1978 - The Jacksons: Marlon, Michael, Tito, Randy and Jackie pose during a publicity photo shoot after the band signed to Epic Records, at Jackie Jackson's home in Westlake Village, California (Photo Credit: Gregg Cobarr).

The band of brothers "Jackson 5ive" with the 10 year-old child star Michael as the lead singer, become the first black teen idols to appeal equally to white audiences. After their departure from Motown to CBS in 1976, the group were forced to change their name from "Jackson 5ive" to "The Jacksons", and Jermaine was replaced with younger brother Randy as Jermaine chose to stay at Motown. After 2 years under the Philadelphia International Records label, in 1978, they signed with Epic Records and asserted control of their songwriting, production, and image, and their success continued into the 1980s with hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)", "Lovely One", and "State of Shock".

1984 – The Jacksons perform their Victory Tour at Pontiac Silverdome, Detroit, Michigan attending 47,900.

1995 - Michael went 'on-line' via the Sony Music Internet, at the Museum of Television and Radio in Manhatten, for his first ever internet Simulcast conducted on three leading online services--America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy--as well as the Internet. It was the largest ever 'cyber chat' at the time, drew in over staggering 25,000 fans around the world – more than 3 times the previous record for a 'cyberchat'!
Michael devoted 70 minutes to answer around 100 of the questions about his music & life, while MTV airs MJ videos and special programming while simulcasting the chat session on television, in a unique use of split-screen technology (New York City, NY).

He revealed:

• He doesn’t pay attention to tabloid junk. He is very resilient, and feels like he has a suit of armour around him – like rhinoceros skin.
• If he could be any fictional super hero he liked, he would choose Morph, from The X-Men. Why? Because Morph constantly transforms himself, and can even teleport.
• Among his musical influences are Tchaikovsky, and the great writing of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.
• The two favourite places he had travelled to are South America and Africa, as he loves the people and the cultures.
• The favourite song he’s recorded is probably Ben, Got To Be There, Heal The World – one of the oldies.
• His dream is to make films; not only to act and sing, but to produce as well.
• One of his proudest musical achievements is We Are The World, a song he is proud of because it reached so many people.
• What he missed most during his childhood was the simple little things that kids do – having a friend over, going to the park, trick-or-treat, Christmas and birthdays.
• If he could meet someone, dead or alive, to talk with them for an hour, he would choose Michaelangelo whom he thinks was a phenomenal artist.
• Among his favourite songs on HISTORY are Earth Song, Childhood, Stranger In Moscow and Little Susie – he loves songs with heart.
• He thinks the technology that allowed him to have a simulchat with his fans is incredible, just amazing! As for why he is doing it – for his fans, because he loves them and wanted to talk to them.

He also announces the existence of the project titled "Michael Jackson: One Night Only": "I’m doing an HBO special, and it’s intimate. It’s close-up. It will allow me to do things I’ve never done before."

Source

2001 - Michael's long-awaited first single off "Invincible", titled "You Rock My World" premièred on the US radio station "Jammin 105.1".

Prior to the singles official release, an unidentified source leaked to two New York radio stations on Friday, August 17, without authorization from Sony Music or Michael Jackson. Immediately after the songs radio airplay the radio stations had received "a herd of [radio] callers asking for more." You Rock My World was first played on the WJTM-FM station at 6 p.m., with WKTU-FM airing the song 45 minutes later. Both stations had played the single every two hours until around 6 p.m. Saturday, when Jackson's record label, Epic Records, called the program director for both stations, Frankie Blue, and asked him to stop. "[They] informed me of the dangers of playing a song too early, [They] said, 'Please do me a favor and take it off the air.'" Blue, a friend of Jackson's, stated on Wednesday, August 22, he would not say how he got the single.