An Open Letter (Posthumously) to Michael Jackson
No, You’re Not Getting Off That Easy

 

NOTE: I originally wrote this editorial shortly after Michael Jackson's death as yet another skinny, drugged-out somewhat overrated popstar at 50 years of age on June 25, 2009. I elected not to post it because, frankly, I became bored compiling so much overwhelming evidence of how yet another Black man's burgeoning talent was overcome by his stupidity, his failure to learn from history, his vainity, and perpetual receipt of lousy advice from family, friends, and his "professional" advisors (attorneys, managers, publicists, etc.). However, due to the recent release of "Michael," a 2026 biographical film directed by Antoine Fuqua, I've posted my editorial below.


Dear Mr. Jackson:  

With great respect, admiration, and objectivity I write this candid letter to you.  Frankly, it was my original plan to write you prior to your untimely death.  Regretfully, and most respectfully, I just knew you’d probably die in your late 40’s or early 50’s and well, you proved me right. It’s not that I procrastinated but, like you, I had higher priorities, and unfortunately, "intervention" rarely works for people intoxicated by their own celebrity and simultaneously protected by self-serving lackeys.  Nevertheless, I’m writing you now because, hopefully, this letter will enlighten and empower others.  For the sake of clarity, this letter will contain two parts: 

Part 1: Fact-based assessment of your career prior to your death - the music, business, and talent; and

Part 2: Fact-based assessment of your career in the wake of your death - lessons you never learned.    

Part I: Fact-based assessment of Michael Jackson's career prior to his death  

We live in an age where too many people have either no knowledge of history, or short memories of historical events and people.  Unlike so many people, my memory is intact.  Plus, current technologies enable a robust search to carefully and objectively validate facts from opinion. As you know, many people consider Michael Jackson the greatest entertainer of all time, the G.O.A.T. of "popular" entertainment or the "King of Pop."  He's not.  In fact, it's not even close comparions to icons of previous generations. Oh, Jackson's good – in particular, he's a very good mimic - but he's not great, and he can NOT be considered the "King of Pop," because the body of work of other "pop stars" outperformed Jackson in nearly every aspects of performing arts (music, dance, acting, business acumen, etc.).  Jackson had such great potential, but sadly, he failed to evolve into a true "King of Pop."

As represented by the rather extensive chart below, in previous generations the "standards" for artistic excellence and productivity was much higher, and routinely included stage, film, television, music recording, writing, and often expertise as producer, director, screen writer of great diversity and quality of product. Up-and-coming new artistic "talent" (Judy Garland, Bobby Van, Doris Day, etc.) - were required and/or expected to proficiently sing, dance, act, etc.

Without playing the "race card," a Black man, Sammy Davis, Jr., also known as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," routinely starred on stage (4 Broadway productions), film (43 feature films), television (40 scripted and "live" broadcasts), writer (4 best selling books), and recorded music (42 commercially released albums) throughout his entire career. Titles should have meaning, therefore, is the "World's Greatest Entertainer" less than, equal to, or greater than "The King of Pop"? For example, here's a snapshot of Davis' "popular" multimedia talent between 1955 and 1960:

1. Starred on the televison show, "What's My Line?" in 1955
2. Recorded and released two-(2) studio albums in 1955 - "Starring Sammy Davis, Jr." and "Just for Lovers"
3. Starred "live" on stage in the commercially successful "Mr. Wonderful" on March 22, 1956 at The Broadway Theatre
4. Recorded and released the studio album, "Mr. Wonderful" in 1956
5. Starred in the 1958 feature film, "Anna Lucasta"
6. Starred in the 1959 feature film, "Porgy and Bess"
7. Starred in the 1960 General Electric Theatre television show, "The Patsy," Season 8, Episode 21

Elvis Presley comes much closer to being a "multimedia talent" than Jackson, but not even Elvis was as talented as the perpetually overlooked Sammy Davis, Jr. For example, neither Jackson or Elvis did or could do this:

Sammy Davis, Jr.
(7-Years-old)
Starring as Rufus Jones in
"Rufus Jones for President"		   "Two Ounces of Tin" from
The Rifleman (1962)		   Impressions
of Singers and Actors		   Lip-synching to "Trouble"
from "The Music Man

Multimedia "icons" that preceded Jackson, and who Jackson mimicked, would correctly label Jackson's career as one-dimensional, that of a song and dance man.  Plus, even when comparing Jackson's career to other song-and-dance men and women (Judy Garland, Doris Day, Madonna, etc.), Jackson's career is extremely lacking key "collective measures of success" in music, film, television, and as a pioneer of artistic-based technology. 

In analogous to Jackson's career, it's blatantly deceitful to launch multimedia compaigns to hype the "commercial worth" of Michael Jordan or LeBron James as the G.O.A.T. of professional basketball while intentionally ignoring Wilt Chamberlain who continues to overwhelmingly possess more NBA records, and most importantly, Chamberlain did NOT play under the same NBA rules as Michael Jordan that enabled higher scoring and greater player protection, or the much higher scoring and even greater player protections rules that have empowered the career of LeBron James. Chamberlain is dead, so there's very little "commercial worth" to promote Wilt Chamberlain. It's disingenuous, and again, deceitful to constantly "move the goal posts," to create new data points solely to "hype," to manipulate pseudo-success.

Clearly, there are "levels" to talent, which can and should be validated by fact-based, "apples-to-apples" assessments against "iconic talent" from previous generations. Being "branded" by contemporary profit-driven print, broadcast, and social media as the "king" of anything exposes Michael Jackson's career to scrutiny.

The following "apples-to-apples" assessment is the "objective truth," not my truth, not my opinion. Scroll down, or read the summary here.

             

27
Iconic Objective

Measures
Bing Crosby
May 3, 1903
October 14, 1977
(74)

 Fred Astaire
May 10, 1899
June 22, 1987
(88)
 Frank Sinatra
December 12, 1915
May 14, 1998
(82) 		Elvis Presley
January 8, 1935
August 16, 1977
(42) 		The Beatles*
Active Years
1960 - 1970
 Michael Jackson
August 29, 1958
June 25, 2009
(50)

1
Number of Competitive
Grammy
Awards		  
Note:
The Grammys
started on
May 4, 1959
decades after Bing Crosby's meteoric success during the
1930s to 1950s.		  
Note:
The Grammys
started on
May 4, 1959
decades after Fred
Astaire's meteoric
success during the
1930s to 1950s.		  


13
Competitive
Grammy Awards

At the first
Grammy on
May 4, 1959
Frank Sinatra
won the Grammy
Award for
Best Recording
Package

1996
Best Traditional
Pop Vocal
Performance

  


3
Competitive
Grammy Awards

1968
How Great
Thou Art

1976
He Touched Me

1975
How Great
Thou Art

  


10
Competitive
Grammy Awards

  
13
Competitive
Grammy Awards
   

Although excluded from official recordkeeping, the sale of sheet music definitely benefited Crosby, Astaire, and Sinatra which included royalties to writers, lyricists, and music publishers.

CLICK ABOVE IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Keep in mind, electronic "streaming" downloads (MP3s), were preceded by CDs; preceded by cassettes; preceded by 8-track tapes, preceded by reel-to-reel tapes, preceded by vinyl 33 &1/3 albums and 45 rpm records, preceded from 1901 through 1928 by Victrola's launch of 7-inch, 10-inch, and 14-inch and 78-rpm records and control of the distribution of music thoughout U.S. homes and businesses. Commercial radio in the U.S. did NOT officially began until November 2, 1920 on station KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with the first scheduled broadcast of "live" returns of the Harding-Cox presidential election.

Most importantly, instead of the promotion of record sales via radio, which did not exist or was unavailable to many U.S. citizens, the "awareness" for contemporary music was through newspapers, magazines, and music stores - which distributed sheet music.

With regard to sheet music sales, Bing Crosby sold over five-(5) million copies of:

YEAR WRITTEN /
PUBLISHED		   OVER 5 MILLION COPIES SOLD BY BING CROSBY SALES (Millions)
1937
 Sweet Leilani

$54m
1891
 After the Ball

$10m
1910
 Let Me Call You Sweetheart

$6m
1912
 Down By The Old Mill Stream

$6m
1942
 Whte Christmas

$6m

Unlike today, music "appreciation" (teaching and study, choir, band, etc.) was a required component in K-12 curriculum, including many churches, and independent music instructors for piano, stringed instruments (guitar), brass wind instruments (trombone), etc. Notably, many U.S. citizens did not own a Victrola or phonograph or radio, but many homes had musical instruments and the need for and interests in sheet music.

            
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson

2
Number of Recordings Released:

Productivity

  


Bing Crosby
is one of the world's best selling music artists, having released a total of 397 albums, which included 71 studio albums, 307 compilation albums and 409 singles.

Crosby recorded
roughly over 2,000
songs depending on
the source.

Crosby charted 39 #1 songs between 1927 and 1956.

Bing Crosby has
sold close to one billion records, tapes, compact discs and digital downloads around the world. He may be the biggest selling recording artist of all time. Only The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson can rival Bing’s sales figures. Bing had sold 200 million records by 1960 and the figure had doubled by 1980.

Crosby's “White Christmas,” written by Irving Berlin, remains the bestselling recording of all time with The Guinness Book of World Records reporting worldwide sales of over 50 million singles. Total estimated global sales of the song are near 100 million.

“White Christmas” has entered the American pop charts 20 separate times and reached the No. 1 spot three times, in 1942, 1945 and 1947.

Crosby made over 2,000 commercial recordings and approximately 4,000 radio programs in addition to an extensive list of film and television appearances, Bing Crosby is the most-recorded performer in history.

For 20-years,
as documented in
Joel Whitburn’s
"Pop Memories," Crosby was the Top Selling Music Artist from 1930-1939 and from 1940-1949.

NOTE:
My personal music collection includes
many of the Bing Crosby's "officially" released commerical recordings.

As detailed in the graphic below, Bing Crosby scored 41 No. 1 records (43 including the second and third chart-toppings of “White Christmas”) — more than The Beatles (24) and Elvis Presley (18). His recordings reached the charts 396 times, more than Frank Sinatra (209) and Elvis Presley (149) combined. Bing’s closest rival is Paul Whiteman (220) with whose orchestra he sang early in his career. Bing’s records hit the Top 10 on 203 times and spent 173 weeks in the No. 1 spot.

  


Fred Astaire
released 13 studio albums and 15 soundtrack albums.

Astaire recorded roughly over 1,717 songs depending on the source.

Astaire was ranked the 14th most successful recording artist during the 1930s!

NOTE:
My personal music collection includes
most of the Fred Astaire's "officially" released commerical recordings.

  


Frank Sinatra recorded 59 studio albums and released 297 singles in his solo career, spanning 54 years.

Sinatra recorded roughly over 2,200 songs depending on the source.

Frank Sinatra extends his record as the artist with the longest span of top 10 albums in the history of the Billboard 200. The legendary singer, who first made the top 10 on Billboard’s flagship album chart on the chart dated April 7, 1956 with Songs for Swingin’ Lovers, returned to the top 10 on the chart dated Jan. 3, 2026 with Ultimate Christmas – giving him a nearly 70-year span of top 10 albums.

NOTE:
My personal music
collection includes
all of Sinatra's "officially" released commerical recordings, including box sets (containing unreleased and re-released content), bootleg recordings, and all recordings he released with the Harry James Band, and Tommy Dorsey Band, plus all film soundtracks, for a total 4,730 songs.

 


Elvis
realeased 24
studio albums
17 soundtrack albums, and 81
box sets.

Preslely recorded roughly over 772 songs depending on the source.

Music historian Joel Whitburn ranked Presley as the No. 1 charting single and album artist of all time in the US (both Billboard and Cashbox). Elvis' Christmas Album remains the biggest selling holiday album of all time, selling over 20 million copies worldwide. He also holds the record for most RIAA certified albums with 101 (44 Gold, 32 Platinum, 24 Multi-Platinum, and 1 Diamond) and certifications (207). As for extended play albums, he has a record 16 certified by the RIAA (6 Gold, 8 Platinum, and 2 Multi-Platinum) and 28 certifications.

NOTE:
My personal music collection includes
all of Presley's "officially" released commerical recordings, including film soundtracks.

  


The Beatles realeased 12
studio albums
(17 in the US),
5 live albums, 52 compilation albums, 36 extended plays (EPs), and
37 box sets.

The Beatles
recorded roughly
over 229 songs depending on
the source.

NOTE:
My personal music collection includes
most of the Beatles' "officially" released commerical recordings.

  


Michael Jackson
released 16 studio
albums with the
Jackson 5, and 10
studio albums, 5
soundtrack albums,
55 compilation
albums, 10 video
albums, 7 remix
albums, and 5 box
sets. Since his
death in 2009, two
albums of unreleased
tracks have been
posthumously
released.

Jackson recorded
roughly over 236
songs depending
on the source.

NOTE:
My personal music
collection includes
most of the Michael
Jackson's' "officially"
released commerical
recordings and video
short films; including
recordings of the
Jackson 5, and the
Jacksons.
                         
   
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson

3

Longest Consecutive Run at #1 Position

 


Longest-running
No. 1:
"White
Christmas"
11 Weeks
in 1942

3B
44
Number of times records occupied the number one position on the charts


Bing Crosby’s records occupied the number one position on the charts 44 times, for a total of 179 weeks in the top spot. His first three number one records were as the vocalist in Paul Whiteman’s orchestra.

As reported by
Chartmasters.org, between 1927 and
1954, Bing Crosby
landed nearly 400 singles on American
charts, 41 at #1 on
the main chart, an
output unmatched to this day.

During the golden age of the single, Crosby towered above the competition entirely, not only with White Christmas. From the mid-1930s through the late 1940s, his singles used to spend several months every year at #1. The Great Depression ravaged the music economy just as the singer exploded. From the golden years of 1927-1928, when more than 100 million singles were sold per year in the US, that number dropped to a mere 10 million in 1933.

Despite that complex background, Crosby went on to record 103 singles that surpassed half a million sales, and 35 that exceeded one million. Among them: Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive (1.2 million), Don’t Fence Me In (2.5 million), Going My Way (1.7 million), Now Is the Hour (1.5 million), True Love (2.1 million), and Pistol Packin’ Mama (1.9 million). Holiday and patriotic titles such as Silent Night (5.9 million combined), I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1.7 million), and God Bless America (0.8 million) became annual staples, maintaining demand long after their initial releases. At his peak, no other performer came close. Record stores often stocked entire display racks dedicated solely to Crosby‘s singles, a practice only ever used with him. His sales patterns defined what commercial success looked like before the LP and rock eras.

Cosby's Records & Achievements:
1. At 109,001,000 EAS, Bing Crosby is the greatest-selling artist who debuted in the 1920s.

2. At 183,147,000 sales, Bing Crosby is the best-selling artist of all time in physical singles.

3. At 41, Bing Crosby has the most US #1 singles ever.

4. Starting on November 26, 1936, Bing Crosby topped the US single chart for 30 weeks in 52 weeks.

5. At 22,586,000 EAS*, Merry Christmas is the most successful album from the 1940s.

6. At 14,517,000 EAS*, Song Hits From Holiday Inn is the 2nd most successful album from the 1940s.

7. At 10,045,000 sales, Merry Christmas [1955] is the oldest album ever to surpass 10 million pure copies sold.

8. At 6, Merry Christmas returned to #1 on the US album chart for the most seasons.

9. At 9,277,000, White Christmas is the 5th best-selling physical single ever.

10. At 572 million, White Christmas is the only pre-1950 song to exceed 500 million streams on Spotify.

*Equivalent Albums Sales (EAS) = ( Spotify * ArtistRatio + Genie * 2.20 + AWA * 100 / 4 + Anghami + Boomplay + Audiomack ) / 1500 + ( QQ views* 50(or 5) + YouTube * 1.1 ) / 6750

  


Longest-running
No. 1:
"The Way You Look Tonight"
17 Weeks
in 1942

3B
8
Number of times records occupied the number one position on the charts


Fred Astaire's
records occupied the number one position on the charts 8 times, for a total of 109 weeks in the top spot.

"Cheek to Cheek"
18 weeks
in 1935

"They Can't Take That Away From Me"
11 weeks
in 1937

"Change Partners"
8 weeks
in 1938

"A Fine Romance"
12 weeks
in 1936

"Nice Work If You Can Get It"
15 weeks
in 1935

"I'm Putting All My Eggs In One Basket"
10 weeks
in 1938

"Night & Day"
with Leo Reisman
18 weeks
in 1932



 


Longest-running
No. 1:
"Strangers
in the Night"
15 Weeks
in 1966

3B
12
Number of times records occupied the number one position on the charts


Frank Sinatra's
records occupied the
number one position
on the charts 12
times, for a total of
127 weeks without
Tommy Dorsey Band
(and 205 weeks
with Tommy Dorsey
Band) weeks in
the top spot.

"Five Minutes More"
22 weeks
1946

 

"Learnin' the Blues"
21 weeks
1955

 

"Mam'selle"
10 weeks
1947

 

"Oh! What It Seemed To Be"
17 weeks
1946

 

"All or Nothing
at All"
21 weeks
1943

 

“Oh, What It Seemed to Be”
8 weeks
1946

"Somethin' Stupid"
with Nancy Sinatra
13 weeks
1967

"I'll Never Smile
Again"
with Tommy Dorsey 20 weeks
1940

"There Are Such Things"
with Tommy Dorsey 26 weeks
1940

"In the Blues of the Evening"
with Tommy Dorsey 19 weeks
1943

"Dolores"
withn Tommy Dorsey
13 weeks
1941

NOTE: With more
than 360 song and
album entries, Frank
Sinatra has the
greatest number of
hits of any charted
artist, Sinatra still
had only the 7th
greatest chart career
for songs charted.

 


Longest-running
No. 1:
“Are You Lonesome Tonight”
16 weeks
1960

3B
16
Number of times records occupied the number one position on the charts


Presley has sixteen-(16) 16 #1 Billboard Hits for a total of 337 weeks in the top spot.

The second most successful chart act of all time, he had the most years on top of the song charts but, once albums are taken into account was out-sold by The Beatles. He had four songs in the 50 most successful songs of all time. His popularity in 1956 was the second greatest of the 20th centuary, only beaten by The Beatles in 1964.

129
Billboard 200
charted albums, the highest total in the chart’s 58-year history. (Frank Sinatra ranks second with 82 entries.)

Presley's tally of No. 1 albums includes a Christmas album (Elvis’ Christmas Album), a live album (Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite), a greatest hits set (Elv1s: 30 #1 Hits) and four film soundtracks — Loving You, G.I. Blues, Blue Hawaii and Roustabout.

Presley, who’s notably absent from the 10-No. 1 club, scored seven No. 1s in the Hot 100 era. Because his breakthrough predated the chart’s Aug. 4, 1958, launch, several of his signature smashes — including:

“Don’t Be Cruel"
27 weeks, 1956

“I Want You,
I Need You,
I Love You"
24 weeks, 1956

“Love Me Tender"
23 weeks, 1956

“Heartbreak Hotel"
27 weeks, 1956

“Hound Dog"
28 weeks, 1956

“All Shook Up"
30 weeks, 1957

and
“Jailhouse Rock"
27 weeks, 1957

— arrived before the Hot 100 existed.

In the Hot 100 era, however, he ruled with:

“Don’t"
20 weeks, 1958

“A Big Hunk O’ Love”
14 weeks, 1959

“Stuck on You”
16 weeks, 1960

“It’s Now or Never”
20 weeks, 1960

“Are You Lonesome Tonight”
16 weeks, 1960

“Surrender”
12 weeks, 1961

“Good Luck Charm”
13 weeks, 1962

and
“Suspicious Minds”
15 week, 1969

NOTE: As with Crosby, Astaire, and Sinatra, Elvis Presley’s chart success prior to 1956 pre-date the launch of Billboard’s Top 100 flagship songs chart by more than two years.

Conversely, the Billboard 200 captures Presley’s entire career. His debut album, Elvis Presley, entered the chart at No. 11 in the issue dated March 31, 1956 — which was the chart’s second week.

  


Longest-running
No. 1:
"I Want to
Hold Your Hand"
15 weeks
1964

3B
20
Number of times records occupied the number one position on the charts


The Beatles have
an all-time record of twenty-(20) #1 Billboard Hot 100 Hits, for a total of 248 weeks in the top spot; second only to Mariah Carey.

Despite only being
active for the period 1963-1970 The Beatles were the most successful chart act of all time, as well as having the most years on top of the song and album charts. They produced three of the top 10 highest placed albums of all time (including the number one album).

"She Loves You"
15 weeks
1964

"Can't Buy Me Love"
10 weeks
1964

"Love Me Do"
14 weeks
1964

"A Hard Day's Night"
13 weeks
1964

"I Feel Fine"
11 weeks
1964

"Eight Days A Week"
10 weeks
1965

"Ticket To Ride"
11 weeks
1965

"Help!"
13 weeks
1965

"Yesterday"
11 weeks
1965

"We Can Work It Out"
12 weeks
1965

"Paperback Writer"
10 weeks
1966

"Penny Lane"
10 weeks
1967

"All You Need Is Love"
11 weeks
1967

"Hello, Goodbye"
11 weeks
1967

"Hey Jude"
19 weeks
1969

"Get Back"
12 weeks
1969

"Come Together"
16 weeks
1969

"Let It Be"
14 weeks
1970

"The Long and
Winding Road"
10 weeks
1970

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr all also went on to individual success as well.

 


Longest-running
No. 1:
"Billie Jean"
24 weeks
1983

3B
11
Number of times records occupied the number one position on the charts


Michael Jackson's
has 11 number one
positions as an
individual artist on
the charts, for a total
of 211 weeks without
The Jackson 5 (and
323 weeks with The
Jackson 5) weeks
in the top spot.

From the hype put
out by his record
company and fans one
might think Michael
Jackson was at least
in the top 10 artists
of all time, which is not
true. Despite producing
one of the world's
biggest selling albums,
"Thriller," in 1982,
Jackson's second
biggest album was
outside the all-time
Top 100.

