@
Michael Jackson's 
precocious talent 
for singing and 
dancing led the 
family group to 
elect him as lead 
singer when he 
was 11. Michael 
soon eclipsed his 
brothers, and in 
1971 he began a 
solo career in 
tandem with the 
Jackson Five
#
Although the 
Jackson Five had 
number-one hits 
with their first 
four records, they 
found it impos- 
sible to sustain 
such popularity. 
In 1979 Michael 
released a solo 
album - Off The 
Wall. This ended 
his musical 
association with 
his family, though 
they still per- 
formed together 
occasionally
#
As Michael 
Jackson's solo 
success grew in 
the Eighties he 
left behind his 
upbeat Jackson 
Five image. His 
last tie with the 
family business 
was cut in 1981 
when he sacked 
father Freddy as 
his manager
#
In 1982 came
Thriller, which 
was soon to be the
biggest selling 
record ever. With 
this album 
Jackson invented 
a hard-edged,  
sexy  persona 
that won as much 
attention for him 
personally as for 
his music
#
By the end of the 
decade Jackson 
was pop's biggest 
star. Always 
innovative and 
original, Jackson 
led the black 
music boom in 
the Eighties, but 
he was not 
without rivals
@
The biggest-selling singer on the planet, Jackson underwent several
operations which transformed him into one of the most bizarre and
instantly recognisable faces in pop
#
Jackson's 1984 
tour of the US 
was so vastly
extravagant that 
its organisers 
boasted that only 
NASA could have 
afforded to 
launch it
#
As Jackson's 
fame and fortune 
grew ever more
uncontrollable, 
he increasingly 
insulated himself 
from the 
pressures of 
celebrity - 
making little 
effort to deny the
startling rumours 
about his lifestyle
#
Jackson's 
sophisticated 
stagecraft and 
sexually charged 
performances are 
in total contrast 
to the offstage
image of innocent 
androgyny. These 
contradictions 
have only added 
to his mystique
#
Jackson 
consolidated the 
success of his 
record sales with 
live performances 
across the world. 
But as the strain 
of touring began 
to tell, the 
rumours about
'Whacko Jacko' 
became more 
outlandish
#
In 1994 Michael 
Jackson married 
Lisa Marie 
Presley, daughter 
of Elvis. In a 
widely televised 
interview Oprah 
Winfrey asked 
Jackson - who has 
always claimed 
no interest in sex 
- if he was a 
virgin. "I am a 
gentleman", he 
replied, smiling
@
The Beatles split 
was blamed by 
many on Yoko 
Ono. John doted 
on her, and Paul 
was deeply 
distrustful of her, 
But the two 
songwriters' 
paths had already 
diverged, and the 
worst that can be 
said of Yoko is 
that she hastened 
the group's 
demise
#
The once happy 
and fruitful 
Beatles 
partnership slid 
after the break-
up into personal 
sniping and legal 
bickering. Lennon 
released a very 
poor song, How 
Do You Sleep, 
which was a 
bitter and vicious 
attack on Paul
#
After the Beatles 
fell apart the 
members moved 
on to other 
projects. Lennon 
moved to New 
York, Ringo Starr 
got interested in 
film, Harrison 
made some 
respectable 
albums in Britain 
, and McCartney, 
after a period of 
peace and quiet, 
re-emerged with 
what he called a 
working skiffle 
band - Wings
#
John Lennon was 
killed outside his 
home in New 
York. He had 
done little in the 
previous five 
years, but had 
just re-emerged 
with a new 
album. His death 
put paid to the 
perennial 
rumours that the 
Beatles were 
about to get back 
together
#
If prophetic 
photographs are 
anything to go by, 
it seems Lennon 
knew he would 
be the first Beatle 
to die. Sales in 
Beatles records 
naturally 
rocketed after his 
death, and with 
his corpus of 
work now 
complete, the 
appraisal of his 
legacy, with the 
Beatles and 
without them, 
could begin
#
Paul McCartney's 
solo output has 
remained 
impressive, but 
as with Lennon, 
the quality 
varied. Though 
both men strived 
to create a 
separate musical 
identity for 
themselves after 
the Beatles, 
neither could 
quite ever escape 
the shadow of 
their youthful 
moptopped selves