MashGet

Michael Jackson always was a bundle of contradictions.

Painfully shy in person, the man behind "Thriller," the biggest-selling album in history, was a legendary dynamo in front of a crowd, raising the spectacle of pop concerts to a new level. Known for a lengthy string of upbeat pop hits both by himself on "Thriller" and with his brothers in the Jackson 5, he seemed increasingly sad and troubled in his personal life. A longtime supporter of children, the 50-year-old had been dogged for years by child molestation accusations, though he was eventually acquitted of all charges in a trial that played out as an international soap opera in 2005.