Timeline: highs and lows of Jackson's life
Updated on 26 June 2009
View a video timeline of the key moments in Michael Jackson's life across the years.
In terms of commercial success and industry awards, Michael Jackson was the most successful entertainer of all time.
He was a child star by the age of nine with his brothers in the Jackson Five, and his solo album Thriller - released 25 years ago - is the biggest selling album ever.
Here's a breakdown of his key moments.
- 1958: Jackson is born on 26 August in Gary, Indiana.
- 1963: gives his first public performance aged five singing Climb Every Mountain.
- 1964: joins his brothers in The Jackson Five who sign to Motown Records in 1968.
- 1979: releases the solo album Off The Wall.
- 1982: releases Thriller which went on to become the world's best-selling album of all time.
- 1996: marries for the second time to nurse Debbie Rowe in 1996. The couple divorce three years later.
- 2003: tells interviewer Martin Bashir that sharing a bed with a young boy is "a beautiful thing".
- 2005: acquitted of sexually molesting 12-year-old Gavin Arvizo.
- 2009: dies after a heart attack in Los Angeles.
