Jackson grabbed his crotch just like that and other intriguing revelations

No meaning to his moonwalk

Performing at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in April 2002. The crotch grab became a signature Jackson move to rival the moonwalk. In her 1993 interview with Michael, Oprah Winfrey asked him to explain its significance. Michael laughed off the question, saying there was no underlying meaning; all his dance moves flowed from feeling the rhythm of the music and instinctively letting rip with the expression.


Destiny wanted him to go solo
At a rock and roll event in Los Angeles, 1978. The Jacksons released Destiny that year, regarded as the group's best album. But that didn't deter Jackson from wanting to develop as a solo artist.


Joe says Jackson 5 stay together
Pictured in summer 1971. His solo career was launched later that year with "Got To Be There". Father Joe first disapproved of singling out any of the boys for special attention, but relented when it became clear that
a solo career for Michael, as an adjunct to his work with the Jackson 5, would be a lucrative arrangement.


Making music with a broken TV
A 1968 shot. A broken TV set helped the Jacksons on their way to stardom, as it was but another reason for them to make their own entertainment. Jackie, Tito and Jermaine initially led the way, toddlers Michael and Marlon acting as cheerleaders for their older brothers then. Decades later, he would go on to refer to his song "Childhood" as the most honest and autobiographical track he'd ever written.


From wax to wax
Immortalised in wax. Michael poses next to his resplendent effigy at Madame Tussauds in 1985. The famous museum would produce many more "incarnations" of the singer over the years to match his current look. When the This Is It tour was announced in early 2009, the sculptors got to work yet again, using the concert posters to produce a thirteenth model.


Creating mayhem with Madonna
The gossip columnist and paparazzi went into meltdown when Michael accompanied Madonna to the 1991 Academy Awards ceremony. Michael led the applause as a Marilynesque Madonna stole the show with a vampish performance. But this was pragmatism; not romance: it made perfect sense for the two biggest pop stars on the planet to join forces and make one enormous splash. The duet between the two that had been mooted for Michael's next album failed to materialize.


From a balcony in Berlin
Shopping for antiques at the Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, in October 2003. If it was understandable that Michael should want to protect six-year-old Prince from the glare of publicity, his behaviour in Berlin the previous year left many scratching their heads. Michael dangled nine-month old Prince Michael II from a fifth-floor balcony, caught up in the moment, he claimed, as the crowd clamoured to see his third child, whom he called Blanket.


In the Guinness book
Stepping out with Brooke Shields, New York, 1984. It was a case of another day, another honor as Michael attended a ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History to mark his entry into the Guinness Book of Records. In just over a year, Thriller had become the bestselling album of all time; it would clock up another million sales in the week following the Grammy Awards, which took place three weeks later. With a royalty rate of $2 per unit, among the best in the business, it meant there was serious money to accompany critical acclaim.


Reuniting with his brothers
Michael carrying child actor Emmanuel Lewis and flanked by his brothers. Don King (far right), most famous for his flamboyant matchmaking in the world of pugilism, was drafted to promote the Jacksons' much vaunted reunion tour in 1984. Michael had not performed with his brothers since the Triumph tour of 1981.


30-foot highu00a0MJ floats on water
Auckland, New Zealand, November 10, 1996. The HIStory tour had been packing theatres since it kicked off in Prague two months earlier. The double album was on its way to becoming the biggest-selling multiple-disk ever, and the world waited to see what visual treats Jackson had in store when he took the show on road. It was every bit as dazzling as its predecessors, and some thought the sets, costumes, choreography, special effects, and light show raised a bar that had already been set at a dauntingly high level. In fact, the razzmatazz started even before the first sound check: 30-foot-high statues of the singer were floated up some of Europe's main waterways to promote both the album and the tour.


His first girlfriend
Michael with Tatum O'Neal in 1979. He described her as his first real girlfriend. Tatum was five years younger, just 13 when the two met in 1975, and already an Oscar-winning actress. Apart from gaining a celebrity status at a tender age, the two also had in common a difficult relationship with a parent, in Tatum's case with her mother, actress Joanna Moore. While Michael recollected their relationship as romance, Tatum described it as platonic friendship.


Unseen Archives: Michael Jackson: King of Pop 1958-2009 (256 pages, hardback)
Publisher: Parragon
ISBN: 978-1-4075-8792-9
Price: Rs 795
Available at leading bookstores and on www.parragon.com

Excerpts and pictures courtesy Parragon

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!