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Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, dancer, entertainer and recording artist. Referred to as the King of Pop, he is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time, and one of the most influential. His contributions to music, dance and fashion, and a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.

Alongside his brothers, Jackson made his debut in 1964 as lead singer and youngest member of The Jackson 5. His solo career began in 1971. His 1982 album Thriller sold more than 110 million copies, and remains the best-selling album ever; while several of his other albums rank among the worlds best-sellers. Jackson is credited with having elevated the music video from mere promotional tool into an art form. His videos for Billie Jean, Beat It and Thriller made him the first African American artist to amass a strong crossover following on MTV. He popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk. His distinctive musical style, vocal style, and choreography continue to transcended generational, racial and cultural boundaries.

Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. Other achievements include several Guinness World Records (including the Most Successful Entertainer of All Time); 15 Grammy Awards (including the Living Legend Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, and including recognition as Artist of the Century); 17 number-one singles in the US (including four as a member of The Jackson 5); and estimated world sales of over 780 million records, making him one of the best-selling recording artists ever.

Jackson’s personal life and relationships generated controversy for years. His changing appearance was noticed from the late 1970s onwards, as changes to his nose and skin color caused much media speculation. In 1993 he was accused of child sexual abuse, though no formal charges were brought. In 2005 he was tried and acquitted of similar allegations. Jackson died on June 25, 2009 from a drug overdose, amidst preparations for his This Is It concert series. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled his death a homicide. Before his death, Jackson had reportedly been administered drugs such as propofol and lorazepam. Prosecutors formally charged his personal physician with involuntary manslaughter. Jackson’s death triggered a global outpouring of grief. It was estimated that as many as a billion people around the world may have watched his public memorial service on live broadcast television.

Jackson throughout his career transformed the art of the music video and paved the way for modern pop music. Jackson’s work, distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced scores of hip hop, rock, pop and R&B artists, including Beyonce, Celine Dion, Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Usher, Chris Brown, Britney Spears, Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Ludacris, 50 Cent, The Game, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Miley Cyrus, John Mayer, Lenny Kravitz, and R. Kelly.
For much of his career, he had an “unparalleled” level of worldwide influence over the younger generation through his musical and humanitarian contributions. Jackson’s music and videos, such as Thriller, helped break down racial barriers when first shown on MTV, putting the relatively new channel on the map, changing its focus from rock to pop music and R&B, and therefore shaping it to what it is today. Jackson remained a staple on MTV through the ’90s. Brazilian journalist Sergio Martins, in his article about the artist and his death in Veja magazine, wrote that after Jackson’s work being a versatile dancer became a must for subsequent male stars of pop music. Michael Jackson, along with his musical style and videos, have gone onto become pop culture phenomenons.

Michael Jackson was inducted onto the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984. Throughout his career he received numerous honors and awards, including the World Music Awards’ Best-Selling Pop Male Artist of the Millennium, the American Music Award’s Artist of the Century Award and the Bambi Pop Artist of the Millennium Award. He was a double-inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, once as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1997 and later as a solo artist in 2001. Jackson was also an inductee of the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. His awards include many Guinness World Records (eight in 2006 alone), 15 Grammy Awards (including the “Living Legend Award” and the “Lifetime Achievement Award”), 26 American Music Awards (24 only as a solo artist, including one for “artist of the century”)—more than any artist—, 13 number one singles in the US in his solo career—more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era —and estimated sales of up to 750 million records worldwide, making him the world’s best selling male solo pop artist.

He was characterized as “an unstoppable juggernaut, possessed of all the tools to dominate the charts seemingly at will: an instantly identifiable voice, eye-popping dance moves, stunning musical versatility and loads of sheer star power”. In the mid-1980s, Time noted “Jackson is the biggest thing since The Beatles. He is the hottest single phenomenon since Elvis Presley. He just may be the most popular black singer ever”. By 1990, Vanity Fair had already cited Jackson as the most popular artist in the history of show business. Daily Telegraph writer Tom Utley called him an “extremely important figure in the history of popular culture” and a “genius”. In late 2007, Jackson said the following of his work and future influence, “Music has been my outlet, my gift to all of the lovers in this world. Through it, my music, I know I will live forever.”
His total lifetime earnings from royalties on his solo recordings and music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been estimated at $500 million; some analysts have speculated that his music catalog holdings could be worth billions of dollars. This speculation however is contradicted by financial documents obtained by the Associated Press, which showed that as of March 31, 2007, Jackson’s 50 percent stake in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog (his most prized asset) was worth $390.6 million and Michael Jackson’s net worth was $236 million. As one of the world’s most famous men, Jackson’s highly publicized personal life, coupled with his successful career, made him a part of popular culture for the last four decades.

