RIP Michael Jackson

Some interesting trivia:

• # Billie Jean was the first video by a black artist to air on MTV.
• # Jackson’s waxwork features in five Madame Tussauds museums across the world. Only Elvis Presley and Madonna have more Tussaud figures. They each have six.
• # Jackson’s total lifetime earnings from royalties, solo recordings and music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been estimated at $500 million.
• # Jackson received a Presidential Humanitarian Award from Ronald Reagan in 1984 for his support of charities helping people overcome alcohol and drug abuse.
• # Jackson fought fellow 50 year old Madonna on MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch. He lost.
• # MC Hammer once challenged Jackson to a dance-off. He was told to Beat It. Jackson reportedly responded, “I’ve seen your videos and every single dance move you use, you got off of me.”
• # An obsessed French Jackson superfan committed suicide in 1984 after his mother refused to allow him to undergo surgery to look like the star.
• # In 1984, a U.S. library accused Jackson of owing it over $1 million in overdue book fines. Officials said they would scrap the fines if he returned the books autographed.
• # Jackson is was a vegetarian.
• # Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Jackson 5 on May 6, 1997. He was inducted as a solo artist on March 19, 2001.
• # Jackson’s music video for Thriller was voted the greatest music video of all time in a recent Channel 4 (UK) poll.
• # Jackson’s double album HIStory is the biggest selling double album ever released in the U.S.
• # Jackson’s Blood on the Dance Floor is the biggest selling re-mix album of all time.
• # Movie star Macauley Culkin is godfather to Jackson’s two eldest children, Paris and Prince Michael.
• # Jackson shares the record for the most Grammy Awards won in one year with Carlos Santana and Norah Jones - they each won eight
• # Jackson’s performance during the 1993 SuperBowl half-time show drew the largest TV audience in American history.
• # Jackson provided a voiceover on The Simpsons - but it remained a secret for 12 years. He voiced a character in a mental institution in the Stark Raving Dad episode, which aired in 1991, but, because of a contractual problem, Jackson had to be credited as John Jay Smith. His contribution to the classic cartoon series remained a rumour among fans until The Simpsons creator Matt Groening confirmed it really was Jackson when the episode was released on DVD in 2003.