Farewell, King of Pop!

I was shocked this morning to hear the news- my friend messaged me with a link to a news site which read "Pop King Michael Jackson no more". I thought he was joking but further googling brought out the truth. He really had died... of a cardiac arrest which was so sudden and unexpected, that I am still finding it hard to come to terms with the fact that he is not alive any more.

Possibly one of the greatest musicians of all time, he will be remembered most for his exceptional music, for inventing the art of Break dance and for all the charitable works that he participated in. Truly a legend in the music industry, he has smashed all records for musicians - he is the largest selling artist in the world (more than a billion copies of his albums sold), the first black musician to bring out music videos, he has won the largest number of grammy awards (13 in total), 3 of his albums are voted amongst the best music albums in the world, he has stayed within the top 10 musicians consistently for almost 25 years (his songs were always within the top 10 on the Billboard US countdown), and he is also the largest earning musician (grossed more than half a billion dollars in his entire career). Add to this record list some electrifying dance moves and you have a total entertainer for whose concerts, the tickets were sold out faster than we could blink an eye.

Although he has had his fair share of controversies with his visual appearance, his on-off marital partners and a few molestation charges, that is part of his personal life and none of my or your business to bring into discussion.

I can never forget Michael Jackson, the artist. He is one of those artists whose songs I can never get bored of, because he has the knack of singing every song differently. He could sing Rock, Pop or Soul and yet make it sound so authentic. Also, he is one of the very few artists, whose each and every album has ALL the songs written with complete meanings for the lyrics, a different tune and a different approach (unlike our music directors who blindly copy someone else's tunes). He used to compose every song by himself, practice it a million times to achieve perfection (one of the reasons why his albums used to release only in an interval of 5-6 years). Not to mention, his music videos all have a touch of uniqueness within them and of course, there were always the electrifying dance steps to keep your eyes glued to the screen in awe of that massive dancing+singing talent.

As a person, he was supposed to be a very gentle human being, completely down-to-earth and always ready to help all who approached him. He has donated money to charity in countless figures.. so much that he eventually went bankrupt. Most of this charity was done for uplifting the living conditions of people in the flood and drought-stricken under-developed countries in Africa. Some of his videos such as "Man in the mirror", "Heal the world" and "They don't care about us" are based on those people and their sufferings. He even formed an association of American music artists called "USA For Africa" and their combined work helped produce a few chartbusters on the Billboard, all of whose proceeds went to those charitable trusts. More recently, even when reeling under bankruptcy, he took a huge loan and kept continuing to fund his charitable organizations in underdeveloped Africa and South America. Such was the greatness and selflessness of this chap!

He not only dedicated himself to these works of charity, but also to preach awareness on global issues such as Global Warming, the plight of near-extinction of Killer whales and Deforestation. Tracks like "The Earth Song" were meant to bring out these issues. He wrote a few other songs which highlighted the then plight of discriminated Blacks in the world and the songs preached equality and termination of racism in all forms.

Rarely do you see a star nowadays who is so talented (in fact multi-talented), yet so down-to-earth, does so much for the needy people of the world and takes up social and environmental issues. Most of today's "stars" just concentrate on making money for themselves, and landing a plum film offer in Bollywood/Hollywood.

I grew up watching Michael Jackson videos on MTV every evening, back in those days when Jackson was at his peak (the early and late 1990s) and I can never forget some of his songs and their music videos constantly at the #1 and #2 positions every week on the Billboard countdown, for months together. It has been a great 30 years of his entertaining era, from 1979 to 2009. I wish he could have completed what would have been his last and final Live Concert at London in July 09. Ironically, he passed away less than a month before that happened, and that too while rehearsing his famous dance steps that he would have performed there.

As I currently watch the Michael Jackson tribute show on VH1 now, I still can't somehow bring myself to terms with this massive loss to the music fraternity. As a huge, huge MJ fan, Thank you Michael Jackson, for these 3 decades of all those wonderful, entertaining moments and songs. Rest in peace! You always were, and always will be the undisputed 'King of Pop' !

MJ Fan for life,
KK