauthier under the pretense of wanting to make a movie about Cirque du Soleil. Laliberté was unhappy with the deal, claiming that it gave too many rights to Columbia, which was only attempting to secure all rights to the production. Laliberté pulled out of the deal before it could be concluded, and that experience stands out as a key reason why Cirque du Soleil remains independent and privately owned today.[10]

    In 1988, Guy Caron left the company due to artistic differences over what to do with the money generated by Cirque du Soleil's first financially successful tour. Laliberté wanted to use it to expand and start a second show while Caron wanted the money to be saved, with a portion going back to the National Circus School. An agreement was never met and Caron, along with a large number of artists loyal to him, departed. This stalled plans that year to start a new touring show.[5]

    Laliberté sought out Gilles Ste-Croix as replacement for the artistic director position. Ste-Croix, who had been away from Cirque since 1985, agreed to return. The company went through more internal troubles, including a failed attempt to add Normand Latourelle as a third man to the partnership. This triumvirate lasted only six months before internal disagreements prompted Gauthier and Laliberté to buy out Latourelle. By the end of 1989, Cirque du Soleil was once again in a deficit.[5]

    Nouvelle Expérience[link]

    Isabelle Chassé performs in the contortion act of Nouvelle Expérience.

    In that same year, Cirque attempted to revive one of its previous shows, Le Cirque Réinventé. The attempt was abandoned after a weak critical reception. Laliberté and Ste-Croix instead created a new show based on the plans that had originally been drawn up by Caron before his departure. Originally intended to be called Eclipse, they renamed the show Nouvelle Expérience and launched it in 1990.[5]

    Franco Dragone agreed to return—albeit reluctantly—but only if he had full creative control of the show's environment. One of the first things he did was to remove the curtain that separated the artist from the audience, so that they would both feel part of a larger show. Whereas in a traditional circus the artist could go past the curtain and drop his role, Dragone had created an environment where the artist had to remain in character for the full length of the production.[5]

    Although Dragone was given full control over the show, Laliberté oversaw the entire production. He was in favor of Dragone's new ideas. Inspired by Jules Verne's "La Chasse au Météore", Dragone's concept for the show was that the performers were playing the parts of jewels spread around the Earth.[5]

    Nouvelle Expérience turned out to be Cirque du Soleil's most popular show up to that point and would continue running until 1993. It spent one of those years at The Mirage Resort and Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. By the end of 1990, Cirque was profitable again and was prepared to start a new show.[5]

    Saltimbanco[link]

    Inside Cirque du Soleil's "grand chapiteau" at Saltimbanco.

    Created in 1992, Saltimbanco was the first show in which Cirque du Soleil would narrow its focus to tell a very specific and themed story. Franco Dragone was inspired by the way multiculturalism shaped the nature and direction of Cirque du Soleil and wanted the theme of this new show to be one of "cosmopolitan urbanism". Laliberté stated, "For me, Saltimbanco is a message of peace. In the 1990s, immigration was an issue, the mixing of cultures in cities, and Saltimbanco reflects that mix, with all of its personalities and colours. It's the challenge we have in today's world: respecting each other, living and working together, despite our differences."[22]

    Idealistic or not, Saltimbanco, (whose title comes from the Italian phrase "Saltare in Banco", which literally means "To jump on a bench"),[23] was well-received. Featuring 47 artists, the cast has been assembled from the citizens of 15 different countries. This is, to date, the longest-running show that Cirque du Soleil has ever produced. It has run for 15 years and has toured North and South America, Europe, South Africa, Japan and the Pacific Rim.[22][24]

    With Saltimbanco finished and touring in the United States and Canada, Cirque du Soleil toured Japan in the summer of 1992 at the behest of the Fuji Television Network. Taking acts from Nouvelle Expérience and Cirque Réinventé they created a show for this tour entitled "Fascination". Although "Fascination" was never seen outside of Japan, it represented the first time that Cirque had produced a show that took place in an arena rather than a big top. It was also the first that Cirque du Soleil performed outside of North America.[5]

    On February 1, 1997, Saltimbanco played its final show at London's Royal Albert Hall. However, the show was restaged and started the following year for a new three-year tour throughout Asia and the Pacific.[25]

    In 2010, an arena version of the retired big-top show toured in arenas across North America, traveling to regions that have never had a Cirque du Soleil show visit, such as Idaho and Newfoundland and Labrador. Furthermore, Cirque du Soleil decided to carry on their tour of Saltimbanco to South Africa and Australia in 2011.

    Currently (January/February 2012), Saltimbanco is touring Eastern and Central Europe and in May at Beirut, Lebanon.

    Saltimbanco will be performing its arena show at the Singapore Indoor Stadium from July 26, 2012 to August 5, 2012. [26]

    Mystère[link]

    On December 25, 1993, as Cirque was approaching its 10th anniversary, they unveiled a new show at the then-new Treasure Island Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Mystère was a departure from their standard format much in the way that Fascination was. A deal was made between Cirque du Soleil and Steve Wynn, Treasure Island's developer, to grant permanent residency to Cirque's new show. It posed certain difficulties for the company, such as the need to set up a permanent infrastructure to meet the needs of its employees working in the Las Vegas area.[5]

    Dragone's concept for Mystère was an exploration of the origins of life in our universe. The themes for the show are a conglomerate of multiple mythologies from multiple cultures. The music was quite different from Cirque's previously traditional style as well, relying on more "ethnic" music of Spanish, African and east European inspiration.[5]

    The show represented Cirque's first attempt at moving from the big top into a theater setting. It was also the first time that Laliberté and Gauthier were forced to contend with a major business partner, Treasure Island.[5] The partnership led to difficulties and Steve Wynn was not initially optimistic about the show's chances for success, saying "You guys have made a German opera here." Franco Dragone took Wynn's sarcasm as a compliment. Wynn remained unhappy with the dark and moody feel of Mystère and had even threatened to delay the opening of the show unless changes were made. Nevertheless, Mystère was successful and has remained at the hotel ever since.[27][28]

    Alegría[link]

    Alegría was a departure from the bright circus atmosphere seen previously in productions like Saltimbanco. Created for Cirque du Soleil's tenth anniversary, the concept for the show came to life over a dinner conversation between Franco Dragone and Guy Laliberté.[29] Dragone wanted this show to be dark and heavy. "At one point", Dragone said "I was with Guy Laliberté at a restaurant in one of the Las Vegas casinos, and I told him the next show would be sad, heavy, really hard: ' Alegría! Alegría! Alegría!' It's Spanish for 'Joy! Joy! Joy!' Where I come from, it's what you say when you're in pain. It means life goes on."[5]

    Costing more than $3 million to produce, Alegría makes use of darker lighting and music than previous Cirque productions. The stage and the props use gothic arches and harsh angular designs to attempt to invoke a feeling of oppressiveness.[5][29]

    Alegría has toured around the world, including a year in residence at the Beau Rivage resort in Biloxi, Mississippi.[29] Francesca Gagnon, who played the most famous "The White Singer" character, has twice been invited to reprise the Alegría title song at the Montreal Jazz Festival.[30] The music of Alegría has proven extremely popular and the show's soundtrack remains the best-selling Cirque du Soleil album to date.[31]

    After a 15-year-long tour, Alegría retired on April 5, 2009, after its month-long engagement in Dubai. The show was later restaged, following the arena format of Delirium and Saltimbanco. Premiering in Halifax on May 27, 2009, Alegría started touring later that year for a new three-year North American tour, including stops in cities such as Edmonton, AB in August 2010 and Victoria, BC in September 2010.

    Quidam[link]

    Premiering in 1996, Quidam adhered to the trend of bringing darker shows to the big top, previously established by Alegría the year before. Derived from the Latin word for "a nameless passerby", Quidam was Cirque du Soleil's ninth production and premiered in Montreal on April 23, 1996. Dragone's concept for this show is the imagination of a young, jaded girl named Zoe. Drawing heavily from surrealistic artwork, the performers in the show are the manifestations of her own magical daydreams.[32]

    Designer Michel Crête and director Franco Dragone wanted to find a new way to incorporate acrobatic equipment onstage. One of the ways they did this in Quidam was to design an overhead rigging system that would allow the performers to enter and exit from above and across the stage. The system also allowed the ability to safely suspend cast members in the air using harnesses for extended periods of time.[5]

    The show premiered in Montreal as Cirque du Soleil's new head office and training center was being inaugurated. Initial reviews were critical of Quidam, some suggesting that it "did not feel like Cirque du Soleil". Still, the production scheduled a three-year tour of North America. By the time the 1000-performance tour was finished, Denver, Houston and Dallas were added to the schedule and more than 2.5 million people watched Quidam. After touring Mexico for five months (November 2007 – March 2008), Quidam went back to Europe, to start its second European tour in Lisbon, Portugal, with scheduled dates in Spain, Belgium, UK and Ireland. In 2009/2010, the show toured South America, starting in Brazil, then moving to Argentina, Chile, Peru and Colombia.

    The show goes from one country to the other transported in 50 trucks. It does not only consist of the Big Top or "Grand Chapiteau" where the shows themselves take place but of an entire citadel providing everything necessary for the cast, including a school for the children and a restaurant that cooks for the 150 people working for the show, directed by French Chef Wilfred Gianoly.

    O[link]

    On October 19, 1998, at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, Cirque premiered its tenth production and second resident show. Once again working with hotel entrepreneur Steve Wynn, Cirque du Soleil and Wynn financed a $100 million theater within the hotel. As the company was getting more comfortable with theater productions, they wanted to create a show performed in the water, a concept not tried in a theater before.[5] O, whose name is derived from the phonetic spelling of the French word eau, meaning water,[33] took more than 400,000 man-hours of preproduction and production work to prepare, not counting the time spent on the construction of the theater.[34]

    The 1,800-seat theater itself was centered around a 1.5-million-US-gallon (5,700 m3) tank of water for the cast to perform in and around. It was built using a water pumping system that is as noiseless as possible to prevent any mechanical noise from detracting from the quality of the show itself. Twelve underwater speakers allow the performers in the water to hear and react to audio cues when they are submerged.[34]

    Water-resistant materials had to be used in the construction of the theater as well as all the props, costumes and makeup. The costumes used by the performers were nearly $10,000 each and needed to be made of material that resisted the effects of the chlorine and bromide in the water. The makeup that had been used in past shows was unsuitable for submerged performers, requiring a new waterproof formulation.[5]

    To support the needs of the performers who would be getting in and out of the water, a directed HVAC system was created for this theater to control the heat and humidity generated by the water which is approximately 84 °F (29 °C). Blowers were built into the stage to keep warm air circulating on the stage while a silent air movement system carried air at 55 °F (13 °C) underneath every seat in the theater. The combined systems keep both the performers and the audience at a comfortable temperature.[34]

    La Nouba[link]

    Later that same year in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Cirque's third resident show was inaugurated at the Downtown Disney section of the Walt Disney World Resort. In a partnership with Disney's former CEO Michael Eisner, Cirque created its first permanent freestanding theater to hold 1,671 attendees. 160 feet (49 m) high and designed to resemble a white tower with metal turrets on the outside, the 70,000-square-foot (6,500 m2) interior is made to project the appearance and atmosphere of a travelling show's "Grand Chapiteau".[5][35]

    Conceptually, Dragone and Laliberté decided to portray La Nouba as a fairy tale. Set designer Michel Crête noted, "We were at Disney, so we were influenced by a world of fables." The set design is built to give the perception of an old attic where the performers tell the audience a story.[5] La Nouba, whose title originates from the French phrase faire la nouba ("to party"), juxtaposes two groups of characters: one colourful and the other monochromatic.[36]

    The creative design team of Cirque du Soleil admits that La Nouba was rushed together. They had been working on the previous shows for the past several years and La Nouba was created under near-exhaustion. They countered this by attempting to instill more youth into the show, in both the themes and the age of the performers.[5]

    Dralion[link]

    The years of work had taken their toll on Cirque du Soleil's creative team. After La Nouba, Franco Dragone and Michel Crête parted ways from the company. To fill the void they left for the creation of the next show, Guy Laliberté turned to his former artistic director, Guy Caron, who had remained friends with Laliberté after his departure in 1988. Caron was persuaded to leave the National Circus School to return to work with Cirque du Soleil on a new Eastern-themed show.[5]

    Rather than attempt to mimic Dragone's style, Caron decided to revisit the themes of Le Cirque réinventé. "I like a show that's full of energy, without gaps, that's full of strong acts, funny, with a big punch at the end", Caron explained. One of his obstacles was working with a team of performers who were almost entirely new to Cirque du Soleil, including a new set designer named Stéphane Roy who had worked with Laliberté and Gauthier back in Baie-Saint-Paul at the Balcon Vert youth hostel. Despite the new team, many within the company were unenthused about Dralion, alarmed at how much the atmosphere and style differed from Dragone's productions.[5] Despite any misgivings, Dralion went on to be Cirque du Soleil's top-grossing touring show. The television filming of the show received a Primetime Emmy Award.[13]

    After a 13-year-long tour, Dralion was briefly retired on January 17, 2010, after its engagement in Mexico, so that it could be converted into an arena format. It started touring again on October 21, 2010, with the first show playing in Trenton, New Jersey.

    Varekai[link]

    File:Cirque6.jpg
    The entrance to Cirque du Soleil's Grand Chapiteau at Varekai.

