Wacko Jacko: Target of both ridicule and devotion

JACKSON’S often eccentric behaviour saw him dubbed “Wacko Jacko” by the tabloid press.

He was rumoured to have shared a bed with a chimp and married the daughter of another pop culture giant in a lifetime spent in the public eye.

Over the years, his image changed from cute child star to that of a secretive singer who was the target of ridicule and devotion in equal measure.

The release of Thriller in 1982 made him a massive international superstar and the first cracks in his public persona began appearing not long afterwards.

While filming an advertisement for Pepsi in 1984, an explosion set his hair on fire and he was stretchered from the studio. Around the same time, wild stories about his personal life began to circulate, including that he slept in an oxygen tent and had adopted a chimp called Bubbles.

The last was certainly true and the animal sat in on the recording sessions of the Bad album.

Soon the tabloids were dubbing him “Wacko Jacko” and he retreated to his Neverland ranch.

The video for his single Bad in 1987, which saw the star with distinctly lighter skin, led to rumours he had undergone plastic surgery and skin bleaching.

Four years later, he admitted to talkshow host Oprah Winfrey he had had plastic surgery but insisted his changing skin tone was the result of a “disorder that destroys the pigmentation of my skin”.

His appearance at the Brit Awards in 1996 again pushed him on to the front pages when Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker took exception to his bombastic performance of Earth Song and ran on to the stage.

In March this year he unveiled a string of dates in London. He put on a bizarre display that left journalists baffled.

When he appeared he repeatedly walked away from the microphone before saying: “Thank you all. This is it. I just want to say these will be my final shows, performances in London. This will be it. When I say this is it, I really mean this is it.”

“... This is the final curtain call, okay, and I’ll see you in July.”