Michael Jackson: The Complete Story of the King of Pop

I just finished Lisa's book having bought it in mid November. It's a long book. 666 pages. Lisa wrote 2 earlier books about Michael - the first one covering his life until the early 90s, the second one on the Chandler debacle. This third book incorporates the first two and continues through Michael's death and his impact on the world. Though I agree that typos and grammatical errors were distracting (I'm a former English teacher), Lisa is a thorough and factual writer. Even though I've read dozens of books about Michael I learned things I didn't know. Though she is clearly a fan, she is not a particularly emotional writer and definitely does not deal in tabloid sensationalism or gossip. She wants the reader to know the brilliance of Michael as well as his struggles but will not always answer every question or resolve every contradiction. Many see Michael in pieces, or photographs of events, or isolated concert footage, or youtube videos. Because she writes in a purely chronological manner, you can put those images together and understand the sequences of Michael's life much more clearly. Lisa writes about Michael objectively, positively and with respect and for that I applaud her.

The writing style is clipped, and there are some grammatical errors and misspellings, as a few other reviewers have stated (but for this, I would have given a five-star rating). However, in the larger picture, this book seems to be one of the more factually accurate and less author-opinionated than most others on the subject of Michael Jackson when compared to dozens of others I have read. It reads like a chronology of his life. Ms. Campbell admits she is a longtime Jackson fan, yet she manages to get the story onto the page without bias or prejudice, admirable qualities when so many authors insert their own judgments under the guise of fact when chronicling anything relating to Michael Jackson. Ms. Campbell has combined her prior two books about Michael Jackson (which it is stated he himself read) into this updated version. I believe this book would appeal equally to fans and supporters, and to anyone with mixed feelings about Michael, as it is free of judgment and hypothesis concerning the complex genius that was Michael Jackson. Substance trumps style every time!

Am only half way through this book which I purchased on Kindle, but already believe it to be a winner. The information is well researched, well presented, and makes very interesting reading. I have other Michael biographies, but so far like this one the best because Lisa Campbell is not interested in sensationalism, but rather in portraying the 'real' Michael. I wasn't a Michael fan when her first 2 books came out, so am very glad indeed that she has put them together in this edition, and can highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an accurate, well balanced record of Michael's life and career. It is also good to know that Michael read the books and approved, and in true Michael fashion sent Lisa roses for her birthday - knowing that makes one feel even closer to him while reading the book. Am recommending it to friends of mine who want to know more about Michael, and anyone else who wants 'true' facts, as I believe such books go a long way to undoing all the awful damage done by the media during Michael's lifetime, and I therefore highly recommend it in an attempt to get the know the genius/man who was Michael Jackson.

I am making my way through this incredibly comprehensive and refreshingly factual book.None of the usual tabloid slander and distortions. The facts are allowed to speak for themselves and demonstrate that the disgusting caricature of Mr. Jackson painted but the media and other "authors" - using the term loosely - who rely on tabloid filth or simply inventions from the cesspool of their own warped minds, bears no resemblance whatsoever to who the great and good Michael Jackson really was - a man of rare purity, faith in Christ's word and artistic genius who was sent to an early grave by relentless and vicious media bullying and false allegations - for financial gain and a racist agenda that could not stand to see the most globally beloved person in the world be of African descent.5 stars, well deserved, for Lisa Campbell

Lisa Campbell is an unabashedly booster for Michael Jackson, and sometimes goes to some lengths about the controversies in his life. She details his many awards for music, videos, and concerts, and his many charities. I was certainly surprised to learn how much he donated. I was left with a nagging feeling that I didn't get the whole story, but a good first bio (of the many that have been written about him) if you plan to read several.

I was very excited to purchase this book, as a huge MJ buff and also after reading about Lisa's work in my local newspaper. However, even though I am always happy to read positive work reflecting Michael, I am very unhappy with this book. I am only about 30 pages in and have encountered numerous spelling errors (ie "signing" instead of "singing"; "realty" instead of "reality), as well as a very uncomfortable writing style with sentence fragments and just awkward style, in general.Perhaps this isn't a big deal to many people, and certainly doesn't change the fact this author has written a nice reflection of MJ's life. However, I believe I will be returning this book because simply it gives me a headache to read. I enjoyed J Randy Taraborelli's book and it was wonderfully written. Perhaps this author should attempt to find a better publisher/editor next time she releases a book. It seems rushed, perhaps to jump on the MJ popularity train that is of late with the release of Bad 25. Either way, I wish this was written in a better manner, as I was really looking forward to reading it!If dumb errors aren't a big deal to you, then go ahead and buy it!

