>>进入中文页面点击迈克尔·杰克逊小传：划时代的传奇

Michael Jackson, the self-styled King of Pop, who has died suddenly aged 50 after being taken to hospital in Los Angeles, was music royalty – one of its biggest stars and holder, for Thriller, of the record for the best-selling album in history. Eventually, however, his bizarre life-style and personal notoriety eclipsed his talent and his numerous achievements.

Fame, from the age of 11, when he was lead singer of the first black boy band, the Jackson Five, had such a damaging effect that his life was permanently affected. A combination of dysfunctional family and invasive fame ate away at the essentially private singer, whose initially minor eccentricities escalated into grotesque changes to his appearance and lifestyle. Ultimately, it led to accusations of paedophilia and a criminal prosecution.

If ever there was an illustration of the adage that celebrity destroys what it touches, Jackson was it. Highly sensitive and impressionable, he was unsuited to fame – ironic, given that his became one of the most recognised faces in the world. Despite loving the razzle-dazzle of performance – even his off-duty wardrobe, with its epauletted jackets, looked like stagewear – he was crushed by the pressure of maintaining a cherubic public persona. He probably would have been happiest working behind the scenes, in the mode of his collaborator and mentor, Quincy Jones, producer of the 50m-selling Thriller.

Jackson's success deprived him of his childhood – at least, that was the stock explanation for his more outlandish behaviour. From the age of 10, he spent most of his time recording and touring, and consequently spent the rest of his life yearning for what he thought he had lost. As an adult he attempted to recreate the lost childhood, enabled by a fortune that was at one time estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

He indulged himself by turning his California ranch Neverland into a funfair, complete with zoo, over which he presided, dressed in his toy-soldier gear. His closest friendships were with fellow ex-child star Elizabeth Taylor, a chimpanzee called Bubbles, who travelled with him till it grew too large and dangerous, and, ambiguously, with children. He once said that if there were no children in the world, he would have no reason to exist.

His bond with them influenced almost everything he did. He worked extensively with underprivileged youngsters, opening Neverland to them and even taking one or another favoured child on tour. He had a great interest in young people from all over the world, even once proposing to adopt a boy and a girl from each continent.

 

>>世界向流行音乐之王迈克尔·杰克逊致敬

>>迈克尔·杰克逊之死：心脏骤停惹的祸

>>洛杉矶巨星陨落——为杰克逊送行

>>英国音乐节悼念迈克尔杰克逊 (图)

>>世界为迈克尔·杰克逊之死默哀|图片英语

>>迈克尔·杰克逊的职业生涯【组图】

>>缅怀一代歌神迈克尔·杰克逊经典LOOK【组图】