FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Dubbed the “King of Pop“, he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a four-decade career, his contributions to music, dance and fashion, along with his publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture. Jackson influenced artists across many music genres; through stage and video performances, he popularized complicated dance moves such as the moonwalk, to which he gave the name, as well as the robot. He is the most awarded individual music artist in history.

The eighth child of the Jackson family, Jackson made his professional debut in 1964 with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5 (later known as the Jacksons). Jackson began his solo career in 1971 while at Motown Records. He became a solo star with his 1979 album Off the Wall. His music videos, including those for “Beat It“, “Billie Jean” and “Thriller” from his 1982 album Thriller, are credited with breaking racial barriers and transforming the medium into an artform and promotional tool. He helped propel the success of MTV and continued to innovate with videos for the albums Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995). Thriller became the best-selling album of all time, while Bad was the first album to produce five U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles.

From the late 1980s, Jackson became a figure of controversy and speculation due to his changing appearance, relationships, behavior and lifestyle. In 1993, he was accused of sexually abusing the child of a family friend. The lawsuit was settled out of civil court; Jackson was not indicted due to lack of evidence. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further child sexual abuse allegations and several other charges. The FBI found no evidence of criminal conduct on Jackson’s behalf in either case. In 2009, while preparing for a series of comeback concerts, This Is It, Jackson died from an overdose of propofol administered by his personal physician, Conrad Murray, who was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter.

Jackson is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 400 million records worldwide. He had 13 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era) and was the first artist to have a top-ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades. His honors include 15 Grammy Awards, 6 Brit Awards, a Golden Globe Award and 39 Guinness World Records, including the “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time”. Jackson’s inductions include the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (twice), the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Dance Hall of Fame (the only recording artist to be inducted) and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame. In 2016, his estate earned $825 million, the highest yearly amount for a celebrity ever recorded by Forbes.

TODAY’S ALMANAC

Question of the Day

If the Sun is closest to Earth during the Northern Hemisphere’s winter and farthest during the summer, why is summer hotter than winter?The seasons are not caused by the distance between Earth and Sun, but by the angle of the Sun’s rays hitting Earth. In the summer, the Sun’s rays hit the Northern Hemisphere at the most direct angle, causing maximum warming. The winter Sun’s rays hit Earth at an oblique angle and are less effective at warming it.

Advice of the Day

When requesting seconds at tea, always ask for “some tea,” not “more tea.”

Home Hint of the Day

The average person in the U. S. throws out his or her own weight in packaging materials each month. To help counter this waste, buy a product in the easy-to-use size once and thereafter buy the jumbo bottle. Just keep refilling the smaller one from the bigger one.

Word of the Day

League1 league=3miles=24 furlongs

Puzzle of the Day

What is the difference between 16 ounces and a small boy at the piano?One weighs a pound, and the other pounds away.

Born

• Victor Hugo (author, Les Miserables) – 1802
• Levi Strauss (manufacturer) – 1829
• Buffalo Bill (Army scout) – 1846
• John Harvey Kellogg (physician) – 1852
• Robert Alda (actor) – 1914
• Jackie Gleason (actor & comedian) – 1916
• Tony Randall (actor) – 1920
• Antoine Fats” Domino” (singer) – 1928
• Johnny Cash (singer) – 1932
• Hagood Hardy (composer) – 1937
• Adrian Dantley (basketball player) – 1956
• Jenny Thompson (Olympic swimmer) – 1973
• Corinne Bailey Rae (singer) – 1979
• Taylor Dooley (actress) – 1993

Died

• Constance Ford (actress) – 1993
• David Doyle (actor) – 1997
• Bill Cardoso (writer who coined the term gonzo” to describe the unrestrained participatory journalism practiced by Hunter S. Thompson and others”) – 2006
• Wendy Richard (actress) – 2009

Events

• President Lincoln signed the National Currency Act, establishing a national banking system and uniform currency– 1863
• Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona was established– 1919
• Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming is established– 1929
• Groundbreaking ceremony for Golden Gate Bridge took place in San Francisco, California– 1933
• Spelling Bee, the first quiz show, aired on television– 1940
• NASA announced that Venus is about 800 degrees F– 1963
• Buffalo Creek disaster: 50 foot wall of water smashed down a narrow valley when a dam broke in Logan County, West Virginia– 1972
• Michael Jackson’s Thriller album hit number 1 on Billboard 200 chart and remained there for 37 weeks– 1983
• Robert Penn Warren named U.S. Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry– 1986
• A powerful bomb exploded in an underground parking lot of the World Trade Center in NYC, killing 6 people– 1993
• Canada’s GEODESIC mission launched in to northern lights, Alaska– 2000
• First sextuplets to be born in Ohio (Akron)– 2004
• At age 82, Christopher Plummer became the oldest Oscar winner after receiving the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Beginners– 2012

Weather

• An intense ocean storm blasted Cape Cod and Nantucket, with reported winds of 61 mph– 1952

COURTESY www.almanac.com