"Black Or White"
19 weeks
1991

"Beat It"
25 weeks
1983

"You Are Not Alone"
20 weeks
1995

"Don't Stop 'Til
You Get Enough"
21 weeks
1979

"Bad"
14 weeks
1987

"Bad"
16 weeks
1972

"The Way You
Make Me Feel"
18 weeks
1988

"Dirty Diana"
14 weeks
1988

"Rock With You"
23 weeks
1980

"Man in the Mirror"
17 weeks
1988

Jackson failed
to have consistent hits; his years at the very top were really quite limited; and his high position in the charts is an artifact
of the chart data available.

"Say Say Say"
with Paul McCartney
21 weeks
1983

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
with Siedah Garrett
14 weeks
1987

"I Want You Back"
with The Jackson 5
19 weeks
1970

"I'll Be There"
with The Jackson 5
16 weeks
1970

"ABC"
with The Jackson 5
13 weeks
1970

"The Love You Save"
with The Jackson 5
13 weeks
1970

"The Love You Save"
with Stevie Wonder
16 weeks
1974

Frank Sinatra
signicantly catapulted
his initial chart
success with the Harry
James Band and then
the Tommy Dorsey
Band to achieve the gretest number of
charted hits of
any individual artist.
Conversely, although
Michael Jackson was
also a member of a
band, The Jackson 5,
he did not generate the
diversity of chart success
of Crosby, Sinatra, Elvis,
and The Beatles.
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
4

Most
Successful
Musical Act Based on Combined
Multi-Chart Performance
(Billboard, UK, Canada,
Cashbox,
Italy,
Switzerland,
Australia, etc.)
  


Ranked #4

Highest placed song:
"White Christmas"

Peak Year: 1933

4B
99 Years
Total Number of Years posting new content to debut on Billboard charts

 


  


Ranked #192

Highest placed song:
"The Way You Look Tonight"

Peak Year: 1936

4B
26 Years
Total Number of Years posting new content to debut on Billboard charts

 

  


Ranked #10

Highest placed song:
"Strangers in the Night"

Peak Year 1957

4B
86 Years
Total Number of Years posting new content to debut on Billboard charts

 

  


Ranked #2

Highest placed song:
"Are You Lonesome Tonight?"

Peak Year: 1956

4B
69 Years
Total Number of Years posting new content to debut on Billboard charts

 

  


Ranked #1

Highest placed song:
"Hey Jude"

Peak Year: 1964

4B
59 Years
Total Number of Years posting new content to debut on Billboard charts

 

  


Ranked #7

Highest placed song:
"Billie Jean"

Peak Year: 1982

4B
56 Years
Total Number of Years posting new content to debut on Billboard charts


Michael Jackson
is the first artist to
have debuted new
entries on the
Hot 100 in each
decade since
the 1970s.

Jackson's totals
by decade:

1970s — 11
1980s — 20
1990s — 12
2000s — 4
2010s — 4
2020s — 1
   
NOTE 1: Prior to the late 1960s, Crosby, Astaire, and Sinatra did not benefit from the synergy of record promotion and sales via "instantaneous international broadcast and social media," because these technologies did not exist during their peak years.
           
                 
   

NOTE 2: These calculations takes into account album and song success and balances between recent and early artists. The score was calculated starting from the complete data (a summary .CVS data set can be downloaded, here). The raw scores were then corrected by a factor to take into account the number of chart entries for each year. The album values were given twice the weight of the songs and the combined scores were assigned to the artists.

                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson

5

Billboard's
Hot 100
Chart
Success

  
Bing Crosby
never appeared on
the Billboard Hot 100 because his most famous recordings were released decades before the chart's creation in 1958.
 
Fred Astaire
never appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 because his most famous recordings were released decades before the chart's creation in 1958.		  


Frank Sinatra
has 2 No.1 songs in
Billboard's Hot 100;
44 songs placed in the
Top 100, and 3 songs
placed in the Top 10.

Sinatra's record
success prior to
1958 is excluded because
Billboard's Top 100
chart was not
created until 1958.
For example, shortly
after its release on
March 4, 1946, "The
Voice (of Frank
Sinatra)" reached
#1 on the then
fledgling Billboard
chart, where it
remained at the
top for 7-
consecutive-weeks
in 1946 and spent
a total of 18-weeks
on the chart
overall.



At the time, the
album chart
featured only a
Top 5 ranking, a
format that
continued until
August 1948.

However,
during the 1950s,
as reported and
published in "The
100 Best Selling
Albums of the
50s" by Amber
Books (below),
Billboard ranked
Frank Sinatra #1,
with the most
"albums" in the
Top 100.

1. Frank Sinatra
2. Harry Belafonte
3. Johnny Mathis
4. Mitch Miller and the Gang
5. Mantovani
6. Elvis Presley
7. The Kingston Trio
8. Tennessee Earnie Ford
9. Jackie Gleason
10. Roger Williams

  


Elvis Presley
has 7 No.1 songs in Billboard's Hot 100; 109 songs placed in the Top 100, and 25 songs placed in the Top 10.

Elvis Presley is
credited with 18 number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and its predecessor pop charts. Across all Billboard charts, he also landed 4 number ones on the Country/Western charts and 6 on the R&B charts.

Presley's record success prior to 1958 is excluded because Billboard's Top 100 chart was not created until 1958.

However,
during the 1950s,
as reported and published in "The 100 Best Selling Albums of the 50s" by Amber Books (below), Billboard ranked Elvis Presley #1, as the highest-ranking "solo artist."

1. Elvis Presley
"Elvis' Christmas Album"

2. Miles Davis
"Kind of Blue"

3. Johnny Mathis
"Merry Christmas"

4. Marty Roberts
"Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs"

5. Dave Brubeck
"Time Out"

6. Tennessee Earnien Ford
"Hymns"

7. Frank Sinatra
"A Jolly Christmas From"

8. Nat King Cole
"Love Is The Thing"

9. Harry Belafonte
"Calypso"

10. Henry Mancini
"The Music
From Peter Gunn"

  


The Beatles
has 20 No.1 songs in Billboard's Hot 100; 72 songs placed in the Top 100, and 35 songs placed in the Top 10.

The Beatles still
boasts the most No. 1 songs on the Hot 100 and No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200.

The group charted 64 total songs on Billboard's Hot 100 between 1964 and 1970, of which 20 hit No. 1 — a record for the most leaders that still stands. The band also charted 26 albums on the Billboard 200 from 1964 to 1970 (14 of which topped the chart in that time frame), but have charted an additional 18, thanks to compilations, live recordings, special releases/anthologies and more. To date, The Beatles have earned 19 No. 1 albums, also the most in the chart’s history.

The Beatles has held the record of 20 for the most No. 1 hits since 1965, when it surpassed Elvis Presley. As for the acts behind The Beatles: Mariah Carey has the second-most with 19, followed by Rihanna (14), Drake (13), Michael Jackson (13), Madonna (12), The Supremes (12), Whitney Houston (11) and Taylor Swift (11).

  
Michael Jackson
has 13 No.1 songs in
Billboard's Hot 100; 51
songs placed in the
Top 100, and 30 songs
placed in the Top 10.
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson

6

Grammy Awards vs.
Nominations

  


0 Awards
0 Nominations

Note:
The Grammys
started on
May 4, 1959 decades after Bing Crosby's meteoric success
during the 1930s to 1950s.

  


0 Awards
0 Nominations

Note:
The Grammys
started on
May 4, 1959 decades after Fred Astaire's meteoric success during the 1930s to 1950s.

  


9 Awards

6B
31
Total
Grammy
Nominations


 


3 Awards

6B
14
Total
Grammy
Nominations


 
10 Awards

6B
27
Total
Grammy
Nominations
 
13 Awards

6B
38
Total
Grammy
Nominations

                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
7

Grammy Lifetime Achievement		  


1963
Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award

1st recipient of Lifetime Achievement Award from the Recording Academy

Crosby was 60

  


1989
Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award

Postumously

  


1965
Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award

2nd recipient of
Lifetime Achievement
Award from the
Recording Academy

Sinatra was 50

  
1971
Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award

Presley was 36		  
2014
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

McCartney was 72
Starr was 74

Harrison
Postumously

Lennon
Postumously		  
2010
Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award

Postumously
                         

OBSERVATION: The Beatles had a phenomenal impact when they landed in the U.S. back in 1964. Elvis was essentially asleep-at-the-wheel repeatedly making formulaic movies even after The Beatles eclipsed "The King of Rock and Roll" in music sales, concert attendance, and more.

Elvis backed-away from his music career to make "B" movies during the entire 1960s. Who won the 1960 Grammy for Album of the Year? Not Elvis; it was "Come Dance With Me," by Frank Sinatra.

The Beatles established themselves as the #1 selling recording artists of the 1960s, but who won the Grammy for Record of the Year, "Strangers In The Night," and Album of the Year, "A Man and His Music," for 1967? Yep, Frank Sinatra. Who won for Album of the Year, "September of My Years," in 1966? Yep, Francis Albert Sinatra.

ASSESSMENT: Again, the Grammy Award was not in existence to recognize the meteoric success of Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire during the apex of their careers, so their achievements were acknowledged belatedly. Conversely, Sinatra perpetually demonstrated a resilient career with major milestones in music recording every decade, and he was recognized. In the early 1960s, Elvis and the Beatles were still ascending, but eventually decending with the coming of the 1970s. If Michael Jackson was "truly" an iconic talent worthy of recognition, the "apex" of his career would not have been limited to his success as a 24-year-old with "Thriller" in 1982. Excluding motion pictures, Crosby, Astaire, and Sinatra all achieved major success in music from their early 20s through their early 50s; and with Sinatra continuing to have major recording success into his late 70s! The aforementioned record of "lifetime" career achievement in recorded music is not true for Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and Michael Jackson.

Notable Career Achievement Each Decade of Life

Pop
Icon

Bing Crosby
- born 1903

Fred Astaire
- born 1899

Frank Sinatra
- born 1915

Elvis Presley
- born 1935



John Lennon
- born 1940

Ringo Starr
- born 1940

Paul McCartney
- born 1942

George Harrison
- born 1943



Michael Jackson
- born 1958

 


Notable
Career
Achieve-
ment
Between
20-to-30
Years of Age


Six-(6)
charted
#1
hit songs
between 1931
(at 28-years)
and 1932 (at 29-years)
Career focus
was dancing
with his partner and sister,
Adele, and on stage musicals, Broadway
shows, etc.
On July 27, 1940, a 24-year-old Frank Sinatra created a first,
“I’ll Never Smile Again,” a 78rpm release by the hugely popular trombonist and bandleader Tommy Dorsey, with lead vocals by Sinatra, became the first No.1 on Billboard’s new Best-Selling Retail Records chart.
Sixteen-(17)
#1 Billboard
Hits between
1955 (at 20-years of age) and 1964 (at 30-years or age)
Twenty-(20)
#1 Billboard Hot 100 Hits, for a total of 248 weeks in the top spot:

Between 1964
(at 21-years of
age for Harrison
was the youngest member) to 1970 (at 30-years of
age Lennon
and Starr were
the oldest members).

  
Album of the Year
for "Thriller"
at 24-years
of age


Notable
Career
Achieve-
ment
Between
30-to-40
Years of Age
Twenty-two-(22)
charted
#1
hit songs
between 1933
(at 30-years)
and 1942
(at 40-years)
Eight-(8) charted
#1
hit songs
between 1935
(at 36-years)
and 1938 (at 39-years)
Six-(6)
charted
#1
hit songs
between 1945
(at 30-years)
and 1954 (at 39-years)


Two-(2)
#1 Billboard
Hits between
1965 (at 30-years of age) and 1974 (at 39-years or age)

1968
Grammy for
Best Sacred Performance
How Great
Thou Art
at 33-years
of age

 


Disbanded
April 10, 1970

  


Dangerous
Billboard #1
album released
1991

Michael Jackson
was 33


Notable
Career
Achieve-
ment
Between
40-to-50
Years of Age
Ten-(10)
charted
#1
hit songs
between 1943
(at 30-years)
and 1948
(at 45-years)
Career focus
was primarily motion pictures and the start-up broadcast television
industry.


1960
Album of
the Year
"Come Dance
with Me"
at 45-years
old

 


1976
Grammy for
Best Inspirational Performance
He Touched Me
at 41-years
of age

1975
Grammy for
Best Inspirational Performance
How Great
Thou Art
at 40-years
of age


Disbanded
April 10, 1970

  


Invincible
Billboard #1
album released
2001

Michael Jackson
was 43


Notable
Career
Achieve-
ment
Between
50-to-60
Years of Age
Career focus
was primarily motion pictures and the start-up broadcast television
industry.


"Something's Gotta Give" is a popular song with words and music by Johnny Mercer in 1954. It was published in 1955. It was written for and first performed by Fred Astaire in the 1955 musical film Daddy Long
Legs, and was nominated the same year for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Although Astaire did not release a single, cover version from the McGuire Sisters reached #5 in 1955, and a cover by Sammy Davis, Jr. reached #9 in 1955.

Fred Astaire
was 56-years
old


1966
Album of
the Year
"September of
My Years"
at 51-years
old

1967
Album of
the Year
A Man and His Music
at 52-years
old

1967
Something
Stupid
#1
Billboard
(at 52-years of age) duet with
his daugher,
Nancy Sinatra


Deceased
at 42-years
or age


Disbanded
April 10, 1970

 

  


Deceased
at 50-years
or age


Notable
Career
Achieve-
ment
Between
60-to-70
Years of Age


Career focus
was primarily motion pictures and broadcast television
industry.
Career focus
was primarily motion pictures and broadcast television
industry.
"Theme from New York, New York"
charted on US Billboard Hot 100 at 32, and US Billboard Adult Contemporary at #10

Frank Sinatra
was 65-years
old


Deceased
at 42-years
or age


Disbanded
April 10, 1970

  


Deceased
at 50-years
or age


Notable
Career
Achieve-
ment
Between
70-to-80
Years of Age


"A Couple of
Song and Dance
Men"
Bing Crosby &
Fred Astaire
1975


Bing Crosby
was 72-years
old


"A Couple of
Song and Dance
Men"
Bing Crosby &
Fred Astaire
1975


Fred Astaire
was 76-years
old

 


"Duets"
No. 2 on
Billboard albums chart in 1993,
and the only Sinatra album to date to achieve triple (3x) platinum certification.


Frank Sinatra
was 78-years
old


Deceased
at 42-years
or age


Disbanded
April 10, 1970

  


Deceased
at 50-years
or age

                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
8

Grammy Trustee Award		  
Note:
The Grammys
started on
May 4, 1959 decades after Bing Crosby's meteoric success
during the 1930s to 1950s.		  
Note:
The Grammys
started on
May 4, 1959 decades after Fred Astaire's meteoric success during the 1930s to 1950s.		  
1979
Grammy Trustees		  
Nope.		  
1972
Trustee Award		  
Nope.
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
9

Grammy Album of
the Year		  
Note:
The Grammys
started on
May 4, 1959 decades after Bing Crosby's meteoric success
during the 1930s to 1950s.		  
Note:
The Grammys
started on
May 4, 1959 decades after Fred Astaire's meteoric success during the 1930s to 1950s.		  


1960
Album of the Year
Come Dance with Me

1966
Album of the Year
September of My Years

1967
Album of the Year
A Man and His Music

Album of the Year
3 times
Sinatra is the most nominated artist
in this category with
8 nominations.

  


Nope.

  


1968
Album of the Year
for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

  


1984
Album of the Year
for "Thriller"
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
10

Grammy Album of
the Year
Nominations		  
Note:
The Grammys
started on
May 4, 1959 decades after Bing Crosby's meteoric success
during the 1930s to 1950s.		  
Note:
The Grammys
started on
May 4, 1959 decades after Fred Astaire's meteoric success during the 1930s to 1950s.		  


8
Grammy
Nominations

  
0
Grammy
Nominations		  
5
Grammy
Nominations		  
3
Grammy
Nominations
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
11

Grammy Legend Award		  
Nope.		  
Nope.		  
1995
Grammy
Legend Award		  
Nope.		  
Nope.		  
1993
Grammy
Legend Award
                         
                         

 

Iconic

Measures

 

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
12

Other Recognition		  

 

Awards and
Recognition

3 Stars
on Hollywood’s
Walk of Fame
for
Motion Pictures,
Radio, and
Music Recording

  

 

Awards and
Recognition

1 Star
on Hollywood’s
Walk of Fame
for
Motion Pictures

Astaire
was saluted by
The Kennedy Center Honors (1978) as a
cultural icon

  

 

Awards and
Recognition

3 Stars
on Hollywood’s
Walk of Fame
for
Motion Pictures,
Music Recording,
and Television

Sinatra
was saluted by
The Kennedy
Center Honors
(1983) as a
cultural icon.

Sinatra
was awarded the Presidential Medal
Of Freedom (1985)

Sinatra
was awarded the
Congressional Gold
Medal (1997),
Congress’ highest
civilian award.

 

 

Awards and
Recognition

1 Star
on Hollywood’s
Walk of Fame
for
Music Recording

In his prime,
Elvis primarily
won "popularity" awards early in his 1950s career, but rarely for the
quality or diversity
of his
musical product.

 

  

 

Awards and
Recognition

1 Star
on Hollywood’s
Walk of Fame
for
Music Recording



* Ages

Paul McCartney
June 18, 1942 (83)

Ringo Starr
July 7, 1940 (85)

George Harrison
February 25, 1943
November 29, 2001
(58)

John Lennon
October 9, 1940
December 8, 1980
(40)

  

 

Awards and
Recognition

1 Star
on Hollywood’s
Walk of Fame
for
Music Recording

In his prime,
Jackson primarily
won "popularity"
awards from numerous
"ad hoc ethnicity"
organizations aligned
to his "Black-ness"
(R&B, Top Black Artist,
etc.), but rarely for
the quality or diversity
of his musica product.
                         

OBSERVATION: With its cover issue dated January 1 - 7, 2000 (at right), TV Guide named Elvis Presley "Entertainer of the Century." Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and Frank Sinatra were noticeably unworthy of top billing. In fact, TV Guide ranked:

Marilyn Monroe as #2

The Beatles as #3

Lucille Ball as #4

Arguably, as overtly subjective as these popularity-based ranking are, TV Guide excluded basic apples-to-apples objective measures. Specifically, the impact the entertainer had/has on: (1) individual artistry; (2) music; (3) film; (4) dance; (5) his/her own personal evolution; (6) the business of entertainment; (7) society; and (8) legacy. With these categories we can summarily dismiss entertainers TV Guide rated higher than Frank Sinatra, because:

1. In "feature motion pictures," Sinatra sang, danced, produced, and directed. Sinatra won three (3) Academy Awards, Bing Crosby won one (1) Academy Award; and Elvis was never nominated or won an Academy Award (Oscar).

2. Sinatra has MORE MUSIC AVAILABLE ON CD or online than any other male recording artist - Elvis doesn't even come close;

3. Sinatra openly supported civil rights, Elvis didn't;

4. Sinatra was openly against McCarthyism, Elvis was a nobody then but, throughout his career, Elvis NEVER publicly championed any causes (pollution, civil rights, animal rights, etc.)

5. According to German owned BMG which owns Elvis' label RCA, it is estimated that Elvis has sold over one billion records worldwide, more than anyone else in the history of the record music business. Commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, blues, and gospel, Elvis is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music.

Conversely, during his lifetime, Frank Sinatra, the man and performer, raised in excess of one billion dollars for various charities worldwide. Source: Sinatra: World On A String." Frank Sinatra's philanthropic work is legendary and continues after his death through the Frank Sinatra Foundation.


6. Sinatra had better business sense and entrepreneurial skills - he created his OWN record label (Reprise), publishing, and film companies; while the Presley estate still only gets "nickels and dimes" (15%) from Universal Music which owns 85% Presley's music, while the rights to all Elvis Presley recordings before 1973 are owned by RCA Records (owned by Sony Entertainment);

7. Sinatra played the best clubs, the best concert halls, and entertained heads-of-state thoughout the world; and Elvis' career was all but over until his 1968 comeback special, and even then he never elevated his career to achieve new recording success; Elvis became a "has been" and nothing more than a "golden oldies" show unto himself.

8. Sinatra consistently recorded NEW material throughout his career - at 50 years of age Sinatra won the Grammy for Record and Album of the Year; Elvis never made it to 50 because he was already dead.  At 53 years of age, Sinatra briefly retired in 1971, but at 55 Sinatra came out of retirement and - again - started playing the best venues in the world and sold-out stadiums in the U.S., Europe, South America, etc.  

Between 60 and 72 years of age Sinatra was one of the top 10 largest money making concert performers in the world; and during this time Elvis was dead. Let's not forget that Sinatra is the ONLY recording artist to have charted in the top 15 during each decade from 1930 to 2000!  And Elvis?  Don't bother looking.


9. Did Elvis ever have a television series?  No.  Did Sinatra?  Yes. A couple of them.

10. Sinatra is openly acknowledged as the "vocalist" is his generation; Elvis is simply considered a singer with a good voice who wiggled his hips.

Plus, Sinatra faced and conquered his personal demons (drugs, emotional, alleged ties to organized crime, money troubles, the change in his voice, marriage, politics, health, etc.); Elvis was unable to face and conquer his personal demons and died.  

ASSESSMENT: Frank Sinatra's robust body of work and quality of work product outperformed all of his 20th century contemporaries. Yes, Elvis was a dynamic performer but the title of "Entertainer of the Century" should not focus on just the brief peak of a performer's career - it should be about the impact of their career throughout the ENTIRE "century!"

  

TV Guide’s first issue of the 21st century proclaimed Elvis Presley as the entertainer of the century, citing his unmatched success in both music and film This and That.

Why Elvis Presley Was Chosen?

