Michael Jackson's facts

37. Jackson regularly wore a black armband to remind people of children suffering around the world.

38. The moonwalk was picked up from street dancers

39. Little Richard wanted to be played by Jackson in a biopic

40. Jackson had a pet python called Crusher

41. In 1984 a French fan committed suicide because he couldn’t have surgery to look like Jackson

42. The video for Scream was the most expensive ever at £3.8 million.

43. A library once accused the singer of owing $1 million in overdue book fines

44. Jackson was a vegetarian

45. He won an MTV award for Best Movie Song in 1994. It was for Will You Be There from the movie Free Willy

46. HIStory was the biggest selling double album ever released in the United States

47. Jackson was given a royal title in the Ivory Coast in 1992

48. Before concerts he would drink Ricola candy dissolved in hot water

49. His birthplace Gary, Indiana, is planning a museum in his honour

50. The singer patented a shoe device that allowed dancers to lean forward at gravity defying angles

51. He was a best man at Liza Minnelli’s wedding to David Gest

52. The largest television audience in US history watched him perform at half time during the 1993 Super Bowl

53. Martin Scorcese once directed a Jackson video

54. A survey in 1997 declared him the Most Famous Person in the World

55. He paid $1.5 million in 1999 to buy for the 1939 Oscar for best film won by Gone With The Wind

56. Jackson once described Elizabeth Taylor as “a warm cuddly blanket that I love to snuggle up to”

57. He recorded a voice-over on The Simpsons

58. Macauley Culkin is godfather to two of Jackson’s children

59. Jackson co-wrote We Are The World with Lionel Richie

60. He is godfather to Nicole Richie

61. He is also godfather to Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb’s son Michael

62. Jackson shares a birthday with Sir Richard Attenborough and actress Rebecca DeMornay

63. At the time of his death Jackson was rehearsing for his greatest comeback, with 50 shows scheduled in London

64. He was four years old when he began singing with his brothers Marlon, Jermaine, Jackie and Tito in the Jackson 5

65. The Jackson 5’s number one hits included “I Want You Back,” “ABC” and “I’ll Be There”

66. In 2002 Jackson caused controversy when he playfully dangled his infant son, Prince Michael II, over a hotel balcony in Berlin in front of fans

67. MC Hammer once challenged Jackson to a dance off

68. In a TV documentary he acknowledged sharing his bed with children but described the practice as sweet, and not sexual

69. During production of a 1984 Pepsi advertisement Jackson sustained burns when an explosion set his hair on fire

70. Jackson’s 13 number one hits on the US Billboard charts put him behind only Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Mariah Carey

71. Jackson’s father Joseph worked in a steel mill

72. Joseph Jackson and his brother Luther were in an R&B band called The Falcons

73. Michael was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness by his mother

74. In a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey the singer spoke of a traumatic childhood including suffering from loneliness

75. Jackson showed his singing talent at the age of five when he performed at a Christmas recital

76. The family band was originally called the Jackson Brothers

77. Michael was promoted to joint lead vocals at the age of eight and the band became the Jackson 5

78. They toured extensively in the US Midwest from 1966 to 1968

79. He initially used his eccentricities to promote his music but strongly disliked the “Wacko Jacko” nickname

80. Wild stories about him included that he slept in an oxygen chamber and that he bought the bones of The Elephant Man.

81. During the world tour for Bad he performed to 4.4 million people

82. His first autobiography, Moon Walk, took four years to complete

83. The book reached the top of The New York Times best sellers’ list

84. Jackson admitted to having had two nose jobs

85. He suggested weight loss and a strict vegetarian diet had contributed to the change in his appearance

86. He paid $17 million in 1988 for the land in California that became the Neverland Ranch

87. The 2,700-acre property had a theme park, a menagerie, and a movie theatre.

88. Its grounds were protected by a security staff of 40

89. Neverland was valued at $100 million in 2003

90. The profits from his single “Man in the Mirror” went to charity

91. In 1991 he signed a contract with Sony worth $65 million

92. In 1992 he founded the Heal the World Foundation which brought underprivileged children to Neverland and made donations worldwide

93. When he visited the African country of Gabon 100,000 people turned out to see him

94. Jackson’s most famous pet was Bubbles the chimpanzee

95. Bubbles was adopted at the age of three from a cancer research clinic in Texas.

96. Bubbles sat in on recording sessions for the Bad album and accompanied Jackson to Tokyo

97. The artist Jeff Koons made a series of sculptures of Jackson and Bubbles

98. Jackson fathered two children with Deborah Jeanne Rowe – Michael Joseph Jackson Junior (also known as “Prince”) and a daughter, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson

99. The couple divorced in 1999 and Rowe gave full custody rights to Jackson

100. Vitiligo, the skin disease from which he suffered, affects 1 to 2 per cent to 2 per cent of the population

101.Give in to me  was Michael Jackson's only video  filmed in Munich, Germany