User talk:Hexasouce

The American singer Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009), nicknamed the “King of Pop",[1] is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century and one of the most successful and influential entertainers.[2][3]

Jackson became a child star as a member of the Jackson 5, a band formed with his older brothers.[4] In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular culture and the first African American entertainer to have a strong crossover fan base on Music Television (MTV).[5][6] His music videos, including those for "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller" from his 1982 album Thriller, are credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an art form and promotional tool.[7] The popularity of these videos helped bring the television channel MTV to fame.[8] Jackson’s achievements helped to desegregate popular music and introduced an era of multiculturalism and integration that future generations of artists followed.[9]

Jackson's influenced a wide range of subjects, from celebrity studies to visual culture to gender and sexuality studies, and many more including ones not directly related to his profession.[10][11] The British Council named Jackson on their list of "80 Moments that Shaped the World."[12] In 2010, two university librarians found that Jackson's influence extended to academia, with references to Jackson in reports concerning music, popular culture, chemistry and an array of other topics.[13][14][15]