Michael Jackson: King of Pop and Style Icon.

On Thursday June, 25 2009, America lost one of the greatest musical icons in history. Michael Jackson.

Born Michael Joseph Jackson on August 29, 1958 to Joseph and Katherine Jackson in Gary, Indiana, Michael was the seventh child of nine children. Michael first started singing and dancing at 5 years of age for classmates one day. Michael's professional music career debuted when he was 11, performing with his brothers who were known as the Jackson 5. Michael and his brothers suffered through their father's physically and verbally bouts of rage off stage but sang and danced their way to the top of the charts on stage.

In 1971 Michael began his solo career though he was still a part of the Jackson 5 group. In 1978 Michael starred as Scarecrow in the film musical The Wiz where he met Quincy Jones, who agreed to produce Michael's solo album Off the Wall. It was the first album to generate four US top 10 hits, including the chart-topping singles "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough" and "Rock With You''. Off the Wall reached number three on the Billboard 200 and has since been certified for 7 million shipments in the US and eventually sold over 20 million copies worldwide. In 1980, Jackson won three awards at the American Music Awards for his solo efforts: Favorite Soul/R&B Album, Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Single for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". That year, he also won Billboard Music Awards for Top Black Artist and Top Black Album and a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for 'Don't Stop Till You Get Enough'.

Michael's next album Thriller, would be the album to break all records and to be held as

possibly the greatest album ever created. Thriller remained in the top 10 of the billboard 200 for 80 consecutive weeks, 37 at the peak. Michael's album Thriller, sold upwards of 109 million copies, making it the best sold album of all time. Thriller was and still is a very important part of music around the world. Michael's music influenced us, and still influences us today. Michael also changed the way we danced. With moves like the 'Moonwalk', the 'Robot' and the 'Lean' he single handily changed Hip Hop, R&B and Pop dancing into something incredible. Although Michael faced a lot of scrutiny for his looks and his legal troubles, Michael remains the greatest dancer and singer to ever grace this planet.

Michael's style was complex. Simply by pairing white socks with black shoes, he created a trend that is still popular. One of Michael's most famous outfits, was the red jumpsuit (seen in Thriller) Or the most famous, the glove. Now everyone imitated Michael by wearing just one glove (admit it you wore it too) Maybe you were influenced by some of his other more... eccentric outfits. Many thought Michael went to far by wearing pajama bottoms to a court meeting in 2005. Michael was Michael. If he wanted to wear a sequins jacket with matching pants that was his prerogative. Michael was the King Of Pop and a Style Icon and he will be forever missed.