    In 2002, Cirque du Soleil premiered Varekai, its first touring show in three years. Laliberté brought in fresh talent to direct this new show: a theater director named Dominic Champagne. Much like Caron directing Dralion three years earlier, Champagne found himself working with a fresh group of performers who had never worked for him before. Unlike the intuitive approach to writing productions of Dragone and Caron, Champagne scripted Varekai from start to finish.[5][37]

    Varekai, which is a word from the Romany language which means "wherever", was conceptualized on the basis of mythology like many of the previous productions. The story is about the Greek myth of Icarus. The story picks up where the myth leaves off, telling the story of what happened to Icarus after he fell from the sky. He lands in the middle of a jungle at the base of a volcano where he must learn to fly again.[38]

    Zumanity[link]

    On September 20, 2003, Cirque du Soleil unveiled Zumanity.[39] This production is a resident cabaret-style show at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. It is the first "adult-themed" Cirque du Soleil show, billed as "the sensual side of Cirque du Soleil" or "another side of Cirque du Soleil". Created by René Richard Cyr and Dominic Champagne, Zumanity is a departure from the standard Cirque format. Intended to be for mature adult audiences only, this show is centered around erotic song, dance, and acrobatics.[5]

    The inspiration to create Zumanity came from multiple sources. Laliberté had been offered the chance to create two new shows in Las Vegas, and wanted something completely new and original rather than multiple similar shows that would cannibalize off of each other's sales and audiences. Another reason was that the New York-New York Hotel and Casino wanted to make their entertainment appear more "trendy". The hotel liked the concept of a more adult Cirque du Soleil performance.[5]

    Laliberté admits that the biggest reason to produce this show was the chance to create something with riskier subject matter. He was interested in the idea of creating a show that explored human sexuality, something that was at complete odds with the other, more family-oriented Cirque du Soleil shows. "Our previous shows have all been family-oriented and politically correct, which is great", Laliberté said, "But we're human beings, we won't hide it. We're a bunch of happy campers. We like to live new experiences. Zumanity deals with some of those experiences."[5]

    [link]

    After Steve Wynn sold his Mirage Resorts to MGM in 2000, Laliberté received a call from Terry Lanni, CEO of the MGM Mirage. Lanni had been eager to capitalize on the previous successes of Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas and offered to fund the production of two more shows, Zumanity and Kà.[40]

    Directed by Canadian theater veteran Robert Lepage, drew heavily on martial arts for its inspiration. The story centers around the adventures of a pair of imperial twins. Unlike most Cirque productions, the story of was more concrete and linear, more narrative and less abstract.[40] First premiering in November 2004 at the MGM Grand, became Cirque's fourth resident show in Las Vegas. It was also the largest and most expensive production the company had created to date. By the time it had been completed, had cost more than $220 million, of which more than $30 million was in costumes and $135 million was the theater itself, the bill for which was paid entirely by the MGM Grand.[41][42]

    Corteo[link]

    Corteo is a Cirque du Soleil touring production that premiered in North America in 2005. Corteo—"cortege" in Italian—is a show about a clown who watches his own funeral taking place in a carnival-like atmosphere. Inspired by "The Grand Parade: Portrait of the Artist as Clown" on display at the National Gallery of Canada, in many ways Corteo is a throwback to the older and more lighthearted Cirque productions like Saltimbanco.[5][43]

    Directed by Daniele Finzi Pasca, the founder of the Swiss clown troupe Teatro Sunil, Corteo takes place on a large circular stage, consisting of separate rotating rings set inside each other. This allows for one area of the stage to move around the stationary action occurring inside the ring. Occasionally during the performance, the stage is divided by a large curtain with a painting on it called the "Corteo Procession". There are entrance/exits at either side of the circular stage.[43]

    Delirium[link]

    Delirium was a Cirque du Soleil live music event created in conjunction with Live Nation. Instead of being a standard touring show, it was a multimedia/theatrical arena production that featured remixes of existing Cirque music and reinterpretations of performances. This show was choreographed by So You Think You Can Dance's Mia Michaels. After an extensive North American tour, and a short European tour, the show retired on the April 19, 2008, in the O2 Arena in London.

    Love[link]

    Love premiered in 2006 at The Mirage, Las Vegas and consists of panoramic sound and visuals along with a cast of 60 international artists. Born from a personal friendship and mutual admiration between George Harrison and Cirque founder Guy Laliberté, Love brings Cirque du Soleil together with the musical legacy of The Beatles through their original recordings. Using the master tapes at Abbey Road studios, Sir George Martin and his son, Giles Martin have created a soundscape of Beatles music for Love.

    Koozå[link]

    Koozå is a touring production that premiered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on April 19, 2007. The show's music is partly inspired by the music of India. Koozå makes use of a large traveling tower on the stage called a "bataclan". The bataclan moves over the course of the show and reconfigures the performing space.[44]

    This show was directed by David Shiner, who had previously worked as a clown in Cirque du Soleil's production of Nouvelle Expérience. His experience as a clown and past work with Switzerland's Circus Knie informed his work on Koozå.[45] The show's title is derived from a Sanskrit word that means "magical container".

    Wintuk[link]

    Wintuk was performed at the Theater at Madison Square Gardens in New York City and ran for 10 weeks each winter holiday season from 2007 to 2011. A family-based and specifically themed semi-permanent residency show, Wintuk was about a young boy living in a large, snowless city waiting for the first snowfall that never comes. With the help of four other companions in search of their place in the world, they journey to an imaginary Nordic country, where they experience the rich culture of the Northern peoples and bring back snow to the city in a snowstorm. The show was formally retired with its final performance on January 2, 2011.

    Zaia[link]

    Based at The Venetian Macao, Cotai Strip, the 90-minute production opened in August 2008 and brings together 75 high-calibre artists from all four corners of the globe. The show is directed by Neilson Vignola and Gilles Maheu.

    Zaia presents a young girl's perception of the stars and planets, space and infinity, all populated by a panoply of fantastic, out-of-this-world creatures. The title, Zaia, comes from a Greek name meaning "life" and is also reminiscent of Gaia, the living, self-aware spirit of Earth.

    The final performance of Zaia was on February 19th, 2012.[46]

    Zed[link]

    Zed was a residency show at the Tokyo Disney Resort that opened on October 1, 2008. Film director François Girard created a show surrounded by the titular character, drawn on the Tarot and its arcana that holds up a mirror to ourselves and the human condition through a variety of other characters as he unites the divisions between the people of the sky and Earth.[47] The show closed December 21, 2011, due to the economic impact caused by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[48]

    Criss Angel Believe[link]

    In late 2008 Cirque du Soleil collaborated with MGM to create a resident show at the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas, featuring Criss Angel, fusing his signature illusions and artistry with acrobatics, dance, puppetry, music and poetry to attempt to tell a story of the exploration of his mind.[49] Originally scheduled to open on September 26, 2008, preview performances were delayed due to "technical difficulties", and the show eventually hosted its gala opening on October 31, 2008.[50]

    Despite enthusiastic promotions from Cirque du Soleil and Criss Angel, including a guest performance on American reality TV show So You Think You Can Dance, which resulted in sales of more than $5 million in advance tickets,[51] Believe received an uneasy reception from fans and critics alike. Audience members were quoted saying the production was a "waste of time" and "dead end",[52] while the show received harsh reviews from critics for lack of magic and overall cohesion of the production.[53][54] Producers responded to these complaints by adding numerous additional illusions to the performance and revamping the show in April 2010.

    Ovo[link]

    Ovo (Portuguese for "egg"), was created and directed by Brazilian dancer/choreographer Deborah Colker – the first woman to create a Cirque production—that heavily relies on Brazilian music and some dance performances mixed in with the traditional circus arts; premiered in Montreal in 2009 and is currently touring North America. The show looks at the world of insects and its biodiversity where they go about their daily lives until a mysterious egg appears in their midst, as the insects become awestruck about this iconic object that represents the enigma and cycles of their lives.

    Banana Shpeel[link]

    Banana Shpeel was a touring theatre show which premiered on November 19, 2009, at the Chicago Theater. The vaudeville-based production was directed by David Shiner, who also created Koozå. The show only lasted for a very short time, only playing in Chicago, New York City, and Toronto. The show was eventually cancelled in 2010, due to the many complications and poor reviews it was receiving.

    Viva Elvis[link]

    Viva Elvis, developed in partnership with Elvis Presley Enterprises, began previews on December 18, 2009, in a specially designed, 2,000-seat theatre at the new Aria Resort & Casino at CityCenter in Las Vegas.[55][56]

    CKX, Inc., the company that owns the rights to Elvis Presley's name, likeness, and music publishing, signed an agreement to have Cirque create the Elvis-themed residency show. The gala premiere was originally scheduled for January 8, 2010[57][58] on what would have been Elvis' 75th birthday, but was postponed until February 19, 2010.[55][56] The Elvis Presley Projects will include additional touring and its multimedia presentations, along with "Elvis Experiences" (interactive multimedia exhibits).[59] The show will end its run in August, 2012, due to low attendance records.[60][61]

    Totem[link]

    Totem is a touring show which premiered in Montreal on April 22, 2010. It was created and directed by previous collaborator Robert Lepage (). The show began its tour in Canada before heading to Europe. This was a change from the company's usual touring routes, the next stop usually being San Francisco, as Cirque already has three touring shows (Ovo, Koozå and Alegría) in the United States.[62]

    Cirque describes Totem's theme as the evolution of mankind from its primordial, amphibian state toward the aspiration of flight, taking inspiration from many of mankind's founding myths.[63]

    Zarkana[link]

    Zarkana is a touring arena show which will play in both Radio City Music Hall in New York City as well as the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow.[64][65] Zarkana will also tour in other cities, although it will be seasonal in New York City and Moscow. The show began previews on June 9, 2011, at Radio City Music Hall and premiered on June 29, 2011.[66][67] The show will be a reinvention of the variety show, with a story about a magician in an abandoned theatre who has lost his love and with her, his magic has disappeared. As he cries and begs the Gods for her return he is plunged into a world inhabited by surreal creatures.

    On March 7, 2012, Cirque du Soleil announced that following its second Radio City Music Hall engagement, Zarkana would replace Viva La Elvis at the Aria Resort & Casino. Previews begin on October 25 for a November 8, 2012 opening.

    Iris[link]

    Iris, a movie-themed permanent show directed by Philippe Decouflé, is the first show produced by Cirque du Soleil to be located in Los Angeles, California that premièred on September 25, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre.[68] The show takes spectators on a fantastic voyage through the history of cinema and its genres, transporting them into the heart of the movie-making process and takes a unique look at the history of cinema and combining that with Cirque du Soleil's traditional artistic works of dance, acrobatics, and modern circus traditions. The name of the show, Iris, is taken directly from both camera diaphragms as well as the colored iris of the human eye.[69]

    Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour[link]

    Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour is the official theatrical production by Cirque du Soleil which uses the music and vision of Michael Jackson along with Cirque du Soleil's signature acrobatic performance style to create a realistic concert experience. The arena show —which is very similar to a rock concert— began its tour October 2, 2011, in Montreal. After its North American run for about two years, it will continue on to Europe and the rest of the world [70]

    At the point in time it leaves North America, a resident show—which will be more theatrical in nature—will open in early 2013 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino located in Las Vegas, Nevada.[71] In addition to the resident show at the Mandalay Bay, Cirque du Soleil will also be opening up a Michael Jackson-inspired lounge as well as a memorabilia gift shop.[72]

    Amaluna[link]

    Cirque du Soleil's 32nd production since 1984, Amaluna, premiered April 19, 2012, in Montreal, QC. It is created and directed by Diane Paulus. The story takes place on an island governed by goddesses. During a storm, a group of men are washed up on shore. The queen's daughter falls for one of the young men, and the trials of their love are the elements composing this production.[73]

    Future productions[link]

    2012[link]

    • Cirque has signed a major partnership with United Arab Emirates real estate developer Nakheel to create a residency show at the Atlantis, The Palm Resort on The Palm, Jumeirah in Dubai, with an initial 15-year deal for an original show scheduled to debut in 2012,[74][75] directed by Guy Caron (Dralion) and Michael Curry but since Dubai's financial problems in 2010 caused by the 2008 global recession, it has been stated by Laliberté that the project has been "put on ice"[9] for the time being.

    2013[link]

    • A new production is scheduled to replace La Nouba as early as 2013. [79]

    2015[link]

    • Depending on the success of Zarkana's run, Cirque has plans to develop a new permanent residency production in Moscow, Russia by 2015 and could invest an additional $1 million to $50 million.[80]

    Other works[link]

    Projects[link]

    • Cirque du Monde: a social action project designed to reach marginalized youth.[81]
    • Jukari Fit to Fly: A fitness program promoted cooperatively with Reebok.
    • Safewalls: An artistic project curated by Cirque du Soleil that is bringing time-honoured circus posters into the 21st century by pairing up with renowned international street art and lowbrow artists.[82][83]
    • Desigual inspired by Cirque du Soleil: Cirque du Soleil has partnered with Desigual fashion design to develop a clothing collection which will include 60 items of clothing and accessories. The clothing will be made available at Desigual stores as well as Cirque du Soleil show boutiques.[84]
    • Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away: Cirque du Soleil is partnering with James Cameron, and Andrew Adamson (in association with Reel FX Entertainment) to produce a 3D motion picture.[85] This film will be distributed worldwide by Paramount Pictures in 2012.[86]

    Special Events[link]

    Cirque du Soleil has a "Special Events" team which coordinates various events, both public and private.

    Date Name or Event Location Notes
    2002-MAR-24 74th Academy Awards Los Angeles
     United States
    A five-minute performance for the category of special effects at the 74th Academy Awards. They spent four months creating the show, which featured 11 acts from a variety of Cirque shows. Each of the acts were choreographed and themed to their equivalent movie by re-creating the special effect scene featured in the film on stage while playing clips on a large screen behind the performances.[87]
    2004-JUL-11 Soleil de Minuit
    (Midnight Sun)
    Montreal
     Canada
    A special one-night event in Montreal celebrating the 20th anniversary of Cirque du Soleil and the 25th anniversary of the Montreal International Jazz Festival.[88]
    2004–2005 A Taste of Cirque du Soleil Celebrity Cruises A special 30-minute performance on the Constellation and Summit Celebrity Cruises cruise ships. Included on these ships was The Bar at the Edge of the Earth, a dreamlike bar/lounge/disco.[89][90]
    2005-JUL-15 Reflections in Blue Montreal
     Canada
    A unique one-night water show in Montreal as part of the opening ceremonies for the 2005 World Aquatics Championships.[91]
    2007-FEB-04 One Day, One Game, One Dream Miami Gardens, Florida
     United States
    Produced by David Saltz, this was performed during the Super Bowl XLI pre-game show.[92]
    2008 The Awakening of the Serpent Zaragoza
     Spain
    Cirque du Soleil participated in the presentation of a daily parade spectacle called The Awakening of the Serpent at Expo 2008 in Zaragoza, Spain.
    2009 Eurovision Song Contest 2009 Moscow
     Russia
    Cirque du Soleil was the opening act of the song contest, along with Dima Bilan who sung "Believe." They performed a spectacle called "Prodigal Son."
    2009 Les Chemins invisibles Quebec City
     Canada
    The first year of Les Chemins invisibles was "The Enriched Encounter."
    2009-DEC-07 Prêmio Craque do Brasileirão  Brazil Cirque du Soleil took part in the celebration. Their artists performed acts from various shows.
    2010 Expo 2010 Shanghai
     China
    Cirque co-created the Canada Pavilion in association with the Government of Canada for Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, which was available for viewing from May to September 2010.[93]
    2010-JUN-14 Electronic Entertainment Expo Los Angeles
     United States
    Cirque du Soleil created and performed a 45-minute presentation on the eve of the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo at the USC's Galen Center in Los Angeles to introduce Microsoft's hands-free gaming device for the Xbox 360, Microsoft Kinect.[11][94]
    2010 Les Chemins invisibles Quebec City
     Canada
    The second year of Les Chemins invisibles was the "Furrow of Dreams."
    2011 Les Chemins invisibles Quebec City
     Canada
    The third year of Les Chemins invisibles is "The Tin Kingdom." It runs June 24, 2011, to September 3, 2011.
    2012-FEB-26 84th Academy Awards Los Angeles
     United States
    Over 50 artists performed a routine, scored by Danny Elfman, during the 84th Academy Awards in the Kodak Theatre.[95][96]

    Grand chapiteau tours[link]

    Cirque du Soleil's Grand Chapiteau at night
    Night shot of the Grand Chapiteau on tour in Barcelona, Spain.

