Michael Jackson: king of pop or wacko jacko?

Jackson will be remembered as entertainment’s most eccentric performer, due to his bizarre antics.

In the early stages of his solo career, his best friend was a monkey called Bubbles, who lived in his house and was treated more like a human than an animal.

He caused uproar in 2002 when he was photographed dangling his infant son over a fourth floor balcony of a hotel in German, in front of a crowd of fans.

Jackson called his children outlandish names, such as ‘Blanket’, ‘Prince’ and ‘Paris’, and he insisted that their faces were covered when out in public.

The singer himself was rarely seen without a mask, presumably to cover the scars from his many operations which deprived him of the fresh-faced look of his early career.

He spent excessively, having the London department store Harrods closed while he bought weird, wonderful and costly objects d’art.

Jackson celebrated his acquittal on child molestation charges by dancing on the rooftop of his black limousine – again in front of crowds.

Perhaps his most eccentric act of all was to turn his Neverland home into a children’s paradise that was more like a theme park than a family park.

Critics described him as a adult in a 12-year-old’s body and compared him to Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up.