Shortly after his death on June 25, 2009, MTV briefly returned to its original music video format to celebrate and pay tribute to his work. The channel aired many hours of Jackson’s music videos, accompanied by live news specials featuring reactions from MTV personalities and other celebrities. The temporary shift in MTV’s programming culminated the following week with the channel’s live coverage of Jackson’s memorial service. At the memorial service on July 7, 2009, founder of Motown Records Berry Gordy proclaimed Jackson as “the greatest entertainer that ever lived.”On December 29, 2009 the American Film Institute recognized Jackson’s passing as a “moment of significance” saying, “Michael Jackson’s sudden death in June at age 50 was notable for the worldwide outpouring of grief and the unprecedented global eulogy of his posthumous concert rehearsal movie ‘This is It’.

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If you’re one of the many looking for a pc music studio, then your journey has just took a turn for the better. This online portal I ran across not too long ago has one of the best ways to make beats online I’ve seen online in a long time. It’s allows you to find an vent for your cleverness, and with all the included sounds and samples there’s unlimited options to what you can do.

Almost every songs would be pretty bland without the perfect beat. With the right programs to make beats you can add this essential element to any song and really make it shine. Most people don’t want the music they make to sound like the next guy, or girl for that matter. The best singers and rappers are constantly keeping an ear out for that next HOT melody and drum pattern that will make their songs really great.

Putting to use one of the best music creation software make it easy to add depth and brilliance to your music creations. With this equipment to make beats you get a 16 track sequencer, pads and piano sets, 16 channel mixer, and effects. Once you’ve worked your magic, you can export your songs to mp3 format. Use this music creation software to let everyone know that you have something great to submit. If you use the full potential of your originality, then you’ll be able to catch peoples attention in those first few seconds of your beat.

So that you’ll have a basic idea of how you can do this with the hip hop genre, we’ll take a look at the basic assembly of a hot rap beat. Typically you have a loop, which is basically a melody constantly repeating. If you want to set up a loop, you can load a sound file and shorten it or stretch it to fit the time scale of your beat. It’s just that simple. After that, you just wanna keep building on your beat by adding your hi hats. Hi hats can be pretty basic when starting out on hip hop beats, they give the idea of your beat’s speed. There are a few beatmakers who have complex hi hats, but when starting out you should allow it to be simple. Sometime in the future and on, you can experiment on different hi hat layering techniques.

This would be a good time to add your kicks and snares, how heavy or light you want them to be is personal taste. It also depends on the song, you’ll get a feel for it with experience. Now that you have your loop and drum pattern going, you now have your foundation ready to be built on. Next thing is to add other instruments to fill things out, followed by the vocals. All these elements combined gives a feeling or vibe that people can’t help but to jam to.

With the quality and versatility of this make beats computer provides, you’ll be helping rappers and singers bring out the creativity they have inside. Now you can end your search for one of the best pieces of equipment to make beats, and start making beats for a living or hobby. Once you get started with it, you’ll see that it will not limit you when you’re starting out.

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It’s really bizarre how many ups and downs a writer can go through while composing a new song. As I was writing the songs for “Sea Animal Adventures,” an album of personalized music, I remember how sometimes the words to the songs flowed freely from my pen to the composition notebook. Other times, however, I felt that stagnant feeling that composers sometimes get.

I remember one day I felt stuck while trying to come up with the topic for a new song for the children’s CD. I needed a change of scenery and a break from the self-imposed pressure, so I got into my car and drove down to the local Wal-Mart to pick up some supplies. It was late June, and the sun warmed the asphalt in front of the store. I remember the warm, South Carolina breeze as it made its way from the Charleston harbor, then across the parking lot to my face. I got a few items from the store and went through the customer checkout. I took my time heading back to the car because it felt like this might be an unproductive day to attempt to write personalized music for children. Nevertheless, it was back to the writers grind for me.

I climbed into my car and started the engine. As I shifted the car into reverse I noticed the car that was parked in front of me. I happened to glance down at the license plate of that vehicle. That’s when it came to me! Inspiration as clear as the noonday sun. The license tag on the car was one of our endangered species plates. The picture on the plate was that of our state reptile, the loggerhead sea turtle. Now if that wasn’t enough to get me excited, there was another eye-catching sight for my thirsty eyes. On the back of the car was a sticker that said, “Get Inspired!” That was enough for me.

I headed back to my house with a new sense of direction for the next song for the children’s personalized music album. This children’s song that I was about to compose would be about “Caretta, Caretta.” That is the Latin name for the loggerhead sea turtle. I began researching the sea turtle, looking for particular traits that would lend themselves to a musical flow. I was looking for something that would reveal the fragile condition of this species. Somehow I needed to personify sea turtles in such a way that children could relate to them. I chose a waltz, 3/4 time signature. There was something about that time signature that reminded me of the constant sway of the ocean. The song began with Caretta’s birth under a moonlit palm, and mentioned her struggles to make it to the security of a small lagoon. Then the lyrics portrayed her victorious life, soaring through the sea. Finally, the song ended with her peaceful flight to a starry lagoon, far beyond the moon.

