Joe Jackson (talent manager)

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Joe Jackson
Jackson in 2014
Born
Joseph Walter Jackson

July 26, 1928
Fountain Hill, Arkansas, U.S.
DiedJune 27, 2018(2018-06-27) (aged 89)
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.[1]
Burial place
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California, U.S.[2]
OccupationTalent manager
Years active1964–2018[3]
Spouses
    Unknown
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1947, divorced)​
      ​
      (m. 1949)​
      Children11, including Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon, Michael, Randy, and Janet
      Relatives
      FamilyJackson
      Websitejwjackson.com

      Joseph Walter Jackson (July 26, 1928 – June 27, 2018) was an American talent manager and patriarch of the Jackson family of entertainers. He was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2014.

      Early life

      Joseph Walter Jackson was born on July 26, 1928,[a] in Fountain Hill, Arkansas, the eldest of five children of Crystal Lee (née King; 1907–1992) and Samuel Joseph Jackson (1893–1993). His father was a teacher. Jackson's great-grandfather, July "Jack" Gale, was a U.S. Army scout. A biography of Jackson also claimed that his great-grandfather was an Indigenous American and a medicine man, although no tribal affiliation was specified.[4]

      Jackson recalled that his father was domineering and strict, and described himself in his memoir The Jacksons as a lonely child with few friends. After his parents separated when he was 12, his mother, two brothers, and sister moved to East Chicago, Indiana, while he moved with his father to Oakland, California.[5] When he was 18, his father remarried, and Jackson moved to East Chicago to live with his mother and siblings.[5] He took a job at Inland Steel Company[5] and did not finish high school. While living in East Chicago, he began pursuing a boxing career and found success in the Golden Gloves program.[5]

      In the early 1950s, Jackson briefly performed with his younger brother Luther in their blues band the Falcons, playing guitar.[5][6] Despite their efforts, the Falcons did not secure a recording contract and disbanded after one of their members, Thornton "Pookie" Hudson, founded his own group in 1952. That group became the successful doo-wop ensemble the Spaniels.[5]

      Personal life

      Marriage

      While preparing to become a professional boxer, Jackson met 17-year-old Katherine Scruse, who also lived in East Chicago and attended Washington High School.[7] He had already been married and divorced before he began dating Katherine.[7] The couple married on November 5, 1949. In January 1950, they purchased a small two-bedroom home at 2300 Jackson Street near East Chicago in Gary, Indiana.[7][8] They had 10 children together.[9]

      Jackson was alleged to have had numerous extramarital affairs. Katherine filed for divorce on March 9, 1973, with a Los Angeles County clerk, but later decided to drop the divorce proceedings.[10] The following year, Jackson fathered a daughter with Cheryle Terrell named Joh'Vonnie (born August 1974).[11][12] Katherine attempted once again to divorce her husband in 1982, but was persuaded to abandon the action. Jackson moved to Las Vegas.[13] Despite living separately,[13] Jackson and Katherine remained legally married until his death in 2018.[14][15] Katherine denied rumors that she and Jackson were estranged.[16][17]

      Career

      The Jackson 5

      In the early 1960s, Jackson began pushing his sons in a musical direction after they began playing around with his musical instruments while he was at work. He then first started working with his three eldest sons Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine.[18] Younger sons Marlon and Michael were eventually put into the band; youngest brother Randy was too young to join at the time.[18] Joseph began enforcing long and intense rehearsals for his sons. At first, the group went under the name The Jackson Brothers.[18] Following the inclusion of Marlon and Michael in the group, their name was changed to The Jackson 5.[18] After a couple of years performing in local talent contests and high school functions, The Jackson 5 got a color TV set after the judges awarded them second place. Joseph booked them in more professional venues, including in Chicago, and they eventually landed a gig at the Apollo Theater in New York City.[19][20] On November 21, 1967, The Jackson 5 were signed by Jackson to their first record contract with Gordon Keith, owner and first president of Steeltown Records in Gary, Indiana. The group's first single "Big Boy," with Michael as the lead singer, was released by Steeltown on January 31, 1968.[21] "Big Boy" did not become a hit but because the brothers actually had a single released, they became local celebrities in Gary after it received some airplay on local Gary radio stations.[18][22] Within the year, Jackson helped to land his sons an audition for Motown Records.[18] The Jackson 5 received a record contract with Motown in March 1969.[23]

      Shortly after, Jackson moved his family to the Los Angeles area and sat in on every recording session the group made for Motown. The group received nationwide attention after their first single for Motown, "I Want You Back", hit No. 1 following its release on October 7, 1969, and included on their first album, Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5, in December 1969.[24] The group saw the release of their first three albums and their first four singles, "I Want You Back" (1969), "ABC" (1970), "The Love You Save" (1970), and "I'll Be There" (1970), reach No. 1 in the US within 10 months.[24] In 1974, wanting to reassert his control, Jackson had his family, including daughters Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet, perform at casinos and resorts in the Las Vegas area, inspired by the success of fellow family act The Osmonds.[25]