    Cirque du Soleil shows normally tour under a Grand Chapiteau (i.e. big top) for an extended period of time until they are modified, if necessary, for touring in arenas and other venues. The company's grands chapiteaux are easily recognizable by their blue and yellow coloring. The infrastructure that tours with each show could easily be called a mobile village; it includes the Grand Chapiteau, a large entrance tent, artistic tent, kitchen, school, and other items necessary to support the cast and crew.[97]

    The tour has great financial impacts to the cities which they visit by renting out lots for shows, parking spaces, selling and buying promotions, and contributing to local economy in manners of hotel stays, purchasing food, and hiring local help. For example, during its stay in Santa Monica, California, Koozå brought an estimated US$16,700,000 ($18,091,019 in 2012) to the city government and local businesses.[98]

    Site[link]

    • The site takes around eight days to construct and three days to pack up.
    • Anywhere from 50–75 large tractor-trailer containers are necessary to transport the vast amount of equipment. Totem, for example, requires 65 such containers to transport 1,200 tonnes (1,200 long tons; 1,300 short tons).
    • Five generators are used to provide electricity to the site.

    Grand chapiteau[link]

    • Totem's canvas tent is constructed by Les Voileries du Sud-Ouest and weighs approximately 5,227.3 kilograms (11,524 lb).
    • The tent is 19 metres (62 ft) high and is 51 metres (167 ft) in diameter.
    • A single performance can seat more than 2,600 spectators.

    Other tents[link]

    • The Entrance tent holds the concessions and merchandise.
    • The Tapis Rouge is for VIP guests (up to 250) and is also available for private functions.
    • The Artistic tent for the performers houses the wardrobe area, a fully equipped training area, and a physiotherapy room.

    Kitchen[link]

    • Used as the primary commons area, the kitchen serves 200–250 meals a day (6 days a week).

    Lounges[link]

    Cirque du Soleil has started to take on new forms of entertainment by creating bar lounges.[99] As of early 2011, they have partnered with The Light Group to create their lounge concepts.

    Revolution[link]

    Revolution is a 5,000-square-foot (460 m2) lounge concept designed for The Mirage resort in Las Vegas in which cast members perform to the music of The Beatles.[100] Cirque drew inspiration from the Beatles' lyrics to design some of the lounge's features. For instance, the ceiling is decorated with 30,000 dichronic crystals, representing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". The VIP tables use infrared technology which allows guests to create artwork which is then projected onto amorphic columns.[101]

    Gold Lounge[link]

    Cirque du Soleil's second lounge is the Gold Lounge, which is located in the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and is 3,756 square feet (348.9 m2).[102] The design is reminiscent of Elvis' mansion, Graceland, and black and gold are utilized extensively throughout the décor. The bar has the same shape as the bar in the Elvis mansion as well.[99] The music played here changes throughout the night including upbeat Classic rock, commercial House music, upbeat Elvis remixes, minimal hip-hop, Top 40, and Pop.[103]

    Future lounges[link]

    Discography[link]

    Filmography[link]

    Cirque du Soleil Images creates original and innovative products for television, video and DVD and distributes its productions worldwide. In each of its projects, Cirque du Soleil Images aims to reflect the image and spirit of Cirque du Soleil's shows.

    Its creations have been awarded numerous prizes and distinctions, including two Gemini Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award for Cirque du Soleil Fire Within (in 2003) and three Primetime Emmy Awards for Dralion (in 2001).

    Year Title Notes
    1988 La Magie Continue A film adaptation of the production La Magie Continue.
    1990 Le Cirque Réinventé A film adaptation of the production Le Cirque Réinventé.
    1991 Quel Cirque A look into the creation of Nouvelle Experiénce. Out of print.
    1992 Nouvelle Experience A film adaptation of the production Nouvelle Experience.
    1992 Saltimbanco's Diary A behind-the-scenes featurette on the making of Saltimbanco. Out of print.
    1994 Saltimbanco Film adaptation of Saltimbanco and directed by Jacques Payette.
    1994 A Baroque Odyssey A 10-year anniversary retrospective.
    1994 The Truth of Illusion Documentary about the production Alegria. Out of print.
    1996 Full Circle: The Making of Quidam A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Quidam
    1999 Quidam A film adaption of the production Quidam as directed by David Mallet.
    1999 Alegría, the Film Film adaptation directed by Franco Dragone. This film was based loosely on the touring show.
    2000 Journey of Man A compilation of acts from various Cirque shows including Mystère and Quidam. This movie was shot in wide format and released at IMAX theaters.
    2000 Inside La Nouba: From Conception to Perception Highlights of the show and interviews with creators.
    2001 Dralion A film adaptation of the production Dralion as directed by Guy Caron and David Mallet.
    2001 Alegría A film adaption of the production show Alegría as directed by Nick Morris.
    2002 Varekai Film adaptation of the touring show Varekai, directed by Dominic Champagne and Nick Morris.
    2002 Fire Within A 13-episode inside look into the creation and production of Varekai shown on Bravo.
    2003 Whatever 'Stie A parody of Varekai show acted by the technical crew only for the actual artists (actors) DVD.
    2003 La Nouba A film adaptation of the production show La Nouba as directed by David Mallet.
    2004 Midnight Sun Festival International de Jazz de Montréal on July 11, 2004, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and Cirque du Soleil's 20th birthday.
    2004 Solstrom A 13-episode series using various acts from Cirque du Soleil and other productions shown on Bravo. Each episode has a different theme.
    2005 Kà Extreme A documentary which explores the production of by following the show's evolution from early rehearsals through to the first public performance.
    2006 Corteo Film adaptation of the touring show Corteo, directed by Jocelyn Barnabé.
    2006 Lovesick Filmed over two years and set in Las Vegas during the creation of the cabaret-style production, Zumanity.
    2007 Flow A homage to the artists of "O" that provides an in-depth documentary of the Las Vegas aquatic extravaganza.
    2007 The Mystery of Mystère A documentary about Mystère, the critically acclaimed theatrical production playing at the permanent location at the Treasure Island Resort.
    2007 A Thrilling Ride through Koozå A short documentary filmed during the creation period of Koozå.
    2007 Kà - Backstage Filmed exclusively for French Language TV channel Arte and the German national TV channel, ZDF.[105]
    2008 Koozå Film adaptation of the touring show Koozå, directed by Mario Janelle.
    2008 Delirium The last performance of Delirium was filmed in London. This film was released in limited theatrical runs on August 20 and October 15, 2008.
    2008 All Together Now A documentary about the making of Love.
    2010 Zed in Tokyo A documentary filmed during the creation period of the Tokyo residency show, Zed.
    2010 Flowers in the Desert A look at all the Vegas shows including Viva Elvis.
    2011 Crossroads in Macao A documentary filmed during the creation period of the Macao residency show, Zaia.
    2012 Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away A 3D film production produced with James Cameron and Andrew Adamson.

    Legal issues[link]

    In November 2003, a US federal discrimination complaint was filed against Cirque du Soleil by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund on behalf of gymnast Matthew Cusick.[106] The allegation was that in April 2002, they fired Cusick because he tested HIV positive. Cusick had not yet performed, but had completed his training and was scheduled to begin working at Mystère just a few days after he was terminated. Even though company doctors had already cleared him as healthy enough to perform, Cirque alleged that due to the nature of Cusick's disease coupled with his job's high risk of injury, there was a significant risk of him infecting other performers, crew or audience members.[107] Cirque du Soleil said that they had several HIV-positive employees, but in the case of Cusick, the risk of him spreading his infection while performing was too high to take the risk. A boycott ensued and Just Out ran a story on it with the headline "Flipping off the Cirque".[108]

    An additional complaint was filed on Cusick's behalf by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Their complaint stemmed from the issue that the City of San Francisco bans contracts (or in this case land leases) to discriminatory employers.[109]

    Although Cirque du Soleil's position remains that this was a safety issue, not a discrimination issue, they settled with Cusick on April 22, 2004. The terms of the settlement include that the company would initiate a companywide anti-discrimination training program and alter its employment practices pertaining to HIV-positive applicants. In addition, Matthew Cusick received $60,000 in lost wages, $200,000 in front pay, $300,000 in compensatory damages and Lambda Legal received $40,000 in attorney fees.[106][108]

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    46. ^ Oliver Biggadike (February 7, 2012). "Cirque du Soleil Show in Sands China Casino to Close This Month". Bloomberg Businessweek (Bloomberg). http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-07/cirque-du-soleil-show-in-sands-china-casino-to-close-this-month.html. Retrieved February 7, 2012. 
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    48. ^ "公演終了に伴うお客様入力情報の廃棄および移管のご案内". Zed. Cirque du Soleil. 2011-11-21. http://www.zed.co.jp/announcements/detail.php?id=79. Retrieved 2012-01-04. 
    49. ^ "Criss Angel Believe: About". Cirque du Soleil. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/believe/show/about.aspx. Retrieved February 18, 2011. 
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    56. ^ a b Donnelly, Pat (February 11, 2010). "Cirque du Soleil's Viva ELVIS opens in Las Vegas". Montrealgazette.com. http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Cirque+Soleil+Viva+ELVIS+opens+Vegas/2348951/story.html. Retrieved February 18, 2011. [dead link]
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    62. ^ "Kathleen Lavoie, Le Soleil article November 1, 2008 (in French)". Cyberpresse.ca. http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/arts-et-spectacles/sur-scene/200810/31/01-35086-spectacle-itinerant-du-cirque-du-soleil-en-2010-robert-lapage-volontaire.php. Retrieved February 18, 2011. 
    63. ^ "Totem: About the Show". Cirquedusoleil.com. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/totem/show/about.aspx. Retrieved February 18, 2011. 
    64. ^ "Cirque du Soleil to Premiere a Major New Spectacle at Radio City Music Hall in Summer 2011". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). 2010-09-14. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2010/radio-city-new-york.aspx. Retrieved 2011-02-22. 
    65. ^ "Cirque du Soleil and Kremlin Palace: A Brand New Show in Moscow". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). 2011-02-21. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2011/zarkana-new-show-in-moscow.aspx. Retrieved 2011-02-22. 
    66. ^ "A Marvelous Exploration of the Truly Bizarre at Radio City Music Hall written and directed by François Girard". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). 2010-11-09. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2010/zarkana.aspx. Retrieved 2011-02-22. 
    67. ^ "Zarkana - Cirque du SOleil's Surreal Acrobatic Spectacle written and directed by François Girard". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). 2011-05-24. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2011/zarkana-pressconf.aspx. Retrieved 2011-06-04. 
    68. ^ "Cirque du Soleil prepares for first L.A. rehearsals of 'Iris' at Kodak Theatre". Los Angeles Times. 2011-04-28. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/04/cirque-du-soleil-prepares-for-first-la-rehearsals-of-iris-at-kodak-theatre.html. Retrieved 2011-05-01. 
    69. ^ "A new Cirque du Soleil production exclusively at Kodak Theatre Summer 2011". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). 2010-09-22. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2010/iris-in-los-angeles.aspx. Retrieved 2011-03-26. 
    70. ^ "Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour by Cirque du Soleil – Written and Directed by Jamie King – Tour Begins in October 2011". Press release. Cirque du Soleil. November 3, 2010.
    71. ^ "Cirque: Michael Jackson show to debut at Mandalay Bay in 2013". Las Vegas Weekly. 2011-04-21. http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/blogs/luxe-life/2011/apr/21/cirque-confirms-michael-jackson-show-debut-mandala/. Retrieved 2011-04-21. 
    72. ^ "Michael Jackson celebrated in Las Vegas - Mandalay Bay, Cirque du Soleil and the estate of Michael Jackson Confirm Plans". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). 2011-04-27. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2011/mj-in-mandalay-bay.aspx. Retrieved 2011-04-29. 
    73. ^ "Amaluna - About the Show". Amaluna. Cirque du Soleil. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/amaluna/show/about.aspx. Retrieved 2012-JAN-17. 
    74. ^ McArthur, Rachel."Cirque du Soleil Show Dubai". Retrieved November 4, 2009.
    75. ^ "Official Cirque du Soleil Press Release". Cirquedusoleil.com. May 1, 2007. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2007/news114.aspx. Retrieved February 18, 2011. 
    76. ^ "Official Cirque du Soleil Press Release". Cirquedusoleil.com. March 7, 2012. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2012/zarkana-at-aria.aspx. Retrieved March 7, 2012. 
    77. ^ "Cirque: Michael Jackson show to debut at Mandalay Bay in 2013". Las Vegas Weekly. April 21, 2011. http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/blogs/luxe-life/2011/apr/21/cirque-confirms-michael-jackson-show-debut-mandala/. Retrieved April 21, 2011. 
    78. ^ "Iris – Week Fourteen". www.athertontwins.com. March 13, 2011. http://www.athertontwins.com/Atherton_Twins/An_Artists_Journey/Entries/2011/3/13_Iris_-_Week_Fourteen.html. Retrieved March 17, 2011. [dead link]
    79. ^ http://screamscape.com/html/walt_disney_world_resort.htm
    80. ^ "Cirque to perform at Kremlin". CBC News CA. February 22, 2011. http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/story/2011/02/22/cirque-moscow.html. Retrieved February 23, 2011. 
    81. ^ The Point. "Cirque du Monde". http://www.thepoint.org/cirquedumonde/Cirque.html. Retrieved August 19, 2007. 
    82. ^ "Arts visuels—Le Cirque du Soleil vient en aide aux artistes urbains" (in French). Rue Frontenac. February 8, 2011. http://www.ruefrontenac.com/spectacles/artsvisuels/33433--cirque-du-soleil-safewalls. Retrieved March 4, 2011. [dead link]
    83. ^ "Safewalls – An artistic project curated by Cirque du Soleil bringing the time-honoured circus poster into the 21st century". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). February 3, 2011. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2011/safewalls.aspx. Retrieved March 4, 2011. 
    84. ^ "Cirque du Soleil and Desigual Sign a Worldwide Partnership". June 1, 2011. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2011/desigual-partnership-announcement.aspx. Retrieved June 27, 2011. 
    85. ^ "Creative Forces Cirque du Soleil, James Cameron, and Andrew Adamson, in association with Reel FX Entertainment, form partnership to produce Cirque-inspired, immersive 3D experiences". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). December 14, 2010. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/EN/press/news/2010/immersive-3D-experience.aspx. Retrieved March 13, 2011. 
    86. ^ "Paramount and Cirque du Soleil to Partner on "Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away", Written and Directed by Andrew Adamson, and Presented by James Cameron. Studio to Release the 3D Event Film, Worldwide in 2012". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). Cirque du Soleil. 2012-JAN-10. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2012/3D-Wolds-Away.aspx. Retrieved 2012-JAN-13. 
    87. ^ Toni Thompson. "Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences press release". Archived from the original on August 12, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070812110131/http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2002/02.02.22.html. Retrieved August 25, 2007. 
    88. ^ Cirque du Soleil. "Soleil de Minuit press release". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070927185713/http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/Pressroom/cirquedusoleil/public/pressreleases/news103.htm. Retrieved August 25, 2007. 
    89. ^ Linda Garrison. "Celebrity Cruises and Cirque du Soleil introduce new program at sea.". http://cruises.about.com/b/a/224081.htm. Retrieved August 19, 2007. 
    90. ^ "Celebrity Puts Cirque on Hiatus". http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1421. Retrieved May 17, 2009. 
    91. ^ Cirque du Soleil. "Reflections in Blue". Archived from the original on September 14, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070914005818/http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/en/special/fina2005/fina.htm?p=3945. Retrieved August 25, 2007. 
    92. ^ Cirque du Soleil to perform in Super Bowl XLI pregame show published January 9, 2006
    93. ^ "Canada Pavilion for Expo 2010 Shanghai China". Arch Tracker. http://www.archtracker.com/canada-pavilion-for-expo-2010-shanghai-china/2009/05/. Retrieved February 18, 2011. 
    94. ^ "Cirque Brings Kinect to Life". June 14, 2010. http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/Features/2010/jun10/06-14CirqueduSoleil.mspx. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
    95. ^ "Cirque du Soleil to Present Exclusive One-Time Only Performancea t the 84th Academy Awards. Troupe will Pay Tribute to Hollywood's Biggest Night with its Largest Ensemble Cast Ever Assembled in One Act". February 17, 2012. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2012/oscars_cirque_du_soleil.aspx. Retrieved February 26, 2012. 
    96. ^ Pat Donnelly (February 25, 2012). "Cirque du Soleil gearing up for a prime-time Oscar performance". Montreal Gazette. http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Cirque+Soleil+gears+Oscars/6206264/story.html. Retrieved February 26, 2012. 
    97. ^ "Totem: Press Kit" (PDF). Cirque du Soleil (Press Kit). http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/~/media/press/PDF/totem/TOTEM_PressKit.pdf. Retrieved February 10, 2011. 
    98. ^ "City Hall close to bringing back Cirque du Soleil". Santa Monica Daily Press. April 26, 2011. http://www.smdp.com/Articles-c-2011-04-25-71709.113116-City-Hall-close-to-bringing-back-Cirque-du-Soleil.html. Retrieved April 27, 2011. 
    99. ^ a b "Cirque du Soleil Lounges". Cirque du Soleil. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/home.aspx#/en/home/other-activities/details/lounges.aspx. Retrieved February 16, 2011. 
    100. ^ Haya Zoubi. "The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928052108/http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Entertainment/cat_index_las_vegas_entertainment/The_Beatles_LOVE_by_Cirque_Du_Soleil.php. Retrieved August 19, 2007. 
    101. ^ "Las Vegas Ultra Lounge Revolution". The Light Group. http://lightgroup.com/las-vegas-ultra-lounge-revolution/. Retrieved February 16, 2011. 
    102. ^ "Las Vegas Ultra Lounge Gold". The Light Group. http://lightgroup.com/las-vegas-ultra-lounge-gold/. Retrieved February 16, 2011. 
    103. ^ "Gold Lounge". Cirque du Soleil (Press Material). http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/~/media/press/PDF/viva-elvis/gold-lounge.pdf. Retrieved April 15, 2011. 
    104. ^ "Michael Jackson celebrated in Las Vegas - Mandalay Bay, Cirque du Soleil and the estate of Michael Jackson Confirm Plans". Cirque du Soleil (Press Release). 2011-04-27. http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/press/news/2011/mj-in-mandalay-bay.aspx. Retrieved 2011-06-08. 
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    109. ^ Hua, Vanessa (November 22, 2003). "S.F. to probe firing of circus worker". The San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/22/BAGG838H771.DTL. Retrieved August 11, 2007. 