According to the analysis, TV Guide’s criteria for “greatest entertainer” focused on overall success in music and movies. The methodology used Billboard chart data to calculate each artist’s popularity:

> Songs were represented as trapezoids, with the base as total weeks on the chart, the height as peak position, and the top width as weeks at that peak.

> The area of each trapezoid measured song success, and the sum for an artist’s career gave a numerical value for total popularity

CONVERSELY . . .

According to CBS News’ 1999 “The Century’s Top Entertainers” list — which included TV Guide’s influence in the selection — Frank Sinatra was named the greatest entertainer of the 20th century CBS News.

Why Sinatra Earned the Title?

CBS News highlighted Sinatra’s unmatched longevity and dominance in popular music, noting that he had a song on the charts every year from 1945 to 1995 — a half-century straight CBS News. Sinatra's deep knowledge of America’s great popular songs, combined with his ability to connect with audiences across generations, set him apart. Sinatra’s career spanned decades, encompassing film, television, and live performances, and he became a cultural icon representing the American dream.

                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
13

Music
Styles &
Genre		  


Bing Crosby
was not a perfunctory singer, but a vocalist, specifically known as a crooner; and he was the standard-bearer for this vocal style.

Crosby strategically used his voice as a musical instrument and to emotionally interpret song lyrics with context, depth, and impact.

Crosby's
musical styles included included pop, jazz, country & western, big band music, show tunes, film music, patriotic standards, religious hymns, holiday favorites, and
ethnic standards.

Crosby maintained
a distinct tone, character and vocal range throughout his career.

  


Fred Astaire's
musical styles included big band music, show tunes, film music, patriotic standards, religious hymns, holiday favorites, and
ethnic standards.

Astaire maintained
a distinct tone, character and vocal range throughout his career.

  


Frank Sinatra
was not a perfunctory
singer, but a vocalist,
a crooner known as
"The Voice!" Sinatra
evolved his vocal style
from Bing Crosby.

Sinatra's musical
styles included pop,
jazz, country &
western, big band
music, show tunes,
film music, patriotic
standards, religious
hymns, holiday
favorites, and
ethnic standards.

Sinatra maintained
a distinct tone,
character throughout
his career, but his
vocal range deepened
as he matured.

Sinatra constantly
recorded new songs
and re-recorded his
iconic songs with new arrangers, new
arrangements.
Nelson Riddle,
one of Sinatra’s great
arrangers, said once
that the early Sinatra,
from the Columbia
days, sounded like a
violin but the later
one, which emerged
at Capitol, sounded
like a viola. Here,
listen:

1942
(The Violin)
"The Song is You"



1947
(The Viola)
"The Song is You"



1959
(The Cello)
"The Song is You"



1980
(The Bass)
"The Song is You"



“When he was in
’40s, he was a violin,”
said Cahn. “In the
’50s, the Capitol and Nelson Riddle years, he was a viola. By the ’60s he was a cello and when he got to the ’80s, he was a bass. “The music was still sweet. It was just played on a different instrument."
SAMMY CAHN

  


Elvis Presley's
musical styles
included Rock & Roll, Rockabilly, Blues, Country, Gospel, and Pop.

Presley maintained
a distinct tone, character and vocal range throughout his career.

 

  


The Beatles'
musical styles included
Rock & Roll, R&B, Country, and Pop.

The Beatles maintained
a distinct tone, character and vocal range throughout
their career.

  


Jackson's
musical styles included
R&B and Pop.

Jackson maintained a
distinct tone, character
and vocal range
throughout his career,
but his vocal skills were
more dynamic as a pre
teen and teenager with
songs such as "Ben"
and "I'll Be There"
and "Never Can Say
Goodbye" and especially,
"Who's Loving You"

As an adult,
instead of exploring
his vocal range through
song lyrics and melody,
Jackson often just
shouted, yelled to
emphasize musical
context.
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson

14

Most
Commercial
Studio
Recordings
Released
Duets
with other
"Named"
or
"Popular"
Performing
Musicians
or Vocal
Artists

 

 

 

  


Studio Albums*

Rhythm Boys
Louis Armstrong
David Bowie
Frank Sinatra
Dean Martin
Judy Garland
Bob Hope
The Andrew Sisters
Rosemary Clooney
Ella Fitzgerald
Fred Astaire
Bob Crosby
Jimmy Dorsey
Scott Scobey's Frisco Jazz Band
Glenn Miller Band
Perry Como
Dinah Shore
Patti Page
Peggy Lee
Kay Weber
Debbie Reynolds
Buddy Cole
Dorothy Lamour
Joan Collins
Robert Wagner
Al Jolson
Buddy Bregman
Billy May
Bix Beiderbecke

Sources* include:

Discogs.com

tsort.info

bingcrosby.com

allmusic.com

* Plus,
Original Motion
Picture Soundtrack
Studio
Recordings

  


Studio Albums*

Bing Crosby
Oscar Peterson
Leo Reisman & His Orchestra
Johnny Green
Ginger Rogers
Judy Garland
John Scott Trotter
and his Orchestra
Red Skelton
Arlene Dahl
Gloria DeHaven
Anita Ellis
Vera-Ellen
Jane Powell
Joan Crawford
George Murphy
Lyttle Sisters
Mel -Tones
Oscar Levant
Jack Buchanan
Nanete Fabray
Carole Richards

Sources include:

Discogs.com

tsort.info

* Plus,
Original Motion
Picture Soundtrack
Studio
Recordings

  


Studio Albums*

Harry James
Tommy Dorsey
Jo Stafford
The Pied Pipers
Bill Miller
Ella Fitzgerald
Peggy Lee
Doris Day
Rita Hayworth
Kim Novak
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Dean Martin
Bing Crosby
Nancy Sinatra
Tina Sinatra
The Jimmy Joyce Singers
Count Bassie
Duke Ellington
Harry James
Tommy Dorsey
Gene Kelly
Sylvia Syms
Quincy Jones
Randy Brecker
Michael Brecker
George Benson
Joe Newman
Frank Foster
Lionel Hampton
Major Holley
Luther Vandross
Aretha Franklin
Barbra Streisand
Julio Iglesias
Gloria Estefan
Tony Bennett
Natalie Cole
Charles Aznavour
Carly Simon
Liza Minnelli
Anita Baker
Bono
Kenny G
Gladys Knight
Stevie Wonder
Luis Miguel
Patti LaBelle
Jon Secada
Linda Ronstadt
Antonio Carlos Jobim
Chrissie Hynde
Willie Nelson
Steve Lawrence
Eydie Gorme
Lena Horne
Jimmy Buffett
Lorrie Morgan
Frank Sinatra, Jr.
Neil Diamond
Tanya Tucker
George Strait

Sources* include:

Discogs.com

tsort.info

Capitol Records

allmusic.com

* Plus,
Original Motion
Picture Soundtrack
Studio
Recordings

  


Studio Albums*

The Jordanaires
The Imperials
The Sweet Inspirations
Cissy Houston
J.D. Summer &
The Stamps Quartet
Millie Kirkham
Charlie Hodge
Ann-Margaret
Kitty White
Juliet Prowse
Hope Lange
Ginny and
Elisabeth Tiu
Vicki Tiu and
Joan O'Brien
Larry Domasin
Shelley Fabares

** NOTE:
Elvis Presley's 2008
Christmas Duets



with various
artists is a digital
"re-imagining"
and was NOT
recorded while
Presley was
alive.

* Plus,
Original Motion
Picture Soundtrack
Studio
Recordings

Sources* include:

Discogs.com

tsort.info

allmusic.com


  


Studio Albums*

Pete Best
Yoko Ono
John O'Neill
Billy Preston
John Scott
Ronnie Scott
Derek Simpson
Victor Spinetti

Individual
Project:

All You Need
Is Love
Eric Clapton
Donovan
Marianne Faithfull
Mick Jagger
Mike Vickers
Sidney Sax
David Mason
Keith Richards
Jane Asher
Pattie Boyd
Mike McGear
Jack Emblow
Hunter Davies
Gary Walker
Brian Jones
George Martin
Linda McCartney
Keith Moon
Graham Nash

* Plus,
Original Motion
Picture Soundtrack
Studio
Recordings

Sources* include:

Discogs.com

tsort.info

Wikipedia

allmusic.com


  


Studio Albums*

Jackson 5
Janet Jackson
Quincy Jones
Diana Ross
Nipsey Russell
Ted Ross
Siedah Garrett
Patti Austin

Individual
Project:

We Are The World
Lionel Richie
Stevie Wonder
Paul Simon
Kenny Rogers
James Ingram
Tina Turner
Billy Joel
Diana Ross
Dionne Warwick
Willie Nelson
Al Jarreau
Bruce Springsteen
Kenny Loggins
Steve Perry
Daryl Hall
Huey Lewis
Cyndi Lauper
Kim Carnes
Bob Dylan
Ray Charles
Dan Aykroyd
Harry Belafonte
Lindsey Buckingham
Mario Cipollina
(of Huey Lewis
and the News)
Johnny Colla
(of Huey Lewis
and the News)
Sheila E.
Bob Geldof
Bill Gibson (of
Huey Lewis and
the News) Chris
Hayes (of Huey
Lewis and the News)
Sean Hopper (of
Huey Lewis and
the News)
Jackie Jackson
La Toya Jackson
Marlon Jackson
Randy Jackson
Tito Jackson
Waylon Jennings
Bette Midler
John Oates
Jeffrey Osborne
Anita Pointer
(of the Pointer Sisters)
June Pointer
(of the Pointer Sisters)
Ruth Pointer
(of the Pointer Sisters) Smokey Robinson

Sources* include:

Discogs.com

tsort.info

Wikipedia

allmusic.com

* Plus,
Original Motion
Picture Soundtrack
Studio
Recordings
                         
   

To keep his career relevant with younger audiences, Bing Crosby strategically, rountinely, and successfully "partnered with," recorded, and released "duets" with younger male and female singers, including: David Bowie, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sintra, Judy Garland, The Andrew Sisters, etc. Plus, on Crosby's numerous television programs (1950s to 1970s) he partnered with: Twiggy, Stanley Baxter, Bob Hope, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Jose Feliciano, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney, Peter Gennaro, George Gobel, Phil Harris, Frankie Avalon, Jack Benny, and others. Astaire used this same partnering paradigm with his dance partners.

Frank Sinatra learned from talking, watching, and listening to Crosby's and Astaire's musical duets and partnerships how to keep his career both relevant and current by recording and performing with other artists from different musical backgrounds and styles; but not by confining them as background singers in a recording studio or as producers, but in the foreground, upfront and center-stage, where it really mattered. This "lesson" was lost on Elvis, The Beatles, and Michael Jackson. "King" of pop?

Who is the common denominator "pop star" from from the 1930s to the 1990s, from generation to generation?
Sinatra made radio appearances with Crosby, recorded songs, television specials, and made
several films with Bing Crosby.		 Elvis' first appearance after leaving the
military was a warm welcome on Sinatra's nationally broadcast TV program.		 While recording Sinatra's "LA is My Lady"
album, Quincy Jones invited Michael Jackson
to meet Frank Sinatra.
Why wasn't Michael Jackson on 78-year-old Frank Sinatra's legendary "Duets" album which reached No. 2 on Billboard albums chart in 1993, and the only Sinatra album to date to achieve triple, 3x platinum certification? Conversly, Jackson released "Dangerous" in 1991 [8x platinum] and "HIStory, HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I" in 1995 [8x platinum]. Was Michael Jackson a narcissist?
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
15

Grammy Hall of Fame Recordings		  


5 Songs
0 Albums
Grammy Hall of Fame
Released 1932,
"Brother, Can You Spare A Dime
inducted
2006;
Released 1944,
"Don't Fence
Me In," inducted 1998
Released 1942,
"White Christmas,"
inducted 1974
Released 1944,
"Swinging on a Star," inducted
2002
Released 1936,
"Pennies from
Heaven,"
inducted 2004

  
6 Songs
1 album
Grammy Hall of Fame
Released 1926,
"Fascinating Rhythm," inducted
2006;
Released 1935,
"Top Hat, White Tie and Talls," inducted
2008;
Released 1936,
"The Way You Look Tonight," inducted 1998;
Released 1937,
"They Can't Take That Away From Me," inducted
2005
Released 1932,
"Night and Day," inducted 2004
Released 1953,
"The Astaire Story,"
inducted 1999
Released 1935,
"Cheek to Cheek,"
inducted 2000
  


7 Songs
6 Albums
Grammy Hall of
Fame
Released 1958,
"Frank Sinatra
Sings for Only
The Lonely,"
inducted 1999
Released 1945,
"The House I Live
In," inducted
1998
Released 1955,
"In the Wee Small
Hours," inducted 1984
Released 1953,
"I've Got the World
on a String," inducted 2004
Released 1953,
"I've Got You
Under My Skin,"
inducted 1988
Released 1967,
"Francis Albert Sinatra &
Antonio Carlos Jobim,"
inducted 2019
Released 1965,
"September of
My Years,"
inducted 1999,
Released 1956,
"Songs for
Swingin' Lovers!," inducted
2000
Released 1966,
"Strangers In
the Night," inducted
2008
Released 1980,
"Theme from New
York, New York," inducted
2013
Released 1969,
"My Way," inducted 2000
Released 1958,
"One for My Baby
(and One More
for the Road),"
inducted 2005
Released 1958,
"Come Fly with Me,"
inducted 2004


  


7 Songs
0 Albums
Grammy Hall Of Fame
"Hound Dog" (Inducted 1988);
"Heartbreak Hotel" (Inducted 1995);
"That's All Right" (Inducted 1998);
"Suspicious Minds" (Inducted 1999);
"Don't Be Cruel" (Inducted 2002);
"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" (Inducted 2007);
"Jailhouse Rock" (Inducted 2017

  


8 Songs
7 Albums
Grammy Hall of Fame
Released 1969,
"Abbey Road," inducted 1995
Released 1968,
"The Beatles
(aka The White Album),"
inducted 2000
Released 1966,
"Eleanor Rigby,"
inducted 2002
Released 1964,
"A Hard Day's Night," inducted
2000
Released 1965,
"Yesterday," inducted 1997
Released 1965,
"Help!" inducted
2008
Released 1968,
"Hey Jude,"
inducted 2001
Released 1963,
"I Want to Hold
Your Hand,"
inducted 1998
Released 1970,
"Let It Be,"
inducted 2004
Released 1964,
"Meet the Beatles!"
inducted 2001
Released 1967,
"Penny Lane,"
inducted 2011
Released 1966,
"Revolver,"
inducted 1999
Released 1965,
"Rubber Soul,"
inducted 2000
Released 1967,
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," inducted
1993
Released 1967,
"Strawberry Fields Forever," inducted 1999

  
1 Song
2 Albums
Grammy Hall of Fame
Released 1982,
"Thriller,"
inducted 2008
Released 1979,
"Off the Wall,"
inducted 2008
Released 1985,
"We Are The World,"
inducted 2021

OBSERVATION: Fred Astaire had more Grammy Hall of Fame recordings than Michael Jackson! Re-read the previous sentence. Fred Astaire was widely considered more of a dancer than a singer; but Astaire was and is known for introducing some of the most legendary songs from the Great American Songbook by Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, and so many more.

                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
16

Music
Sales
U.S.
Domestic		  


For U.S. domestic sales, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has compiled data only from the 20th century to the present, which excludes significant sales data from Crosby, Astaire, and Sinatra.

Plus, due to conversion from traditional records, CDs, etc., to electronic downloads, the RIAA counts 10 downloads of individual tracks as well as 1,500 audio/video streams as an equivalent to one unit of album, including those from singles released before the album release. Theoretically, if one song were streamed 1.5 billion times on YouTube, the single would receive Diamond and its album could be certified Platinum; thus generating a combined total of 11 million certified units without any sales.

  


According to the
Recording Industry
Association of
America (RIAA),
Sinatra sold 27
million certified
albums in the US,
making him the
83rd top-selling
album artist in
the country.

RIAA DATA

A Gold

 34
B Platinum

 10
C Multi-
Platinum

 4
D Diamond 0

 

  


According to the
Recording Industry
Association of
America (RIAA),
Presley sold 146.5
million certified
albums in the US,
making him the
3rd top-selling
album artist in
the country.

RIAA DATA

A Gold

 155
B Platinum

 84
C Multi-
Platinum

 32
D Diamond 1

 

 

  


According to the
Recording Industry
Association of
America (RIAA),
The Beatles sold 183
million certified
albums in the US,
making them the
2nd top-selling
album artists in
the country.

RIAA DATA

A Gold

 76
B Platinum

 51
C Multi-
Platinum

 30
D Diamond 6

 

  


According to the
Recording Industry
Association of
America (RIAA),
Jackson sold 90
million certified
albums in the US,
making him the 7th
top-selling album
artist in the
country.

RIAA DATA

A Gold

 43
B Platinum

 34
C Multi-
Platinum

 20
D Diamond 5

 
           

RIAA Gold certification means an album or single has sold or streamed 500,000 equivalent units in the United States.

An RIAA Platinum certification means an album, single, or project has officially sold or streamed the equivalent of 1,000,000 units in the United States.

An RIAA Multi-Platinum certification means an album, single, or project has officially sold or streamed the equivalent of 2,000,000 (in increments of 1,000,000 thereafterunits in the United States.

An RIAA Diamond certification means an album, single, or project has officially sold or streamed the equivalent of 10,000,000
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
17

Best-Selling
Artists by
Physical
Single
Sales		  

 

#1

183,147,000
Units Sold
Chartmasters.org

  

 

The primary format
until the 1960s was
physical singles.

This ranking of the
best-selling artists is
by their physical
single sales.

NOTE: Fred Astaire and other pre-rock
era artists (1958-
to-present) are
excluded from this
ranking, except for
Bing Crosby and
Frank Sinatra who
continued to chart
during the rock ear.
Chartmasters.org

  

 

#4

95,253,000
Units Sold
Chartmasters.org

 

  

 

#2

135,207,000
Units Sold
Chartmasters.org

  

 

#3

127,282,000
Units Sold
Chartmasters.org

  

 

#5

79,350,000
Units Sold
Chartmasters.org
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
18

Music
Sales
Worldwide
  


For worldwide sales, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has compiled data only from the 20th century to the present, which excludes significant sales data from Crosby, Astaire, and Sinatra.

Plus, due to conversion from traditional records, CDs, etc., to electronic downloads, the RIAA counts 10 downloads of individual tracks as well as 1,500 audio/video streams as an equivalent to one unit of album, including those from singles released before the album release. Theoretically, if one song were streamed 1.5 billion times on YouTube, the single would receive Diamond and its album could be certified Platinum; thus generating a combined total of 11 million certified units without any sales.

  


41.8 million units

150 million
claimed sales

  


235.4 million units

500 million
claimed sales

  


295.9 million units

500 to 600 million
claimed sales

  


301.2 million units

400 to 500 million
claimed sales
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
19

Recording
Creativity
and
Technology		  


Introduced
Reel-to-Reel Technology that launch multi-track recording.

Bing Crosby was a transformative figure in audio engineering. He primarily introduced and popularized high-fidelity magnetic tape recording in the United States. His radio show was the first to be broadcast
on tape in 1947, fundamentally changing broadcasting and paving the way for the modern recording industry.

  Key Technological Contributions

  1. Magnetic Tape Recording & Editing: Frustrated by the poor quality of recording his radio shows on transcription discs, Crosby provided massive financial backing (around \(\$50,000\) to a small company called Ampex.


CLICK ABOVE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

This technology
enabled record
producers to reverse-engineer German WWII Magnetophon machines. He then used these Ampex machines to edit, cut, and splice his radio programs, a revolutionary leap for broadcasting.

  2. Multitrack Recording: Because Crosby saw the potential in tape, he purchased an early Ampex machine for his friend, the pioneering guitarist Les Paul. This machine was the catalyst that allowed Les Paul to experiment with sound-on-sound recording, effectively helping him invent multitrack recording.

  3. Video Tape Recording: When Crosby shifted his attention to television in the early 1950s, he tasked his own engineering division (Bing Crosby Enterprises) with developing a video recorder. They successfully demonstrated one of the world's first videotape recorders in 1952, which helped lay the foundation for Ampex's commercial video machines a few years later.

  4. Electrical Recording and Microphones: Even in the 1920s, Crosby was an early adopter of electrical recording and the condenser microphone. He utilized these technologies to pioneer "crooning"—an intimate, relaxed singing style that depended entirely on singing closely into a microphone rather than belting.

 

 

  


1. Innovation:
Insisted that a closely tracking dolly camera film a dance routine in as few shots as possible, typically with just four to eight cuts, while holding the dancers in full view at all times. This gave the illusion of an almost stationary camera filming an entire dance in a single shot. Astaire famously quipped: "Either the camera will dance, or I will."

2. Innovation: adamant that all song and dance routines be integral to the plotlines of the film. Instead of using dance as a spectacle as Busby Berkeley did, Astaire used it to move the plot along. Typically, an Astaire picture would include at least three standard dances. One would be a solo performance by Astaire, which he termed his "sock solo". Another would be a partnered comedy dance routine. Finally, he would include a partnered romantic dance routine.

3. Fred Astaire famously helped introduce color videotape recording to television. On September 5, 1958, NBC's An Evening with Fred Astaire was successfully recorded and broadcast using experimental early color-capable quadruplex video tape recorders. This program became the oldest surviving color television recording. This highly acclaimed musical special was a historic technological milestone because it was the first major TV broadcast to use Ampex color videotape technology. This allowed the show to be fully edited and presented in color—replacing the grainy, lower-quality live-film techniques called "kinescopes."

  4. Astaire also a pioneer in pre-recording tap sounds in the 1930s to post-synchronize them. Instead of always capturing his footwork live, he would record tap rhythms on set or re-sync them over the footage. This allowed him to maintain perfect audio-visual quality while performing complex choreography. In the early 1930s, microphones on movie sets often picked up distracting background noises, or the cameras were too loud. To solve this, Astaire and RKO Studios pioneered post-synchronization (or "looping") for tap dancing. Astaire would record the taps of his shoes live on set during close-up shots. For wide shots, where accurate synchronism was difficult to capture, he would re-record the audio in post-production by dancing on a wooden board and meticulously syncing the sound of his taps to the visual image of his feet.

