Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actor. Called the King of Pop, his contributions to music and dance, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.

The eighth child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon 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" from his 1982 album Thriller, were credited with breaking down racial barriers and with transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool. The popularity of these videos helped to bring the then-relatively-new television channel MTV to fame. His 1987 album Bad spawned the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana", becoming the first album to have five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. With videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream", he continued to innovate the medium throughout the 1990s, as well as forging a reputation as a touring solo artist. Through stage and video performances, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous artists of various music genres.

Smooth Criminal

"Smooth Criminal" is the seventh single from American recording artist Michael Jackson's 1987 Bad album. The song contains a fast-paced beat intertwined with Jackson's lyrics about a woman named Annie, who has been violently attacked in her apartment by a "smooth" assailant. First broadcast on television as a video in early October, it was released as a single on October 21, 1988, and peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. It was re-released on April 10, 2006, as a part of the Visionary: The Video Singles box set. The re-released Visionary single charted at number 19 in the UK. The piece is one of Jackson's signature songs, and has appeared on numerous greatest hits albums, including Number Ones, The Essential Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection, King of Pop, This Is It, and Immortal.

The song serves as the theme song to Jackson's 1988 film Moonwalker, and plays as the background soundtrack in a section of the video game Michael Jackson's Moonwalker.

Michael

Michael /ˈmaɪkəl/ is a male given name that comes from the Hebrew: מִיכָאֵל / מיכאל‎ (Mīkhāʼēl, pronounced [miχaˈʔel]), derived from the question מי כאל mī kāʼēl, meaning "Who is like God?" (literally, "Who is like El?). In English, it is sometimes shortened to Mike, Mikey, Mickey, or Mick.

Female forms of Michael include Michelle, Michele, Michaela, Mechelle, Micheline, and Michaelle, although Michael is occasionally seen as a female name; women named Michael include actresses Michael Learned and Michael Michele. Another form is Mychal, which can either be a male or female name.

Patronymic surnames that come from Michael include Michaels, Carmichael, MacMichael, McMichael, Micallef, Michaelson, Mikkelsen, DiMichele, Mikhaylov, Mykhaylenko, Mikeladze, Michels, and Mitchell.

Religion

The name first appears in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Numbers, 13:13 where Sethur the son of Michael is one of 12 spies sent into the Land of Canaan. The archangel Michael features in the Book of Daniel 12:1, and in the Qur'an as Mikhail.

MJJ Music

MJJ Music is an American record label that is owned by MJJ Productions Inc and founded by American entertainer Michael Jackson. It is distributed by Epic Records (for which Jackson recorded) and Work Records.

MJJ Music was founded in 1988. Jackson formed the label to help shape the talents of burgeoning artists. Among the string of artists that signed with the label included Brownstone, 3T, Tatyana Ali, and Men of Vizion. The label’s most significant successes in America was that of Brownstone, whose 1994 single “If You Love Me” hit the top ten of the pop charts, also the group was certified platinum with the 1995 debut album From the Bottom Up.

In addition, Tatyana Ali, who had a top ten hit in 1999 with the single “Daydream,” Another significant success for the label was 3T, whose first album, Brotherhood, went gold in the United States and platinum overseas.

Also during the 1990s, the label's musical base had been expanded to include kid hip hop duos, one of which was Quo, which was a short-lived group composed of Wade Robson (born 1982) and DeWayne Turrentine (born 1979). The duo came together in 1994 and released the single "Blowin' Up (Don't Stop the Music)," which became a minor hip hop hit, charting on both the Hot Rap Singles chart and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Jackson

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