    External links[link]

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    Soleil may refer to:

    http://wn.com/Soleil

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    http://fr.wn.com/Soleil (homonymie)




    This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soleil

    This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.


    Michael Jackson
    A mid-twenties African American man wearing a sequined military jacket and dark sunglasses. He is walking while waving his right hand, which is adorned with a white glove. His left hand is bare.
    Jackson at the White House in 1984
    Background information
    Birth name Michael Joseph Jackson[1]
    Also known as King of Pop, MJ
    Born (1958-08-29)August 29, 1958
    Gary, Indiana, U.S.
    Died June 25, 2009(2009-06-25) (aged 50)
    Los Angeles, California, U.S.
    Genres R&B, pop, rock, soul, dance, funk, disco, new jack swing
    Occupations Singer-songwriter, musician, composer, dancer, choreographer, record producer, actor, businessman, philanthropist
    Instruments Vocals
    Years active 1964–2009
    Labels Motown, Epic, Legacy, MJJ Productions
    Associated acts

    The Jackson 5

    Michael Jackson signature.svg
    Michael Jackson's Signature
    Website www.michaeljackson.com

    Michael Joseph Jackson[1] (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ,[2] Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

    In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.

    Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.[3] He was also one of the world's most prominent humanitarians and philanthropists; personally, and through his Heal the World Foundation, he donated more than $300 million in charity, and held the Guinness World Record for having supported the most charities out of any pop star.[4][5]

    Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury found him not guilty on all counts. While preparing for his concert series titled This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide, and his personal physician was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as one billion people around the world reportedly watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a $250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.[6]

    Contents

    Life and career[link]

    Early life and The Jackson 5 (1958–1975)[link]

    A house surrounded by yellow colored grass, flowers, trees, and a light blue colored sky can be seen. The house has white walls, two windows, a white door with a black door frame, and a black roof. In front of the house there is a walk way, yellow grass and multiple colored flowers and memorabilia. In the background, there are two tall trees and a light blue colored sky that has multiple clouds.
    Jackson's childhood home in Gary, Indiana, showing floral tributes after his death
    Jackson (center) as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1972

    Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, the eighth of ten children in an African American working-class family who lived in a small 3-room house in Gary, Indiana,[7] an industrial city near Chicago. His mother, Katherine Esther Scruse, was a devout Jehovah's Witness, and his father, Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson, was a steel mill worker who performed with an R&B band called The Falcons. Jackson had three sisters: Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, and five brothers: Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Randy.[8] A sixth brother, Brandon, died shortly after birth.[9]

    Jackson had a troubled relationship with his father, Joe.[10][11][12] Joseph acknowledged in 2003 that he regularly whipped Jackson as a boy.[12] Jackson stated that he was physically and emotionally abused during incessant rehearsals, though he also credited his father's strict discipline with playing a large role in his success.[10] Jackson first spoke openly about his childhood abuse in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, broadcast in February 1993. He admitted that he had often cried from loneliness and he would vomit on the sight of his father. Jackson's father was also said to have verbally abused Jackson, saying that he had a fat nose on numerous occasions.[13] In fact, Michael Jackson's deep dissatisfaction with his appearance, his nightmares and chronic sleep problems, his tendency to remain hyper-compliant especially with his father, and to remain child-like throughout his adult life are in many ways consistent with the effects of this chronic maltreatment he endured as a young child.[14]

    In an interview with Martin Bashir, later included in the 2003 broadcast of Living with Michael Jackson, Jackson acknowledged that his father hurt him when he was a child, but was nonetheless a "genius", as he admitted his father's strict discipline played a huge role in his success. When Bashir dismissed the positive remark and continued asking about beatings, Jackson put his hand over his face and objected to the questions. He recalled that Joseph sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed, and that "if you didn't do it the right way, he would tear you up, really get you".[15][16]

    In 1964, Michael and Marlon joined the Jackson Brothers—a band formed by brothers Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine—as backup musicians playing congas and tambourine. Jackson later began performing backup vocals and dancing. When he was eight, Jackson began sharing the lead vocals with his older brother Jermaine, and the group's name was changed to The Jackson 5.[8] The band toured the Midwest extensively from 1966 to 1968, frequently performing at a string of black clubs known as the "chitlin' circuit", where they often opened stripteases and other adult acts. In 1966, they won a major local talent show with renditions of Motown hits and James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)", led by Michael.[17]

    The Jackson 5 recorded several songs, including "Big Boy", for the local record label Steeltown in 1967, before signing with Motown Records in 1968.[8] Rolling Stone magazine later described the young Michael as "a prodigy" with "overwhelming musical gifts," writing that he "quickly emerged as the main draw and lead singer."[18] The group set a chart record when its first four singles ("I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There") peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.[8] Between 1972 and 1975, Michael released four solo studio albums with Motown, among them Got to Be There and Ben, released as part of the Jackson 5 franchise, and producing successful singles such as "Got to Be There", "Ben", and a remake of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin".

    The Jackson 5 "became a cutting-edge example of black crossover artists... five working-class black boys with afros and bell bottoms, and they really didn't have to trade any of that stuff in order to become mainstream stars."[19]

    The group's sales began declining in 1973, and the band members chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input. Although they scored several top 40 hits, including the top 5 disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", the Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.[20]

    [edit] Move to Epic and Off the Wall (1975–81)

    In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records[20] and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine left to pursue a solo career.[21] They continued to tour internationally, releasing six more albums between 1976 and 1984, during which Michael was the lead songwriter, writing hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", "This Place Hotel", and "Can You Feel It".[17] In 1978, he starred as the scarecrow in the musical, The Wiz, a box-office disaster. It was here that he teamed up with Quincy Jones, who was arranging the film's musical score. Jones agreed to produce Jackson's next solo album, Off the Wall.[22] In 1979, Jackson broke his nose during a complex dance routine. His subsequent rhinoplasty was not a complete success; he complained of breathing difficulties that would affect his career. He was referred to Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who performed Jackson's second rhinoplasty and subsequent operations.[23]

    Jones and Jackson produced the Off the Wall album together. Songwriters for the album included Jackson, Rod Temperton, Stevie Wonder, and Paul McCartney. Released in 1979, it was the first solo album to generate four U.S. top 10 hits, including the chart-topping singles "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" and "Rock with You".[24][25] It reached number three on the Billboard 200 and eventually sold over 20 million copies worldwide.[26] In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".[27][28] That year, he also won Billboard Year-End for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, also for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".[24] Jackson again won at the American Music Awards in 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B Album and Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist.[29] Despite its commercial success, Jackson felt Off the Wall should have made a much bigger impact, and was determined to exceed expectations with his next release.[30] In 1980, he secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry: 37 percent of wholesale album profit.[31]

    [edit] Thriller and Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever (1982–83)

    In 1982, Jackson contributed the song "Someone In the Dark" to the storybook for the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial; the record won a Grammy for Best Recording for Children in 1984. In the same year he won another seven Grammys and eight American Music Awards (including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it), making him the most awarded in one night for both award shows.[32][33] These awards were thanks to the Thriller album, released in late 1982, which was 1983's best-selling album worldwide[34][35] and became the best-selling album of all time in the United States,[36] as well as the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 110 million copies so far.[37] The album topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It", and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".[38] Thriller was certified for 29 million shipments by the RIAA, giving it Double Diamond status in the United States. The album won also another Grammy for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical in 1984, awarding Bruce Swedien for his work.[39] Jackson's attorney John Branca noted that Jackson had the highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point: approximately $2 for every album sold. He was also making record-breaking profits from sales of his recordings. The videocassette of the documentary The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller sold over 350,000 copies in a few months. The era saw the arrival of novelties like dolls modeled after Michael Jackson, which appeared in stores in May 1984 at a price of $12.[40] Biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli writes that, "Thriller stopped selling like a leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple."[41] In 1985, The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Longform.[32] In December 2009, the music video for "Thriller" was selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, "Thriller" is the first music video ever to be inducted.[42][43][44]

    Time described Jackson's influence at that point as "Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too".[40] The New York Times wrote that, "in the world of pop music, there is Michael Jackson and there is everybody else".[45]

    On March 25th 1983, Michael Jackson reunited with his brothers for a legendary live performance which was taped for a Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. The show aired on May 16, 1983, to an audience of 47 million viewers, and featured the Jacksons and a number of other Motown stars. It is best remembered for Jackson's solo performance of "Billie Jean". Wearing a distinctive black sequin jacket and golf glove decorated with rhinestones, he debuted his signature dance move, the moonwalk, which former Soul Train dancer and Shalamar member Jeffrey Daniel had taught him three years before. The Jacksons' performance drew comparisons to Elvis Presley's and The Beatles' appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show.[46] Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times later wrote, "The moonwalk that he made famous is an apt metaphor for his dance style. How does he do it? As a technician, he is a great illusionist, a genuine mime. His ability to keep one leg straight as he glides while the other bends and seems to walk requires perfect timing."[47]

    Pepsi, "We Are the World" and business career (1984–85)[link]

    A black and white image shows a man standing next to a person dressed in a full dog costume. The man on the left has his left arm around the waist of the other person and is smiling.
    Jackson with a Knott's Berry Farm Snoopy mascot in April 1984

    On January 27, 1984, Michael and other members of the Jacksons filmed a Pepsi Cola commercial, overseen by executive Phil Dusenberry,[48] from ad agency BBDO and Pepsi's Worldwide Creative Director, Alan Pottasch at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. In front of a full house of fans during a simulated concert, pyrotechnics accidentally set Jackson's hair on fire. He suffered second-degree burns to his scalp. Jackson underwent treatment to hide the scars on his scalp, and he also had his third rhinoplasty shortly thereafter.[23] Jackson never recovered from this injury. Pepsi settled out of court, and Jackson donated his $1.5 million settlement to the Brotman Medical Center in Culver City, California, which now has a "Michael Jackson Burn Center" in honor of his donation.[49] Dusenberry later recounted the episode in his memoir, Then We Set His Hair on Fire: Insights and Accidents from a Hall of Fame Career in Advertising.

