Michael Jackson has gone through personal scandal, family squabbles and numerous career quakes but Michael Joseph Jackson remains one of the planet's best known figures.

Born in 1958, Jackson has spent his whole life in the public eye as he began performing at the age of four.

Though the youngest member of the Jackson Five, he became the group's lead vocalist, projecting a self-confident image which belies the private personality he shows today.

Despite his age, he managed to make chart-toppers like I Want You Back and I'll Be There completely credible.

By the time he was 10, the Jackson Five had signed to Motown Records and were well on the road to US success, bullied into fame by their father Joe.

"There is a lot of sadness in my past life," Jackson told Oprah Winfrey in 1993.

Solo success

"My father beat me. It was difficult to take being beaten and then going onstage.

"He was strict; very hard and stern."

Michael Jackson's first solo release was the ballad Got to Be There.

As a cute child singing sentimental but catchy ballads, he was a hit.

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