Michael Jackson was the greatest solo act in the history of pop, bar Elvis Presley.

Millions of people who never otherwise ventured into a record shop in their lives bought Thriller, which remains the biggest selling album. In the 1980s he revolutionised the sound and presentation of pop by importing the values of an earlier era of Hollywood. Walt Disney, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire were key influences on Jackson’s performing style, along with James Brown, the godfather of soul.

Jackson also plugged in to the new technology of the video age with a keen visual skill that dwarfed the efforts of his peers. The result was a string of mega-selling albums that pushed the mass marketing of pop into a new dimension.

Jackson was only 11 when he first saw his own face on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, as part of the Jackson 5. Two years later he was signed to Tamla Motown as a solo act and immediately opened his account with a string of hits — Got To Be There, Rockin’ Robin, Ben and others — which were released in tandem with his work as a member of the group.

Times Archive 1972 The Jackson Five live at Wembley

Michael Jackson's twinkling feet scarcely seemed to touch the stage

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His success as a solo star rapidly overtook that of the group. He was as good a dancer as he was a singer and made videos that were as full of stylish impact as his music. He was, above all, a stringent perfectionist.

Explaining why it had taken him five years to release Bad, the follow-up to Thriller, he said: “I decided that this album should be as close to perfect as humanly possible . . . When it’s as perfect as you can make it you put it out there . . . That’s the difference between a No 30 record and a No 1 record that stays No 1 for weeks.”

The success of Thriller established a benchmark that has never been equalled. Produced by Quincy Jones and lasting a mere 43 minutes, it provided an incredible run of seven Top Ten hit singles in America. Even the documentary The Making Of Michael Jackson's Thriller (1984) became, for a time, the best-selling music video ever released.

Songs such as the title track, Billie Jean and Beat It were honed to something as close to perfection as the pop world has known and they reached to an audience across the globe.

Jackson did not respond well to the pressures of fame however and became increasingly reclusive. As the reports of his behaviour became more lurid The Sun posed the question Is Jacko Wacko? His eccentric reputation took a darker turn when allegations of child abuse were levelled against him in 1993. By the time of his 1995 album History he was an embattled and embittered figure. His subsequent trial on further charges of child molestation in 2004 marked the end of his career.

Although dogged by controversy and hounded by an increasingly hostile media Jackson never lost the fierce admiration and adoration of an army of fans.

When he announced his intention to stage a string of comeback shows in London the demand for tickets was such that he was able to sell out a run of 50 shows at the 20,000-capacity O2 arena. In his prime his stage shows were one of the wonders of the pop world. Vast theatrical events with outlandish visual tricks and stunts were the norm. At the end of one show he – or more likely a double – departed from the stadium via a James Bond-style jetpack strapped to his back. His athletic dance routines and clipped, emasculated vocal style were trademarks that were recognised and loved by millions even after his reputation had been tarnished by events in his private life.

While his artistic instincts took him to the pinnacle of the pop world his inability to interact in any meaningful way with the real world was his undoing. The sense of isolation that comes with success on that scale proved a burden and he never figured out how to do it.

“I was so little when we began work on our music that I don’t remember much about it,” he wrote in his autobiography, Moonwalk. “When you’re a showbusiness child people make a lot of decisions concerning your life when you’re out of the room.”

Sadly, one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century has made his final exit.

The album Off The Wall (1979) marked the start of Jackson’s passage to the superleague. The album sold 17 million copies and there is a warmth and soulfulness to tracks such as She’s Out Of My Life and Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough, which were slightly lost in the later quest for dancefloor perfection. Although Thriller remained the peak of his career the formula was repeated and refined on the follow-up Bad, which sold more than 25 million copies. Here songs such as Smooth Criminal, Just Good Friends and the title track tracked the pulse of modern urban life while exotic ballads including I Just Can’t Stop Loving You and Liberian Girl proved his versatility. The accompanying videos featured sharp dance routines. In 1991 Dangerous logged another astronomical sales figure, somewhere in excess of 18 million copies.

The 11-minute video to promote the first single Black And White, which was made for $6 million, featured Jackson smashing up a car and grabbing his crotch, the kind of gestures that found favour with the rap genre. Even that was eclipsed by his landmark 1995 video for Scream, a duet with his sister Janet which was shot at a cost of $7 million in a set done up to resemble an abandoned spaceship.

The tragedy is that all the success and money in the world was not able to bring a measure of peace to Jackson’s troubled soul. “While some have made deliberate attempts to hurt me, I take it in my stride because I have a loving family, a strong faith and wonderful friends and fans who have, and continue, to support me,” he said.

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