    On May 14, 1984, Jackson was invited to the White House to receive an award from President Ronald Reagan for his support of charities that helped people overcome alcohol and drug abuse.[50] Jackson won eight awards during the Grammys that year. Unlike later albums, Thriller did not have an official tour to promote it, but the 1984 Victory Tour, headlined by The Jacksons, showcased much of Jackson's new solo material to more than two million Americans. He donated all the funds (around $8 million) raised from the Victory Tour to charity.[51] He also co-wrote the charity single "We Are the World" in 1985 with Lionel Richie, which was released worldwide to aid the poor in the U.S. and Africa. It became one of the best-selling singles of all time, with nearly 30 million copies sold and millions of dollars donated to famine relief. In 1986, "We Are the World" won four Grammys (one for Jackson for Song of the Year). American Music Award directors removed the charity song from the competition because they felt it would be inappropriate, but recognized it with two special honors (one for the creation of the song and one for the USA for Africa idea). They are the only AMAs that Jackson won as non-solo artist.[52][53][54][55]

    In the center of the photo four people can be seen. To the farthest left a medium skin colored man wearing a black suit with a white shirt can be seen. Second to the left a Caucasian man wearing a black suit with a white shirt and brown tie has his head turned to the right. To the right of the Caucasian male there is an African American man wearing a white shirt with a blue jacket that has a yellow strap across his chest. He is raising his right hand, which is covered with a white glove. To the farthest right, a Caucasian female with short blonde hair, who is wearing a white outfit, can be seen. In the background a cream colored building with an opened green door can be seen.
    Jackson at the White House South Portico with President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan, 1984

    In 1984, ATV Music Publishing, which had the copyrights to nearly 4000 songs, including the Northern Songs catalog that contained the majority of the Lennon–McCartney compositions recorded by The Beatles, was put up for sale by Robert Holmes à Court.[56] Jackson had become interested in owning music catalogs after working with Paul McCartney in the early 1980s: Jackson had learned McCartney made approximately $40 million a year from other people's songs.[57] In 1981,[58] McCartney was offered the ATV music catalog for £20 million ($40 million).[57][59] According to McCartney, he contacted Yoko Ono about making a joint purchase by splitting the cost equally at £10 million each, but Ono thought they could buy it for £5 million each.[57][59] When they were unable to make the joint purchase, McCartney let the offer fall through, not wanting to be the sole owner of the Beatles' songs.[58][59]

    According to a negotiator for Holmes à Court in the 1984 sale, "We had given Paul McCartney first right of refusal but Paul didn't want it at that time."[60] Also, an attorney for McCartney assured Jackson's attorney, John Branca, that McCartney was not interested in bidding: McCartney reportedly said "It's too pricey".[57][58] But there were several other companies and investors bidding. In September 1984, Jackson was first informed about the sale by Branca and sent a bid of $46 million on November 20, 1984.[56] Jackson's agents thought they had a deal several times, but encountered new bidders or new areas of debate.[56] In May 1985, Jackson's team walked away from talks after having spent over $1 million on four months of due diligence and on the negotiations.[56]

    In June 1985, Jackson and Branca learned that Charles Koppelman's and Marty Bandier's The Entertainment Co. had made a tentative agreement with Holmes à Court to buy ATV Music for $50 million.[56] But in early August, Holmes à Court's team contacted Jackson and talks resumed. Jackson raised his bid to $47.5 million and it was accepted because he could close the deal more quickly, having already completed due diligence of ATV Music.[56] He also agreed to visit Holmes à Court in Australia, where he would appear on the Channel Seven Perth Telethon.[56][60] Jackson's purchase of ATV Music was finalized August 10, 1985.[56]

    [edit] Appearance, tabloids, Bad, films, autobiography and Neverland (1986–90)

    File:Michael Jackson King of Pop 1988.jpg
    Jackson two years after he was diagnosed with vitiligo, here in the early stages of the disease

    Jackson's skin had been a medium-brown color for the entire duration of his youth, but starting in the mid 1980s, it gradually grew paler. The change gained widespread media coverage, including rumors that he might be bleaching his skin.[61] According to J. Randy Taraborrelli's biography, in 1986, Jackson was diagnosed with vitiligo and lupus; the vitiligo partially lightened his skin, and the lupus was in remission; both illnesses made him sensitive to sunlight. The treatments he used for his condition further lightened his skin tone, and, with the application of pancake makeup to even out blotches, he could appear very pale.[62] Jackson was also diagnosed with vitiligo in his autopsy.[63] By the mid 1990s several surgeons speculated that he had undergone various nasal surgeries, a forehead lift, thinned lips, and cheekbone surgery—although Jackson denied this and insisted that he only had surgery on his nose.[64] Jackson claimed that he had only two rhinoplasties and no other surgery on his face, although at one point he mentioned having a dimple created in his chin.[65] Jackson lost weight in the early 1980s because of a change in diet and a desire for "a dancer's body".[65] Witnesses reported that he was often dizzy and speculated that he was suffering from anorexia nervosa; periods of weight loss would become a recurring problem later in life.[66]

    During the course of his treatment, Jackson made two close friends: his dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, and Klein's nurse Debbie Rowe. Rowe eventually became Jackson's second wife and the mother of his two eldest children. Long before becoming romantically involved with her, Jackson relied heavily on Rowe for emotional support. He also relied heavily on Klein, for medical and business advice.[67]

    Jackson became the subject of increasingly sensational reports. In 1986, the tabloids ran a story claiming that Jackson slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to slow the aging process; he was pictured lying down in a glass box. Although the claim was untrue, according to tabloid reports that are widely cited, Jackson had disseminated the fabricated story himself.[68][69] When Jackson bought a chimpanzee called Bubbles from a laboratory, he was reported to be increasingly detached from reality.[70] It was reported that Jackson had offered to buy the bones of Joseph Merrick (the "elephant man") and although untrue, Jackson did not deny the story.[68][69] Although initially he saw these stories as opportunities for publicity, he stopped leaking untruths to the press as they became more sensational. Consequently the media began making up their own stories.[69][71][72] These reports became embedded in the public consciousness, inspiring the nickname "Wacko Jacko", which Jackson came to despise.[73] Responding to the gossip, Jackson remarked to Taraborrelli:

    Why not just tell people I'm an alien from Mars? Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They'll believe anything you say, because you're a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, "I'm an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight," people would say, "Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts. He's cracked up. You can't believe a single word that comes out of his mouth."[74]

    A black jacket with five round golden medals on its left and right shoulders and a gold band on its left arm sleeve. The jacket has two belt straps on the right bottom sleeve. Underneath the jacket is a golden belt, with a round ornament in its center. There is a red light reflecting on the jacket and belt as well as a gold colored plate on the left side of the jacket and belt.
    Jackson wore a gold-plated military style jacket with belt in the Bad era

    Jackson collaborated with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola on the 17-minute 3-D film Captain EO, which debuted in September 1986 at both the original Disneyland and at EPCOT in Florida, and in March 1987 at Tokyo Disneyland. The $30 million movie was a popular attraction at all three parks. A Captain EO attraction was later featured at Euro Disneyland after that park opened in 1992. All four parks' Captain EO installations stayed open well into the 1990s: Paris' installation was the last one to close, in 1998.[75] The attraction would later return to Disneyland in 2010 after Jackson's death.[76]

    In 1987, Jackson disassociated himself from the Jehovah's Witnesses, in response to their disapproval of the Thriller video.[77] With the industry expecting another major hit, Jackson's first album in five years, Bad (1987), was highly anticipated.[78] It did not top Thriller as a commercial or artistic triumph, but Bad was still a substantial success in its own right.

    The Bad album spawned seven hit singles in the U.S., five of which ("I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror" and "Dirty Diana") reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. This was a record for most number one Hot 100 singles from any one album, including Thriller.[79] Although the title track's video was arguably derivative of the video for the earlier single "Beat It", the "Bad" video still proved to be one of Jackson's iconic moments. It was a gritty but colorful epic set against the backdrop of the New York City Subway system, with costuming and choreography inspired by West Side Story. As of 2012, the album sold between 30 and 45 million copies worldwide.[80][81][82][83][84][85][86] Thanks to the Bad album, Bruce Swedien and Humberto Gatica won one Grammy in 1988 for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and Michael Jackson won one Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Leave Me Alone" in 1989.[32][39] In the same year, Jackson won an Award of Achievement at the American Music Awards because Bad is the first album ever to generate five number one singles in the US, the first album to top in 25 countries and the best-selling album worldwide in 1987 and in 1988.[87][88][89][90] In 1988, "Bad" won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Single.[91]

    Front view: Jackson wearing the costume on a June 2, 1988 performance in Vienna, Austria

    The Bad World Tour began on September 12 that year, finishing on January 14, 1989.[92] In Japan alone, the tour had 14 sellouts and drew 570,000 people, nearly tripling the previous record of 200,000 in a single tour.[93] Jackson broke a Guinness World Record   when 504,000 people attended seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium. He performed a total of 123 concerts to an audience of 4.4 million people. The Bad Tour turned out to be the last of Jackson's concert tours to include shows in the continental United States, although later tours did make it to Hawaii.

    In 1988, Jackson released his first and only autobiography, Moonwalk, which took four years to complete and sold 200,000 copies.[94] Jackson wrote about his childhood, The Jackson 5, and the abuse he had suffered.[95] He also wrote about his facial appearance, saying he had had two rhinoplastic surgeries and a dimple created in his chin.[65] He attributed much of the change in the structure of his face to puberty, weight loss, a strict vegetarian diet, a change in hair style, and stage lighting.[65] Moonwalk reached the top position on The New York Times best sellers' list.[96] The musician then released a film called Moonwalker, which featured live footage and short films that starred Jackson and Joe Pesci. The film was originally intended to be released to theaters but due to financial issues, the film was released direct-to-video. It saw a theatrical release in Germany, though. It debuted atop the Billboard Top Music Video Cassette chart, staying there for 22 weeks. It was eventually knocked off the top spot by Michael Jackson: The Legend Continues.[97]

    In March 1988, Jackson purchased land near Santa Ynez, California, to build Neverland Ranch at a cost of $17 million. He installed Ferris wheels, a menagerie, and a movie theater on the 2,700-acre (11 km2) property. A security staff of 40 patrolled the grounds. In 2003, it was valued at approximately $100 million.[18][98] In 1989, his annual earnings from album sales, endorsements, and concerts was estimated at $125 million for that year alone.[99] Shortly afterwards, he became the first Westerner to appear in a television ad in the Soviet Union.[97]

    His success resulted in his being dubbed the "King of Pop".[100][101][102][103] The nickname was popularized by Elizabeth Taylor when she presented him with the Soul Train Heritage Award in 1989, proclaiming him "the true king of pop, rock and soul."[104] President George H. W. Bush designated him the White House's "Artist of the Decade".[105] From 1985 to 1990, he donated $500,000 to the United Negro College Fund, and all of the profits from his single "Man in the Mirror" went to charity.[106][107] Jackson's live rendition of "You Were There" at Sammy Davis Jr.'s 60th birthday celebration received an Emmy nomination.[97]

    [edit] Dangerous, Heal the World Foundation and Super Bowl XXVII (1991–93)

    In March 1991, Jackson renewed his contract with Sony for $65 million, a record-breaking deal at the time,[108] displacing Neil Diamond's renewal contract with Columbia Records.[109] He released his eighth album Dangerous in 1991. As of 2008, Dangerous had shipped seven million copies in the U.S. and had sold 32 million copies worldwide. The Dangerous album was co-produced by Teddy Riley, one of the pioneers of "new jack swing" which convinced Michael to feature a rapper on his album for the first time, the act worked and it turned out to be the best-selling album associated with that movement.[110][111][112] In the United States, the album's first single "Black or White" was its biggest hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and remaining there for seven weeks, with similar chart performances worldwide.[113] The album's second single "Remember the Time" spent eight weeks in the top five in the United States, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.[114] At the end of 1992, Dangerous was awarded 1992's best-selling album worldwide and "Black or White" was awarded 1992's best-selling single worldwide at the Billboard Music Awards. Additionally, he won an award as best-selling artist of the '80s.[115] In 1993, Jackson performed the song at the Soul Train Music Awards in a chair, saying he had suffered an injury in rehearsals.[116] In the UK and other parts of Europe, "Heal the World" was the biggest hit from the album; it sold 450,000 copies in the UK and spent five weeks at number two in 1992.[114]

    Jackson founded the Heal the World Foundation in 1992. The charity organization brought underprivileged children to Jackson's ranch to enjoy theme park rides that Jackson had built on the property. The foundation also sent millions of dollars around the globe to help children threatened by war, poverty, and disease. In the same year Jackson published his second book, the bestselling collection of poetry, Dancing the Dream. While it was a commercial success and revealed a more intimate side to Jackson's nature, the collection was mostly critically unacclaimed at the time of release. In 2009, the book was republished by Doubleday and was more positively received by some critics in the wake of Jackson's untimely death. The Dangerous World Tour grossed $100 million. The tour began on June 27, 1992, and finished on November 11, 1993. Jackson performed to 3.5 million people in 67 concerts.[114][117] He sold the broadcast rights to his Dangerous world tour to HBO for $20 million, a record-breaking deal that still stands.[118]

    Following the illness and death of Ryan White, Jackson helped draw public attention to HIV/AIDS, something that was still controversial at the time. He publicly pleaded with the Clinton Administration at Bill Clinton's Inaugural Gala to give more money to HIV/AIDS charities and research.[119][120] In a high-profile visit to Africa, Jackson visited several countries, among them Gabon and Egypt.[121] His first stop to Gabon was greeted with a sizable and enthusiastic reception of more than 100,000 people, some of them carrying signs that read, "Welcome Home Michael."[121] In his trip to Côte d'Ivoire, Jackson was crowned "King Sani" by a tribal chief.[121] He then thanked the dignitaries in French and English, signed official documents formalizing his kingship and sat on a golden throne while presiding over ceremonial dances.[121]

    In January 1993, Jackson made a memorable appearance at the halftime show at Super Bowl XXVII. The performance began with Jackson catapulting onto the stage as fireworks went off behind him. As he landed on the canvas, he maintained a motionless "clenched fist, standing statue stance", dressed in a gold and black military outfit and sunglasses; he remained completely motionless for a minute and a half while the crowd cheered. He then slowly removed his sunglasses, threw them away and sang four songs: "Jam", "Billie Jean", "Black or White" and "Heal the World". It was the first Super Bowl where the audience figures increased during the half-time show, and was viewed by 135 million Americans alone; Jackson's Dangerous album rose 90 places up the album chart.[61] Jackson was given the "Living Legend Award" at the 35th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. "Black or White" was Grammy-nominated for best vocal performance. "Jam" gained two nominations: Best R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Song.[114] The Dangerous album won a Grammy for Best Engineered – Non Classical, awarding the work of Bruce Swedien and Teddy Riley. In the same year, Michael Jackson won three American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Album (Dangerous), Favorite Soul/R&B Single ("Remember the Time") and was the first to win the International Artist Award, for his global performances and humanitarian concerns. This award will bear his name in the future.[32][39][122]

    First child sexual abuse allegations and first marriage (1993–94)[link]

    Jackson gave a 90-minute interview to Oprah Winfrey on February 10, 1993, his second television interview since 1979. He grimaced when speaking of his childhood abuse at the hands of his father; he believed he had missed out on much of his childhood years, admitting that he often cried from loneliness. He denied tabloid rumors that he had bought the bones of the Elephant Man, slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, or bleached his skin, stating for the first time that he had vitiligo. The interview was watched by an American audience of 90 million. Dangerous re-entered the album chart in the top 10, more than a year after its original release.[16][61][114]

    In the summer of 1993, Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy named Jordan Chandler and his father, Dr. Evan Chandler, a dentist.[123][124][125] The Chandler family demanded payment from Jackson, and the singer initially refused. Jordan Chandler eventually told the police that Jackson had sexually abused him.[126] Dr. Chandler was tape-recorded discussing his intention to pursue charges, saying, "If I go through with this, I win big-time. There's no way I lose. I will get everything I want and they will be destroyed forever ... Michael's career will be over". Jordan's mother was, however, adamant that there had been no wrongdoing on Jackson's part.[125] Jackson later used the recording to argue that he was the victim of a jealous father whose only goal was to extort money from the singer.[125]