Buy it and you won't be disappointed! You will discover the artist and more importantly the man that he was! We miss you every day, Michael!

I was really pleased to see that this author had released a new book about Michael, mainly because of the high prices being asked for her previous books about MJ which made me think they must be exceptional. However, this particular book falls flat on many levels. Firstly it is not really a biography - more a listing of his many awards and a lot of these are followed by a description of what he was wearing when he collected them and his acceptance speeeches, and impressive as his achievements are,that does not make riveting reading. There are better ways to list his many accolades than in this particular format and one of them is to be found in Adrian Grant's excellent book, to which apparently Ms Campbell gave some assistance. There is no doubt she is a dedicated fan and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of his professional life. That is sadly where it ends. She has not conducted any interviews with him or any other people close to him so any information she has written about on his private life has been gleaned from other sources, which I am sure anyone who has read other bios will already be aware of.There is no doubt the one defining influence on Michael's life was his childhood, it coloured so much of what he became and almost certainly caused him to live the strange life that he led. You should not give a book the title of the 'Complete story of the King of Pop' and run through his early life in 30 pages, by page 31 Michael was nineteen and off to act in the 'The Wiz'.There are also a lot of spelling mistakes and typoes which is frustating and some glaring errors which a simple on-line search would have revealed, for instance:- Rod Temperton, who wrote some of MJ's most famous songs, is ENGLISH not German, the name does not even sound germanic.In the nineties Ms Campbell wrote a whole book entitled 'The King of Pop's Darkest Hour' all about the Jordi Chandler affair. I therefore thought that she may have had something staggering to relate on that subject, perhaps even some insight that would make the accusations even less believable than they already seem. She has nothing new to divulge in this current book that we did not already know. I do not know how she previously managed a whole book with no inside knowledge at all on this particular time in his life. If you want a more detailed version of what happened, there are much better books.All in all I struggled to finish the book and although her love for Michael was obvious, and she tried occasionally to be objective, I found it a bit sugary and with no depth to it at all. Doubtless this book will get lots of five star reviews because it seems that some MJ fans give good reviews to the books that they deem to have been kind to Michael - regardless of quality - but if a book is not very well written, or fails to deliver, it is not in my opinion a five star book. I am aware that Michael was very pleased with her previous offering and congratulated her, I would imagine that was mainly because she concentrated on his professional life rather than his private one.If you want to read a proper biography, not just a list of releases and awards, the best book by far, (up to the year 2003), is J Randy Taraborelli's and if you want to know about his later life there is Frank Cascio's book and Randall Sullivan's massive tome which covers all his adult life.

I am still reading this book but so far it has been just what i expected, i already know most of the main info covered so far as it has been written in so many books released since Michaels death but the difference is that Lisa has clearly and carefully researched the info unlike some who,just copy untrue statments from other dodgy sources. For someone who knows nothing about Michael this is the book you want, even if like me you have read everything published about Michael, still worth it.

This was the worst piece of writing that I have ever tried to read. Almost every other paragraph had either a spelling mistake or a grammar mistake or words simply missing. It was so frustrating to read. While this is NOT THE FAULT OF AMAZON (from who I will continue to purchase items) it is the fault of the publisher or editor. The book was a disaster so much so that it was difficult reading about Michael Jackson's Life. I am so upset about this kind of product that I am thinking of going through the book again and marking all of the mistakes and shipping it back to the publisher APOGEE PUBLISHING who must have been concerned about the book because there is no address for them, and tell them to keep the book and I'll forfeit the big money that I spent on it! Nothing worse for an avid reader than to have to reread a sentence 2-3 times to figure out what the author is trying to say. I am disgusted.

Veramente un bellissimo libro , fa rivivere le emozioni che ci ha lasciato il re del pop. Lo consiglio vivamente