I remember as I completed writing the final verse for this song, how tears filled my eyes. They were not tears of happiness for completing the days work. No, these tears were coming from a place a little deeper. I let out a deep breath as I realized that I had just paralleled the life-story of my own mother in this song. Incidentally, my mom would move on to her Heavenly home a year later. To this day, every time I listen to the song, “Caretta, Caretta,” I feel that old familiar tug on my heart, and my mind races back to a happy place, filled with fond memories of my mom.

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Learning to play a musical instrument such as the piano or guitar can be challenging for a beginner. However if you find the right beginner courses for these instruments, your learning experience can be much fun. There are thousands of free piano and guitar instructions internet now days, but not all of them are reliable.

Searching for these instructions online may seem simple, but it can be challenging finding the right one that will meet your needs. If you are looking for piano or guitar beginner online lessons, it is important to consider the following factors:

Find easy to follow courses – If you start off with hard lessons, the chances are that you will be frustrated and may end up being unsuccessful. You can learn piano or guitar as long as there is passion

Consider how much time you are willing to allocate to the courses – good online piano or guitar courses are flexible and you can learn them at your own pace at home. Remember practice makes perfect, the more you practice, the faster you will advance

Consider your goals and objectives for learning to play piano or guitar for that matter – Your objectives are going to guide you along the way. There is a difference between someone playing to pass a music test and someone playing for leisure. Piano keyboard or a guitar is an instrument that can be played for life.

If you will be learning to play piano or guitar online, it is a good idea to buy your own instrument as well. This does not have to be expensive, you can invest more money once you know how to play the instrument well.

You must have genuine passion – like any other musical instrument, learning piano or guitar can be a real challenge if you do not love it. It is however a breeze if you make it fun.

As a word of caution, be careful on where you get your lessons from. Not all online lessons are genuine even if they are free. However, it is important to remember that you are starting a new skill and learning any new skill can be frustrating and time consuming. So it is better to invest more time searching for reliable internet piano or guitar courses that will not only meet your needs, but also make the whole learning experience pleasant.

When all is said and done, you still remain the one to make the decision on what best suits your needs. People can give you recommendations on musical instrument online instructions for beginners, but the best advice is to take time to compare the different options before investing your money in it. You can easily tell if an online piano or guitar lessons resource is reliable based on what other users say about the resource. The more the testimonials available, the more reliable the resource is.

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It’s kind of humorous, but one of the first things we do when we finish a music project at ChildsPlayMusic.com studio is take the personalized children’s music out to the car and listen to it on our car’s CD player. Doesn’t that sound silly! We have all of that fancy, good-sounding studio gear, yet we take the CD to a less expensive, just so-so sound system.

There is a reason for the madness at work here. You see, all of that state of the art recording equipment can make the music sound really great in the studio, but the real bottom line is will the music sound good on an average car CD player? The neighbors get a real laugh out of it when they see us running out from the studio to our cars to listen to another CD. It may sound like a trivial part in the recording process, but I can’t tell you how many times everything sounded just right over the studio monitors, and then when we listened to the project in the car, something needed to be bumped up or down in the mix. The moment we notice something that needs to be tweaked we jot it down in a notebook, and continue listening. Once we have listened to the entire CD, and noted any spots that need to be adjusted, we head back into the studio.

We make those little touch-ups here and there and then burn another test CD. More often than not we get it right the first time through. However, once in a while the car test reveals an area that needs to be touched up.

The truth is that we are some what of perfectionists here at ChildsPlayMusic. The things that we correct on a project, for the most part, would never even be noticed by our customers. But since we are the composers, singers, and the players, we notice even the tiniest detail that doesn’t flow the way we think it should. Then we correct it. We understand that we won’t get a second chance to make a first impression, so we want that first impression to be a good one.

We take a lot of pride in our work. So far in our young company’s three year existence we haven’t had one returned CD. Another statistic that we are kind of proud of is that over eighty percent of our customers are repeat customers. Many of those folks use us as a regular part of their gift-giving life. Our “Sea Animal Adventures” birthday CDs have been a staple for some folk’s “quick pickup” birthday gifts. They give us a call and we get it recorded and sent out right away. No problem.

So if you happen to be near our studio one day, and you see a guy running out to his car with a CD in his hand, you know what’s up. We are just making extra sure that when you order personalized music for children from us that it is going to sound great when it gets to that special child in your life.

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