      Joseph had also formed his own record label 'Ivory Tower International Records' and signed artists under his management in which they toured internationally with The Jackson 5 as opening acts in 1974.[26] In 1975, the group left Motown Records and signed a contract with Epic Records, with the exception of Jermaine, who remained at Motown as a solo artist. Jermaine was replaced in the group by brother Randy. Michael also had a separate deal with Epic to release solo albums. Unbeknownst to Jackson or the group, Motown president Berry Gordy had trademarked the group's name The Jackson 5. This came to light as the group was signing its new contract with Epic Records and Gordy refused to allow them to use the name The Jackson 5 with their new label. The group renamed themselves The Jacksons.[27] In 1978, Joseph's youngest son Randy released his solo single "How Can I Be Sure" on Joseph's record label.[28] In 1982, Joseph established Janet Jackson's career as an actress and as a recording artist while managing her.[29] He financed the recording of Janet's first demo and arranged a recording contract for her with A&M Records.[29]

      Public image and controversy

      In the late 1980s, Joseph's image as a father became tarnished as the media reported stories told by his children that he was abusive toward them. All of his children called him "Joseph", which sometimes made them feel estranged from him. Michael claimed that from a young age, he was physically and emotionally abused by his father, enduring incessant rehearsals, whippings and name-calling, but also said that his father's strict discipline played a large part in his success.[30] Michael first spoke openly about his childhood abuse in a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey. He said that during his childhood, he often cried from loneliness.[31][32][33][34] Michael recalled that Joseph sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as Michael and his siblings rehearsed and that "if you didn't do it the right way, he would tear you up, really get you."[35] Joseph admitted to whipping his children with switches and belts as punishment, but said he did not do so at random, and claimed never to have used any hard object as he felt was implied by the word "beating."[36]

      Both Jackson and Katherine denied the characterization of abuse. Katherine said that the whippings and physical punishments were common back then when Michael and his siblings grew up.[37][38][39] Other siblings, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon, have denied that their father was abusive.[40][41] La Toya however claims her father sexually abused her and her sister as a child while the mother enabled it. Rebbie called the police on her father over the sexual abuse, and the mother told the police nothing happened.[42] Despite the allegations, Michael honored his father with an annual "Joseph Jackson Day" at Neverland Ranch[43] and ultimately forgave him, noting that Joseph's difficult upbringing in the Great Depression and the Jim Crow South, along with his working-class adulthood, hardened him emotionally and made him push his children to succeed as entertainers.[44]

      Later life and death

      Jackson at an event in 2007

      In 2011, Jackson was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.[45] In 2014, when his son Michael was posthumously inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame with a Lifetime Achievement Award, Jackson accepted the award on his behalf.[46] The following year, Jackson received the organization's Humanitarian Award.[46] In June 2015, he appeared at the BET Awards 2015 with his daughter Janet as she accepted the Ultimate Icon Award.[47]

      On July 27, 2015, Jackson was rushed to a hospital after suffering a stroke and heart arrhythmia while celebrating his 87th birthday in Brazil.[48] He was not stable enough to fly out of the country for further treatment until two weeks later. Upon his arrival to Los Angeles on August 11, he was treated at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to correct his blurred vision following the stroke.[49] In January 2017, Jackson's brother Lawrence died.[50]

      On June 22, 2018, TMZ reported that Jackson had been hospitalized in Las Vegas in the final stages of terminal pancreatic cancer.[51] He died at a hospice in Las Vegas at 3:30 a.m. (PDT) on June 27.[1] On July 2, Jackson was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, near Los Angeles, the same cemetery as his son Michael, who was buried there in 2009.[52]

      Portrayals

      Jackson has been portrayed by:

      Notes

      1. The most commonly reported year of birth for Jackson is 1928. However, Katherine Jackson's memoir My Family, The Jacksons lists his birth year as 1929.

