The Michael Jackson Story

by Nelson George

Traces the career of the successful, young singer-songwriter and describes how he and his brothers got their start in the Jackson Five

Genres: Nonfiction

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1983

About the author

Nelson George is an author, filmmaker, television producer, and critic with a long career in analyzing and presenting the diverse elements of African-American culture.

Queen Latifah won the Golden Globe for playing the lead in his directorial debut, the HBO movie 'Life Support'. The critically acclaimed drama looked at the effects of HIV on a troubled black family in his native Brooklyn, New York. He recently co-edited, with Alan Leeds, 'The James Brown Reader (Plume)', a collection of previously published articles about the Godfather of Soul that date as far back the late '50s. Plume published the book in May '08.

He is an executive producer on two returning cable shows: the third season of BET's American Gangster and the fifth airing of VH1's Hip Hop Honors. George is the executive producer of the Chris Rock hosted feature documentary, Good Hair, a look at hair weaves, relaxers and the international black hair economy that's premiering at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.


Nelson George serves as host of Soul Cities, a travel show that debuted in November 2008. on VH1 Soul. Nelson visited Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Memphis, New Orleans and the Bay Area. He eats food, visits historic sites, and hears lots of music. LaBelle, Robin Thicke, Babyface, Rafael Saadiq, Angie Stone and Jazmine Sullivan are among the many artists who talked with Nelson and perform. The second season starts shooting in Spring 2009.

Throughout the '80s and '90s George was an columnist for Billboard magazine and the Village Voice newspaper, work that led him to write a series of award winning black music histories: 'Where Did Our Love Go: The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound'; 'The Death of Rythm & Blues'; and 'Hip Hop America'. He won a Grammy for his contribution to the linear notes package on the James Brown 'Star Time' boxed set. George co-wrote 'Life and Def', the autobiography of his old friend Russell Simmons. He's also had a career writing fiction, including the bestselling 'One Woman Short', and the story, 'It's Never Too Late in New York', which has been in several anthologies of erotica.

As a screenwriter George co-wrote 'Strictly Business', which starred Halle Berry, and 'CB4', a vehicle for Chris Rock. His work with Rock led to his involvement with 'The Chris Rock Show', an Emmy award winning HBO late night series. He was an executive producer of Jim McKay's film, 'Everyday People', which premiered at the Sundance festival, and Todd Williams' Peabody award winning documentary 'The N Word'. In 2009 Viking will publish his memoir, 'City Kid', a look at the connections between childhood in Brooklyn and his adult career in Manhattan, Los Angeles and Detroit.

Reviews

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nelson George wrote this compilation of information that he accumulated from interviews with members of the Jackson family and several journalists that had spoken with or written about Michael and the rest of the Jackson family from the time they began singing professionally until 1983.

There are several facts that have come out through the years after this book was published that are incorrect in this book. Simple things like who discovered the Jackson 5 and how big their original home was. However, this is an interesting tome detailing a lot of the background work that was laid in order to make the Jackson boys famous.

Most Jackson fans know that Michael was the youngest member and began singing professionally at the age of 5. Details about schools attended, fans chasing the boys, and family pets are provided all through this book. His membership in the Jehovah Witness church and vegetarian lifestyle are briefly touched upon as well. Michael lived with Diana Ross when the Jackson 5 first arrived in California and his relationship with Diana is portrayed as a learning environment that he highly enjoyed.

16 pages of black and white photos portray Michael as a fun-loving, hard-working artist that knew a lot of celebrities including Tatum O’Neal and Quincy Jones. Also discussed is the 1978 acting role that Michael played in The Wiz, an altered version of the Wizard of Oz.
Some interesting side-tales regarding discography is included, as well as information about some of the background artists and session musicians sheds little-known facts to the reader. Also discussed is the work that went into Michael’s solo “Off The Wall” and “Thriller” albums, along with the great success both enjoyed in sales and awards. (As of 2009, “Thriller” remains the highest-selling record album of all time).

Of course, life-long Michael Jackson fans will find no surprises in this book. But, if the reader has never read anything about his rise to fame through 1984, this is a good little book that can be read in about 2 hours and gives enough generic information to get a good look at Michael and his family. This book lets readers see him as a shy and kind human being that is at the top of his form in the entertainment world at the time of the book’s publishing date.

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leído para la categoría “A short book” de ATY 2018 challenger

Este libro fue publicado originalmente cuando Michael Jackson recién estaba en los primeros momentos del gran fenómeno mundial que se convirtió el álbum Thriller en el mundo, incluso como termina da a entender que se publica no mucho después de la primera presentación de la canción Billie Jean en el programa aniversario de Motown.

En general, el libro es corto y trae un par de imágenes de la familia, da una breve biografía de los inicios de los Jackson 5 cuando se formó en Gary hasta la época de la publicación del libro, el escritor se basó en entrevistas a la familia y al entorno para la escritura, puede que existan un par de errores que posteriores biografías o entrevistas se hayan aclarado, pero no es un mal libro para nada.

Puntaje Final: 3.5 estrellas

[Jennifer Gaynor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book when I was 13 - right in the middle of my Michael Jackson obsession. I seem to be going through one again as of late, so I thought I'd read this little paperback after all these years. If you're just discovering MJ, it's a great read. There's all kinds of facts about his career up until the first release of the Thriller album. Nice for a fan.

[Wendy Lovell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read.

[Cydney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back when the book first came out, it was a good, quick read. But I've recently re-read it and realize it has a lot of factual errors. I'd recommend Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness, the Whole Story instead because it goes much more in-depth.

[Karen Meadows-Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was a teenager and it's a great book to have any your book collection.

[Cynthia]

This book was about the making of michael jacksons carreer and his life leeding up to his fame. I think this book was very good and there isnt much I would change but the fact that I would have liked more of his life near his time of death and more to do with his death in general. I would recoment this book to more of an adult for a few reasons. some of the younger adults audience may not get some of the references. SOme may lso not know who michael jackson even was or who the jackson five were.