Joe Jackson Biography
Summary
"Joseph Walter 'Joe' Jackson" (born July 26, 1929 in Fountain Hill, Arkansas, United States) is an American manager, former boxer and former musician best known as the father of American entertainers Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson, and the creator and manager of The Jackson 5, a Motown group comprising several of his children.
Biography
Early life
Joseph Jackson was born in Arkansas, the eldest of four to Samuel Jackson and Crystal Lee King. His parents separated when he was 12. He moved with his father to Oakland, California, where he lived until after turning 18 when he moved to East Chicago, Indiana, to live near his mother. While there, he met his future wife Katherine Scruse. After a brief marriage to another woman and then an annulment, Joseph and Katherine began a courtship resulting in their November 5, 1949 wedding. Settling in Gary, Indiana, Joseph, a former boxer, worked full-time as a crane operator at Gary's U.S. Steel company, while Katherine tended to their children. In the mid-1950s, Joseph started a music career with his brother Luther, playing guitar in a band called The Falcons. The group split up a couple of years later after failing to get a recording deal. Joseph returned full time to his job at U.S. Steel.
The Jackson 5
By 1964, Joseph had discovered that his three eldest sons, Jackie, Tito and Jermaine, had musical talent. One day he found out Tito had broken his guitar string. He chastised him and then had Tito play for him with Jackie and Jermaine backing up vocally. Seeing their budding talent, he helped form an early incarnation of The Jackson 5 with two neighborhood youths though eventually younger brothers Marlon and Michael joined.
Within a few years, the Jackson 5 polished their talents under Joseph's strict leadership. In 1967, the Jackson brothers turned professional and began performing in paying gigs, which paid off after the group got signed to Motown Records in 1968, and shortly afterwards the brothers became international recording stars. Joseph's role as manager dwindled however as Motown CEO Berry Gordy began to take more charge on his act, a role that reverted back to Joseph when he began managing the entire family for performances in Las Vegas. Joseph also helped his sons seal a deal with CBS after leaving Motown distraught that the label did not allow the boys creative freedom in the studio.
Within a few years, however, Joseph's sons each left his management company to sign for other managers, starting with Jermaine. In 1982, Joseph also managed the careers of his three daughters La Toya, Janet and Rebbie until all three eventually left his company for solo ventures, which afterwards saw only Michael and Janet as the Jackson family's ultimate breadwinners.
Current work
Joseph is currently hosting a boot camp for aspiring hip-hop artists, both to move his career to the next stage and to change what he sees as distasteful about the genre. 'Everybody is liking rap now. I'm going to have to clean it up a little bit, all that vulgar language out there. I'm going to have to keep that clean, with nice singing in it, and great music behind it'.
Controversies
Joseph's image as a father was tainted throughout the late 1980s through the mid 1990s in which the media reported stories told by some of his children that he was abusive towards them. When he managed his family, he ordered each of them to call him 'Joseph', which led to several siblings being estranged from their father.
Michael Jackson claimed that from a young age he was physically and emotionally abused by his father, enduring incessant rehearsals, whippings and name-calling, but also contended that his father being a strict disciplinarian played a large part of his success. In one altercation-later recalled by Marlon Jackson-Joseph held Michael upside down by one leg and 'pummeled him over and over again with his hand, hitting him on his back and buttocks.' Joseph would also trip up or push his male children into walls. One night while Michael was asleep, Joseph climbed into his room through the bedroom window. Wearing a fright mask, he entered the room screaming and shouting. Joseph said he wanted to teach his children not to leave the window open when they went to sleep. For years afterward, Michael suffered nightmares about being kidnapped from his bedroom.name = 'tara 20-22'/>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 and would sometimes get sick or start to vomit upon seeing his father. In Michael's other high profile interview, "Living with Michael Jackson" (2003), the singer covered his face with his hand and began crying when talking about his childhood abuse.name = 'tara 20-22'/> Michael recalled that Joseph sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed and that 'if you didn't do it the right way, he would tear you up, really get you.'In 2003, in an interview with Louis Theroux for a BBC TV documentary called "Louis, Martin & Michael", Joseph admitted to using physical punishment on his children and also voiced his disapproval of homosexuality. In the same documentary, Joseph took advantage of the opportunity to promote his record label's new artists, even though the intention was to talk about Michael in the interview.Jackson is alleged by to have fathered a child, Joh'Vonnie Jackson, with Cheryl Terrell.Following the June 25, 2009 death of his son, Michael, Joseph attended the BET Awards on June 28. The event was hastily reorganized as a tribute to Michael following his sudden passing. At the event Joseph struggled with CNN's Don Lemon's questions about his family, initially appearing cheerful, then mournful before asking a family attorney to read a prepared statement. After the statement was read, Joseph talked about his new hip-hop recording project. This exchange led to accusations of insensitivity from the press. In a press conference two days later, Joseph said he had honestly answered a question about what he had been doing, and mentioned his recording project again before going on to praise Michael's life and work. His remarks at the press conference were again criticized as poorly chosen.==References====External links==* (Personal homepage of Joseph Jackson) * (Profile at German branch of Random House) * (BBC Interview 2003)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Joe Jackson.