      References

      1. Leovy, Jill (June 27, 2018). "Joe Jackson, patriarch of musical family of pop stars, dies at 89". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
      2. "Joe Jackson Buried in Same Cemetery as Son Michael". Hollywoodreporter.com. July 2, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
      3. Kevin Fleming (April 7, 2017). "Joe Jackson to Receive the R&B Hall of Fame Living Legend Award". The Urban Buzz. Archived from the original on February 23, 2022. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
      4. Knopper, Steve (2016). MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson. Scribner. p. 6. Note: No tribal affiliation named in source. ISBN 978-1-4767-3037-0.
      5. Jackson, Katherine; Rich Wiseman (1990). My Family, the Jacksons. St. Martin's Paperbacks. ISBN 0-312-92350-3.
      6. Masley, Ed. "Remembering Michael Jackson's Uncle Luther, a longtime fixture of the Phoenix blues scene". AZ Central.
      7. Jackson, Katherine; Rich Wiseman (1990). My Family, the Jacksons. St. Martin's Paperbacks. ISBN 0-312-92350-3.
      8. "Starting a Family". Biography.com. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      9. "Joe Jackson's Children: How Many Kids Does He Have?". Heavy.com. June 27, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
      10. Friedman, Roger (October 29, 2004). "Jacko's Family Secrets Revealed". Fox News. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      11. Parry, Ryan (September 14, 2009). "Michael Jackson's secret sister JohVonnie reveals her pain at being shunned by half-siblings". mirror.co.uk. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      12. Weiss, Jacqueline (April 27, 2026). "Who Is Michael Jackson's Mom? All About Katherine Jackson". People. Retrieved June 27, 2026.
      13. Brown, Stacy (August 31, 2014). "Joe Jackson 'no longer a part of the family'". New York Post. Retrieved June 27, 2026.
      14. "Exclusive Look Inside Jackson Compound". go.com. July 14, 2009. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      15. Dimond, Diane (December 3, 2012). "Joe Jackson's Life as a Family Pariah". thedailybeast.com. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      16. "Michael Jackson's mom talks about motherhood, family". CNN. Archived from the original on April 29, 2011. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      17. "Katherine Jackson Speaks To Geraldo Rivera 8/2/09". YouTube.com. August 2, 2009. Archived from the original on November 13, 2021. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
      18. "History 60–68 – The Jacksons – The Official Website". thejacksons.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2023. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      19. "Jackson 5 and Johnny |". Indiana45s.com. August 28, 2010. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
      20. "Commercial Success". Biography.com. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      21. "Steeltown Records – Indiana Local Labels". 45rpmrecords.com. November 4, 2007. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      22. "Big Boy 40 Jackson 5". Jackson5abc.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2020. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      23. "Tito Jackson Official Website – Tito Jackson Official Website". titojackson.com. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      24. "History 1969 – The Jacksons – The Official Website". thejacksons.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      25. "History 1974 – The Jacksons – The Official Website". thejacksons.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      26. "Jet". Johnson Publishing Company. June 6, 1974. Retrieved October 24, 2016 – via Google Books.
      27. "Jackson 5 (and solo work)". warr.org. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      28. "Randy Jackson – How Can I Be Sure". discogs.com. December 7, 1978. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      29. Cornwell, Jane (2002). Janet Jackson. Carlton Books. pp. 2, 10, 24. ISBN 1-84222-464-6.
      30. "Michael Jackson's Secret Childhood". VH1. Archived from the original on September 15, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2008.
      31. Campbell, Lisa (1995). Michael Jackson: The King of Pop's Darkest Hour. Branden. pp. 14–16. ISBN 0-8283-2003-9.
      32. Lewis, Jel (2005). Michael Jackson, the King of Pop: The Big Picture: the Music! the Man! the Legend! the Interviews!. Amber Books Publishing. pp. 165–168. ISBN 0-9749779-0-X.
      33. George, Nelson (2004). Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection booklet. Sony BMG. pp. 45–46
      34. Taraborrelli, p. 620
      35. Taraborrelli, p. 602
      36. "Singer Jackson whipped by father". BBC News. November 13, 2003. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
      37. Katherine Jackson: Michael's strict upbringing not abuse (video). CNN. May 15, 2012. Archived from the original on November 13, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
      38. Friedman, Roger (February 7, 2003). "Michael Jackson's Unacceptable Behavior Revealed". Fox News Channel. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
      39. Duke, Alan (July 21, 2009). "Joe Jackson denies abusing Michael" (Press release). CNN. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
      40. "Jackson Brothers: Was Joe Jackson Abusive?". Yahoo! Celebrity. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2015.
      41. "Jackie Jackson denies father Joe abused brother Michael – TV3 Xposé". Tv3.ie. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
      42. Hoare, Callum (March 6, 2019). "How La Toya Jackson claimed her 'father molested her'". Express.co.uk. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
      43. Michael Jackson's Private Home Movies (2003)
      44. Jackson, Michael. "Heal the Kids." Speech at the Oxford Union, March 2001.
      45. "J – Arkansas Black Hall of Fame". arblackhalloffame.org. Archived from the original on November 23, 2016. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      46. "Inductees". rhythmandblueshof.com. March 25, 2014. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      47. "No Sleeep! Janet Jackson Receives Ultimate Icon Award: Watch". usmagazine.com. June 29, 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      48. Onyanga-Omara, Jane (July 27, 2015). "Joseph Jackson admitted to hospital after stroke". USA Today. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      49. "Joe Jackson – Finally Home After Brazilian Health Scare (PHOTOS)". tmz.com. August 11, 2015. Retrieved October 24, 2016.
      50. Howansky, Angel (January 15, 2017). "Rest in Peace Lawrence Jackson". .jwjackson.com. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
      51. "Joe Jackson Hospitalized with Terminal Cancer". TMZ. EHM Productions, Inc. June 22, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
      52. Cohen, Jess (July 2, 2018). "Joe Jackson Laid to Rest in Private Funeral". NBC New York. Retrieved June 27, 2026.
      53. "The Jacksons: An American Dream". January 1, 2000. Retrieved October 24, 2016 – via IMDb.
      54. "Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story". August 6, 2004. Retrieved October 24, 2016 – via IMDb.
      55. "Colman Domingo to Play Patriarch Joe Jackson in Lionsgate & Universal's Michael Jackson Biopic 'Michael'". January 25, 2024.