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MICHAEL JACKSON |
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Jackson, Michael, and the Jackson Family , superstar singer and his musical siblings, who together form the preeminent family of pop music in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.Joseph and Katherine Jackson, a working-class couple from Gary, Indiana, produced nine children, all of whom displayed considerable musical talent. Joseph encouraged his three eldest sons, Sigmund "Jackie" (b. May 4, 1951), Toriano "Tito" (b. October 15, 1953), and Jermaine (b. December 11, 1954) to practice the guitar and write songs. In the early 1960s the boys formed a trio that precocious youngsters Marlon (b. March 12, 1957) and Michael (b. August 29, 1958) joined, creating the Jackson Five. Although he was the youngest, Michael quickly became the focus of the act, deftly imitating the mannerisms of James Brown while singing with a sophistication and maturity that belied his young age.The brothers won a talent contest in 1965 that led to a recording contract with the Indiana-based Steeltown Records. Then the Jackson Five toured regionally, opening for larger-name rhythm and blues (R&B) groups. In 1967 the brothers took first place at an amateur night at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater, and in 1969 they signed a recording contract with Motown Records.That year the Jackson family moved to Los Angeles, where Motown founder Berry Gordy carefully cultivated the image of the Jackson Five. Motown Records dressed the group in extravagant, hip outfits, choreographed their elaborate dance numbers, and provided them with musical material. The Jackson Five achieved success almost instantly, scoring number-one hit-singles with their first four releases: "I Want You Back" (1969), "ABC" (1970), "The Love You Save" (1970), and "I'll Be There" (1970).In 1971, in response to MGM Record's solo recordings of 13-year-old Donny Osmond, Motown launched solo careers for Michael, Jermaine, and Jackie. Although Jermaine scored a top-ten hit with "Daddy's Home" (1972), Michael was far and away the most successful of the three. His early solo hits include "Got To Be There" (1971) and "Rockin' Robin" (1972), as well as "Ben" (1972), an unlikely number-one soundtrack hit about a boy and his pet rat. Meanwhile, the Jackson Five continued recording and performing as a group, and, by the mid-1970s, they had forsaken Motown's songwriters to produce and record hits of their own. They also covered classic pop and R&B songs from the 1950s, and abandoned their earlier soul arrangements for the harder sounds of funk.In 1975, when their contract expired with Motown, four of the five brothers switched to Epic Records. Jermaine, who had married Berry Gordy's daughter, stayed with the old label to pursue a solo career. Steven "Randy" Jackson (b. October 29, 1962) replaced Jermaine, and the new group assumed a new name, The Jacksons. In 1976 and 1977, they starred in a self-titled CBS variety show, which introduced the Jackson girls Maureen "Rebbie" (b. May 29, 1950), LaToya (b. May 29, 1956), and Janet (b. May 16, 1966) to popular audiences. In 1978, The Jacksons released the album Destiny, which many fans and critics consider the best of the Jackson brothers' later work.Michael's success as a solo performer continued with his appearance as the Scarecrow in The Wiz (1978), an African American remake of The Wizard of Oz. The movie led to his partnership with Quincy Jones, who composed the soundtrack, including Jackson's duet with Diana Ross, "Ease On Down the Road." Later that year Jones and Jackson collaborated on Off the Wall (1979), the solo album that established Michael as a sophisticated adult pop-star. Off the Wall sold over seven million copies and included four top-ten songs, including the number-one hits "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough," and "Rock With You." Although Michael continued to perform with his brothers, this album signaled the beginning of a solo career that eclipsed the celebrity of the other Jackson children.In 1982 Michael released another Jones-produced album, Thriller, which became the best-selling pop album of all time. Thriller incorporated the hoary oration of Vincent Price, the hard-rock licks of Eddie Van Halen, and the cooing of Paul McCartney, as well as the R&B, soul, and disco influences of Jackson himself. Over 40 million people bought the album, whose seven chart-topping singles included the number-one hits "The Girl Is Mine," "Billie Jean," and "Beat It." Thriller was a black landmark in the white-dominated market, because Jackson's videos were the first by an African American to receive regularly scheduled rotation on MTV. The success of the album was bolstered by a well-planned marketing campaign that highlighted Jackson's dancing, fashion, musicianship, and commercial endorsement of Pepsi-Cola. Although Jackson achieved this success as a solo performer, he continued to perform with his family throughout the 1980s. Jackson also collaborated with Lionel Richie on the humanitarian hit "We Are the World" (1985), though he did not release a follow-up to Thriller until Bad (1987). Both Bad and Jackson's subsequent release, Dangerous (1991), sold well by standards of the industry, yet poorly in comparison to the global success of Thriller. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Michael appeared to have increasing difficulty coping with celebrity, often withdrawing from the public eye. Numerous bouts of plastic surgery, allegations of pedophilia, and a secret marriage and publicized divorce with Lisa Marie Presley all exacerbated his public image as a troubled person. Despite high-visibility appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1993 (estimated 90 million viewers) and Prime Time Live in 1995 (estimated 60 million viewers), Jackson's career was considered in decline. His poorly selling 1995 album HIStory — Past, Present and Future, Book I, which anthologized old hits with new material, only seemed to underscore his waning popularity. Michael's sister Janet achieved greater celebrity as Michael lost popularity. Although she had appeared in television programs in the 1970s and released her first solo album in 1982, Janet Jackson did not win considerable public attention until her quadruple-platinum album Control (1986). With Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989), she topped the charts, won a Grammy, and sold over eight million records. She persevered as a major name in 1990s pop, scoring hit albums with janet (1993) and The Velvet Rope (1997). None of the other Jacksons approached Michael's or Janet's level of success, although Latoya released solo albums in the early 1980s and appeared in Playboy Magazine, and Jermaine recorded throughout the 1980s, working with Pia Zadora as well as with Whitney Houston. Taken collectively, however, the Jackson family's career spanning three decades was the biggest pop-music phenomenon of the late twentieth century. Contributed By: Eric Bennett |
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