Quickly and without using Google, tell me who else performed at the Motown 25 celebration that aired on NBC on May 16, 1983.

You can’t, and do you know why you can’t?

You can’t because the only thing anyone remembers is Michael Jackson performing Billie Jean and doing the moonwalk for the first time on national television. 

I got chills just typing that. 

I was two months shy of my 12th birthday. We were watching that special as a family, and because it was such a big deal, we were watching it on the big floor model television in our sunken living room instead of on the smaller television in the family room where my parents usually made us kids watch TV. 

In honor of Michael Jackson’s 65th birthday, here are some facts you need to know about him