 

 

  


Frank Sinatra
invested in
Reel-to-Reel Technology, with Bing Crosby, that launch multi-track recording.

Frank Sinatra revolutionized vocal recording by elevating the microphone into an expressive musical instrument rather than just an amplifier. His signature sound was largely built on the Neumann U47 condenser microphone. He also popularized recording on magnetic tape and spearheaded the 12-inch Long-Playing (LP) record format.

  1. The Neumann U47 Condenser Microphone

 Before Sinatra, the industry standard was the RCA 44 ribbon microphone, which provided a more mellow tone. When he transitioned to Capitol Records in the early 1950s, he adopted the Neumann U47. Affectionately nicknamed "Telly," the U47 condenser captured his whisper-quiet vocalizations alongside a roaring orchestra without his voice getting lost. This groundbreaking valve condenser microphone captured the intimate, breathy textures of his voice with incredible clarity and an assertive midrange, allowing him to be heard clearly alongside a massive orchestra.

  2. Microphone Technique

  Sinatra is credited with pioneering "The Sinatra Technique," where he actively changed the way he stood—often about a foot away—and gently turned or tilted his head with each lyric. This subtle movement would soften sibilance and add dynamic, dramatic phrasing and naturally compressed his volume and controlled harsh consonants and breaths, creating an intimate, conversational style.

  3. Magnetic Tape Recording

  Capitol Studios was one of the first US recording facilities to widely adopt magnetic tape. Unlike previous direct-to-disc methods, recording onto tape (using machines like the Ampex 200) provided a significantly warmer tone, a higher dynamic range, and lower noise floors, a much richer audio quality and enabled overdubbing and tape editing.

  4. The 12-inch LP (Long-Playing Record)

  Teaming up with Columbia Records and later Capitol, Sinatra utilized the long-playing vinyl record to break free from the 3-minute constraint of 78-rpm shellac records. This technology allowed him to group thematically similar songs together to create the very first "concept albums"
(such as In the We Small Hours). Sinatra is recognized as an early pioneer, the "guru" of the
“Long Playing”
record album
format. Sinatra is recognized for taking the work of great theater composers, such as Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers, and reinterpret their songs for later audiences in a way that lead to their rediscovery and their permanent enshrinement as classic.

 


In the 1961 movie Blue Hawaii — long before product placement became such a blatant part of the movies as we’ve become accustomed to today, Elvis owned and wore an electronic device that most had only heard about in the news or read about. What was Elvis wearing? The world’s first electric wristwatch introduced by the Hamilton Watch Company in 1957.

Elvis Presley and his producer Sam Phillips pioneered several recording techniques at Sun Studio in Memphis. Their most notable technical innovation was slapback echo. They also revolutionized vocal presence by pioneering close-miking with large ribbon microphones, capturing a new level of physical intimacy.

Key Recording Innovations

  1. Slapback Echo: Created at Sun Studio by routing the signal from a primary recording tape machine into a second Ampex 350 tape machine. The physical distance between the tape recorder's heads created a distinct, rapid echo effect that defined Presley's early vocal sound on hits like "Mystery Train".

2. lose-Miking: Moving away from the traditional 1950s standard of standing a foot or more from a microphone, Phillips encouraged Elvis to sing only a few inches away from a microphone like the RCA 77DX ribbon mic. This captured his heavy breathing, whispering, and dynamic range, creating a highly intimate, direct vocal tone.

3. Live Acoustic Tracking: Instead of separating musicians in isolated sound booths, Presley recorded live in a single room alongside his band. The bleed of his dynamic vocals into the drum and bass microphones gave early Sun Studio recordings a raw, unified, and energetic band sound.

4. Presley pioneered live golobal satellite television broadcasting.

Learn more
about how
Elvis evolved
his creative
process through
technology, here.

 

  


The Beatles completely revolutionized the recording industry by treating the studio itself as an instrument. Working with producer George Martin, they transformed music production by popularizing multitrack layering, tape manipulation techniques, and introducing novel electronic instruments to mainstream pop and rock.

Groundbreaking Studio Techniques

1. Artificial Double Tracking (ADT): Invented by Abbey Road engineer Ken Townsend to satisfy John Lennon's dislike of singing the same vocal take twice. This tape-delay technique automatically created a synchronized, echoing duplicate of a vocal or instrument to create a fuller sound.

2. Varispeed: By altering the playback and recording speed of tape machines, the band could change both the tempo and pitch of a recording. This gave vocals and instruments a surreal, dreamlike quality, famously used on"Strawberry Fields Forever".

3. Backward Recording: The Beatles popularized reversing tape tracks to capture the ambient sound of instruments playing backward. Tracks like "Rain" and "I'm Only Sleeping" heavily feature these avant-garde, psychedelic textures.

4. Tape Loops: The band took sound effects, spoken words, or short musical snippets, cut them into literal loops, and fed them back into the mixing console to create rhythmic backing beds, famously utilized on "Tomorrow Never Knows."

  


Michael Jackson,
and his engineer
Bruce Swedien, instead of
relying on standard
stock setups,
they introduced
several highly specific innovations:

1. The Acusonic Recording Process: A proprietary method developed by Swedien and Quincy Jones. It used multiple synchronized multi-track analog tape machines and SMPTE time-code to create an infinite, uncompromised track count without sacrificing the warmth of analog sound.

  2. Vocal Stacking & Distance Miking: Instead of recording a vocalist in a single spot, Swedien had Jackson perform backing vocals over multiple takes at varying distances from the microphone (close-miked, then stepping back a few feet). The preamp gain was increased for the distant takes to match volumes, capturing the natural acoustic reflections of the room to add lush, three-dimensional depth.

  3. Use of ASC Tube Traps: Jackson’s later vocal booths utilized these cylindrical, fabric-covered acoustic panels to control early reflections. This allowed Jackson to sing and physically dance in the studio without altering the sonic footprint of his vocals.

  4. The Shure SM7: For vocal takes on tracks like "Billie Jean", Jackson and Swedien famously bypassed expensive, fragile studio condensers, instead relying on the robust, dynamic broadcast mic (the Shure SM7) to handle Jackson’s high-energy vocal delivery.

  5. Vocal Beatboxing & Micro-Cassette Dictation: Jackson was a pioneer in using vocal percussion, beatboxing, and dictating full string arrangements into a simple portable micro-cassette recorder to outline his complex ideas before taking them into a multi-track studio.

 
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson

20

Films

Academy
Awards

  


1 Academy Award

4
Academy Awards
for Best Original
Song

A Nominations

 3
B Films Released
 85


Bing Crosby
was ranked as
one of the
Top 10 money making stars 15 times: 1934, 1937, 1940, 1943–1954

Crosby was ranked as the #1 money making star 5 times: 1944–1948, second only to Tom Cruise, and tied with Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, and Tom Hanks, and tied with Burt Reynolds for the most consecutive years ranked as #1.

1944
Academy Award
winner – Best Actor for, "Going My Way"

Crosby was
the voice of 13 Oscar-Nominated songs, 4 of which won the Academy Award for Best Song:

1937
Academy Award
Best Original Song
Sweet Leilani
from "Waikiki Weding"

1942
Academy Award
Best Original Song
White Christmas from "Holiday Inn"

1944
Academy Award
Best Original Song
Swinging on a Starform "Going My Way"

1951
Academy Award
Best Original Song
In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Eveningfrom "Here Comes the Groom"

 

  


0 Academy Award

2
Academy Awards
for Best Original Song

A Nominations

 1
B Films Released
 93


1950
Academy
Honorary Award

1975
BAFTA Best Actor
in a Supporting Role for "The Towering
Inferno"

1936
Academy Award
for Best Original Song "The Way You Look Tonight," by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields

1934
Academy Award
for Best Original Song "The Continental," by Con Conrad and Herb Magidson [The first song to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song.]

Scope of
Performances
1905-1987

  


3 Academy Awards

3
Academy Awards
for Best Original Song

A Nominations

 4
B Films Released
 61


1946
Honorary Academy Award for
the first music
video, "The House
I Live In"

1946
Golden Globe for
the first music
video, "The House
I Live In"

1954
Academy Award
winner – Best
Supporting Actor
for, "From Here to
Eternity"

1954
Golden Globe
winner – Best
Supporting Actor
for, "From Here to
Eternity"

1954
Academy Award
for Best Original
Song "Three Coins
in the Fountain" from
the motion picture
Three Coins in the
Fountain Composed
by Sammy Cahn with
lyrics by Jimmy Van
Heusen (sung by
Frank Sinatra)

1957
Academy Award
for Best Original
Song "All the Way"
from the motion
picture The Joker Is
Wild Composed by
Sammy Cahn with
lyrics by Jimmy Van
Heusen (sung by
Frank Sinatra)

1958
Golden Globe
Award winner
for "Pal Joey"

1958
Golden Laurel
Award for Top Male
Musical Performance
for "Pal Joey"

1959
Academy Award
for Best Original
Song "High Hopes"
from the motion
picture A Hole in the
Head Composed by
Sammy Cahn with
lyrics by Jimmy Van
Heusen (sung by
Frank Sinatra)

1959
Golden Laurel
Award for Top
Male Dramatic
Performance for
"Some Came
Running"

1960
Golden Laurel
Award for Top Male
Musical Performance
for "Can-Can"

1970
Jean Hersholt
Humanitarian
Award

1971
Cecil B. DeMille
Award winner

1992
American Cinema
Award for
Lifetime
Achievement

  


0 Academy Award

0
Academy Awards
for Best Original Song

A Nominations

 0
B Films Released
 33


Elvis Presley
never won an Academy Award. Throughout his acting career in 33 feature films, he was never nominated for an Oscar, nor was any song from his movies ever nominated for Best Original Song

  


1 Academy Award

0
Academy Awards
for Best Original
Song

A Nominations

 1
B Films Released
 5


1970
Academy Award
for Best Music Original Song Score, for
"Let It Be"

1964
"A Hard Days Night"

1965
"Help!"

1967
"Magical Mystery
Tour"

1968
"Yellow Submarine"

 

 

 

  


0 Academy Award

0
Academy Awards
for Best Original
Song

A Nominations

 0
B Films Released
5


Michael Jackson
never won a an
Academy Award,
but he made several
notable appearances
at the Academy Awards
and performed his hit
song "Ben" at the 1973
ceremony when it was
nominated for Best
Original Song.

1978
"The Wiz," is
Jackson's only
theatrically released
"feature" film, in a
supporting role as
the Scarecrow.

Michael Jackson
appeared in several
"compilation"
films such as
"Moonwalker"
and "Bad 25,"
plus short films,
concert films,
cameos "Men
In Black (2002)"
and documentaries
such as,
"This Is It"

 
                         

OBSERVATION: Whether intentional or not, the perpetual physical "evolution" or "disfiguration" of Michael Jackson's face prohibited him from being seriously considered for casting in any scripted film role, because his "name, image, and likeness" was not believeable as a leading man, or as a male action star, or romantic lead. Sadly, due to his extremely public persona, he made himself far more believeable as a pedophile and a freak, than as "a regular guy next door."

Jackson was typecast by his "larger than life" never, neverland persona!

 


The Evolution of Michael "White Boy" Jackson
                         

The previous assessment is not evidence of body shaming, but realization that theatrical, scripted films require audiences to engage a "suspension of disbelief," that Bruce Willis actually "is" John McClane, a New York City police detective in the 1988 action film, "Die Hard." We "believe" Judy Garland "is" Dorothy in the 1939 classic film, "The Wizard of Oz." Likewise, we all "know" Sean Connery actually "is" Bond, James Bond, the smartest, toughest, and sexist superspy in the world. But Michael Jackson?
   

 

But Michael Jackson?


But Michael Jackson?

MJ as
Joan
Crawford


Bing Crosby (after leaving Paul Whiteman Band, Mack Sennett, etc.), Fred Astaire (after the dance partnership with his sister Adele ended), Frank Sinatra (after leaving the Tommy Dorsey Band), Elvis Presley, and The Beatles all launched commercially successful film careers with their first three-(3) "scripted films" solidly anchored to their forte as singers and/or dancers in which they "starred" as a "featured" performer. Michael Jackson (after leaving the Jackson 5) did NOT, and did NOT achieve any success in commercially released theatrical films.

Their 1st Three Films

             
  Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
                         
1st   The Big Broadcast, 1932; American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Frank Tuttle and starring Bing Crosby, Stuart Erwin, and Leila Hyams.   The Dancing Lady, 1933; American pre-Code musical film starring Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, and featuring Franchot Tone, Fred Astaire (as himself), Robert Benchley, and Ted Healy and his Stooges (later the Three Stooges).   Higher and Higher, 1944; musical film starring Michèle Morgan, Jack Haley, and Frank Sinatra.   Love Me Tender, 1956; American musical Western film directed by Robert D. Webb and starring Elvis Presley.   A Hard Day's Night, 1964; musical comedy film starring the English rock band the Beatles.   The Wiz, 1978; American musical contemporary fantasy film directed by Sidney Lumet starring Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell, Ted Ross, Lena Horne, and Richard Pryor.
                         
2nd   Blue of the Night, 1933; Mack Sennett Star Comedy (No. S3628) directed by Leslie Pearce and starring Bing Crosby.   Flying Down to Rio, 1933; American pre-Code musical film most famous for being the first screen pairing starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although lead actors Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond received top billing.   Step Lively, 1944; American musical film directed by Tim Whelan and starring Frank Sinatra.   Loving You, 1957; American musical drama film directed by Hal Kanter and starring Elvis Presley.   Help!, 1965; British musical comedy-adventure film directed by Richard Lester, starring the Beatles   No subsequent scripted film.
                         
3rd   College Humor, 1933; American pre-Code musical comedy film, directed by Wesley Ruggles, and starring Bing Crosby, Jack Oakie, Richard Arlen, Mary Kornman and Mary Carlisle.   The Gay Divorcee, 1934; American musical romantic comedy film directed by Mark Sandrich and starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers   Anchors Aweigh, 1945; American musical romantic comedy film directed by George Sidney and starring Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, and Gene Kelly.   Jailhouse Rock, 1957; American musical drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Elvis Presley.   Magical Mystery Tour, 1967; British made-for-television musical film written, produced, directed by, and starring the Beatles.   No subsequent scripted film.

Given Jackson's "larger than life" never, neverland persona, he should have considered being cast against-type in a "shock-and-awe" role as a villian, or anti-hero, or fanatic! For example, imagine Jackson as lead character (protagonist) in the "Saw" film franchise; or as a creepy protagonist in the 2015 erotic romantic drama, "Fifty Shades of Grey." Or, what if Jackson had expanded his fourteen-(14) minute 1983 music video for the song "Thriller" into an actual, very graphic and scarry well-scripted two-(2) hour horror movie? And launch a film franchise? A television series? What if?

Given that "Thriller" is one of the largest selling albums in the history of the entire world, and that the "Thriller" video is one of the most watched videos in the history of the entire world, a "competent" agent, publicist, and management team would have MONETIZED EVERY DAMN ASPECT of "Thriller" for perpetuity! Think about the billions ($7,836,510,562) made from Ian Fleming's, "James Bond," and think about the billions ($9,656,055,269) made from J.K. Rowling's, "Harry Potter," and think about the billions ($7,333,461,998) made from the "Fast and the Furious" film franchise based on a relateively obscure 1998 Vibe magazine article "Racer X" by Ken Li and written by Gary Scott Thompson, Erik Bergquist, and David Ayer? Do you get it?

Michael Jackson (which includes his creative team and management) was an underachiever, or just damn stupid.
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
21

Adjusted
U.S. Domestic
Box Office
for films grossing
$100
million or
more.		  


Ranked #16
$9,124,500,000
Adjusted
U.S. Domestic
Box Office

Number of $100M
Films = 33

Bing Crosby
appeared on the
annual Top 10 Box
Office Stars list a total
of 15 times in his career. From 1944 to 1948, Crosby was the number one star, for a record 5 years
in a row.

Ranked #8
by Variety
$68,500,000
(through 1966)

To review one of
Crosby's film
collections,
click here.

  


Ranked #37
$5,850,000,000
Adjusted
U.S. Domestic
Box Office

Number of $100M
Films = 29

1. Twenty-nine
Fred Astaire movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 74.35% of his movies listed. The Towering Inferno (1974) was his biggest box office hit.

2. An average Fred Astaire movie grosses $147.70 million in adjusted box office gross.

3. Using Rotten
Tomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter, 32 Fred Astaire movies are rated as good movies…or 82.05% of his movies. Top Hat (1935) is his highest rated movie while The Amazing Dobermans (1976) is his lowest rated movie.

4. Twenty-four Fred Astaire movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 61.53% of his movies.

5. Five Fred Astaire movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 15.15% of his movies.

6. A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00. 33 Fred Astaire movies scored higher that average….or 84.16% of his movies. Top Hat (1935) got the the highest UMR Score while The Amazing Dobermans (1976) got the lowest UMR Score.

To review one of
Astaire's film
collections,
click here.

  


Ranked #44
$6,500,100,000
Adjusted
U.S. Domestic
Box Office

Number of $100M
Films = 28

Frank Sinatra
made 28 movies that
crossed the magical
$100 million mark for
adjusted domestic
box office dollars,
which mirrored his
success as a major
recording actist.

Ranked #4
by Variety
$95,450,000
(through 1966)

To review one of
Sinatra's film
collections,
click here.

  


Ranked #595
$2,458,200,000
Adjusted
U.S. Domestic
Box Office

Number of $100M
Films = 7

See chart below.

Between 1956 and 1972, Presley made 33 movies, and in all but one he took the starring role. In today’s money, the total box office receipts equate to over US$2.2 billion, and that is for
the US alone.

1. Seven Elvis Presley movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark. That is a percentage of 21.21% of his movies listed. Love Me Tender (1956) was his biggest box office hit.

2. An average Elvis Presley movie grosses $68.70 million in adjusted box office gross.

3. Using Rotten
Tomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter, 14 of Elvis Presley’s movies are rated as good movies…or 42.42% of his movies. King Creole (1958) is his highest rated movie* while Change of Habit (1969) was his lowest rated movie. *Documentaries excluded.

4. Zero Elvis Presley movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 0.00% of his movies.

5. A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60. 12 Elvis Presley movies scored higher that average….or 36.36% of his movies. Jailhouse Rock (1957) got the the highest UMR Score while Change of Habit (1969) got the lowest UMR Score.

To review one of
Elvis' film collections,
click here.

 

To review Elvis'
film soundtrack
collections,
click here.

  


Ranked #775
$945,000,000
Adjusted
U.S. Domestic
Box Office

Number of $100M
Films = 4

To review one of
The Beatles' film
collections,
click here.

  


Not ranked.

OBSERVATION:

Thriller remains the
best-selling album of all
time, having sold an
estimated 70 million
copies worldwide,
and is certified 34×
platinum with
34,000,000
U.S. sales, making
it the second best-
selling album in the
US, after The Eagles,
"Their Greatest
Hists (1971-1975),"
certified 40x
Platinum with
40,000,000
U.S. sales.

COULD HAVE,
SHOULD HAVE:

Given the global
success of both the
"Thriller" record album
and the 1983 Thriller
music video, "Thriller"
clearly should have
been a "tentpole"
(in Hollywood
vernacular) to
anchor and launch a
global film franchise.
For example:

Thriller: The Movie
(1985)

Followed by:

Thriller 2 (1987)
Thriller 3 (1989)
Thriller 4 (1991)
Thriller 5 (1993)
etc., etc., etc.

Notably, the
aforementioned is
a well-established
business model, as
demonstrated by:

1. Marvel Cinematic
Universe
$32,487,068,924

2. Spider-Man
$11,154,092,078

3. Star Wars
$10,738,713,932

4. Harry Potter
$9,656,055,269

5. James Bond
$7,836,510,562

6. The Avengers
$7,767,486,137

7. X-Men
$7,422,190,386

8. Fast & Furious
$7,333,461,998

9. DC Extended
Universe
$7,197,660,384

10. Batman
$7,053,037,410

Note:

1. The perpetual
physical "evolution"
or "disfiguration" of
Michael Jackson's face
prohibited him from
being seriously
considered for casting
in any scripted film
role, but his "Thriller"
persona was well
established and
accepted. In fact,
to surprise audiences,
the "Thriller" film
franchise could
present Jackson's
"character" not as a
"good guy," but as
a heel, villain, or
alien from
outer space, or
vampire, or
whatever. As a film
franchise, "Thriller"
could have been
a horror-comedy
film like the
"Scary Movie"
film franchise, which
was created by
Shawn Wayans,
Marlon
Wayans, Buddy
Johnson, Phil
Beauman, and
collectively grossed
$1 billion worldwide.
Or, as a film franchise,
"Thriller" could have
been a hard-core
multi-billion-dollar
horror movie film
franchise like,
"Resident Evil"
($1,284,423,262 with
10-films) or "Saw"
($1,141,842,812 with
10-films) or "Scream"
($1,126, 254,066
with 7 films).

2. As a television,
cable, or streaming
event, "Thriller" could
have been a multiple
episode musical, like
the highly acclaimed
"Schmigadoon!"

3. Jackson need not
appear in the filmed
adaptations, but serve
as executive producer,
screenwrite, director,
etc.

4. "Thriller" could
have been exploited
(monetized) as an
independent television
production via
Paramount+
(which owns CBS);
NBCUniversal (which
owns NBC), Disney
(which owns ABC and
Hulu); as an exclusive
TV mini-series (via
traditional broadcast,
cable, or streaming); or
published by Simon &
Schuster or another
top five publisher; or via
comic books and graphic
novels published by
Marvel Comics (owned
by Disney) or DC Comics
(owned by Warner
Communications);


But Michael
Jackson
did absolutely
nothing!
                         
