Michael Jackson has died at the age of 50, having suffered a heart attack at his home in California. We look back at his rise to become the world's biggest star - and his fall from grace...
Michael first came to fame as a young boy with the Jackson Five, who are pictured here in 1969 - the year they enjoyed their first number one with I Want You Back.
By 1971 their trademark bubblegum pop sound had made them one of the world's most successful groups - with theri next three singles also having gone to number one in the US Billboard chart.
And by 1974 Michael had clearly emerged as the strongest talent, with several solo tracks to his name including Rockin' Robin and the theme to Ben.
As he grew from a boy to a man his sound matured from bubblegum to a more modern pop sound as he worked with producer Quincy Jones on 1978's Off The Wall.
And by the time 1982's Thriller album wowed pop fans around the globe he had become the biggest pop star on the planet, making innovative use of the music video format with the still-stunning promo for the title track.
Paul McCartney had helped with the songwriting on Off The Wall, and is pictured here with Jackson in 1982 - when they duetted together on The Girl Is Mine. Their friendship was later to sour when Jacko bought The Beatles song rights.
He earned a reputation as a brilliant performer and became almost as famous for his trademark moonwalk dance as for his music.
He used some of his immense earnings to buy Neverland ranch in Santa Barbara County, California - turning it into his own private amusement park with lavish spending.
It was around this time that he was labelled Wacko Jacko by the media, with his awkward and shy personality, his pet chimp Bubbles and his increasingly obvious plastic surgery and lightening skin all helping the tag to stick.