FACTBOX: Highlights of Michael Jackson's career

Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:30pm BST
 
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(Reuters) - Michael Jackson, 50, who died on June 25, was being celebrated in a public memorial in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Following are some highlights of Jackson's 40-year career in the music industry.

* Jackson and his four older brothers -- Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon -- first performed together at a talent show in their hometown of Gary, Indiana, when Michael was 6. They walked off with first prize.

* After signing with Motown Records in 1968, the Jackson 5 topped the U.S. pop charts with their first five singles, including "ABC" and "I'll Be There."

* Jackson released his first solo single "Got To Be There," the title track from his debut album, in 1971.

* "Thriller" (1982) is the biggest-selling album of all time with an estimated 50 million copies sold worldwide. It yielded seven Top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It", "The Girl is Mine" and "Thriller."

* Jackson debuted his signature dance move -- the moonwalk -- on a 1983 Motown anniversary TV special.

* Jackson bought most of the Beatles' copyrights for $47.5 million in 1985.

* He co-wrote with Lionel Richie the 1985 supergroup charity single "We are the World", which helped raise more than $60 million for famine relief in Africa.

* Jackson died three weeks before he was to begin a sold-out series of 50 comeback concerts in London.  Continued...

 
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