born today 1958 Gary Indiana singer songwriter dancer actor the King of Pop Michael Jackson grew up in an abusive household but had his first public professional singing gig at 6 years old signed with mtown at 10 and by the time he was 12 he had a number one hit with his brothers Jackson Jackson 5 throughout the 7 79 he decided to go solo he had already done some individual work he went solo 79 Off the [Music] Wall course 1982's Thriller best-selling album of all time and certainly showed off his dance moves in 83 with the Motown 25 and the moonwalk 500 million album sold for team number one