在生命的最后几年，迈克尔·杰克逊或许还在考虑打造一个更奇特的面孔，最终成为名流动物园的获奖展品。然而在那古怪的外表下面，迈克尔·杰克逊是一名真正的歌手，他的成功凭借的不是怪癖或幸运，而是惊人的才华。他征服世界是理所当然。

For all his tragic flaws as a human being, Jackson could legitimately be seen as the greatest entertainer of his generation, the natural successor to Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.

尽管身上有种种悲剧性的弱点，杰克逊也可以当之无愧地被称为自己时代最伟大的娱乐人物。他顺理成章地称为歌王弗兰克·西纳特拉和埃尔维斯·普雷斯利的接班人。

Soul music was the idiom from which he emerged, and disco was the vehicle that powered his solo career, but he was more than that suggests. The slender young man in spats who danced to the whip-smart rhythms of Billie Jean and Beat It, and crooned tear-stained ballads such as She's Out Of My Life, seemed to span the modern equivalents of many timeless idioms, from vaudeville to torch songs.

从灵歌中崭露头角的杰克逊，借迪斯科舞步令自己的独唱事业平步青云。但他的成就并不仅限于此。那个瘦瘦的年轻人，穿着鞋罩，踩着Billie Jean, Beat It的节奏，翩翩起舞；他低吟浅唱着情歌She's Out Of My Life, 催人泪下。从歌舞杂耍到感伤情歌，杰克逊跨越了许多艺术流派，创造了现代经典。

First and last, however, he was a great singer. When the Jackson 5 burst on to the music scene at the beginning of the 1970s, Jackson was barely out of short trousers and his singing on I Want You Back, ABC and The Love You Save, their first hits, was that of a hyperactive juvenile lead. Listening to I'll Be There, a quiet ballad that gave them their fourth hit, however, it was possible to detect the signs of something extraordinary.

然而杰克逊始终是一名伟大的歌手。70年代早期，当杰克逊5人组惊现于音乐界时，迈克尔还只是个青涩的小男孩。他们最早的几首打榜歌曲I Want You Back, ABC, 和The Love You Save，迈克尔的演唱仍过于亢奋和幼稚。不过，听过他们的第四首打榜歌曲、那首安静的情歌I'll Be There之后，便能觉察到杰克逊的非凡唱功。

His careful phrasing, and in particular his terminal vibrato, showed a maturity extraordinary for a boy barely into his teenage years. By the end of the decade, (he became) the biggest attraction in the world of showbusiness, the star of stage shows of previously unimaginable lavishness.

尽管那时的杰克逊刚刚步入少年，但他精心的吐字发音、尤其是尾音的震颤已经显示了一种过人的成熟。而到了70年代末，杰克逊已经成为演艺行业最亮眼的卖点，最炫目的明星。他表演的舞台极尽奢华，无从想象。

And that was the world in which he clearly situated himself. He loved the world of glitter and divas, of Judy Garland and Diana Ross. He was the pop star of the era of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, or ET and Star Wars, futuristic in style yet terminally sentimental in content.

而这正是杰克逊所置身的世界。他喜欢金光闪耀、美女如云的世界，是朱迪·加兰和戴安娜·罗斯的世界。他是史蒂芬·斯皮尔伯格和乔治·卢卡斯那个时代的摇滚巨星，或者说是《ET》和《星球大战》的那个时代——尽管风格是未来主义的，内容却常常流于感伤。

For all the superficial allure of that world, however, underneath he was a musician of great creativity and acute instincts. His singing on such albums as Off the Wall and Thriller, some of the 20th century's biggest selling and best loved records, comprised a textbook of vocal technique and character, from the breathy and fragile to the driving and committed.

尽管这个世界的诱惑是浅薄的，但就其根本而言，杰克逊是一个创意丰富、直觉敏锐的音乐家。在Off The Wall和Thriller等20世纪最畅销、最受欢迎的专辑中，杰克逊的演唱无异于编纂了一本关于演唱技巧和演唱风格的教科书。从含混呵气到微弱发声，从强烈有力到高亢热情，无所不包，面面俱到。

Those who felt that his music was weakened as a result, becoming the deracinated product of a man interested in securing an international audience while erasing first the primary signs, and eventually all traces, of his own ethnicity, found themselves very much in the minority.

有些人认为，杰克逊逐一抹去了自己种族的所有印记，又一心只想维持国际观众， 因此音乐成了孤立无根的产品，大不如前。不过，持这种看法的人太少太少了。

The day after that Talk of the Town gig in the early 1970s, the Jackson 5 were made available for interviews in a London hotel. The older brothers - Jermaine, Marlon and the rest - were keen to do the public relations thing, as they had been taught.

让我们再度回到70年代初的那天。结束了在“小镇话题”夜总会的媒体专场表演后，杰克逊五人组在伦敦某饭店接受采访。Jermaine Marlon等年龄较大的几个兄长很听话，积极地打理各种公关事宜。

Michael, however, sat by himself with a pencil and a puzzle book. When he was approached, he lifted his face and confronted his questioner with a pair of huge brown eyes that gave nothing away. Already, he was in his own world.

然而迈克尔则拿着铅笔和字谜书，独自坐在一旁。记者走近时，他抬起脸，用那双褐色的大眼睛望着记者——从那双眼睛里你读不出任何故事，他把一切都留给了自己。那时，他就已经在自己的世界里了。

(Michael Jackson performs during his Dangerous concert in National Stadium, Singapore. Photograph: CF Tham/AP)