    Later that year, on December 20, Jackson's home was raided by the police, and Jackson submitted to a 25-minute strip search.[127] Jordan Chandler had reportedly given police a description of Jackson's intimate parts, notably claiming that his bleach-damaged penis was circumcised; the strip search revealed, to the contrary, that Jackson was actually uncircumcised,[128] a fact confirmed in his autopsy.[129] His friends said he never recovered from the humiliation of the strip search. The investigation was inconclusive and no charges were ever filed.[130][131] Jackson described the search in an emotional public statement, and proclaimed his innocence.[123][127][132] On January 1, 1994, Jackson's insurance carrier settled with the Chandlers out of court for $22 million. A Santa Barbara County grand jury and a Los Angeles County grand jury disbanded on May 2, 1994 without indicting Jackson.[133] After which time the Chandlers stopped co-operating with the criminal investigation around July 6, 1994.[134][135][136] The out-of-court settlement's documentation specifically stated Jackson admitted no wrongdoing and no liability; the Chandlers and their family lawyer Larry Feldman signed it without contest.[137] The Chandlers' lawyer Mr. Feldman also explicitly stated "nobody bought anybody's silence".[138] A decade after the fact, during the second round of child abuse allegations, Jackson's lawyers would file a memo stating that the 1994 settlement was done without his consent.[135]

    In May 1994, Jackson married the daughter of Elvis Presley, Lisa Marie Presley. They had first met in 1975, when a seven-year-old Presley attended one of Jackson's family engagements at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, and were reconnected through a mutual friend.[139] According to a friend of Presley's, "their adult friendship began in November 1992 in L.A."[140] They stayed in contact every day over the telephone. As the child molestation accusations became public, Jackson became dependent on Presley for emotional support; she was concerned about his faltering health and addiction to drugs.[141] Presley explained, "I believed he didn't do anything wrong and that he was wrongly accused and yes I started falling for him. I wanted to save him. I felt that I could do it."[142] She eventually persuaded him to settle the allegations out of court and go into rehabilitation to recover.[141]

    Jackson proposed to Presley over the telephone towards the fall of 1993, saying, "If I asked you to marry me, would you do it?"[141] They married in the Dominican Republic in secrecy, denying it for nearly two months afterwards.[143] The marriage was, in her words, "a married couple's life ... that was sexually active".[144] At the time, the tabloid media speculated that the wedding was a ploy to prop up Jackson's public image.[143] The marriage lasted less than two years and ended with an amicable divorce settlement.[145] In a 2010 interview with Oprah, Presley admitted that they spent four more years after the divorce "getting back together and breaking up", until she decided to stop.[146]

    [edit] HIStory, second marriage and fatherhood (1995–99)

    In 1995, Jackson merged his ATV Music catalog with Sony's music publishing division creating Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Jackson retained half-ownership of the company, earned $95 million upfront as well as the rights to even more songs.[147][148] He then released the double album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I. The first disc, HIStory Begins, was a 15-track greatest hits album, and was later reissued as Greatest Hits: HIStory, Volume I in 2001, while the second disc, HIStory Continues, contained 15 new songs. The album debuted at number one on the charts and has been certified for seven million shipments in the US.[149] It is the best-selling multiple-disc album of all-time, with 20 million copies (40 million units) sold worldwide.[113][150] HIStory received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.[151]

    A close-up image of a pale skinned man with black hair. He is wearing a black jacket with white designs on it.
    Michael Jackson at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival

    The first single released from the album was the double A-side "Scream/Childhood". "Scream" was a duet, performed with Jackson's youngest sister Janet. The song fights against the media, mainly for what the media made him out to be during his 1993 child abuse allegations. The single had the highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100 at number five, and received a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals".[151] "You Are Not Alone" was the second single released from HIStory; it holds the Guinness World Record for the first song ever to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[99] It was seen as a major artistic and commercial success, receiving a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Vocal Performance".[151] In late 1995, Jackson was rushed to a hospital after collapsing during rehearsals for a televised performance; the incident was caused by a stress-related panic attack.[152] "Earth Song" was the third single released from HIStory, and topped the UK Singles Chart for six weeks over Christmas 1995; it sold a million copies, making it Jackson's most successful single in the UK.[151] The track "They Don't Care About Us" became controversial when the Anti-Defamation League and other groups criticized its allegedly antisemitic lyrics. Jackson quickly put out a revised version of the song without the offending lyrics.[153] In 1996, Jackson won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form for "Scream" and an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist.[32][154]

    The album was promoted with the successful HIStory World Tour. The tour began on September 7, 1996, and finished on October 15, 1997. Jackson performed 82 concerts in 58 cities to over 4.5 million fans, and grossed up a total of $165 million. The show, which visited five continents and 35 countries, became Jackson's most successful in terms of audience figures.[92] During the tour, Jackson married his longtime friend Deborah Jeanne Rowe, a dermatology nurse, in an impromptu ceremony in Sydney, Australia. Rowe was approximately six months pregnant with the couple's first child at the time. Originally, Rowe and Jackson had no plans to marry, but Jackson's mother Katherine persuaded them to do so.[155] Michael Joseph Jackson Jr (commonly known as Prince) was born on February 13, 1997; his sister Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson was born a year later on April 3, 1998.[145][156] The couple divorced in 1999, and Jackson got full custody of the children. The divorce was relatively amicable, but a subsequent custody suit was not settled until 2006.[157][158]

    Jackson at Perth Airport in 1996

    In 1997, Jackson released Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, which contained remixes of hit singles from HIStory and five new songs. Worldwide sales stand at 6 million copies as of 2007, it is the best selling remix album ever released.[159] It reached number one in the UK, as did the title track.[159][160] In the US, the album was certified platinum, but only reached number 24.[110][151] Forbes placed his annual income at $35 million in 1996 and $20 million in 1997.[98] Throughout June 1999, Jackson was involved in a number of charitable events. He joined Luciano Pavarotti for a benefit concert in Modena, Italy. The show was in support of the nonprofit organization War Child, and raised a million dollars for the refugees of Kosovo, FR Yugoslavia, as well as additional funds for the children of Guatemala.[161] Later that month, Jackson organized a set of "Michael Jackson & Friends" benefit concerts in Germany and Korea. Other artists involved included Slash, The Scorpions, Boyz II Men, Luther Vandross, Mariah Carey, A. R. Rahman, Prabhu Deva Sundaram, Shobana, Andrea Bocelli and Luciano Pavarotti. The proceeds went to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, the Red Cross and UNESCO.[162]

    [edit] Label dispute, Invincible and third child (2000–03)

    At the turn of the century, the American Music Awards honored Jackson as Artist of the '80s.[163] Throughout 2000 and 2001, Jackson worked in the studio with Teddy Riley and Rodney Jerkins, as well as other collaborators. These sessions would result in the album Invincible, released in October 2001. Invincible was Jackson's first full-length album in six years, and it would be the last album of new material he released while still alive. The release of the album was preceded by a dispute between Jackson and his record label, Sony Music Entertainment. Jackson had expected the licenses to the masters of his albums to revert to him sometime in the early 2000s. Once he had the licenses, he would be able to promote the material however he pleased and he would also be able to keep all the profits. However, due to various clauses in the contract, the revert date turned out to be many years away. Jackson discovered that the attorney who represented him in the deal was also representing Sony.[160] Jackson was also concerned about the fact that for a number of years, Sony had been pressuring him to sell his share in their music catalog venture. Jackson feared that Sony might have a conflict of interest, since if Jackson's career failed he would have to sell his share of the catalog at a low price.[164] Jackson sought an early exit from his contract.[160] Just before the release of Invincible, Jackson informed the head of Sony Music Entertainment, Tommy Mottola, that he was leaving Sony.[160] As a result, all singles releases, video shootings and promotions concerning the Invincible album were suspended.

    In September 2001, two 30th Anniversary concerts were held at Madison Square Garden to mark the singer's 30th year as a solo artist. Jackson appeared onstage alongside his brothers for the first time since 1984. The show also featured performances by Mýa, Usher, Whitney Houston, 'N Sync, Destiny's Child, Monica, Luther Vandross, and Slash, among other artists.[165] The second of the two shows took place the night before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.[166] After 9/11, Jackson helped organize the United We Stand: What More Can I Give benefit concert at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. The concert took place on October 21, 2001, and included performances from dozens of major artists, including Jackson, who performed his song "What More Can I Give" as the finale.[164] Jackson's solo performances were omitted from the televised version of the benefit concert, although he could still be seen singing background vocals. This omission happened because of contractual issues related to the earlier 30th Anniversary concerts: those concerts were boiled down into a two-hour TV special titled Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration: The Solo Years which debuted in November 2001.

    In spite of the events preceding its release, Invincible came out in October 2001 to much anticipation. Invincible proved to be a hit, debuting atop the charts in 13 countries and going on to sell approximately 13 million copies worldwide. It received double-platinum certification in the US.[110][113][167] However, the sales for Invincible were lower than those of his previous releases, due in part to a lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute. The album also came out at a bad time for the music industry in general.[164] The album cost $30 million to record, not including promotional expenditures.[168] Invincible spawned three singles, "You Rock My World", "Cry" and "Butterflies", the latter without a music video. Jackson alleged in July 2002 that Mottola was a "devil" and a "racist" who did not support his African-American artists, using them merely for his own personal gain.[164] He charged that Mottola had called his colleague Irv Gotti a "fat nigger".[169] Sony refused to renew Jackson's contract, and claimed that a $25 million promotional campaign had failed because Jackson refused to tour in the United States.[168]

    In 2002, Michael Jackson won his 22nd American Music Award for Artist of the Century.[170] In the same year, Jackson's third child, Prince Michael Jackson II (nicknamed "Blanket") was born.[171] The mother's identity is unknown, but Jackson has said the child was the result of artificial insemination from a surrogate mother and his own sperm.[157] On November 20 of that year, Jackson brought his newborn son onto the balcony of his room at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin, as fans stood below, holding him in his right arm, with a cloth loosely draped over the baby's face. The baby was briefly extended over a railing, four stories above ground level, causing widespread criticism in the media. Jackson later apologized for the incident, calling it "a terrible mistake".[172] Sony released Number Ones, a compilation of Jackson's hits on CD and DVD. In the US, the album was certified triple platinum by the RIAA; in the UK it was certified six times platinum for shipments of at least 1.2 million units.[110][173]

    Second child sexual abuse allegations and acquittal (2003–05)[link]

    Beginning in May 2002, Jackson allowed a documentary film crew, led by British TV personality Martin Bashir, to follow him around just about everywhere he went. Bashir's film crew was with Jackson during the "baby-dangling incident" in Berlin. The program was broadcast in March 2003 as Living with Michael Jackson, and painted an extraordinarily unflattering portrait of the singer.

    In a particularly controversial scene, Jackson was seen holding hands and discussing sleeping arrangements with a young boy.[174] As soon as the documentary aired, the Santa Barbara county attorney's office began a criminal investigation. Jackson was arrested in November 2003, and was charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent in relation to the 13 year old boy shown in the film.[174] Jackson denied the allegations, saying the sleepovers were not sexual in nature. The People v. Jackson trial began on January 31, 2005, in Santa Maria, California, and lasted five months, until the end of May. On June 13, 2005, Jackson was acquitted on all counts.[175][176][177] After the trial, in a highly publicized relocation he moved to the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain, as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah.[178] Bahrain was also where the family intended to send Jackson if he was convicted (though Jackson did not know about the plan), according to a statement by Jermaine Jackson printed in The Times of London in September 2011.[179]

    [edit] Closure of Neverland, final years and This Is It (2006–09)

    A group of adults and a child are shown in the photo. An African American female with short brown hair who is wearing a jean jacket and a light wash pair of jeans with a red shirt is seen holding a video camera, which is pointing forward. To the right of the female there is an opened black umbrella that is held above a light-skinned male with long black hair who is wearing all black clothes. In front of the male there is a child with black hair that is wearing a black cap with a blue shirt, a pair of white pants and black shoes. To the farthest right there are two Caucasian males with dark brown hair. In the background, trees, bushes and people can be seen.
    Jackson with his children in Disneyland Paris, 2006

    In March 2006, the main house at the Neverland Ranch was closed as a cost-cutting measure.[180] There were numerous reports around that time that Jackson was having financial problems. Jackson had been delinquent on his repayments of a $270 million loan secured against his music publishing holdings, even though those holdings were reportedly making him as much as $75 million a year.[181] Bank of America sold the debt to Fortress Investments. Sony reportedly proposed a restructuring deal which would give them a future option to buy half of Jackson's stake in their jointly owned publishing company (leaving Jackson with a 25% stake).[148] Jackson agreed to a Sony-backed refinancing deal in April 2006, although the exact details were not made public.[182] Jackson did not have a recording contract in place with Sony or any other major record label at the time.