   
                         
   

Based on his first ten-(10) films, it was generally asknowleged by most critics and movie audiences that in addition to being an exciting singer and dancer, but also a very good actor, especially in dramatic roles (King Creole, Flaming Star). By the late 1960s, Presley’s film popularity had dropped from extremely predictable cookie-cutter musicals: his movie box office receipts fell; critics were less impressed with each release; and the records from the soundtracks no longer climbed as far up the charts. Strangely though, at the same time, film companies such as MGM and United Artists, were paying ever higher fees for Presely's services. The chart above shows both the box office receipts and the fee Elvis received for the film. Clearly, the fees Elvis earned were rising as the box office receipts were declining. Hollywood appeared to be paying for his star power, which in turn pushed them towards making cheaper, low quality films. Economic theory would predict that as demand falls, the price, Elvis’ fee, should also fall. Yet, it appears that his fame insulated him somewhat from market forces, with film companies prepared to cut other costs in order to secure their star. Source: The Conversation.com

NOTE: To re-boot his film career which had been in limbo since 1969, Presley was very interested in co-starring with Barbra Streisand in the 1976 third re-make of "A Star Is Born." A news item in the April 16, 1975 Los Angeles Times reported that Elvis Presley was in negotiations to play the male lead, but Presley passed on the opportunity after meeting co-producer Barbra Streisand and legendary Hollywood producer Jon Peters in Las Vegas, Nevada. Unfortunately, his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, insisted Elvis have top billing and asked for a substantial sum of money for the role. Kris Kristofferson was cast to co-star with Streisand.
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
22

Estimated movie tickets sales through 2000		  


Ranked #3
by TLA Video
$1,077,900,000

 

  
Ranked #24
by TLA Video
$614,000,000		  
Ranked #15
by TLA Video
$665,000,000		  
Ranked #8
by TLA Video
$68,500,000		  
Not ranked by
TLA Video		  
Not ranked by
TLA Video
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson

23

Television

Emmy
Awards

  


0 Awards

23A
3
Total
Emmy
Nominations


Bing Crosby
never won a
competitive Emmy Award.

1972
"Bing Crosby and Friends"
Nominated for Outstanding
Achievement in
Live or Tape Sound

1971
"Bing Crosby:
Cooling It"
Nominated for Outstanding
Achievement in
Costume Design

1978
"Bing Crosby:
His Life and
Legend"
Nominated for
Outstanding
Informational
Special
(Documentary)

1992
Governors Award
(Hall of Fame)
Inducted into the Television Academy
Hall of Fame

  


13 Awards

23A
33
Total
Emmy
Nominations


1980
Outstanding Program Achievement-Special Class - 1980 David Heeley, Producer George Page, Executive Producer Jac Venza, Executive Producer Fred Astaire: Change Partners and Dance PBS

1978
Outstanding Lead Actor In A Limited Series - 1978 Fred Astaire, as A Family Upside Down NBC

1968
Outstanding Achievement In Art Direction And Scenic Design - 1968 James W. Trittipo, The Fred Astaire Show NBC

1961
Outstanding Performance In A Variety Or Musical Program Or Series - 1961 Fred Astaire, as Astaire Time NBC

1959
Best Direction Of A Single Musical Or Variety Program - 1959 Bud Yorkin, An Evening with Fred Astaire NBC

1959
Best Live Camera Work - 1959 n/a, An Evening with Fred Astaire NBC

1959
Best Single Performance By An Actor - 1959 Fred Astaire, as An Evening with Fred Astaire NBC

1959
Best Special Musical Or Variety Program-One Hour Or Longer - 1959 Bud Yorkin, An Evening with Fred Astaire NBC

1959
Best Art Direction In A Live Television Program - 1959 Edward Stephenson, An Evening with Fred Astaire NBC

1959
Best Musical Contribution To A Television Program - 1959 David Rose, An Evening with Fred Astaire NBC

1959
Most Outstanding Single Program Of The Year - 1959 n/a, An Evening with Fred Astaire NBC

1959 Best Choreography For Television - 1959 Hermes Pan, An Evening with Fred Astaire NBC

1959
Best Writing Of A Single Musical Or Variety Program - 1959 Herbert Baker, Bud Yorkin, An Evening with Fred Astaire NBC

Nominations:

3 = 1981
2 = 1980
1 = 1978
5 = 1968
9 = 1963
1 = 1961
2 = 1960
9 = 1959


1989
Hall of Fame
Fred Astaire, as Honoree

 


3 Awards

23A
19
Total
Emmy
Nominations


1967
Individual
Achievements
In Electronic
Production - Sound
Recording - 1967
Bill Cole,
Frank Sinatra:
A Man and His
Music
CBS

1966
Individual
Achievements In Electronic Production - Lighting - 1966
Lon Stucky,
Frank Sinatra:
A Man and His
Music
NBC

1966
Outstanding Musical
Program - 1966
Dwight Hemion,
Frank Sinatra:
A Man and His
Music
NBC


Nominations:

1 = 2015
1 = 1984
2 = 1974
1 = 1970
1 = 1969
7 = 1967
4 = 1966
1 = 1958
1 = 1956

  


0 Awards

23A
0
Total
Emmy
Nominations


Elvis' 1968
"Comeback Special"
was huge rating
success with
its immediate
broadcast on
NBC-TV, but it
was not nominated
for an Emmy.



Then, finally in
September 2011
the Academy
of Television Arts &
Sciences bestowed
an official "Emmy Awards Special Tribute to Elvis Presley's '68 Comeback Special" to honor Presley's impact and legacy on television.

  


5 Awards

23A
5
Total
Emmy
Nominations


2022
Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series - 2022 Paul McCartney, Producer Ringo Starr, Producer Yoko Ono Lennon, Producer Olivia Harrison, Producer Peter Jackson, Produced by Clare Olssen, Produced by Jonathan Clyde, Produced by The Beatles: Get Back

2022
Outstanding Sound Editing For A Nonfiction Or Reality Program (Single Or Multi-Camera) - 2022 Martin Kwok, Supervising Sound Editor / Dialogue Editor Emile De La Rey, Sound Editor Matt Stutter, Sound Editor Michael Donaldson, Foley Editor Stephen Gallagher, Music Editor Tane Upjohn-Beatson, Music Editor Simon Riley, Foley Artist The Beatles: Get Back

2022
Outstanding Picture Editing For A Nonfiction Program - 2022 Jabez Olssen, Editor The Beatles: Get Back

2022
Outstanding Directing
For A Documentary-Nonfiction Program - 2022 Peter Jackson, Directed by The Beatles: Get Back

2022
Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Nonfiction Or Reality Program (Single Or Multi-Camera) - 2022 Michael Hedges, Re-Recording Mixer Brent Burge, Re-Recording Mixer Alexis Feodoroff, Re-Recording Mixer Giles Martin, Music Mixer The Beatles: Get Back

  


0 Awards

23A
2
Total
Emmy
Nominations


1983
Nomination for
Outstanding
Individual
Performance in a
Variety or Music
Program, "Billie
Jean," at "Motown 25:
Yesterday, Today,
Forever"
TV Special

1990
Nomination for
Outstanding Music
and Lyrics for
co-writing with
Buz Kohan the song
"You Were There,"
for the TV
Special, "Sammy
Davis, Jr.
60th Anniversary
Celebration."
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
24

Philanthropy 		 


Philanthrophy

Bing Crosby was
well known for his contribution to troops during World War II. There is a funny story about his journey of supporting troops during World War II. While in Europe, Bing and his driver ended up behind German lines on accident. Upon returning to base, the commander finds out and tells Bing “we don’t hold that area!” Bing responded by saying “Well, we held it for a few minutes today.”

Some of the ground the full film, "American Masters: Bing Croby Rediscovered,"
covers includes a charity golf tournament he founded in 1937. It was an opportunity for Crosby who loved to play golf, and to raise money for charities.
He launched a tournament, now known as the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Crosby was privately known for his
“Take Care Of
List,” which included Judy Garland after she attempted suicide and was fired from the movie studio MGM in 1950; Crosby stuck by Garland’s side, literally, inviting her to perform on his hugely popular radio program.

Cosby also donated
to support the defense of the Scottsboro Boys, nine African American male teenagers accused of raping a young white woman and a 17-year-old white girl in 1931.

 


Philanthrophy

Astaire privately supported various charities. He also strongly encouraged charitable support dance programs for children, teens, and adults.

  


The
Frank Sinatra Foundation

Frank Sinatra was a catalyst for change. The very first "music video" to receive an Academy Award® was presented to Frank Sinatra in 1945 for the following video, "The House I Live In."

Frank Sinatra
raised more than $1 Billion for charities during his lifetime, including: Save the Children, the Alzheimer's Association and the Starkey Hearing Foundation.

Frank Sinatra
and his wife Barbara founded the Frank
Sinatra Starkey
Hearing Foundation
Celebrity Invitational
in 1988 to raise
funds for Barbara
Sinatra Center for Abused Children at
Eisenhower Medical
Center in Rancho
Mirage, CA.

In 1985,
Ronald Reagan presented Sinatra with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, remarking, "His love of country, his generosity for those less fortunate … make him one of our most remarkable and distinguished Americans.

Sinaatra was also awarded the Hollzer Memorial Award by the Los Angeles Jewish Community in 1949. He gave a series of concerts in Israel in 1962, and donated his entire $50,000 fee for appearing in a cameo role in Cast a Giant Shadow (1966) to the Youth Center in Jerusalem.

On November 1, 1972, he raised $6.5 million in bond pledges for Israel, and was given the Medallion of Valor for his efforts. The Frank Sinatra Student Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem was dedicated in his name in 1978.

Throughout his entire career, Sinatra was a huge advocate for civil rights and played a major role in the desegregation of Nevada hotels and casinos in the 1950s and 1960s. At the Sands in 1955, Sinatra went against policy by inviting Nat King Cole into the dining room, and in 1961, after an incident where an African-American couple entered the lobby of the hotel and were blocked by the security guard, Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. forced the hotel management to begin hiring black waiters and busboys.

Sinatra organized
the June 20, 1965, "live" benefit telecast to support Dismas House of St. Louis, a halfway house for ex-convicts. His Rat Pack cronies– Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Sammy Davis Jr.–were scheduled to appear, but Bishop dropped out at the last minute. His replacement was Johnny Carson, as unofficial host and court jester.

On Januar 27, 1961, Sinatra played a benefit show at Carnegie Hall for Martin Luther King, Jr. and led his fellow Rat Pack members and Reprise label mates in boycotting hotels and casinos that refused entry to black patrons and performers.  


In 1962 alone, Sinatra toured the world at his own expense to raise money for children’s hospitals around the world.

 

  


Philanthrophy

The following excerpt was taken from a display at Elvis Presley’s Memphis Graceland facility:

“When Elvis first achieved his extraordinary level of fame, he used it to help raise money and awareness for many causes. He lent his name and image to the American Cancer Society, American library Association, March of Dimes, USS Arizona Memorial and other organizations. He gave thousands of teddies bears that fans sent him to be distributed to children’s hospitals.

In 1961, Presley started a tradition of distributing checks to more than 50 charitable organizations, donating more than $100,000 a year. He supported St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis. He also gave anonymously. He paid off people’s debts and mortgages.

The full extent of Elvis’ charity is unknown. To further his philanthropy, the Elvis Presley Foundation was established as a 501(c)(3) organization. It was first known as the Elvis Presley Memorial Foundation. It was formed in 1984 to honor his memory (he died in 1977) by promoting philanthropy. The foundation, for example, created the Elvis Presley Endowed Scholarship Fund at the University of Memphis to assist students in music, film, television and theater. The foundation also assists other charities in the Memphis community, especially focusing on arts, education and children’s programs. Elvis’ only child, Lisa Marie, founded the Presley Charitable Foundation in 2007. The organization established the Presley Place-New Orleans, a transitional housing facility for homeless families. The foundation provides rent-free housing, child daycare, career and financial counseling, family management guidance, and other tools for the homeless. Through this process they gain self-esteem and independence. The Presley Place-Memphis opened its doors in 2001. Proceeds from a Lisa Marie Elvis song, “In the Ghetto,” went directly to the charitable foundation. The Presley Charitable Foundation is also
a 501(c)(3)
organization.

  


Philanthrophy

The Beatles supported charitable causes more as "individuals" than as a group.

One of the most memorable examples came after the band’s split: George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh (1971). It was the first major benefit concert of its kind. Joined by Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, and others, Harrison performed Beatles tracks like “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Here Comes the Sun.” The concert raised millions for refugees and set the stage for future benefit shows like Live Aid.

Paul McCartney
has been especially active in charity performances. His rendition of “Let It Be” at the Live Aid concert in 1985 was one of the event’s emotional peaks. He also performed Beatles songs at Concert for New York City (2001) after the 9/11 attacks, including “Yesterday” and “Freedom,” which served as an anthem for resilience.

In the wake of John Lennon's death, in 1984, his son Julian Lennon performed “Hey Jude” at a charity event for the Spirit Foundation, carrying his father’s legacy into a new era of giving.

Ringo Starr
perpetually
wraps his iconic signature catchphrase,
“Peace and Love”
with decades of charitable giving. His ongoing efforts reflect his desire to make a tangible difference in the world. Much like his fellow Beatle, John Lennon, Ringo has become an important voice in peace advocacy. He’s actively participated in the #PeaceRocks campaign. Fashion designer John Varvatos launched the campaign to promote anti-violence efforts. He’s also the face of the Ringo Starr Peace & Love Fund. This is a project of the David Lynch Foundation. It provides transcendental meditation programs to inner-city youth and veterans suffering from PTSD. In 2014, Ringo was recognised for his humanitarian efforts at the GQ Men of the Year Awards. They honoured his support of these noble causes. On his 80th birthday in 2020, he hosted a charity broadcast. It raised funds for organisations such as Black Lives Matter, MusiCares, and WaterAid. Finally, there is the iconic Peace and Love sculpture in Beverly Hills, California. The 800-pound bronze hand in the universal peace gesture was commissioned by the mayor. It symbolises the city’s wish to be a place of love and peace. In 2022, the Beatle auctioned 500 life-size replicas of the sculpture. He donated all proceeds to the Lotus Foundation. This charity, started by Ringo, helps young people struggling with domestic violence, homelessness, and substance abuse.

  


Philanthrophy

The Guiness World Record book incorrectly labeled Michael Jackson as the "King of charity," because Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra easily did more and continue to do so.

The Guiness Millenium issue listed Jackson under Most Charities Supported By A Pop Star, with 39 international organizations including the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the American Cancer Society - but not as the "all-time" Pop Star with the most charties supported during an entire career.

Before the financial woes that haunted him the last years of his life, Jackson was one of the industry’s most formidable philanthropists:

* Jackson donated proceeds from the 1988 song “Man in the Mirror” to Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, a camp for children who suffer from cancer.

* Jackson equipped a 19-bed-unit at Mount Sinai New York Medical Center for cancer research and donated part of the earnings from his Victory Tour to the United Negro College Fund.

* Jackson donated all the money he received from his Pepsi endorsements -- $1.5 million -- to the Michael Jackson Burn Center for Children at Brotman Medical Center in Culver City. Jackson had been treated there when he was burned during the production of a Pepsi commercial.

* Before a concert at Wembley Stadium in 1988, Jackson met with Prince Charles and Princess Diana, handing over checks totaling more than $400,000 for the Prince’s Trust and a children’s hospital.

Jackson, like many celebrities, was known to hand over the proceeds from concerts to local charities and hospitals as he did with the History tour in Bombay, or donate personal items for auction to organisations like UNESCO.

As demonstrated by Jackson's Heal the World Foundation, a charity he founded in 1992, he was not consistent with his altruism. Jackson donated several million dollars in revenue from his Dangerous World Tour. The foundation's mission was to provide food and medicine to children and fight homelessness, child exploitation, and abuse. Before forming the foundation, Jackson showed his interest in humanitarianism through singles like "We Are the World" or "Man in the Mirror." However, seven-(7) years prior to his death in 2009, the foundation was dissolved in 2002 due to failing to file yearly accounting statements, required for tax-exempt organizations.

 
   
BING CROSBY'S CAREER SET THE STANDARD FOR PHILANTHROPY
AND HIS CAREER DEFINED WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A "POP" STAR
     
Philanthropy
of Crosby's “Take Care Of List”		   Discover the "original" King of Pop!
(Just watch the first 17-minutes)
 
     
     
FRANK SINATRA'S PHILANTHROPY
     
Frank Sinatra, 1945, "The House I Live In."   Frank Sinatra, 1945, "Dismas House of St. Louis."
 
     
 

FRANK SINATRA ON CIVIL RIGHTS?
Even in 1945, Sinatra publicly practiced egalitarian principles!


CLICK ABOVE IMAGE TO ENLARGE
         
         
MICHAEL JACKSON'S PHILANTHROPY WAS DISSOLVED IN 2002, 7-YEARS PRIOR
TO HIS DEATH, AND HIS ALTRUISM WITH CHILDREN BECAME TAINTED
         

Michael Jackson's very public "philanthropic" interest in and work with children was problematic. Child abuse allegations against Michael Jackson began in August 1993. Based on testimony from the 2005 criminal case, People v. Jackson, it was Jackson's practice of "innocently" sharing his bed with children.

Jackson's family and business handlers should have legally intervened, as Maria Cole did with her drug addicted daughter, Natalie Cole, and secured conservatorship over Michael Jackson's well-publicised atypical personal affairs to protect him from himself; but they failed to do so, and arguably, were culpable in Jackson social demise as an alleged pedophile.

In retrospect, Jackson should have "shut up," as Madonna directed, and learned childen should be under adult supervision, and should not be harassing celebrities about autographs . . . or spending time in his bed for sleep overs.
In the wake of an out-of-court settlement from the 1993 child sexual abuse allegations by 13-year-old Jordan Chandler for $23 million plus and additional $5 million to the Chandler family's lawyers, in 1996 Jackson played role of victim in his video, "They Don't Care About Us."
 

Again, Michael should have listened to Madonna!
         
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson

25

Notable
"named"
dance partner(s)
co-starring (NOT as
background
dancers) in feature
films or
videos?

  


Fred Astaire
Danny Kaye
Ray Bolger
Vera-Ellen

  


Gracie Allen
Lucille Bremer
George Burns
Joan Caulfield
Barrie Chase
Joan Crawford
Virginia Dale
Vera-Ellen
Joan Fontaine
Paulette Goddard
Audrey Hepburn
Betty Hutton
Gene Kelly
Ann Miller
Janis Page
Eleanor Powell
Marjorie Reynolds
Kay Thompson
Adele Astaire
Jack Buchanan
Leslie Caron
Cyd Charisse
Petula Clark
Bing Crosby
The Kessler Twins
(Ellen and Alice)
LeRoy Daniels
Nanette Fabray
Judy Garland
Rita Hayworth
Harriet Hoctor
Olga San Juan
Claire Luce
George Murphy
Hermes Pan
Jane Powell
Ginger Rogers

and many
more!

  


Gene Kelly in
"Anchors Aweigh" and
"Take Me Out to the Ball Game"
and
"On the Town"

Betty Garrett,
Ann Miller,
Vera-Ellen,
Jules Munshin in
"On the Town"

Grace Kelly in
"High Society"

Debbie Reynolds in
"The Tender"

Kim Novak in
Pal Joey

Rita Hayworth in
"Pal Joey"

Juliet Prowse in
"Can-Can"

The Kessler Twins
(Ellen and Alice)

  


Ann-Margaret in
"Viva Las Vegas"

Debra Paget in
"Love Me Tender"

Teri Garr as a background dancer in nine of Presley's films, including "Viva Las Vegas," "Roustabout," and "Kissin' Cousins"

Toni Basil as choreographer and background in
"Viva Las Vegas"
Plus, Basil was
also an original
member of the
"Pop-Lock"
group
"The Lockers"

  


George Harrison and Ringo Starr with Maggie London
and Carole Chilvers in
"A Hard Day's Night"

John Lennon and
Paul McCartney with Edina Ronay and
Jane Lumb in
"A Hard Days Night"

Lionel Blair
"A Hard Day's Night"

Yoko Ono
and John Lennon in
"Let It Be"

  


No one.

Except his sister,
Janet Jackson.

Janet Jackson
born, May 16, 1966
(age 60)

However, Michael
Jackson could
have, should have
launched a film
career or television
specials to prominently
feature as co-stars
some of the greatest
dancers of his
generation such as:

Paula Abdul
born, June 19, 1962
(age 63)

Wesley Snipes
born, July 31, 1962
(age 63) Appeared in
Jackson's "Bad" video

Jeffrey Daniel
born, August 14, 1955
(Daniel's
taught Jackson
how to do the
"backslide" also
known as
"The Moonwalk."
Choreographed and
appeared in Jackson's
"Bad" video

Jennifer Lopez
born, July 24, 1969
(age 56)

Chris Tucker
born, August 31, 1971
(age 54)

Madonna
born, August 16, 1958
(age 67)

Usher
born, October 14, 1978
(age 47)

Shakira
born, February 2, 1977
(age 49)

 

 
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
26

Business
Acumen,
Diversity
of Invest-ment
Portfolio,
and
Creating
and
sustaining
generational
wealth.		  


Bing Crosby’s
business acumen is legendary. Crosby's ownership spanned music rights, film/TV production, radio/TV shows, business investments, and luxury real estate, with his estate’s entertainment assets now held by HLC Properties, which is under the ownership of the Crosby Family.

Key Assets Crosby Owned:

1. Music and Recordings
Over 1,600 recorded songs, including White Christmas, which he continued to earn royalties for during his lifetime. Record masters, music compositions, and publishing rights were transferred to HLC Properties, a Nevada limited partnership formed in 1980 to manage his estate’s entertainment assets. These rights are now owned by HLC Properties and, through a 2021 partnership, also by Primary Wave Music, which holds a financial claim on the assets.

