Michael Joseph Jackson (born August 29, 1958) is an American musician an entertainer. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene at the age of eleven as a member of The Jackson 5. Jackson went on to begin a solo career in 1972, becoming a pop icon and named the "King of Pop", in subsequent years. Five of his solo studio albums, Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991) and HIStory (1995), have become some of the world's best selling pop records.