LOS ANGELES, Jan 27 (AFP) - Michael Jackson reigned over the 1980s as the "King of Pop," but his stellar career has been eclipsed by eccentricity that turned him from adored child star into suspected child molester.
After a two-decade slide into increasingly colourful public behaviour, one of the planet's best known personalities will go on trial Monday in the California town of Santa Maria on charges of sexually abusing a teenage boy.
Jackson's legal woes mark the latest in a litany of blows to hit the 46-year-old, who began his singing career at the age of four.
The cute youngster went on to spend the ensuing years in the spotlight, becoming one of the most famous and most controversial people on earth.
But while he is famed and loved by a legion of fans for revolutionising music, dance and music videos at the peak of his success, the attention paid to him in recent years has been less flattering.
It has focused on his apparent repeated cosmetic surgeries -- which he denies -- his penchant for swathing his young children in veils, his baby dangling antics and a decade of swirling child abuse allegations.
Born on August 29, 1958, Jackson made his show business debut with four of his older brothers in the Jackson Five pop group, and went on to lead the stage clan with a piping soprano and dazzling dance moves.
By 1969, the group had signed a contract with Motown Records, becoming one of the last great acts to emerge from the legendary label.
At 13, Michael was named Male Vocalist of the Year for his first solo album "Got to Be There."
In their Motown years, the Jacksons produced seven platinum singles, selling over a million, and three multi-platinum albums, selling more than two million. They moved to CBS's Epic Records in 1976.
Despite the early success, Jackson was to recall those years as unhappy and lonely ones.
Eventually the family act broke up, as Jackson moved out on his own.
In 1978, he formed one of the most important associations of his career when he met Quincy Jones.
The following year, Jones produced Jackson's first solo album for Epic, "Off the Wall," a huge disco-oriented success that sold 10 million copies.
They teamed up again in 1982 for what would be Jackson's breakthrough album as a composer and co-producer, "Thriller," which became the top-selling album of all time, with sales exceeding 41 million.
"Thriller" was followed by "Bad" in 1987 (20 million sold) and "Dangerous" in 1991 (21 million sold) with videos whose auto-erotic dance contrasted with Jackson's sweet, childlike personality offstage.
A pop culture icon with enormous wealth, Jackson in 1991 signed a deal with Sony Music described as the most lucrative contract ever for a recording artist. Although Jackson's share was not disclosed, Sony estimated the potential in sales at a billion dollars.
But in 1993, a 13-year-old boy made sex abuse allegations against his former pal Jackson and prosecutors and police launched an investigation.
In 1994, Jackson struck an out-of-court agreement with the family under which he paid out a total 23.3 million dollars, including 15 million dollars to the boy, a deal which Jackson said earlier this year he regretted.
But the deal halted the criminal case, which was being pursued by Tom Sneddon, the prosecutor in the current case against Jackson.
As Jackson's life became increasing complicated following his meteoric rise to fame, he also started undergoing a dramatic physical transformation.
Over the years, his skin has become much lighter and he appears to have had extensive plastic surgery on his face. Vanity Fair magazine reported in 2003 that the tip of his nose is actually a prosthesis.
In 1994, he stunned the public by marrying Lisa Marie Presley, the 26-year-old daughter of Elvis Presley and heiress to a fortune estimated at 100 million dollars.
The marriage lasted less than two years and was a hot topic for the tabloids. However, the renewed interest in Jackson's love life did not spark interest in his music.
In June 1995, he released the double album "HISstory, Past, Present and Future -- Book I" to negative reviews and weak sales -- despite Sony Music's 40-million-dollar investment.
And Jackson's next album, "Invincible," flopped.
Jackson then married Debbie Rowe, a 37-year-old nurse he had met while undergoing plastic surgery in 1997. They had two children, Prince Michael Jr. and Paris Michael Katherine, before divorcing in 1999.
Jackson had custody of both children and of a third, Prince Michael II, born to an unknown woman, when in November 2002 he came under fire for dangling his youngest child from a fourth-floor hotel balcony in Berlin for photographers.
In the past two years, he has been hit by a flurry of lawsuits from former aides and promoters as well as from a slew of people suing over alleged unpaid bills, spurring speculation that he is all but broke.
01/27/2005 08:39 GMT - AFP