Talent that took world by storm
FETED for his incredible talent, Michael's transformation into the worldwide King of Pop was quickly under way.
He had become the centre of attention with The Jacksons, and was now starting to branch out on his own.
Keen to broaden his horizons as a performer, Michael, then 19 landed a role in film musical The Wiz.
It was to be a pivotal moment in his career.
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Not only did he now have the acting bug - something that would later inform his approach to making music videos - but he was working with the man who would mould his future.
For the 1978 film's score was arranged by production genius Quincy Jones who became the catalyst for unleashing Jackson's true potential.
It was a dream team - and Jacko called him simply Q.
They went on to sell a massive 109 million albums together, starting with Off The Wall in 1979 - undeniably the making of Jacko as a solo artist.
It sold 20 million records alone and included Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, Rock With You and Paul McCartney's ballad Girlfriend.
"As it turned out, writing disco songs was natural for me," the modest singer said at the time.
But global superstardom came at a price. He added: "It suddenly seemed that everyone wanted a piece of me and there wasn't much to go around."
People think you're lucky but success brings on loneliness
Mobbed by screaming fans, everyone else looked on with envy at his achievements. But Jackson was becoming more isolated by them.
He confessed: "I was so lonely I used to walk through my neighbourhood, hoping I'd run into somebody who would be my friend because they liked me - not because of who I am."
Music became the only solace for the singer, though even that had its tricky moments as the pressure of fame gradually engulfed him.
Jackson even admitted to breaking down in tears during recordings, overcome by feelings of isolation.
Seemingly summing up the great dilemma that was to define his entire life, Jackson sighed: "Success definitely brings on loneliness. People think you're lucky that you have everything.
"They think you can go anywhere and do anything, but that's not the point. One hungers for the basic stuff."
Comparisons were made to the demise of Elvis Presley.
In a statement that is today laced with irony, Jackson once said: "People thought that if I kept living in seclusion the way I was, I might die the way he did.
"The parallels aren't there as far as I'm concerned and I was never much for scare tactics.
"Still, the way Elvis destroyed himself interests me, because I don't ever want to walk those grounds myself."
But just as he was struggling with his personal life, Jackson was trying to assert himself professionally, making bigger decisions.
And none was bigger than when he decided to fire his father Joe - the mad who made his childhood a misery - as his manager.
"Mixing family and business can be a delicate situation," he admitted with candour. "It can be great or it can be awful. It depends on the relationships."
He went on: "Trying to fire your dad isn't easy. But I just didn't like the way certain things were being handled.
"All I wanted was control over my own life. And I took it. I had to do it. Everyone comes to that point sooner or later, and I had been in the business a long time. I was pretty experienced for 21 - a 15-year veteran."
Yet with success, controversy ultimately followed. His collaboration with McCartney started a creative friendship that ended acrimoniously when Jackson outbid Macca for The Beatles' publishing back catalogue, bought in 1985 for £31 million.
And trouble again stalked his personal life as his relationship problems with women started becoming obvious.
Jackson previously admitted: "My dating and relationships with girls have not always had the happy ending I've been looking for.
"The things I share with millions of people aren't the sort of things you share with one."
He went on: "Many girls want to know what makes me tick - why I live the way I live or do the things I do - trying to get inside my head.
"They want to rescue me from loneliness, but they do it in such a way that they give me the impression they want to share my loneliness, which I wouldn't wish on anybody, because I believe I am one of the loneliest people in the world."
Lonely or not, during this period of his life, Jackson dated some of the most desirable women in the world.
His first real girlfriend was Tatum O'Neal, whose stepmother Farrah Fawcett ironically died the same day as him.
Bizarrely their first night out together was at the Playboy Mansion with Hugh Hefner.
Jackson credits her with helping him overcome a fear of being touched by women - something born from being mobbed by female fans.
"Ours developed into a real close relationship," he said. "I fell in love with her (and she with me) and we were very close for a long time.
"Eventually the relationship transcended into a good friendship."
Hollywood actress Brooke Shields also dated Jackson. He said: "We were romantically serious for a while."
But if anyone was going to lay claim to being Jackson's true first love it is Diana Ross.
His feelings developed when she took in the Jackson clan after they joined Motown.
"We actually lived with Diana part-time for more than a year," Jackson said. "She was so wonderful, mothering us and making us feel right at home.
"She really helped take care of us while my parents closed up the Gary house (in Indiana) and looked for a house we could all live in."
His personal life was always to court controversy, though professionally Michael's career was soaring.
Off The Wall set the scene for the pioneering music videos that helped him define an era. Its success - scooping him a Grammy - also whetted Jackson's appetite for an even bigger production.
It was called Thriller and it re-wrote the history books.
"Ever since I was a little boy I had dreamed of creating the biggest selling record of all time," Jackson said.
"Making the Thriller album was very hard work but it's true that you only get out of something what you put into it.
"I'm a perfectionist. I'll work until I drop. And I worked so hard on that album."
Many consider the 1982 record to be Jackson's definitive work because it took his music somewhere no other performer had been.
The three videos to emerge from it - Billie Jean, Beat It and Thriller itself - set new technical standards.
And it was Billie Jean that inspired Jackson's signature dance move, the Moonwalk.
Practising at home the night before he first performed it live on the Motown 25 TV special, he said: "I went down to the kitchen and played Billie Jean loud.
"I stood there and let the song tell me what to do.
"I let the dance create itself. I really let it talk to me. I heard the beat come in, and I took this little hat and started to pose and step, letting the Billie Jean rhythm create the movements.
"I felt almost compelled to let it create itself. I couldn't help it."
It signalled the birth of Jacko - dance phenomenon, recognised by his trademark one glove and reinforced with the creepy, cinematic style of the legendary Thriller.
The song video sold a million copies on cassette alone, and saw yet another dance craze emerge.
The album became - and remains - the best-selling record of all time, shifting an astonishing 50 million copies worldwide.
Jacko was enjoying phenomenal success and in 1984 filmed an advert for Pepsi.
But it ended in disaster when the special effects set the singer's hair on fire during filming.
Jackson recalled: "The bombs went off on either side of my head, and the sparks set my hair on fire.
"I was dancing down this ramp not knowing I was on fire.
"Suddenly I felt my hands go to my head in an attempt to smother the flames. I fell down and tried to shake the flames out.
"Jermaine (his brother) turned around and saw me on the ground just after the explosions had gone off, and he thought that I had been shot by someone in the crowd."
Bad took ages to produce but it was worth it in the end
The incident ended up costing Pepsi $1.5 million (£909,000), which Jackson donated to a burns unit.
Fully recovered, he was next back on the road with his brothers - this time on the final Victory Tour in 1984.
And Jackson was to collaborate with Quincy Jones one more time on his 1987 album, Bad.
"We worked on it for years," he said. "It was difficult, but it was worth it because we were satisfied with what we achieved."
The record sold another 30 million copies and hit Number One in 15 countries, providing more classic singles such as Smooth Criminal, Man In The Mirror, Dirty Diana and the title song itself.
At the time, Rolling Stone magazine boldly stated that even without a milestone recording like Billie Jean, Bad was still a better record than Thriller.
But despite its success, a magazine poll still ranked Bad Jackson's worst album and single.
The tide of public opinion on the superstar had never been more divided.
And commercially he had reached his peak, as the incredible collaboration with Jones reached its conclusion.
Indeed, time would go on to prove that it was the beginning of a dramatic reversal in fortune for Michael Jackson.
For trouble was looming on the horizon in the form of a 13-year-old boy called Jordy Chandler . . .
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