Michael Jackson: The King of Pop 1958-2009 [Hardcover]

Okay, it's another pictorial tribute to Michael Jackson, and a slim one at that. However, the quality of the photography and Chris Roberts' text help this new publication, Michael Jackson King of Pop 1958-2009, transcend superficiality.

Roberts once reviewed one of Michael's UK concerts in memorable prose, which he quotes in the Introduction to this book. It's a reminder of what a Michael Jackson live performance was like. "He is beautiful, feline, febrile... Onstage, he lives a stream of silky, seraphic lifetimes. That's entertainment." It was July 26, 1997. Michael was 39, "the child within" and, as Roberts had declared in his review of the show, he was "still big. If the genre got small, that's hardly his fault."

Michael Jackson was someone who was incredibly shy and easily embarrassed when not on-stage, standing, strutting or dancing in the spotlight. It was where he felt most comfortable. He once said "It's the greatest place in the world. I just light up. It's magic. I'm here on Earth for a reason, and that's my job, to make people happy."

He then went on to say that (even at the age of 22) he had been entertaining most of his life, and consequently found being around real people strange. "It's hard to live in the real world, in my position. I try to, sometimes, but people won't deal with me in that way, because they see me differently."

This would sadly remain the case later in Michael's life. Only the fans and his close associates seemed to understand and accept what the media portrayed as a strange, complex individual with a lifestyle that appeared to push as many boundaries off stage as did Michael's live performances, his songs and his ground-breaking music videos - or "short films" as he called them.

He was bound to attract controversy, jealousy, extortion attempts, and the inevitable media backlash. At times his perfectionism, prescription drug dependence, financial problems and legal battles invited criticism, which he sometimes did little to convincingly allay. Frank Sinatra once supposedly warned him "Kid, the press will build you up today, because they like to tear you down tomorrow." This, sadly, remained true for Jackson until the end - and beyond.

But you don't get to be the first artist to have number one hits in the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties without acquiring a legion of dedicated fans. Despite the media labelling his 2001 album "Invincible" a flop, it went double platinum and sold eight million copies. Some flop.

Tickets for his fifty comeback concerts, titled "This is it" at London's O2 Arena scheduled to commence on July 13, 2009, had sold in double figures per second. But, as the world knows, eighteen days short of opening night, Jackson died of cardiac arrest at the rented Hollywood mansion where he had been living with his children while training and rehearsing for the London shows.

If Roberts had declared the pop music genre had grown small back in 1997, how much smaller is it now without Michael Jackson, we might ask?

This final chapter of Michael's life and Robert's tribute is, of course, a sad, sad finale to the life and career of the King of Pop. Although, with over 200 hours of music in the can yet to be released, Michael's career is probably far from over.

Even the live global telecast of his celebrity-laden public memorial service - with Michael's gold coffin front and centre, and his daughter Paris stealing the limelight from industry legends - merely added to the Michael Jackson legend.

If there is a problem with Roberts' version of events in this publication, it is that at times he relies too heavily on other media sources and fails to fully explain some of the more puzzling aspects of Jackson's life which family, friends and Michael himself have spoken about.

In that sense, Roberts' biographical picture is incomplete, and at times merely scratches the surface of the public part of Jackson's life. But, given the too brief 144 photo-laden pages of this book, it could only ever be a potted history of a truly unique individual.

Roberts appropriately gives the closing comments to Motown supremo Berry Gordy Jr, who said at the memorial service on July 7, 2009: "From the first time people heard him sing as a young boy... Michael Jackson went into orbit and never came down."

Despite the limitations I loved this tribute to the imcomparable Michael Jackson.

Book-Michael Jackson The King of Pop - I'm a long time fan of Michael Jackson so I may be just a little biased in my opinion of any MJ product be it book, video or clothing.

So many post humous MJ tribute books have been releaed since Michael's death and, as a fan, its hard not be cynical about the number of people trying to cash in on his death. However this book is tastefully done, it has some great pictures, and seems a pretty fair assessment of Michael's life and career including a discography at the end. I have quite a collection of these books myself, partly because I want to see what people are saying about Michael so I can put my penny's worth in if I think they are untrue or unfair.

Michael had enough unfair bad press when he was alive, the least they can do is give him some dignity in death! as well as show some respect for his children and family and the grieving fans. The media get so caught up in the frenzy they forget a man died here! MJ was a much loved father, son, friend and world superstar/genius.

If the media had done their research they would have known Michael was a perfectionist and only gave his best in everything, he was an amazingly compassionate man and humanitarian too, but they chose not to mention that prefring to make it up as they went along! If you're a fan you will probably love this book - if you're not a fan but curious about MJ you'll enjoy it too.
I'm hoping some of the money from the sales of these products goes to MJ's estate/children + some of the charities he supported,as he would have wished it to.
MICHAEL WILL ALWAYS REMAIN IN THE HEARTS OF HIS WORLDWIDE FANS.RIP MJ xxx

I am very pleased with this book. Great pictures and pretty accurate information (for example,some of the books published here in the US are not accurate about the number of Michael's each album sold and etc, which I think they are doing it intentionally to belittle his incomparable accomplishments). An excellent tribute to the one and only Michael Jackson!