2. Film and Television Production
Over 70 feature films and numerous TV programs Wikipedia. His production company, Bing Crosby Productions, was involved in motion picture and television production.

3. Radio and Television Shows Long-running radio and TV programsn (Hogan's Heroes) that generated ongoing income and brand value.

4. Business Ventures
Major stakes in the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team and Minute Maid orange juice mintedmoola.com. Other business interests included musicians, singers, writers, and agents under his umbrella.

5. Real Estate
His Hillsborough, California estate, a French château-style mansion on 5.36 acres, was valued at around $40 million when listed in 2025 and later sold for $25 million. The property is one of California’s most famous celebrity homes and reflects his personal style and taste. Estimated Value at Death Net worth: $50 million ($400M today). This included his music catalog, film/TV rights, business holdings, and real estate.

Legacy value:

Bing Crosby owned a diverse mix of luxury real estate, cash, personal treasures, and a priceless music and brand empire worth about $50 million at his death ($400 million today), providing generational wealth to his widow, children, etc.

 

  


Fred Astaire’s recordings span decades and the rights are split among multiple major music companies: Warner Music Group (MGM, United Artists) Universal Music Group (Capitol, Mercury/Clef, Decca) These companies own the master recordings and control their distribution, licensing, reissues, and streaming rights.
Fred Astaire's
estate no longer holds rights to the master recordings.

Fred Astaire’s
motion pictures are owned by the Astaire family, specifically through the Fred Astaire Dance Studios and related entities, which hold the rights to his films and choreography.

Astaire, who
began his career in vaudeville with his sister Adele, moved to Hollywood in the 1930s and became one of the most celebrated dancers and performers of his time. His films, including classics like Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936), Holiday Inn (1942), Easter Parade (1948), The Band Wagon (1953), Funny Face (1957), and Silk Stockings (1957), were produced by major studios such as RKO Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during his active years.

When Astaire
retired from acting in 1957, he founded the Fred Astaire Dance Studios in 1958, which became a central part of his legacy. The studio
and its associated companies have
since managed and preserved his filmography,
ensuring that his work remains available for performances, educational use, and public appreciation IMDb.

Today, the Fred Astaire Dance Studios and its corporate successors hold the rights to his motion pictures, and they are responsible for licensing, preserving, and promoting his films. This includes making them available for educational purposes, dance instruction, and occasional public screenings.

Personal rights: Owned by Fred Astaire’s estate and his children.

Production rights: Many of Astaire's films are owned by MGM due to original studio production agreements.

Current control:
MGM manages licensing and distribution of his films, in partnership with the Astaire family.

 


Frank Sinatra strategically
pursued creative
and finanical independence. Sinatra's worth
was estimated at $200 million fortune (about $350–$400 million in today’s money).

Due to a lack of artistic control and limited royalties, Sinatra created "Reprise Records" in 1960 to sieze artistic and financial control, including ownership and publishing rights of all recording masters, and offered such to fellow artists (Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Duke Ellington, Rosemary Clooney, Sammy Davis, Jr., Redd Foxx, etc.). Sinatra sold Reprise to Warner Bros. in 1963.

Sinatra's estate was divided in his 1991 will into two main categories: tangible assets and intangible intellectual property.

Key Assets Sinatra Owned:

1. Real estate: Multiple luxury properties, including a Malibu beach house and a Palm Springs estate Finance Monthly.

2. Cash and business interests: Significant cash holdings and control over Frank Sinatra Enterprises (FSE), which managed licensing, royalties, and brand rights.

3. Personal belongings: Expensive jewelry, artwork, memorabilia, and cars.

4. Music catalog and brand rights: His name, image, and master recordings, which were the most valuable intangible assets.

5. Film and Television rights: Frank Sinatra’s motion pictures — including films, television specials, and unreleased footage — are owned and managed by Frank Sinatra Enterprises (FSE), a company jointly established in 2007 by Warner Music Group and the Sinatra family (Frank Sinatra Jr., Nancy Sinatra, and Tina Sinatra). FSE was created to administer the rights to Sinatra’s recordings, films, and other artistic works, as well as his name and likeness. FSE holds the rights to his Reprise Records-era films and a vast archive of motion pictures, TV specials, and related materials. In 2013, FSE entered a licensing agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG) to combine Sinatra’s classic Capitol Records films from the 1950s with his Reprise-era works, releasing them under the Signature Sinatra imprint. This arrangement allowed UMG to market and distribute the films globally, while FSE retained ownership and control over the rights. More recently, in 2025, Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group acquired a significant portion of the Sinatra estate, including his name, image, and likeness rights Music Business Worldwide. FSE, Tina Sinatra, and Warner Music Group confirmed that Iconic would join the team serving Sinatra’s legacy, but ownership of the motion picture catalog remains with FSE.

How much it was worth:

The estate’s total value was widely estimated at $200 million. Adjusted for inflation, that’s roughly $350–$400 million today. Some estimates in the 1980s suggested his net worth could have been as high as $600 million at the time of death.

Distribution: Barbara Marx Sinatra (his fourth wife) received the bulk of the estate — real estate, cash, jewelry, art, and personal items — estimated at well over $100 million.

His three children (Nancy, Frank Jr., and Tina) received smaller inheritances, including trust funds and control over the music catalog and brand rights.

Friends and staff received cash gifts, and charities received contributions.

Legacy value:

Frank Sinatra owned a diverse mix of luxury real estate, cash, personal treasures, and a priceless music and brand empire worth about $200 million at his death, with his widow getting the tangible assets and his children controlling the intangible value.

  


Elvis Presely lacked business acumen to control his masters, but he could have learned from examples set by
Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Jerry Lewis, etc.

Presley lacked "business acumen." For example, Colonel Tom Parker owns the rights to "elvispresley.com," NOT Elvis Presley.

Recordings (Masters): Sony Music Entertainment owns the rights to Elvis's catalog via RCA Records. In a 1973 buyout, Elvis and his manager sold the rights to his pre-1973 recordings to RCA in exchange for a lump sum

Music Publishing: Universal Music Publishing Group handles Elvis's global music publishing catalog, which includes the rights to the underlying lyrics and compositions.

Name, Image & Licensing: Authentic Brands Group (ABG) owns the intellectual property and licensing rights to Elvis's name, likeness, and brand. The Presley family estate retains a 15% stake in
Elvis Presley Enterprises.

Ownership of
Elvis Presley’s
entire movie catalog; his 31 feature films are split primarily between Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., and Amazon MGM Studios.

1. Paramount Pictures: Owns several of his most famous classics, including King Creole and G.I. Blues.

2. Warner Bros. Entertainment: Owns the rights to Viva Las Vegas and other films via Turner Entertainment.

3. Amazon MGM Studios: Owns his extensive Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) film catalog, which includes 14 of his movies like Jailhouse Rock.

4. 20th Century Studios (Disney): Owns a select few of his films, such as Love Me Tender and Flaming Star (1960).

Licensing, merchandising, and brand rights for Elvis Presley as an intellectual property are managed by Authentic Brands Group (ABG), which operates Elvis Presley Enterprises. Presley's music and song catalogs are administered by Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) and Sony Music Entertainment (which holds the masters).

  


The Beatles lacked business acumen to control their recording masters, but they could have learned from examples set by
Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, etc.

Master Recordings: Owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). UMG acquired these original recordings through their purchase of EMI and manages them via the label Calderstone Productions.

Publishing Rights: Owned by Sony Music Publishing. Sony gained full control of the Lennon-McCartney catalog (originally bought by Michael Jackson) after buying out the Jackson estate's remaining share.

Brand and Licensing: Apple Corps Ltd., a company founded by the band in 1968 and controlled by the surviving members and estates, manages brand licensing and film/sync approvals.

Paul McCartney's Rights: Under US copyright law, McCartney used copyright termination to file for and successfully regain the U.S. publishing rights to many of his early songs.

  


Michael Jackson's
business acumen
is limited to music,
primarily his catalog
and to other select
artists (Sly & the Family
Stone, Jerry Lee Lewis,
Jackie Wilson, Curtis
Mayfield, ray Charles,
Percy Sledge, Dion,
etc.) via his 50%
partnership in 1995
with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Purchased
by Jackson in 1985 for $47.5 million, the ATV
Catalog gave him
rights to thousands
of songs, including the
bulk of the Beatles' catalog. In 2016,
Sony boughout
out Jackson's stake in
Sony/ATV (paid to the
Estate of Michael
Jackson) for
$750 million.

Sony Music Group:
In 2024, Sony
purchased a 50%
stake in Jackson's
publishing and recorded
masters catalog
(including his publishing company, Mijac Music)
in a landmark deal
valued at over
$1.2 billion.

The Estate of
Michael Jackson:
The remaining 50%
of his publishing and
masters is held by the
Estate, which manages
the late singer's assets.

Business Practices:
Creator Rights
Jackson frequently
violated the creative
rights of other
recording artists
and musicians.

With the notable
exception of
"We Are the World,"
it was not Jackson's
practice to share
his food with others.
For example:

Greg Phillinganes



Hall and Oates

Let's not forget
ex-Beatle George
Harrison's, "My Sweet
Lord" was a heavily
publicised copyright
infringement suit due
to its alleged similarity
to the Ronnie Mack
song "He's So Fine,"
a 1963 hit for the New
York girl group The
Chiffons. Rather than
the Chiffons song,
Harrison said he used
the out-of-copyright
Christian hymn "Oh
Happy Day" as his
inspiration for the
melody. Nevertheless,
in 1976, Harrison was
found guilty to have
"subconsciously"
plagiarised the song.
Harrison was found
guilty of copyright
infringement of
"He's So Fine," so in
the absence of an
under the table
payoff, why wasn't
Michael Jackson's
"Billie Jean" a
copyright
infringement of
Hall and Oates'
"No Can Do"?


George Harrison
"My Sweet Lord"



The Chiffons
"He's So Fine"


The litigation was not
resolved until the early
1990s with George
Harrison ultimtely
capturing the rights for
both songs in the UK and
North America, and his
former record company
and music publisher,
ABKCO Records,
awarded the rights
elsewhere in the world.

 
                         
                         

Iconic

Measures

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson

27

Dancing Acumen*

*The
skill,
expertise,
and proficency
to make good judgments and quick decisions,
typically in a particular domain.

  

EVIDENCE OF DANCING ACUMEN: Is there evidence a dancer successfully created something different, original, a potentionally classic dance style or routine(s) of variable degrees of intensity and complexity, but more than just a combination of one or more traditional dance genres?

FACT 1: Without regard to culture or ethnicity, and without regard to race or sex, and without regard to efforts to make dances "current and contemporary," there are physical limits to movements of the human body (joints, hips, legs, arms, etc.), and these physical limits of the human body have not changed.
     
FACT 2: The styles, format, music, and enviroments for dancing perpetually change, and although such change is both constant and generational, all dance is defined and identified by structure, and in the absence of consistently applied objective measures, subjective assessments function only as opinion. For example, without regard to generation, as conceived by Pierre Beauchamp, there are five-(5) basic positions in ballet for 355 years; the basic steps in tap dance include the shuffle, the flap, Ball Change, Heel Drop, Cramp Roll, Stompn vs. Stamp, and Dig and Brush; The Texas Two-Step is a progressive country-western dance that moves counter-clockwise around the floor in a basic "quick, quick, slow, slow" rhythm to the music. Without regard to generation, all dancing styles evolve from a set of fundamental, core elements that provide specific structure to each dance genre.
  

Mikhail Baryshnikov
'Coppelia' Solo

     
Although Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and The Bealtles occasionally danced in films they NEVER defined or established dancing as a core element of their "popularity" or talent. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra primarily defined their careers as "vocalists" and multi-talented "popular" performers (and producers behind and in front of the microphone or camera) via radio, film, and television. The Beatles were "singers (and song writers)," and yes, there's a big difference. "Vocalists" strategically use their voice as a musical instrument and to emotionally interpret song lyrics with context, depth, and impact. "Singers" use their voice in companion with or in constrast to deliver the melody or rhythm of the song. Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley launched their careers primarily as singers and dancers, i.e., song and dance men.

Conversely, Fred Astaire was primarily a "dancer" who sang just as competently, as was Gene Kelly, The Nicholas Brothers, Ann Miller, Doris Day, Sammy Davis, Jr., Eleanor Powell, Donald O'Connor, etc. Most importantly, the aforementioned "popular" artists consistently choreographed new dance steps into every performance. Please, re-read the previous sentence.
     
FRANK SINATRA was not a dancer, but as his career evolved he grew from singing to acting, just like the majority of "popular"
performing artists during his generation; Sinatra learned how to dance, and to do so quite capably with legendary dancer Gene Kelly.
     
Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly
Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)		   Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly
Anchors Aweigh (1945)

Conversely, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson "branded" their careers as a singer and dancer. Given the aforementioned, presented below is an objective assessment of the creativity, originality, skill, physicality, diversity, and complexity of "popular" performers branded as "iconic" dancers.

HAROLD NICHOLAS

Again, there are "levels" to talent, and "key standards" do exist to enable "apples-to-apples" assessments of iconic talent.

Both Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson "lacked" the creativity, skill, and physical diversity to perform complex "popular" dancing as demonstrated in the video below by Harold Nicholas from the 1944 film, "Carolina Blues."

In addition to Nicholas' tap dancing and singing, note the speed and revolutions of his spins, the splits, the jumps, the coordination with three-(3) different dance partners.

A simple question: "Does such creativity, originality, skill, physicality, diversity, and complexity exist in any dance by Elvis Preslely or Michael Jackson?"

The simple answer: "No."

    

THE NICHOLAS BROTHERS

In the 1964 film, Viva Las Vegas, Elvis Presley co-starred and danced prominently with Ann-Margaret, but Michael Jackson never had a "featured" co-starring dance with an equally talented male or female partner! As demontrated in the 1943 film, "Stormy Weather," (below), The Nicholas Brothers danced together to the rhythm of the Cab Calloway Orchestra's "Jumpin Jive," which was filmed in only one-(1) take.

A simple question, "Given Jackson's practice to mimic dancers, why didn't Michael Jackson partner with someone, perhaps Jeffrey Daniel or Usher or Madonna, to perform an original dance routine? The simple answer is, "Jackson could mimic, parody, and duplicate dancers, but he was not able to create truly original dance forms, and equally important, unlike Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, Jackson was unwilling to share the "spotlight" with other dancers."
Unlike Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson, please note the speed of Harold Nicholas' spins, the dexterity of his tap dancing, and the combination of spins, full splits, flips, and tap dancing.
    
Conversely, Elvis perpetually thrust and gyrated his hips, and Michael Jackson consistently performed the same pop-lock "routine" with 1.5-to-3 revolutions in a combination of mime and robot dance.
       
       
GENE KELLY AND LESLIE CARON

Again, neither Elvis Presley or Michael Jackson ever danced "romantically, passionately" with an equally talented female partner. Below, Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron danced to the music of George and Ira Gershwin in this ballet sequence from "An American In Paris," winner of six Academy Awards, including Best Picture for 1951.

    
PATRICK SWAYZE AND JENNIFER GREY

Although Elvis Presley performed up-tempo dances with Ann-Margaret in the 1964 film, "Viva Las Vegas," he never performed any "romantically" choreographed lifts or complex daces sequences. Below, Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey danced in the 1987 romantic drama and dance film, "Dirty Dancing."
   
       
       

FRED ASTAIRE

Without regard to generation, class never changes. Fred Astaire's dancing was always classy, sophisticated, and elegant while also highly athletic, rhythmic, and very exciting.

Astaire knew how to command his lean and lanky body to create beautiful artistic lines, and like the rapid fire of a machine gun, Astaire synchronized the beats of his tap dancing to punctuate the rhythm of every song strategically in step with the beat, or sytlistically before or after the beat. Below, from the 1946 film, "Blue Skies," (he was 47-years old) Astaire's at his legendary stylish best with top hat, tie, and tails.

    

FRED ASTAIRE AND ELEANOR POWEL

Eleanor Powell is frequently recognized as the best female tap dancer ever, and Fred Astaire is no slouch. "The Broadway Melody of 1940" (below) showcases why they are two of the best dancers ever!

Michael Jackson never had a "featured" co-starring dance with an equally talented male (Jeffrey Daniel) or female (Toni Basil) partner!

Why not?
 

 

    
       
       

ELVIS PRESLEY

Elvis offered "popular culture" something entirely different than tap, country, ballet, etc. As a "individual" dancer, Elvis uniquely provided "shock and awe" not previously experienced by audiences during the 1950s. Elvis was gritty, highly energetic, compelling to watch, and extremely charismatic.

Plus, Elvis was also an actual musician who played a guitar, piano, and bass. Notably, like Frank Sinatra, Elvis couldn't read or write music, never had formal lessons. Presley naturally played everything by ear. He played instruments in his recordings, and always produced his own music.

In the video compliation below, Elvis Presley, in his prime, is unfiltered, unabridged, intense, a truly an electrifying sight to behold! Unlike Jackson, Elvis consistently made direct "eye contact" with his audience, often with a raised eyebrow, and a devilish smirk.

Did Elvis successfully create something different, original, a potentionally classic dance style or routine(s) with variable degrees of complexity, something more than just a combination of one or more traditional dance genres to be "deemed" as the G.O.A.T. of "popular" dance?

    

ELVIS PRESLEY and ANN-MARGARET

Unlike Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley actually shared "name-above-the-film-title" billing, and sang and danced with at least one "popular" and very talented singer-dancer, Ann-Margret.

In Viva Las Vegas (1964), Presley's musical numbers and dances with Ann-Margret remain very exciting and compelling to watch.

 

   
     
Presley also co-starred with the exceptionally talented dancer Juliet Prowse in "G.I. Blues (1960)," but he never danced with her in the film.
       
       

ELVIS PRESLEY - HIS MOST ICONIC PERFORMANCE

Elvis Presley offered a fresh and vibrant persona, as demonstrated below in "Jailhouse Rock," from the 1957 movie of the same name. "Jailhouse Rock" was Presley's third film, and it generated his second-highest box office receipts. It peaked at #3 on the Variety box-office chart and finished #14 for the year, grossing $4 million ($170 million today).

On December 28, 2004, Jailhouse Rock was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, who deemed it "culturally, aesthetically or historically significant.

Shortly after its release on September 24, 1957 the Jailhouse Rock single dominated Billboard's Hot 100 chart at #1 for seven-(7) weeks, and was #1 on the Country charts, and #1 on R&B charts.

The Jailhouse Rock LP record album topped Billboard's EP chart for 28 weeks and earned a couble-platinum certification from the RIAA for selling over 2 million copies.

FACT: "Jailhouse Rock's" chart success was immediate!

    

MICHAEL JACKSON - HIS MOST ICONIC PERFORMANCE

Instead of making an actual full-length feature film, Michael Jackson produced a short--film, "Thriller," in concert with an album of the same name, but the target audience was the film's release on MTV, a cable television platform that promoted music videos, but has since transitioned to reality programmming for teenagers and young adults.

"Thriller" had a limited, 3-week theatrical at the AVCO Theatre in Los Angeles. Plus, to qualifiy for an Academy Award nomination, it was also screened for 1-week at the Crest Theatre in Los Angeles.

The recorded single, "Thriller," reached its U.S. peak at #3 on March 10, 1984. Following Jackson's death in 2009, his music surged in popularity. The song was later certified Diamond by RIAA for sales over 10 million equivalent-units. "Thriller" did NOT become #1 on Billboard until the week of November 8, 2023, more than a decade after Jackson's death (on the R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs, R&B Streaming Songs and R&B Digital Song Sales charts).

FACT: "Thriller's" chart success was postumous.
   
       
       

QUESTION: Given that Black people were "Pop-Locking" and "robottin" throughout "urban" communities in the U.S. as early as the mid-1960s to the late 1970s (including dance groups such as The Lockers and the The Electric Boogaloos), as routinely seen on the television program "Soul Train," what exactly did Michael Jackson offer that was unique?

ANSWER: For the millions who regularly watched "Soul Train" every week, Jackson's dancing offered nothing "new" to many if not most Black people. However, given their perpetually segregated existence, the overwhelming majority of White people had NEVER been exposed to yet another aspect of exceptionalism unique to Black culture - pop-locking, backslide, etc. We've seen this movie before, back in the 1950s, Elvis' rhythmic, gyrating and prohibitively "Black-like" dancing was a shock to White audiences. Decades later, Motown had successfully established itself as a music vendor representing "acceptable" Black music and recording artists who were attractive, stylish, very professional, and as represented by The Jackson 5, Motown had content suitable for the entire family. Keep in mind, White people overwhelmingly purchased more of Motown's "Black (The Sound of Young America™) music" than Black people.

Again, we've seen this movie before, Bing Crosby left the Rhythm Boys after becoming the "standout" band member; Frank Sinatra left the Tommy Dorsey Band after becoming the "standout" band member; and Michael Jackson left The Jackson 5 after becoming the "standout" band member, and the career of The Jackson's promptly fell into demise. Fortunately, after terminating his contract with an underperforming Motown Records, Jackson's personal management did not include being leeched on by someone like Elvis' Colonel Tom Parker.

Jackson's new "handlers" at White-owned Epic Records had the financial resources and scale of operations to build a first-class production team around Jackson, which included the legendary Quincy Jones, and they strategically, perfectly exploited Jackson's "talent" to a much wider (White) audience, that yet again was unfamiliar with another aspect of exceptionalism unique to Black culture - pop-locking, backslide, etc. Michael Jackson had already acquired a moderate level of "celebrity" status with the Jackson 5, and he was in "the right position at the right time," and he had just enough talent for a major White-owned record company to do what a Black-owned Motown was unable, unwilling, or too stupid to do - launch a robust re-brand of Jackson's career with his first solo album on Epic Records, "Off the Wall." However, Jackson who primarily learned to dance by mimicking James Brown, had to be taught how to "pop-lock" by "Soul Train" dancer and founding member of the R&B group Shalamar, the multi-talented Jeffrey Daniel.

QUESTION: What did Michael Jackson do with Billie Jean?