    In early 2006, there was an announcement that Jackson had signed a contract with a Bahrain-based startup called Two Seas Records. However, nothing ever came of that deal, and the CEO of Two Seas, Guy Holmes, later stated that the deal had never been finalized.[183][184] Throughout 2006, Sony repackaged 20 singles from the 1980s and 1990s as the Michael Jackson: Visionary series, which subsequently became a box set. Most of those singles returned to the charts as a result. In September 2006, Jackson and his ex-wife Debbie Rowe confirmed reports that they had settled their long-running child custody suit. The terms were never made public. Jackson continued to be the custodial parent of the couple's two children.[158] In October 2006, Fox News entertainment reporter Roger Friedman said that Jackson had been recording at a studio in rural Westmeath, Ireland. It was not known at the time what Jackson might be working on, or who might be paying for the sessions, since his publicist had recently issued a statement claiming that he had left Two Seas.[184][185]

    In November 2006, Jackson invited an Access Hollywood camera crew into the studio in Westmeath, and MSNBC broke the story that he was working on a new album, produced by will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas.[113] Jackson performed at the World Music Awards, in London on November 15, 2006, and accepted a Diamond Award for selling over 100 million records.[113][186] Jackson returned to the United States after Christmas 2006 to attend James Brown's funeral in Augusta, Georgia. He gave one of the eulogies, saying that "James Brown is my greatest inspiration."[187] In the spring of 2007, Jackson and Sony teamed up to buy yet another music publishing company: Famous Music LLC, formerly owned by Viacom. This deal gave him the rights to songs by Eminem, Shakira and Beck, among others.[188] Jackson recorded extensively during this period in New York with songwriter and producer will.i.am and also in Las Vegas with producers Akon and RedOne.[189][190] In March 2007, Jackson gave a brief interview to the Associated Press in Tokyo, where he said, "I've been in the entertainment industry since I was 6 years old, and as Charles Dickens would say, 'It's been the best of times, the worst of times.' But I would not change my career ... While some have made deliberate attempts to hurt me, I take it in stride because I have a loving family, a strong faith and wonderful friends and fans who have, and continue, to support me."[191]

    In September 2007, Jackson was reportedly still working with will.i.am, but the album was apparently never completed.[192] However, in 2008, Jackson and Sony released Thriller 25 to mark the 25th anniversary of the original Thriller. This album featured the previously unreleased song "For All Time" (an outtake from the original sessions) as well as remixes, where Jackson collaborated with younger artists who had been inspired by his work.[193] Two of the remixes were released as singles with only modest success: "The Girl Is Mine 2008" (with will.i.am) and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008" (with Akon). The first single was based on an early demo version, without Paul McCartney. The album itself was a hit, however.[193][194][195][196] In anticipation of Jackson's 50th birthday, Sony BMG released a series of greatest-hits albums called King of Pop. Slightly different versions were released in various countries, based on polls of local fans.[197] King of Pop reached the top 10 in most countries where it was issued, and also sold well as an import in other countries (such as the United States.)[198][199]

    In the fall of 2008, Fortress Investments threatened to foreclose on Neverland Ranch, which Jackson used as collateral for loans running into many tens of millions of dollars. However, Fortress opted to sell Jackson's debts to Colony Capital LLC. In November, Jackson transferred Neverland Ranch's title to Sycamore Valley Ranch Company LLC, which was a joint venture between Jackson and Colony Capital LLC. This deal cleared Jackson's debt, and he reportedly even gained an extra $35 million from the venture. At the time of his death, Jackson still owned a stake in Neverland/Sycamore Valley, but it is unknown how large that stake was.[200][201][202] In September 2008, Jackson entered negotiations with Julien's Auction House to display and auction a large collection of memorabilia amounting to approximately 1,390 lots. The auction was scheduled to take place between April 22 and April 25.[203] An exhibition of the lots opened as scheduled on April 14, but the actual auction was eventually cancelled at Jackson's request.[204]

    In March 2009, Jackson held a press conference at London's O2 Arena and announced a series of comeback concerts titled This Is It. The shows would be Jackson's first major series of concerts since the HIStory World Tour finished in 1997. Jackson suggested possible retirement after the shows; he said it would be his "final curtain call". The initial plan was for 10 concerts in London, followed by shows in Paris, New York City and Mumbai. Randy Phillips, president and chief executive of AEG Live, stated that the first 10 dates alone would earn the singer approximately £50 million.[205] The London residency was increased to 50 dates after record breaking ticket sales: over one million were sold in less than two hours.[206] Jackson rehearsed in Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG.[207] The concerts would have commenced on July 13, 2009, and finished on March 6, 2010. Less than three weeks before the first show was due to begin in London and with all concerts being sold out, Jackson died after suffering cardiac arrest.[208] Some time before his death, it was widely stated that he was starting a clothing line with Christian Audigier; due to his death, the current status of the label remains unknown.[209][210]

    Jackson's first posthumous single was a song titled "This Is It" which Jackson cowrote in the 1980s with Paul Anka. It was not on the set lists for the concerts, and the recording was based on an old demo tape. The surviving brothers reunited in the studio for the first time since 1989 to record backing vocals. On October 28, 2009, a documentary film about the rehearsals titled Michael Jackson's This Is It was released.[211] Even though it ran for a limited two-week engagement, it became the highest grossing documentary or concert movie of all time, with earnings of more than $260 million worldwide.[212] Jackson's estate received 90% of the profits.[213] The film was accompanied by a compilation album of the same name. Two versions of the new song appear on the album, which also featured original masters of Jackson's hits in the order in which they appear in the movie, along with a bonus disc with previously unreleased versions of more Jackson hits as well as a spoken-word poem titled "Planet Earth".[214] At the 2009 American Music Awards Jackson won four posthumous awards, two for him and two for his album Number Ones, bringing his total American Music Awards to 26.[215][216]

    Death and memorial[link]

    File:MJ's tomb.jpg
    Michael Jackson's Tomb in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale

    On June 25, 2009, Jackson died while in his bed at his rented mansion at 100 North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles. Attempts at resuscitating him by Conrad Murray, his personal physician, were unsuccessful.[217] Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics received a 911 call at 12:22 (PDT, 19:22 UTC), arriving three minutes later at Jackson's location.[218][219] He was reportedly not breathing and CPR was performed.[220] Resuscitation efforts continued en route to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and for more than an hour after arriving there at 1:13 (20:13 UTC). He was pronounced dead at 2:26 local time (21:26 UTC).[221][222] Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief.[217]

    The news spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down and crash from user overload. Both TMZ and the Los Angeles Times suffered outages.[223] Google initially believed that the input from millions of people searching for "Michael Jackson" meant that the search engine was under DDoS attack, and blocked searches related to Michael Jackson for 30 minutes. Twitter reported a crash, as did Wikipedia at 3:15 p.m. PDT (22:15 UTC).[224] The Wikimedia Foundation reported nearly a million visitors to Jackson's biography within one hour, probably the most visitors in a one-hour period to any article in Wikipedia's history.[225] AOL Instant Messenger collapsed for 40 minutes. AOL called it a "seminal moment in Internet history", adding, "We've never seen anything like it in terms of scope or depth."[226]

    Around 15% of Twitter posts—or 5,000 tweets per minute—reportedly mentioned Jackson after the news broke,[227][228] compared to the 5% recalled as having mentioned the Iranian elections or the flu pandemic that had made headlines earlier in the year.[228] Overall, web traffic ranged from 11% to at least 20% higher than normal.[227][229] MTV and Black Entertainment Television (BET) aired marathons of Jackson's music videos.[230] Jackson specials aired on multiple television stations around the world. The British soap opera EastEnders added a last-minute scene, in which one character tells another about the news, to the June 26 episode.[231] Jackson was the topic of every front-page headline in the daily British tabloid The Sun for about two weeks following his death.[232] During the same period, the three major U.S. networks' evening newscasts—ABC World News, CBS Evening News, and NBC Nightly News—devoted 34% of their broadcast time to him.[233] Magazines including Time published commemorative editions.[234] A scene that had featured Jackson's sister La Toya was cut from the film Brüno out of respect toward Jackson's family.[235]

    Jackson's memorial was held on July 7, 2009, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, preceded by a private family service at Forest Lawn Memorial Park's Hall of Liberty. Jackson's casket was present during the memorial but no information was released about the final disposition of the body. While some unofficial reports claimed a worldwide audience as high as one billion people,[236][237] the U.S. audience was estimated by Nielsen to be 31.1 million, an amount comparable to the estimated 35.1 million that watched the 2004 burial of former president Ronald Reagan, and the estimated 33.1 million Americans who watched the 1997 funeral for Princess Diana.[238]

    Mariah Carey, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, John Mayer, Jennifer Hudson, Usher, Jermaine Jackson, and Shaheen Jafargholi performed at the event. Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson gave eulogies, while Queen Latifah read "We had him", a poem written for the occasion by Maya Angelou.[239] The Reverend Al Sharpton received a standing ovation with cheers when he told Jackson's children, "Wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with. But he dealt with it anyway."[240] Jackson's 11-year-old daughter, Paris Katherine, cried as she told the crowd, "Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine ... I just wanted to say I love him ... so much."[166] Reverend Lucious Smith provided a closing prayer.[241] On August 24, several news outlets quoted anonymous sources as stating that the Los Angeles coroner had decided to treat Jackson's death as a homicide; this was later confirmed by the coroner on August 28.[242][243] At the time of death, Jackson had been administered propofol, lorazepam and midazolam.[244] Law enforcement officials conducted a manslaughter investigation of his personal physician, Conrad Murray.[245] On February 8, 2010, Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter by prosecutors in Los Angeles.[246] Jackson was entombed on September 3, 2009, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.[247]

     Portrait tribute, other tribute items, mural and messages from 650 Spanish fans, letters, pictures, teddy bears, etc.), sunflowers and other kind of flowers were dropped off by fans from all over the world at Forest Lawn Memorial Park on the first anniversary of Michael Jackson.
    Tribute of fans from all over the world in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park on his first anniversary of death

    On June 25, 2010, the first anniversary of Jackson's death, fans traveled to Los Angeles to pay their tribute to him. They visited Jackson’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and his family’s home, as well as Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Many of the fans were carrying sunflowers and other tribute items to drop off at the sites. Members of the Jackson family and close friends arrived to pay their respects.[248][249] Katherine returned to Gary, Indiana to unveil a granite monument constructed in the front yard of the family home. The memorial continued with a candlelight vigil and a special performance of "We Are the World".[250][251] On June 26, there was a protest march in front of the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division at the old Parker Center building and a petition with thousands of signatures demanding justice was delivered.[252][253] The Jackson Family Foundation in conjunction with Voiceplate presented "Forever Michael", an event bringing together Jackson family members, celebrities, fans, supporters and the community to celebrate and honor his legacy. A portion of the proceeds were presented to some of Jackson's favorite charities. Katherine also introduced her new book "Never Can Say Goodbye".[254][255][256]

    Death aftermath[link]

    After his death, Jackson became the best-selling albums artist of 2009. In the United States selling over 8.2 million albums and a total of 35 million albums worldwide in the 12 months that followed his death.[257][258] Following this surge in sales, Sony announced that they had extended their relationship with his material. The distribution rights held by Sony Music were due to expire in 2015.[259] On March 16, 2010, Sony Music Entertainment, in a move spearheaded by its Columbia/Epic Label Group division, signed a new deal with the Jackson estate to extend their distribution rights to his back catalogue until at least 2017, as well as to obtain permission to release ten new albums with previously unreleased material and new collections of released work. On November 4, 2010 Sony announced the release of Michael, the first posthumous album set to be released on December 14, with the promotional single released to the radios on November 8, titled "Breaking News".[260] The deal was unprecedented in the music industry as it is the most expensive music contract pertaining to a single artist in history; it reportedly involved Sony Music paying $250 million for the deal, with the Jackson estate getting the full sum as well as its share of royalties for all works released.[259][261] Video game developer Ubisoft announced it would release a new dancing-and-singing game featuring Michael Jackson for the 2010 holiday season. The game titled Michael Jackson: The Experience will be among the first to use Kinect and PlayStation Move, the respective motion-detecting camera systems for Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 due out later that year.[262]

    On November 3, 2010, the theatrical performing company Cirque du Soleil announced that it would launch "Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour" in October 2011 in Montreal, while a permanent show will reside in Las Vegas.[263] The 90-minute US$57M production will combine Jackson's iconic musical oeuvre and choreography with the Cirque's signature artistry, dance and aerial displays involving 65 artists.[264] The tour was written and directed by Jamie King[265] and centers on Jackson's "inspirational Giving Tree – the wellspring of creativity where his love of music and dance, fairy tale and magic, and the fragile beauty of nature are unlocked."[266] On October 3, 2011, the accompanying compilation soundtrack album Immortal was announced to have over 40 Jackson’s original recordings re-produced by Kevin Antunes.[267]

    In April 2011, Jackson's longtime friend and billionaire businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed, chairman of Fulham F.C., unveiled a statue of Jackson outside the club's stadium, Craven Cottage.[268] Fulham fans were however bemused by the statue and failed to understand the relevance of Jackson to the club.[269] Al Fayed however defended the statue and told the fans to 'go to hell' if they didn't appreciate the statue.[270]

    Artistry[link]

    Influences[link]

    A silver colored statue of a male. The statue is placed standing up with its arms bent inward and both legs spaced apart. The statue's clothes have wrinkles and it is wearing heeled shoes. In the background, a tree and a light blue sky with multiple clouds can be seen.
    One of many identical statues, positioned throughout Europe to promote HIStory

    Jackson's music took root in R&B, pop and soul. He had been influenced by the work of contemporary musicians such as Little Richard, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Diana Ross, David Ruffin, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis, Jr., The Isley Brothers, the Bee Gees and the West Side Story dancers, to whom he made a tribute in "Beat It" and in the "Bad" video.[271] According to David Winters, who met and befriended Jackson while choreographing the 1971 Diana Ross TV Special "Diana!", (which was also Jackson's first solo debut outside of The Jackson 5), Jackson watched West Side Story almost every week and it was his favorite film.[272][273][274] While Little Richard had a substantial influence on Jackson,[275][276] James Brown was Jackson's greatest inspiration. In reference to Brown, Jackson declared: "Ever since I was a small child, no more than like six years old, my mother would wake me no matter what time it was, if I was sleeping, no matter what I was doing, to watch the television to see the master at work. And when I saw him move, I was mesmerized. I had never seen a performer perform like James Brown, and right then and there I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life because of James Brown."[277]

    The young Michael Jackson owed his vocal technique in large part to Diana Ross. Not only a mother figure to him, she was often observed in rehearsal as an accomplished performer. He later expressed: "I got to know her well. She taught me so much. I used to just sit in the corner and watch the way she moved. She was art in motion. I studied the way she moved, the way she sang – just the way she was." He told her: "I want to be just like you, Diana." She said: "You just be yourself."[278] But Jackson owed part of his enduring style—especially his use of the oooh interjection—to Ross. From a young age, Jackson often punctuated his verses with a sudden exclamation of oooh. Diana Ross had used this effect on many of the songs recorded with The Supremes.[279]

    Musical themes and genres[link]

    Unlike many artists, Jackson did not write his songs on paper. Instead he would dictate into a sound recorder, and when recording he would sing the lyrics from memory.[280] In most of his songs, such as "Billie Jean", "Who Is It", and "Tabloid Junkie", he would beatbox and imitate the instruments using his voice instead of playing the actual instruments, along with other sounds. Jackson noted that it is easier to sing a drum line, or sing a bass, instead of playing a drum line or a bass with an instrument. Several critics have said that Jackson's distinct voice was able to replace any instrument convincingly. Steve Huey of Allmusic said that, throughout his solo career, Jackson's versatility allowed him to experiment with various themes and genres.[281] As a musician, he ranged from Motown's dance fare and ballads to techno and house-edged new jack swing to work that incorporates both funk rhythms and hard rock guitar.[18][282][283]

    According to Huey, Thriller refined the strengths of Off the Wall; the dance and rock tracks were more aggressive, while the pop tunes and ballads were softer and more soulful.[281] Notable tracks included the ballads "The Lady in My Life", "Human Nature" and "The Girl Is Mine"; the funk pieces "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"; and the post-disco set "Baby Be Mine" and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)".[281][282][283][284][285] With Thriller, Christopher Connelly of Rolling Stone commented that Jackson developed his long association with the subliminal theme of paranoia and darker imagery.[285] Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted this is evident on the songs "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'".[283] In "Billie Jean", Jackson sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he has fathered a child of hers.[281] In "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against gossip and the media.[285] "Beat It" decried gang violence in an homage to West Side Story, and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over piece, according to Huey.[18][281] He also observed that the title track "Thriller" began Jackson's interest with the theme of the supernatural, a topic he revisited in subsequent years.[281] In 1985, Jackson co-wrote the charity anthem "We Are the World"; humanitarian themes later became a recurring theme in his lyrics and public persona.[281]

