The Essential Michael Jackson by Jackson. A re-titled release in the UK was planned on July 6, 2009 as "The Hits", but was cancelled upon Jackson's death. As of 2018, the album was certified 4× platinum in the US. The Essential Michael Jackson The Essential Michael Jackson is a greatest hits compilation album by American singer Michael Jackson. It was released on July 19, 2005, by Sony Music's catalog division Legacy Recordings as part of "The Essential" series. The two-disc compilation features thirty-eight hit songs by Michael Jackson, from his days at Motown Records with The Jackson 5 in the late 1960s and early
The Jackson 5 Rock and Roll, while the latter track also included in the Grammy Hall of Fame. On September 8, 2008, the Jacksons were honored as BMI Icons at the annual BMI Urban Awards. In 1992, Suzanne de Passe, Jermaine Jackson, and Jermaine's then common-law wife Margaret Maldonado, worked with Motown to produce "", a five-hour television miniseries broadcast based on the history of the Jackson family in a two-part special on ABC. Influenced by the Temptations, the Supremes, James Brown, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and Sly & the Family Stone, the group eventually served as the inspiration for several generations