ANSWER: To "brand" himself as an "exceptional" dancer, Jackson began his career mimicking James Brown; then he added to his "repertoire" the combination of the "backslide (moonwalk)" as performed during the 1940s and 1950s by Bill Bailey with updated music and "Pop-Lock" dancing of the 1970s and 1980s by Jeffrey Daniel and others; AND tap dancing from watching Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, etc., AND he used the bass line of the hit song, "No Can Do," from Hall and Oates; AND Jackson added the double-stand-on-your-tip-toes as performed in 1932 by The Nicholas Brothers, in 1933 by Sammy Davis, Jr., in 1945 by Vera-Ellen, in 1956 by Elvis Presley, etc.
     
Jackson's Motown Audition Tape doing "James Brown"

Michael Jackson
Tap Dancing

   
Nicholas Brothers
on their tip-toes
Pie, Pie Blackbird
(1932)

Sammy Davis, Jr.
on their tip-toes
Rufus Jones for President (1933)

   

Vera-Ellen
on her tip-toes
Wonder Man
(1945)

However, and more importantly, did Jackson successfully create something different, original, a potentionally classic dance style or routine(s) with variable degrees of complexity, something more than just a combination of one or more traditional dance genres to be "deemed" as the G.O.A.T. of "popular" dance?

QUESTION: Given that Daniel had established himself as a "celebrity" on the Black-owned, Black-produced television show "Soul Train," plus hits songs with the Black R&B group Shalama, plus Daniel had greater expertise in Black "street dancing" than his contemporaries, including Jackson, why didn't Daniel or his Black-owned record company, Solar Records, or a competing Black-owned record company acquire Daniel to challenge Michael Jackson's elevation to the "King of Pop" by counter-marketing ("branding") Daniel as the "preeminent" talent?

ANSWER: Black people are stupid, click here.

 

The Backslide / Moonwalk


The "Greater Value"
of Jeffrey Daniel?



MJ told Kobe Bryant how
he "used" Fred Astaire		 Bobby Brown taught MJ
the lateral Moonwalk


     
       
       

"EXCELLENCE" DOES NOT COME WITH AN EXPIRATION DATE!

Let's be clear, Michael Jackson stole the "idea" for his "Smooth Criminal" video from "The Girl Hunt Ballet" dance sequence between Fred Astaire and the long-legged Cyd Charisse in the 1953 film, "The Band Wagon."

Shortly before his death, Jackson continued to pilfer from the classic images of Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Edward G. Robinson and others in his Dome Project.

Unlike Jackson and Presley, Astaire consistently co-starred with a "named," and equally talented dance partner. With the exception of his sister, Janet Jackson, and their "Scream" video, Michael Jackson NEVER "showcased" a woman (or man) in a "named," co-starring role in any video.

Was Jackson a narcissist, or scared of women, or ultimately just not that talented?
The Band Wagon
   

THE TWIST, JERK, PONY, DOG, MASH POTATOES, CAMEL, FRANKENSTEIN, ETC.

"Popular" dance is far more than just one kind of dance. In addition to pop-locking, backslide / moonwalk, etc., additional aspects of exceptionalism unique to Black culture including line-dancing, swing dancing, and step dancing.

Simply put, if Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson were truly "exceptional" dancers who lead or embraced "popular" dance and culture, they could have, should have, would have danced with an equally talented, "named" partner in a co-starring role in film, television, or video - but they did NOT.

> Elvis made several westerns - Love Me Tender (1956), (Flaming Star (1960), Frankie and Johnny (1966), Stay Away, Joe (1968), and Charro (1969), so why didn't Elvis partner-up (with Debra Paget in "Love Me Tender," or Donna Douglas in "Frankie and Johnny," etc.) and perform the Texas two-step or other notable country and western dances?

> Why didn't Michael Jackson partner-up and perform a line dance with someone like, in the video below, the classically statuesque Bonnie Lady Glam or her partner Jero KOLD Green?
   
       

> Why didn't Elvis Presley partner-up and perform improvisational dances like KP Rutland & Alexis Garrish

    

> Why didn't Michael Jackson partner-up and perform improvisational dances like Markus Smith and Trendlyon Veal
       
   
       
 
       
Can a dancer do something with their craft, not as a gimick, but to further
demonstrate the diversity or evolution of their technical skills and artistic creativity?
 
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
Film: "Shall We Dance" (1937)
Song: "Let's Call The Whole Thing"		 Donald O'Connor
Film: "I Love Melvin" (1953)
Song: "Life Has Its Funny Ups and Downs"		 Gene Kelly
Film: "It's Always Fair Weather" (1955)
Song: "I Like Myself"
   
Please note the artistic build: Donald O'Connor's tap-skate routine added technical skills and artistic creativity not demonstrated by Astaire and Rogers; and Kelly's tap-skate routine added technical skills and artistic creativity not demonstrated by O'Connor. In fact, 25-years after making "It's Always Fair Weather," during the height to the Disco Era, Gene Kelly, at sixty-seven-(67) years of age continued to demonstrate his dancing prowess by tap dancing with Olivia Newton-John and leading, on roller skates, a diverse collection of roller skaters, pop-locking-break dancers, and dancers.
 
As a dancer, Michael Jackson proved he could mimic other dancers; but did he add technical skills and artistic creativity not demonstrated by other dancers (Harold Nicholas, Fred Astaire, Jeffrey Daniel, etc.)?
                         
                         
                         
In summary, based on an objective ranking, the "King of Pop" is?
1 = First; 2 = Second; 3 = Third; 4 = Fourth; 5 = Fifth; and 6 = Sixth
                         
             


27
Iconic Objective

Measures

 
Bing Crosby
May 3, 1903
October 14, 1977 (74)

 Fred Astaire
May 10, 1899
June 22, 1987
(88)
 Frank Sinatra
December 12, 1915
May 1998
(82) 		Elvis Presley
January 8, 1935
August 16, 1977 (42) 		The Beatles*
Active 1960 - 1970
 Michael Jackson
August 29, 1958
June 25, 2009
(50)
                         
1
Number of Competitive
Grammy
Awards		   NA   NA   1   3   2   1
                         
2
Number of Recordings Released: Productivity		   2   3   1   4   6   5
                         
3
Longest Consecutive Run at #1 Position		   5   2   4   3   4   1
                         
3B
Number of times records occupied the number one position on the charts		   1   6   4   2   2   5
                         
4
Most Successful Musical Act Based on Combined Multi-Chart Performance		   3   6   5   2   1   4
                         
4B
Total Number of Years posting new content to debut on Billboard charts		   1   6   2   3   4   5
                         
5
Billboard's Hot 100 Chart Success		   NA   NA   4   1   2   3
                         
6
Grammy Awards 		  NA   NA   3   4   2   1
                         
6B
Grammy
Nominations		   NA   NA   2   4   3   1
                         
7
Grammy
Lifetime
Achievement		   2   4   1   3   6   5
                         
8
Grammy
Trustee		   NA   NA   1   NA   1   NA
                         
9
Grammy Album of
the Year		   NA   NA   1   NA   2   2
                         
10
Grammy Album of
the Year
Nominations		   NA   NA   1   0   2   3
                         
11
Grammy Legend Award		   NA   NA   1   NA   NA   1
                         
12
Other Recognition		   1   2   1   2   2   2
                         
13
Music Styles & Genre		   1   2   1   2   3   4
                         
14
Most
Commercial
Studio
Recordings
Released
with other
"Named"
or
"Popular"
Performing
Musicians
or Vocal
Artists		   2   3   1   4   5   6
                         
15
Grammy Hall of Fame Recordings		   5   4   2   3   1   6
                         
16
Music Sales U.S. Domestic		   NA   NA   4   1   2   3
                         
16A
Most RIAA
Gold
Records		   NA   NA   4   1   5   5
                         
16B
Most RIAA
Platinum
Records		   NA   NA   4   1   2   3
                         
16C
Most RIAA
Multi-Platinum
Records		   NA   NA   4   1   2   3
                         
16D
Most RIAA
Diamond
Records		   NA   NA   NA   3   1   2
                         
17
Best-Selling
Artists by
Physical
Single
Sales		   1   NA   44   22   33   55
                         
                         
18
Music Sales Worldwide		   NA   NA   4   2   1   3
                         
19
Recording
Creativity and Technology		   1   2   3   4   5   6
                         
20
Films: Academy Awards		   2   0   1   0   2   0
                         
20A
Films: Academy Awards
Nominations		   2   3   1   0   3   0
                         
20B
Films
Released		   2   1   3   4   5   5
                         
21
Adjusted U.S. Domestic Box Office for films grossing $100 million or more.		   1   2   3   4   5   6
                         
22
Estimated movie tickets sales through 2000		   1   3   2   4   NA   NA
                         
23
Television Emmy Awards		   4   1   3   4   2   4
                         
23A
Television Emmy Awards
Nominations		   4   1   2   6   3   5
                         
24
Philanthropy		   2   6   1   5   4   3
                         
25
Notable "named"
dance partner(s)
co-starring
in feature films?		   3   1   2   3   4   5
                         
26
Business
Acumen,
Diversity
of Invest-ment
Portfolio,
and
Creating
and
sustaining
generational
wealth.		   1   3   2   5   6   4
                         
27
Dancing Acumen		   5   1   4   3   6   2
                         


Most at #1
of 27+
Iconic Objective

Measures

 

   Bing
Crosby 		Fred
Astaire 		Frank
Sinatra 		Elvis
Presley 		The
Beatles 		Michael
Jackson
TOTAL   9   5   13   5   4   5

OBSERVATION: Michal Jackson can't be considered the "King" of "popular" music, or "popular" cultural entertainment, or "popular" dance when an objective assessment of facts validate that other generation-spanning "icons" (Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and The Beatles) achieved significantly greater "popular" success. Unfortunately, just like Elvis, Michael Jackson screwed-up and didn't complete his career arch - Michael Jackson NEVER achieved his potential. What a waste.

    

Part II: Fact-based assessment of Michael Jackson's career in the wake of his death - lessons he never learned.

Was Michael Jackson an overrated underachiever?
 

In the wake public controversy regarding Jackson's criminal prosecution and civil litigation for alleged child abuse, Jackson was reportedly planning a comeback. Comeback? Supposedly, Jackson's comeback included: "This Is It" concerts at London's O2 Arena," which would have been a rehash of the same dancing moves and songs; The Dome Project, an assortment of videos, including 3D, involving muliple sets, and yet again pilfering from the classic images of Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Edward G. Robinson; and new recordings with co-producing by Akon, Will.i.am, Ne-Yo.

In otherwords, Jackson was "coming back" offering nothing really new, just the same old song and dance man who mirrored, parodied, or exploited icons from the past.

Michael Jackson's
The Dome Project

 

Bing Crosby 
was born on May 3, 1903, and he was an extremely "popular" multi-talented performer! Keep in mind, most multi-media projects are planned many months or years in advance. Unlike Michael Jackson, before Crosby turned 50-years of age in 1953, he had an extremely active career in radio, television, film, and music recording. As established earlier in this editorial, so did Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra, and Fred Astaire. Most importantly, even after Crosby turned 50 in 1953 Crosby continued to accomplish great things. Presented below is a snapshot of how Crosby demonstrated and monetized his "pop" status from 50-years of age (1953) to 55-years of age (1958). Keep in mind the time, expense, and physical effort required to plan, practice, and produce each individual song and record albums, film, television program, etc. Crosby was just as active after 1958. Conversely, even before his death, Michael Jackson was never as active as a "pop" star as Bing Crosby.

 

ON RADIO (4 Nationally Broadcast Programs)

The Bing Crosby Show for General Electric (1952–1954, CBS), 30 minutes weekly.

The Bing Crosby Show (1954–1956) (CBS), 15 minutes, 5 nights a week.

A Christmas Sing with Bing (1955–1962), (CBS, VOA and AFRS), 1 hour each year, sponsored by the Insurance Company of North America.

The Ford Road Show Featuring Bing Crosby (1957–1958, CBS), 5 minutes, 5 days a week.


ON TELEVISION (7 Nationally Broadcast Programs)

for
ORIGINAL AIRDATE TITLE PRINCIPAL GUESTS
January 3, 1954 The Bing Crosby Show Jack Benny, Sheree North
April 25, 1954 The Bing Crosby Show Joanne Gilbert and The Wiere Brothers
Marach 10, 1956 High Tor Julie Andrews, Everett Sloane, Nancy Olson
October 13, 1957 The Edsel Show Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Rosemary Clooney
Oactober 1, 1958 The Bing Crosby Show for OldsmobileDean Martin, Patti Page, Mahalia Jackson
March 2, 1959 The Bing Crosby Show for Oldsmobile Jo Stafford, James Garner, Dean Martin
September 29, 1959 The Bing Crosby Show for Oldsmobile Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Peggy Lee


IN MOTION PICTURES (10 Films)

Scared Stiff
(1953)		 Little Boy Lost
(1953)		 White Christmas (1954)
Ranked #1
Box Office film
for 1954		 The Country Girl (1954)
Ranked #6
Box Office film
for 1956		 Anything Goes (1956)
         
         
High Society
(1956)
Ranked #4
Box Office film
for 1956		 The Joker Is Wild (1957) Man On Fire
(1957)		 Alias Jesse James (1959) Say One for Me (1959)

 

ON RECORDED MUSIC (59 Albums)

1953

7
Albums
Released

Le Bing: Song Hits of Paris

Gary Crosby and Friend (EP)
(w/ Gary Crosby) [Decca]

Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters (EP)
(w/ The Andrews Sisters) [Decca]

Bing Crosby Sings Song Hits from The King and I (EP) [Decca]

Bing Sings the Hits

Bing Sings the Hits Vol 1 (EP) [Decca]

Vol 1 (EP) [Decca]
1954

7
Albums
Released

Some Fine Old Chestnuts
(recorded in 1953) [Decca]

Selections from Irving Berlin's White Christmas
(w/ Peggy Lee and Danny Kaye) [Decca]

Bing: A Musical Autobiography
(17xEP and 5xLP box set compilations) [Decca]

The Country Girl / Little Boy Lost
(recorded in 1953–1954) [Decca]

The Country Girl (EP) [Decca]

Little Boy Lost (EP) [Decca]

Bing Sings the Hits Vol 2 (EP) [Decca]
1955

5
Albums
Released

Merry Christmas
(later version of 1945 78 rpm album, 4x Platinum
later renamed White Christmas in 1995) [Decca]

Young Bing Crosby [RCA Victor]
(compilation)

Old Masters
(box set compilation - 3xLP and 9xEP) [Decca]

Some Fine Old Chestnuts Volume 1 [Decca]
(w/ the Buddy Cole Trio) (EP)

Some Fine Old Chestnuts Volume 2 [Decca]
(w/ the Buddy Cole Trio) (EP)

1956

13
Albums
Released

Shillelaghs and Shamrocks [Decca]
(compilation)

Home on the Range [Decca]
(compilation)

Blue Hawaii [Decca]
(compilation)

High Tor
(w/ Julie Andrews and Everett Sloane)
(recorded in 1955) [Decca]

A Christmas Sing with Bing around the World
(recorded in 1955) [Decca]

Anything Goes [Decca]
(w/ Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor and Zizi Jeanmaire)

Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around (EP) [Decca]

Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings [Decca]

High Society
(w/ Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, and Louis Armstrong) [Capitol]

Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around (Part 1) (EP) [Decca]

Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around (Part 2) (EP) [Decca]

Songs I Wish I Had Sung the First Time Around (Part 3) (EP) [Decca]

Bing Sings Whilst Bregman Swings (EP) [Verve]

1957

13
Albums
Released

Bing with a Beat [RCA Victor]

A Christmas Story - An Axe, An Apple and a Buckskin Jacket
[Golden Records]

Ali Babe and the Forty Thieves [Golden Records]

New Tricks
(recorded in 1955–1956) [Decca]

The Bible Story of Christmas [World Library Publications]

Christmas Time (EP) [Decca]

Once Over Lightly (EP) [Decca]

New Tricks...
(w/ the Buddy Cole Trio) (EP) [Decca]

Bing with a Beat Vol. I
(w/ Bob Scobey's Frisco Jazz Band) (EP) [RCA Victor]

Bing with a Beat Vol. II
(w/ Bob Scobey's Frisco Jazz Band) (EP) [RCA Victor]

Bing with a Beat Vol. III
(w/ Bob Scobey's Frisco Jazz Band) (EP) [RCA Victor]

Bing Crosby Sings New Christmas Songs (EP) [Golden Records]

Paris Holiday
(w/ Bob Hope) (EP) [United Artists Records]

1958

11
Albums
Released

Never Be Afraid
(recorded in 1957) [Golden Records]

Jack B. Nimble – A Mother Goose Fantasy
(recorded in 1957) [Golden Records]

Fancy Meeting You Here
(w/ Rosemary Clooney) [RCA Victor]

Around the World with Bing! [Decca]

Bing in Paris [Decca]

That Christmas Feeling
(incorporates the 1949 78 rpm album Christmas Greetings,
and 5 later recordings) [Decca]

In a Little Spanish Town [Decca]

Crosby Classics
(compilation) [Harmony]

A Musical Autobiography of Bing Crosby 1927 - 1934
(compilation) [Decca]

Bing Crosby Sings
(compilation) [Vocalion]

Fancy Meeting You Here
(w/ Rosemary Clooney) (EP) [RCA Victor]

1959

3
Albums
Released

Bing’s Buddies and Beaus [Brunswick]

Say One for Me
(w/ Debbie Reynolds and Robert Wagner) [Columbia]

A Musical Autobiography of Bing Crosby 1941-1944
(compilation) [Decca]


 
 

Fred Astaire 
was born on May 10, 1899, and he was an extremely "popular" multi-talented performer! Most importantly, even after he turned 50 in 1949, Astaire continued to accomplish great things. Presented below is a snapshot of how Astaire demonstrated and monetized his "pop" status from 50-years of age (1949) to 55-years of age (1954). Keep in mind the time, expense, and physical effort required to plan, practice (new choreography for every film instead of repetitive dance steps common to live concerts), and produce each individual song and record albums, film, television program, etc. Astaire was just as active after 1954. Conversely, even before his death, Michael Jackson was never as active as a "pop" star as Fred Astaire.

     

ON TELEVISION

Fred Astaire did not expand his career into television until 1959. However, ultimately Astaire's creative impact was greater than all other "popular" icons combined with thirteen-(13) Emmy Awards and thrity-three-(33) Emmy nominations.
 

IN OTION PICTURES (10 Films)

The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) {with Ginger Rogers}

Three Little Words (1950) {with Red Skelton}

Let's Dance (1950) {with Betty Hutton}

Royal Wedding (1951) {with Jane Powell}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By the way, Astaire sang and danced in all of the above films, and FYI, as a singer, Astaire was ranked the 14th most successful recording artist during the
1930s! 

The Belle of New York (1952) {with Vera-Ellen}

The Band Wagon (1953) {with Cyd Charisse}

Daddy Long Legs (1955) {with Leslie Caron}
     
     



Fred Astaire (at 41) & Eleanor Powell - Jukebox Dance from
"The Broadway Melody of 1940"

Fred Astaire (at 54) and Cyd Charisse in
"The Band Wagon (1953)"e
     
     
Frank Sinatra
was born on December 12, 1915, and he was an extremely "popular" multi-talented performer! Like Crosby, Sinatra also had an extremely active career in radio, television, film, and music recording. Most importantly, even after he turned 50 in 1965, Sinatra continued to accomplish great things. Presented below is a snapshot of how Sinatra demonstrated and monetized his "pop" status from 50-years of age (1965) to 55-years of age (1970). Keep in mind the time, expense, and physical effort required to plan, practice, and produce each individual song and record albums, film, television program, etc. Sinatra was just as active after 1970. Conversely, even before his death, Michael Jackson was never as active as a "pop" star as Frank Sinatra.
     

ON TELEVISION (7 Nationally Broadcast Programs)

Frank Sinatra Spectacular – only known filmed 1960s concert by the Rat Pack
Kiel Opera House, St. Louis, MO, June 20, 1965; 90 minutes)
The Rat Pack -- Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Dean Martin -- in their only joint television performance. This special was televised via closed-circuit from St. Louis to a select group of theaters, where ticket buyers watched the live performance on screen. The concert was organized by Harold Gibbons and Frank Sinatra as a fundraiser for Dismas Clark Half-Way House of St. Louis, the first halfway house for ex-convicts. Johnny Carson, in the third year of his Tonight Show stint took the place of Joey Bishop who was ill as the MC and 4th member of the Rat Pack.

Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music (1965, 51 minutes)

A Man and His Music Part II (1966, 51 minutes)

A Man and His Music + Ella + Jobim (1967, 52 minutes)

Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing (1968, 52 minutes)

Sinatra (1969, 52 minutes)

Sinatra in Concert (1970, 51 minutes)

IN MOTION PICTURES (11 Films)

None but the Brave
(1965)		 Von Ryan's
Express
(1956)		 Marriage on
the Rocks
(1965)
 Cast a
Giant Shadow
(1966)
 Assault
on a Queen
(1966)
         
         
The Oscar
(1966)
 The Naked
Runner (1967)		 Tony Rome
(1967)		 The Detective
(1968)		 Lady in Cement (1968)
                 
                 
               
Dirty Dingus
Magee
(1970)		                

 

ON RECORDED MUSIC (21 "Official" Albums Released by Frank Sinatra's independent label, "Reprise")

1965

4
Albums
Released

Sinatra '65: The Singer Today

 Released: June 1965
Label: Reprise

September of My Years [Gold]

 Released: August 1965
Label: Reprise

My Kind of Broadway

 Released: November 1965
Label: Reprise

A Man and His Music [Platinum]

 Released: November 1965
Label: Reprise

1966

4
Albums
Released

Moonlight Sinatra

 Released: March 1966
Label: Reprise

Strangers in the Night [Platinum] #1 Album

 Released: May 1966
Label: Reprise

That's Life [Gold]

 Released: December 31, 1966
Label: Reprise

Sinatra at the Sands (w/ Count Basie)

Released: 1966
Label: Reprise
1967

5
Albums
Released

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
(with Antonio Carlos Jobim)

Released: March 1967
Label: Reprise

Francis Albert Sinatra Antonio Carlos Jobim
(w/ Antonio Carlos Jobim)

 Released: 1967
Label: Reprise

Sinatra Swings

 Released: 1967
Label: Reprise

Frank Sinatra's Giant Hits

 Released: 1967
Label: Reprise

The World We Knew

 Released: August 1967
Label: Reprise

1968

4
Albums
Released

Francis A. & Edward K.
(with Duke Ellington)

Released: January 1968
Label: Reprise

Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits [2xPlatinum]

 Released: August 1968
Label: Reprise

The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas
(with Frank Sinatra, Jr., Nancy Sinatra and Tina Sinatra)

Released: September 1968
Label: Reprise

Cycles [Gold]

 Released: November 1968
Label: Reprise
1969

3
Albums
Released

My Way [3× Platinum][Gold]

 Released: March 1969
Label: Reprise

A Man Alone

 Released: August 1969
Label: Reprise

Sinatra Jobim

Released: 1969
Label: Reprise
8-track only - just a few
thousand released

1970

1
Albums
Released

Watertown

 Released: March 1970
Label: Reprise

ON RECORDED MUSIC (23 albums released by Sinatra's former record labels to intentionally FLOOD the marketplace (put Sinatra out of business) in retaliation for Sinatra having the nerve to start his own label, "Reprise," which also uniquely gave artists ownerships of their masters and publishing rights.)

1965

4
Albums
Released

Sentimental Journey

Released: 1965

Label: Capitol

Sings the Select Cole Porter

Released: 1965

Label: Capitol

Where Are You?/No One Cares

Released: 1965

Label: Capitol

All the Way / Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!!

Released: 1965

Label: Capitol

1966

4
Albums
Released

Come Dance with Me / Only the Lonely

Released: 1966

Label: Capitol

Forever Frank

Released: October 1966

Label: Capitol

Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits
- The Early Years

Released: 1966

Label: Columbia

Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits
- The Early Years - Volume Two

Released: 1966

Label: Columbia

1967

6
Albums
Released

The Movie Songs

Released: May 1967

Label: Capitol

The Nearness of You

Released: 1967

Label: Capitol Records

Songs for the Young at Heart

Released: 1967

Label: Capitol Records

Just One of Those Things

Released: 1967

Label: Capitol Records

Try a Little Tenderness

Released: 1967

Label: Capitol Records

Romantic Songs from the Early Years

Released: 1967

Label: Columbia, Harmony

1968

4
Albums
Released

The Frank Sinatra Deluxe Set

Released: 1968

Label: Capitol Records

In Hollywood 1943-1949

Released: 1968

Label: Columbia

Nevertheless I'm in Love with You

Released: 1968

Label: Capitol Records

Someone to Watch Over Me

Released: 1968

Label: Harmony

1969

4
Albums
Released

My Cole Porter

Released: 1969

Label: Capitol Records

Close-Up

Released: 1969

Label: Capitol Records

Frank Sinatra's Greatest!

Released: 1969

Label: Capitol Records, Starline

Frank Sinatra

Released: 1969

Label: Harmony


1970

1
Albums
Released

 

 What is This Thing Called Love? /
The Night We Called It a Day

Released: 1970

Label: Capitol Records

 

     
     

Madonna 
was born thirteen-(13) days before Michael Jackson on August 16, 1958. She's truly his contemporary. Think about that.


Gold

 25
Platinum

 34
Multi-
Platinum

 12
Diamond 2

Madonna Louise Ciccone is an American singer, songwriter, musician, producer, author, dancer, and actress. Known as the "Queen of Pop," Madonna has been widely recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, and especially, visual presentation in print and video. She has pushed the boundaries of artistic expression in mainstream music while maintaining control over every aspect of her career.

Madonna is recognized as the world's best-selling female recording artist of all time by the RIAA and the Guinness World Records, with estimated record sales ranging from 300 million to 400 million.

Madonna's work effort is extremely productive and exceptionally diverse by incorporating into her music, films, books, and concerts social, political, sexual, and religious themes; she's generated both controversy and critical acclaim. As a perpetually prominent cultural figure spanning both the 20th and 21st centuries, Madonna remains one of the most "well-documented "popular" in the world, with a broad array of scholarly reviews, literature, and art works about her, as well as an academic mini subdiscipline devoted to her called Madonna studies.

Madonna continued to be very productive after she turned 50 in 2008, which began with five-(5) world-wide concert tours, launching "Hard Candy" chain of fitness centers in 2010.

Album Released RIAA Certification
Madonna July 27, 1983 5x Platinum
Like a Virgin November 12, 1984 Diamond
True Blue June 30, 1986 7x Platinum
Like a Prayer March 20, 1989 4x Platinum
The Immaculate Collection November 12, 1990 Diamond
Erotica October 19, 1992 2x Platinum
Bedtime Stories October 24, 1994 3x Platinum
Ray of Light February 22, 1998 4x Platinum
Music September 18, 2000 3x Platinum
American Life April 21, 2003 Platinum
Confessions on a Dance Floor November 9, 2005 Platinum
Hard Candy April 18, 2008 Gold
MDNA March 23, 2012 Gold
Rebel Heart March 6, 2015  
Madame X June 14, 2019  
Confessions II July 3, 20026  
     
Motion Picture Soundtrack Album Released RIAA Certification
Who's That Girl July 20, 1987 Platinum
I'm Breathless May 21, 1990 2x Platinum
Evita   October 28, 1996   5x Platinum
James Bond theme song,
"Die Another Day"		   November 20, 2002    
         
Academy Award® songs Madonna sang in her films   Film Released   Academy Award®
Sooner of Later (I Always Get My Man)   1990, "Dick Tracy"   Best Song
"You Must Love Me"   1997, "Evita"   Best Song
         
Madonna also released six-(6) "Live" albums from her concert tours: I'm Going to Tell You A Secret; The Confessions Tour; Sticky & Sweet Tour; MDNA World Tour; Rebel Heart Tour; and Madame X: Music from the Theater Xperience. Plus, ten-(10) compilation albums.
         

IN MOTION PICTURES: Madonna has worked as star, director, screenwriter, producer, or executive producer in forty-six-(46) feature films (24 narrative films, 4 documentary films and 18 concert films), 15 short films (7 narrative and 8 documentary), 3 theatrical plays, 10 television productions (2 television films and 8 television episodes), and appeared in 17 commercials.

AS STAR (23 FILMS): Vision Quest (1985); Desperately Seeking Susan (1985); A Certain Sacrifice (1985); Shanghai Surprise (1986); Who's That Girl (1987); Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989); Dick Tracy (1990); Shadows and Fog (1991); Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991); A League of Their Own (1992); Body of Evidence (1993); Dangerous Game (1993); Blue in the Face (1995); Four Rooms (1995); Girl 6 (1996); Evita (1996) The Next Best Thing (2000); Swept Away (2002); Die Another Day (2002); I'm Going to Tell You a Secret (2005); Arthur and the Invisibles (2006); Madame X (2021); Confessions II – The Film (2026)



Madonna and Michael attended the 63rd Annual Academy Awards
on March 25, 1991 and "supposedly" they briefly dated.

Due to "creative differences," Michael Jackson and Madonna attempted but never released any commercial recordings together. Allegedly, Madonna's lyrics for the song, "In the Closet" were too provocative for Jackson; so he replaced Madonna's vocals with Princess Stephanie of Monaco. Michael Jackson was NOT a "creative partner."

As represented in the video below, Madonna learned some "life lessons" Michael most likely did not experience, and arguably, such experiences would have strengthened Michael Jackson's personal character, and given him the discipline and commitment to achieve his creative potential.

IN TELEVISION:

What Date Role
30 Days Until I'm Famous 2004 Executive Producer
Alyx 2008 Executive Producer
Saturday Night Live 1985 Herself, Season 11, E1
Saturday Night Live 1986 Herself, Season 12, E1
Saturday Night Live 1991 Herself, Season 16, E19
Saturday Night Live 1992 Herself, Season 17, E14
Saturday Night Live 1993 Herself, Season 18, E11
Will & Grace 2003 Herself, Season 5, E21
Saturday Night Live 2009 Herself, Season 18, E11
Saturday Night Live 2013 Herself, Season 18, E11
The Studio TBA Season 2

As the so-called "Queen of Pop," the character, scope, diversity and quality of Madonna's "body of work" in music, film, concerts, television, social media, and business overwhelmingly exceeds both artistic content produced by and business acumen exhibited by Michael Jackson. Frankly, it's not even close.

Again, Madonna was Michael Jackson's contemporary. Think about that. Madonna has consistently been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility, for evolving her "popularity" beyond the confines of just as song and dance girl. Conversely, after leaving the Jackson 5, and looking beyond his cosmetic surgery, did Michael Jackson evolve the character, scope, and diversity of his talent, or business acumen, or "popularity" beyond the confines of just a song and dance man?

 

    
Q: Did Madonna, like Michael Jackson, "borrow" from the past to embolden her career?
 

A: Yes. She definitely exploited images and videos of Marilyn Monroe
as a template; but unlike Michael Jackson she quickly moved on and become known for continually reinventing herself.
Below, Madonna's video for her 1985 hit song "Material Girl," an update of Marilyn Monroe's "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend," from the 1953 film, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."
 

Below, the "original," Marilyn Monroe's
"Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend"
 

 
 
Even at 67, Madonna is as active as ever, creating new music, touring,
on the July 2026 cover of Vogue Italy, on the 2026 cover of Interview Magazine, etc.
 
Madonna's 15th studio album, Confessions II (also referred to as Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II) is scheduled to be released on July 3, 2026.
 
     

Elvis Presley failed as an "active artist" to demonstrate and monetize an iconic "pop" status after 50-years of age, because he died at 42-years of age.

The Beatles failed as "active artists" to demonstrate and monetize an iconic "pop" status after 50-years of age, because the group disbanded before every member became 50-years of age.

However, as an individual artist, former Beatle Paul McCartney, born June 18, 1942, at 84 years of age is as active as ever with the release of his 20th solo studio album on June 28, 2026.


As an individual artist, former Beatle Ringo Starr, born July 7, 1940, at 85 years of age is as active as ever with the release of his 22nd solo studio album on April 24, 2026.

 

Michael Jackson failed as an "active artist" to demonstrate and monetize an iconic "pop" status after 50-years of age, because he died at 50-years of age.

 
 

In the wake of Elvis Presley's death, Frank Sinatra said Elvis should have, could have avoided his "demons" if he had embraced himself in his "work." Sinatra had first-hand experience successfully using his "work" to conquer his own demons of drugs use, divorces, debt, a suicide attempt, loss of vocal ability due to submucosal hemorrhage of the throat, negative press, money problems, a vibrant 1950s "cancel culture" that literally terminated all of his contracts at motion picture studios, recording studios, and "live" concerts due to his affair and subsequent marriage to actress Ava Gardner, and how to handle fame. As with Frank Sinatra's' letter to screenwriter Albert Maltz after seeing his 1945 film "Pride of the Marines," it was Sinatra's practice to reach out and help if possible. On how to handle fame, Frank Sinatra had some great advice for . . .

George Michael an Englishman who came out
of nowhere in 1984 to –
Wham! – break into the
U.S. Top 10 with a catchy,
flyweight song, “Wake Me Up
Before You Go-Go,” making
him a pop star at 21.
Three years later, Michael
made the almost
unprecedented leap from
pretty-boy teen dream to
respected adult pop artist.
His first solo album, “Faith,”
sold more than 14 million
copies and won the Grammy
for best album of the year.

George Michael
Born - June 25, 1963
Died - December 25, 2016
53-Years of age
(Natural causes due to
dilated cardiomyopathy
with myocarditis and
fatty liver disease)

The aforementioned is public information, which Michael Jackson could have, should have learned from. Like George Michael, Michael Jackson failed to take care of his own physical health and well-being, and his family and "handlers" failed to intervene. Unfortunately, Jackson followed in the path of Elvis, not in the path of Sinatra or Jackson's contemporary, Madonna.

Lessons Michael Jackson should have learned? Was Michael Jackson, and his family, friends, agents, etc., completely oblivous to the demise of other Black male performers, especially his former colleagues at Motown, like Marvin Gaye, Rick James, and The Temptations?
 
           
Marvin
Gaye 		Rick
James		 Heavy D Jackie
Wilson 		Donny
Hathaway 		Gerald
Levert 		Otis
Redding
Dead at 44
Death by Gunshot		   Dead at 56
Heart Attack		   Dead at 44
Pulmonary Embolism
due to blood clot		   Dead at 49
Heart Attack then Pneumonia		   Dead at 33
Suicide		   Dead at 40
Prescription Narcotics and over-the-counter drugs.		   Dead at 26
Plane Crash
                         

April 2, 1939
April 1, 1984

Marvin Gaye
was an American R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Commonly referred to as the "Prince of Motown" and "Prince of Soul", he helped to shape the sound of Motown and soul music in the 1960s and 1970s. A cultural icon, Gaye is often considered one of the greatest singers and songwriters of all time.

 

February 1, 1948
August 6, 2004

Rick James
was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. In the late 1970s, when the fortunes of Motown Records seemed to be flagging, Rick James came along and rescued the company by creating and pioneering mix of R&B and rock he called "punk funk." With original writing and exciting performances James provided funky hits that updated the Motown's style and saw it through into the mid-'80s.

  

May 24, 1967 November 8, 2011

Heavy D
was a a Jamaican-American rapper, record producer, and actor. He was the leader of Heavy D & the Boyz, a group that included dancers/hype men G-Whiz (Glen Parrish) and "Trouble" T. Roy (Troy Dixon), as well as DJ and producer Eddie F (Edward Ferrell).

 

June 9, 1934
January 21, 1984

Jackie Wilson
was a singer who was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. Nicknamed "Mr. Excitement", he was considered a master showman and one of the most dynamic singers and performers in the 20th century.

  

October 1, 1945 January 13, 1979

Donny Hathaway
was a singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who Rolling Stone described as a "soul legend".[2] His most popular songs include "The Ghetto", "This Christmas", "Someday We'll All Be Free", and "Little Ghetto Boy". Hathaway is also renowned for his renditions of "A Song for You", "For All We Know", "Jealous Guy" and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", along with "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of many collaborations with Roberta Flack.

  

July 13, 1966 November 10, 2006

Gerald Levert
was a singer-songwriter and producer. The son of singer Eddie Levert, he formed the R&B vocal group LeVert alongside his brother, Sean Levert, and friend Marc Gordon. He was also a member of the supergroup LSG, along with Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill. Levert is often credited with the discovery of R&B groups The Rude Boys, Men at Large, and 1 of the Girls. He released nine solo albums, and posthumously won a Grammy Award. In 2013, he was apart of the inaugural National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame inductees.

   September 9, 1941 December 10, 1967

Otis Redding
was a singer and songwriter and regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. Nicknamed the "King of Soul", Redding's style of singing drew inspiration from the gospel music that preceded the genre. His vocal style influenced many other soul artists of the 1960s.
                         
                         
           
"Sylvester"
James		   Nat
"King" Cole 		Sam
Cooke 		Frankie
Lymon 		John
Coltrane 		Wylle
Draper 		Roy
Hamilton
Dead at 41
HIV/AIDS		   Dead at 45
Lung Cancer		   Dead at 33
Death by Gunshot		   Dead at 25
Heroin Overdose		   Dead at 40
Liver Cancer		   Dead at 40
Leukemia		   Dead at 40
Cerebral Hemorrhage
                         

September 6, 1947 December 16, 1988

"Sylvester,"
was an American singer-songwriter. Primarily active in the genres of disco, rhythm and blues, and soul, he was known for his flamboyant and androgynous appearance, falsetto singing voice, and hit disco singles in the late 1970s and 1980s.

 

March 17, 1919 February 15, 1965

Nat King Cole
was one of the greatest singers,
jazz pianists of the 20th Century. Cole was also an actor. Cole's career as a jazz and pop vocalist started in the late 1930s and spanned almost three decades where he found success and recorded over 100 songs that became hits on the pop charts. Cole's
success literally built Capitol Records.

  

January 22, 1931
December 11, 1964

Same Cooke
was a soul singer and songwriter. Considered one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distinctive vocals, pioneering contributions to the genre, and significance in popular music.

  

September 30, 1942 February 27, 1968

Frankie Lymon
was an rock and roll and rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, dancer and composer best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll doo-wop group "The "Teenagers."

  

September 23, 1926 July 17, 1967

John Coltrane
was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.

 

May 5, 1969
December 20, 1993

Wylie Draper
starred as Michael Jackson (ages 17–26) in the "The Jacksons: An American Dream" a 5-hour miniseries broadcast in two halves on ABC and originally broadcast on November 15 through November 18, 1992.

   April 16, 1929
July 20, 1969

Roy Hamilton
was an amazing singer who combined semi-classical technique with traditional black gospel feeling; he brought soul to Great American Songbook.
 
What did Sammy Davis, Jr. do and say?
If I wasn't good at it . . .   Oh, yeah, I can do "BAD" too,
and look just as ridiculous!		   Or, I can perform with class
and convey emotional maturity! 		  Because I've been there, and
I've already done that!




Again, titles should have meaning, therefore, is the "World's Greatest Entertainer" less than, equal to, or greater than "The King of Pop"?

Lesson learned? Jackson could have, should have learned from the sudden and tragic demise of so many of his Black male peers who didn't live to be 50-years old, but he didn't do that. Even worse, Jackson failed to learn from the allegations accusing him of being a pedophile, and the subsequent civil and criminal investigations, that his wealth and fame did not insulate or protect him from being treated like a "nigger." Likewise, even Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, should have known better than to think his "celebrity" as Jackson's personal physician and his "medical creditials" would insulate and protect him from being treated like a "nigger."

Lesson learned? Oh, the hyprocrisy!
 

 

Michale Jackson was "anoited" with a higher level of "celebrity" denied to many artists of greater talent, especially Black artists, because well-established racial and sexual barriers prohibited the robust U.S. domestic and global marketing and monetizing of Paul Robeson, Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, The Nicholas Brothers, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dorothy Dandrige, Richard Pryor, Sarah Vaughn, etc. The aforementioned dynamic has not changed as all major record companies and marketing companies are owned and controlled by "elite," politically powerful and affluent White people, primarily White men. Instead of creating and sustaining media, financial ecosystems, and generational "Black" wealth as intentionally independent of the status quo, "elite," politically powerful and affluent Black people (Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, etc.) continue to be complicit in the maintenance of and subordinate to the status quo - governance by "elite," politically powerful and affluent White people.

FACT: "Elite" politically powerful and affluent White people are making more money parading Michael Jackson's dead carcass around the world in a bio-film, re-issued albums, anthology box sets, unreleased and re-mixed music, and a strategically designed global social media and public relations campaign, etc., than while Jackson was alive! Undoubtably, eventually an A.I. generated original major motion picture will be released with "re-imagined" video images of Michael Jackson, which will include re-edited music, re-edited choreography, and updated cosmetics for Jackson's nose and skin color - why not? It's coming.

In summary, based on robust, fact-based evidence of objective truths about Michael Jackson as presented above, what is my axiom? In the wake of Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, and The Beatles:

(1) Michael Jackson was NOT, is NOT the "King of Pop, but the "King of Hyperbole;"

(2) consistent with the principles of capitalism, Michael Jackson's decidedly opportunistic "handlers" (record company, agents, attorneys, publicists, etc.) successfully executed their objective to monetize all aspects of Jackson's career as they "branded" and paraded Jackson around as "the next big thing;" and

(3) history is often ignored or not considered relevant, and audiences were starved for "the next big thing" in entertainment, and Michael Jackson fit the bill.


Jackson lacked the well-documented "work ethic" and productivity demonstrated by Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and so many other "popular" performers. Again, just like Elvis, Michael Jackson screwed-up and didn't complete his career arch - Michael Jackson NEVER achieved his potential. What a waste.

"My father was 89 when he died, that was five years ago. My mother was two days shy of her 95th birthday. So I'm putting myself like right between them in my life expectancy, I think I'll get to 92, which is the average of those two, you know. So, when you die at that age it's sad, but it's not tragic. So I . . . that's an important distinction for me. Tragic life is one that could have been lived but through act of war or negligence, or negligence of the person or of others, the life was cut short - then that's tragic. It's a life not fully lived. But if you've lived a full life, they were married 50-something years, a . . . it's sad, but it's not tragic. In fact, it's not even sad, it's something to celebrate!
Neil deGrasse Tyson


Lesson learned? What a "tragic" shame to see so much potential and talent wasted.

Although I'll eventually watch it on cable and write a film review, I'm in no hurry to see the 2026 biographical film, "Michael," directed by Antoine Fuqua. Frankly, watching yet another Michael Jackson inpersonator do nothing more than mimic another mimic, this time his nephew, Jaafar Jackson, is not only boring, but from a scientific perspective, it's called:

Replicative Fading - Replicative fading is the degeneration of DNA in successive clones, leading to nonviable offspring unless fresh genetic material is introduced. [Translation: There's only one original, and no matter how many times you see a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy a copy of a copy of a copy a copy of a copy of a copy, etc. . . .

"Ain't nothin' like the real thing!"


 

Acknowledgement to the beautiful partnership of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell for singing their 1968 hit, "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," wonderfully written from the partnership of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Notably, when thinking about Michael Jackson working with female recording artists who were as or more successful and talented than Jackson, one doesn't think of "partnership."


Meanwhile, I'm objectively waiting for truly original, fresh talent as "the next big thing" in entertainment!


I welcome your feedback.

Trip Reynolds
trip.reynolds@yahoo.com


Reynolds' Rap
June 23, 2026
© 2017-2026 Tripoetry. All Rights Reserved.

First Amendment to the United States Constitution - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.