KIng of Pop: Michael Jackson

This blog is incomplete without mentioning one of the great figures in history of entertainment, Michael Jackson (MJ) aka "King of the pop". Michael was American musician and with a huge commercial success under his belt. He is regarded as one of the most commercially successful entertainer in history of the entertainment. It is difficult for entertainment lovers to forget his famous dance moves 'the robot' and 'the moonwalk'. Its not difficult to find music lover who try to copy Michael in one way or the other in every city of the globe. He is regarded as one of the tall figures in "World Entertainment" fraternity.

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary (Indiana). Michael's childhood was not like other children's of his time. He had a troubled relationship with his father, about which he has revealed on talk shows in later part of his life. In year 1964, Michael and his brother, Marlon joined a band named as "Jackson Brothers" — a band formed by his brothers Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine. Later Band was renamed as "The Jackson 5".

"Jackson 5" recorded several songs, including "Big Boy" for the record label Steeltown in 1967. Michale quickly became the lead singer of the band. Band achieved success with songs like, "I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save," and "I'll Be There". During 1972 Jackson released four solo studio albums with Motown. In 1975 "Jackson 5" left Motown because of some creative control issues. Later "Jackson 5" signed a new contract with CBS Records in same year. They also renamed their band to "The Jacksons".

In 1979 MJ released his solo album Off the Wall. "Off the wall" was a huge commercial success with a sale of more than 20 million copies worldwide. It remain on the top on various charts like Billboard 200. Still Michael was not satisfied with the end outcome of the Album (Happens with most of the creative people. Never satisfied with their work). In year 1982 Micheal released his all time best album "Thriller". It achieved a huge commercial success.

Thriller remained in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 for 80 consecutive weeks. It was the first album to have seven Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles, including "Billie Jean", "Beat It," and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". It is the best-selling album of all time, with 110 million copies worldwide. Michael Jackson was having highest royalty rate in the music industry at that point (approx to $2 for every album sold). It was an era in which dolls modeled after MJ were selling in stores with a price tag of $12.

In year 1984 Michael Jackson had a accident, while shooting for the Pepsi Cola commercial in Los-Angels. He suffered with a second degree burns to his scalp after pyrotechnics accidentally set his hair on fire. On May 14, 1984 MJ was invited to the White House to receive an award from President Ronald Reagan for his support of charities. In same year MJ won eight Grammy awards.

For further readings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001391/



Legends never die so will MJ, the "King of Pop". He will remain in our hearts always and will keep entertaining the present and the coming generations of the World. He may have some negatives but this blog is not for discussing the negatives of any person. Columns are dedicated to the entertainment contributors and the lovers. So was our dear Michael Jackson, he work for this field of creativity throughout his life, even in his last moments.

Songs and The Bollywood

People in west may find it quite difficult to digest Movies with 4-6 minute songs present in them. They may find it of no use because for them movie is all about drama, emotion, action, passion (Includes both sex and violence) comedy etc. Some people try to counter argue this by saying that people in countries like India have lots of time to watch movies with songs, whereas in western countries people do not have time to sit and watch songs in cinema theaters. For them songs are meant for I-Pods and MP3 players not movies.

Lets be true, in real people of each and every country of the world have their own set of doing and perceiving things. For people in western countries, its very difficult for them to perceive movies with songs (I appreciate this fact). But its very important for entertainment lovers to appreciate the fact that there is the world of Bollywood with movies which are having 3-4 songs of 4-6 minute duration present in them.

Bollywood has a very rich history of movies with a songs of near to nine decades. During 1935-36 first bollywood songs to hit the nation were from the movie "ACHHUT KANYAA". The most prominent singers of 1930's and 1940's were K.L Saigal,K.C Dey, Pankaj Mullick, Shanta Apte, Govindrao Tembe, Ashok Kumar, Devika Rani, Surendra, and Wahidan Bai (Very few readers may be aware of these singers)."Indrasabha", released in 1932 holds the record of maximum songs in the history of Bollywood with a tally of 71 songs.

How can we forget the movies of 1960's-70's with actors running, jumping and moving around the tree while singing the song. How can we forget the melodious music of Roshan, S.D Burman and R.D Burman. These great figures have helped the bollywood in building this vast empire of music. Most of the latest bollywood songs are inspired in one or the other way by the work of these music giants of the Bollywood.

Bollywood songs are the team work of singer, lyricist and the musician, all of them complement each other.

The most famous singers of the Bollywood Were/are:

1. Kishore Kumar
2. Mohd. Rafi
3. Manna Dey
4. Lata Mangeshkar
5. Asha Bhosle
6. Mukesh
7. Udit Narayan
8. K.L Saigal


The most famous Music composers of the Bollywood are:

1. S.D Burman
2. R.D Burman
3. Roshan
4. Khayyam
5. Laxmi Kant, Pyare Lal
6. Kalyanji, Anandji


The most Famous Lyricist of Bollywood are:

1. Anand Bakshi
2. Javed Akthar
3. majrooh sultanpuri
4. Sameer
5. Gulzar

Reference: http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/music_hist.html

"Its Good to be entertained"