Photo Courtesy of galleryhip.com
Five years ago today on June 25, 2009, the King of Pop suddenly passed away. Today we remember him and observe how very much alive his music remains.
While working on the highly anticipated concert series “This Is It”, Michael Jackson unexpectedly died of cardiac arrest just 18 days before the tour’s scheduled start date. A few months later, a documentary-concert film was released in cinemas Oct 28, 2009, featuring his rehearsals and preparations for the “This Is It”, giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at a spectacular show that never had a chance to take place.
The next year, Jackson’s first posthumous album was released Dec 10, 2010 under the label MJJ and Epic. Succinctly titled “Michael”, the album was a compilation CD of previously unreleased tracks featuring artists like 50 Cent, Akon and Lenny Kravitz (both of whom also produced the record), giving fans a sense their Pop King hadn’t entirely disappeared. At the 2014 Billboard Music Awards, Jackson did appear – as a holograph unnerving the audience while performing “Slave to the Rhythm”, which took half a year to plan. Also this year, Jackson’s second posthumous compilation album was released May 13th, titled “Xscape”, featuring nine unreleased tracks by MJ and reaching No. 2 on Billboard Top 200 list.
Jackson ‘s 1982 record “Thriller” still holds the record for best selling album of all time, and this week was one of the top two selling albums, along with his “Number Ones” causing people to reflect on the impact the King of Pop had on commercial music. Also surprising is the fact that more Michael Jackson albums have been purchased this past week than the entire first 26 weeks of 2009, and all of the Catalog Album Chart’s Top 10 positions are filled by Jackson.
Today we remember the huge effect he had on music and cultural consciousness. He is recognized for his amazing talents as a singer with a voice you could pick out anywhere, as a ingenious dancer, as a popular song writer, from the tender age of 9 until just before he turned 51. He continues to influence artists of today such as Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars and Daft Punk, from beyond the grave. Jackson’s legacy lives on.