    In Bad, Jackson's concept of the predatory lover can be seen on the rock song "Dirty Diana".[290] The lead single "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" is a traditional love ballad, while "Man in the Mirror" is an anthemic ballad of confession and resolution.[78] "Smooth Criminal" was an evocation of bloody assault, rape and likely murder.[78] Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine states that Dangerous presents Jackson as a very paradoxical individual.[291] He comments the album is more diverse than his previous Bad, as it appeals to an urban audience while also attracting the middle class with anthems like "Heal the World".[291] The first half of the record is dedicated to new jack swing, including songs like "Jam" and "Remember the Time".[292] The album is Jackson's first where social ills become a primary theme; "Why You Wanna Trip on Me", for example, protests against world hunger, AIDS, homelessness and drugs.[292] Dangerous contains sexually charged efforts such as the multifaceted love song, "In the Closet".[292] The title track continues the theme of the predatory lover and compulsive desire.[292] The second half includes introspective, pop-gospel anthems such as "Will You Be There", "Heal the World" and "Keep the Faith"; these songs show Jackson opening up about various personal struggles and worries.[292] In the ballad "Gone Too Soon", Jackson gives tribute to his friend Ryan White and the plight of those with AIDS.[293]

    HIStory creates an atmosphere of paranoia.[294] Its content focuses on the hardships and public struggles Jackson went through just prior to its production. In the new jack swing-funk-rock efforts "Scream" and "Tabloid Junkie", along with the R&B ballad "You Are Not Alone", Jackson retaliates against the injustice and isolation he feels, and directs much of his anger at the media.[295] In the introspective ballad "Stranger in Moscow", Jackson laments over his "fall from grace", while songs like "Earth Song", "Childhood", "Little Susie" and "Smile" are all operatic pop pieces.[294][295] In the track "D.S.", Jackson launched a verbal attack against Tom Sneddon. He describes Sneddon as an antisocial, white supremacist who wanted to "get my ass, dead or alive". Of the song, Sneddon said, "I have not—shall we say—done him the honor of listening to it, but I've been told that it ends with the sound of a gunshot".[296] Invincible found Jackson working heavily with producer Rodney Jerkins.[281] It is a record made up of urban soul like "Cry" and "The Lost Children", ballads such as "Speechless", "Break of Dawn" and "Butterflies" and mixes hip-hop, pop and R&B in "2000 Watts", "Heartbreaker" and "Invincible".[297][298]

    Vocal style[link]

    Jackson sang from childhood, and over time his voice and vocal style changed noticeably. Between 1971 and 1975, Jackson's voice descended from boy soprano to high tenor.[299] His vocal range as an adult was F2-E♭6. Jackson first used a technique called the "vocal hiccup" in 1973, starting with the song "It's Too Late to Change the Time" from The Jackson 5's G.I.T.: Get It Together album.[300] Jackson did not use the hiccup technique— somewhat like a gulping for air or gasping— fully until the recording of Off the Wall: it can be seen in full force in the "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" promotional video.[20] With the arrival of Off the Wall in the late 1970s, Jackson's abilities as a vocalist were well regarded. At the time, Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the "breathless, dreamy stutter" of Stevie Wonder. Their analysis was also that "Jackson's feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that's used very daringly".[301][302] 1982 saw the release of Thriller, and Rolling Stone was of the opinion that Jackson was then singing in a "fully adult voice" that was "tinged by sadness".[285]

    A distinctive deliberate mispronunciation of "come on", used frequently by Jackson, occasionally spelled "cha'mone" or "shamone", is also a staple in impressions and caricatures of him.[303] The turn of the 1990s saw the release of the introspective album Dangerous. The New York Times noted that on some tracks, "he gulps for breath, his voice quivers with anxiety or drops to a desperate whisper, hissing through clenched teeth" and he had a "wretched tone".[292] When singing of brotherhood or self-esteem the musician would return to "smooth" vocals.[292] When commenting on Invincible, Rolling Stone were of the opinion that—at the age of 43—Jackson still performed "exquisitely voiced rhythm tracks and vibrating vocal harmonies".[304] Nelson George summed up Jackson's vocals by stating "The grace, the aggression, the growling, the natural boyishness, the falsetto, the smoothness—that combination of elements mark him as a major vocalist".[286]

    Music videos and choreography[link]

    Jackson has also been referred to as the King of Music Videos,[305] Steve Huey of Allmusic observed how Jackson transformed the music video into an art form and a promotional tool through complex story lines, dance routines, special effects and famous cameo appearances; simultaneously breaking down racial barriers.[281] Before Thriller, Jackson struggled to receive coverage on MTV, allegedly because he was African American.[306] Pressure from CBS Records persuaded MTV to start showing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", leading to a lengthy partnership with Jackson, also helping other black music artists gain recognition.[307] MTV employees deny any racism in their coverage, or pressure to change their stance. MTV maintains that they played rock music, regardless of race.[308] The popularity of his videos on MTV helped to put the relatively young channel "on the map"; MTV's focus shifted in favor of pop and R&B.[309][307] His performance on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever changed the scope of live stage show; "That Jackson lip-synced 'Billie Jean' is, in itself, not extraordinary, but the fact that it did not change the impact of the performance is extraordinary; whether the performance was live or lip-synced made no difference to the audience" thus creating an era in which artists re-create the spectacle of music video imagery on stage.[310] Short films like Thriller largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has frequently been imitated.[311] The choreography in Thriller has become a part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere from Indian films to prisons in the Philippines.[312] The Thriller short film marked an increase in scale for music videos, and has been named the most successful music video ever by the Guinness World Records.[99]

    File:Mjthriller.jpg
    Michael Jackson's revolutionary music video Thriller gained worldwide attention from TV networks such as MTV and VH1

    In the 19-minute music video for "Bad"—directed by Martin Scorsese—Jackson began using sexual imagery and choreography not previously seen in his work. He occasionally grabbed or touched his chest, torso and crotch. When asked by Oprah in the 1993 interview about why he grabbed his crotch, he replied, "I think it happens subliminally" and he described it as something that was not planned, but rather, as something that was compelled by the music. "Bad" garnered a mixed reception from both fans and critics; Time magazine described it as "infamous". The video also featured Wesley Snipes; in the future Jackson's videos would often feature famous cameo roles.[71][313] For "Smooth Criminal", Jackson experimented with an innovative "anti-gravity lean" in his performances. The maneuver required special shoes for which he was granted U.S. Patent No. 5,255,452.[314] Although the music video for "Leave Me Alone" was not officially released in the US, in 1989, it was nominated for three Billboard Music Video Awards;[315] the same year it won a Golden Lion Award for the quality of the special effects used in its production. In 1990, "Leave Me Alone" won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form.[97]

    He received the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1988 and the MTV Video Vanguard Artist of the Decade Award in 1990 to celebrate his accomplishments in the art form in the 1980s; in 1991 the first award was renamed in his honor.[114] "Black or White" was accompanied by a controversial music video, which, on November 14, 1991, simultaneously premiered in 27 countries with an estimated audience of 500 million people, the largest viewing ever for a music video.[113] It featured scenes construed as having a sexual nature as well as depictions of violence. The offending scenes in the final half of the 14-minute version were edited out to prevent the video from being banned, and Jackson apologized.[316] Along with Jackson, it featured Macaulay Culkin, Peggy Lipton and George Wendt. It helped usher in morphing as an important technology in music videos.[317]

    "Remember the Time" was an elaborate production, and became one of his longest videos at over nine minutes. Set in ancient Egypt, it featured groundbreaking visual effects and appearances by Eddie Murphy, Iman and Magic Johnson, along with a distinct complex dance routine.[318] The video for "In the Closet" was Jackson's most sexually provocative piece. It featured supermodel Naomi Campbell in a courtship dance with Jackson. The video was banned in South Africa because of its imagery.[114]

    The music video for "Scream", directed by Mark Romanek and production designer Tom Foden, is one of Jackson's most critically acclaimed. In 1995, it gained 11 MTV Video Music Award Nominations—more than any other music video—and won "Best Dance Video", "Best Choreography", and "Best Art Direction".[319] The song and its accompanying video are a response to the backlash Jackson received from the media after being accused of child molestation in 1993.[320] A year later, it won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form; shortly afterwards Guinness World Records listed it as the most expensive music video ever made at a cost of $7 million.[151][321]

    "Earth Song" was accompanied by an expensive and well-received music video that gained a Grammy nomination for Best Music Video, Short Form in 1997. The video had an environmental theme, showing images of animal cruelty, deforestation, pollution and war. Using special effects, time is reversed so that life returns, wars end, and the forests re-grow.[151][322] Released in 1997 and premiering at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, Michael Jackson's Ghosts was a short film written by Jackson and Stephen King and directed by Stan Winston. The video for Ghosts is over 38 minutes long and holds the Guinness World Record as the world's longest music video.[151][160][323][324]

    Legacy and influence[link]

    A pink star with a gold colored rim and the writing "Michael Jackson" in its center. The star is indented into the ground and is surrounded by a marble colored floor.
    Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, set in 1984

    Jackson throughout his career transformed the art of the music video and paved the way for modern pop music. Daily Telegraph writer Tom Utley described Jackson in 2003 as "extremely important" and a "genius".[239] For much of his career, he had an "unparalleled" level of worldwide influence over the younger generation through his musical and humanitarian contributions.[153] Jackson's music and videos, such as Thriller, fostered racial diversity in MTV's roster, helped to put the relatively new channel into public awareness, and steered the channel's focus from rock to pop music and R&B, shaping the channel into a form that proved enduring. Jackson's work continues to influence numerous hip hop, rock, pop and R&B artists, including Patrick Stump,[325] Jennifer Lopez,[326] Beyoncé,[327] Mariah Carey,[328] Mýa,[329] Usher,[330] Adam Lambert,[331] Green Day,[332] Justin Timberlake,[333] Britney Spears,[334] Madonna,[335] Alien Ant Farm[164] and Ludacris, among others.[336]

    Allmusic's Steve Huey describes Jackson as "an unstoppable juggernaut, possessed of all the skills to dominate the charts seemingly at will: an instantly identifiable voice, eye-popping dance moves, stunning musical versatility and loads of sheer star power".[281] In the mid-1980s, Time magazine's pop music critic, Jay Cocks, noted "Jackson is the biggest thing since The Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever".[40] In 1990, Vanity Fair cited Jackson as the most popular artist in the history of show business.[97] In 2007, Jackson said, "Music has been my outlet, my gift to all of the lovers in this world. Through it, my music, I know I will live forever."[337]

    Shortly after Jackson's death, on June 25, 2009, MTV briefly returned to its original music video format to celebrate and pay tribute to his work.[338] The channel aired many hours of Jackson's music videos, accompanied by live news specials featuring reactions from MTV personalities and other celebrities. The temporary shift in MTV's programming culminated the following week in the channel's live coverage of Jackson's memorial service.[339] At the memorial service on July 7, 2009, founder of Motown Records Berry Gordy proclaimed Jackson as "the greatest entertainer that ever lived".[340][341][342]

    In 2010, two university librarians found that Jackson's influence extended into academia, and was detectable in scholarly literature pertaining to a range of subject matter.[343][344] The two researchers combed through various scholars' writings, and compiled an annotated bibliography of those writings that appeared to meet at least one of several criteria. Among these criteria were appearance in a peer-reviewed journal, and the provision of insight into the nature of "popular icons including Jackson".[345] The bibliography located references to Jackson in research reports concerning music, popular culture, and an array of other topics. The bibliographers identified as their most peculiar finding an argument that certain aspects of chemistry can be effectively taught by altering and imitating elements of Jackson's singing.[346] One of the research librarians later reflected that "the fact that someone would take a Michael Jackson song and co-opt it as a means to convey chemistry concepts just shows the pervasiveness of Jackson's influence".[343]

    Honors and awards[link]

    Thriller platinum record on display at the Hard Rock Cafe, Hollywood in Universal City, California

    Michael Jackson was inducted onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1980 as member of The Jacksons and in 1984 as solo artist. Throughout his career he received numerous honors and awards, including the World Music Awards' Best-Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium, the American Music Award's Artist of the Century Award and the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium Award.[165][347] He was a double-inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. Jackson was also inducted in several other hall of fames, including Vocal Group Hall of Fame (as The Jackson 5 member) in 1999, Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 and Hit Parade Hall of Fame (with his brothers) in 2009.[165][348] In 2010, Jackson was inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll.[349] His awards include many Guinness World Records (eight in 2006 alone),[350] 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), 26 American Music Awards (24 only as a solo artist, including the "Artist of the Century", but not the poll of "Artist of the '80s")—more than any artist—, 13 number one singles in the US in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era[351]—and estimated sales of up to 750 million records worldwide, making him the world's best selling male solo pop artist.[32][99][113][163][215][216][352][353][354][355][356] On December 29, 2009, the American Film Institute recognized Jackson's death as a "moment of significance" saying, "Michael Jackson's sudden death in June at age 50 was notable for the worldwide outpouring of grief and the unprecedented global eulogy of his posthumous concert rehearsal movie This Is It."[357] Michael Jackson also received a Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from the United Negro College Fund[358] and also an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Fisk University.[359]

    Lifetime earnings[link]

    His total lifetime earnings from royalties on his solo recordings and music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been estimated at US$500 million; some analysts have speculated that his music catalog holdings could be worth billions of dollars.[98][360] This speculation however is contradicted by financial documents obtained by the Associated Press, which showed that as of March 31, 2007, Jackson's 50 percent stake in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog (his most prized asset) was worth $390.6 million and Michael Jackson's net worth was $236 million.[361] Billboard has estimated that Jackson has generated at least $1 billion in revenue in the year following his death.[362]

    Discography[link]

    Filmography[link]

    Year Film Role Director
    1978 The Wiz[363] Scarecrow Lumet, SidneySidney Lumet
    1986 Captain EO[364] Captain EO Coppola, Francis FordFrancis Ford Coppola
    1988 Moonwalker[365] Himself Kramer, JerryJerry Kramer
    1997 Michael Jackson's Ghosts[366] Maestro/Mayor/Ghoul/Skeleton Winston, StanStan Winston
    2002 Men in Black II[367] Agent M (cameo) Sonnenfeld, BarryBarry Sonnenfeld
    2004 Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls[368] Agent MJ (cameo) Stoller, Bryan MichaelBryan Michael Stoller
    2009 Michael Jackson's This Is It[369] Himself Ortega, KennyKenny Ortega

    Tours[link]

    See also[link]


    References[link]

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    Bibliography

    Further reading[link]

    External links[link]

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    http://ru.wn.com/Джексон, Майкл

    http://it.wn.com/Michael Jackson




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