The Essential Michael Jackson 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 1970s to his 2001 hit "You Rock My World". On August 26, 2008, "The Essential Michael Jackson 3.0" was released in the US as a limited edition containing an additional disc of seven songs performed
The Motown Song music video with Rod Stewart was produced by Animation City, an animation company in London, England, directed by Derek Hayes. It followed the success of the Madonna video "Dear Jessie", and Elton John's "Club at the End of the Street", by the same company. It paid tribute to Motown (featuring animated versions of The Temptations, The Supremes and former Motown artist Michael Jackson) and featured other headline-making stars of the time, including animated versions of rapper Vanilla Ice, and singers Sinéad O'Connor, Madonna and Elton John; along with both a live action and an animated Rod Stewart with his animated