Joe Jackson (manager)

Joseph Jackson
Jackson in 2007
Born	Joseph Walter Jackson July 26, 1928 (1928-07-26) Fountain Hill, Arkansas, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Musician, talent manager, boxer
Years active	1950s–present
Spouse	Katherine Scruse (m. 1949)
Children	10, See below
Parents	Samuel Jackson (1893–1993) Crystal Lee King (1907–1992)

Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson (born July 26, 1928) is an American musician, boxer and talent manager, who is the father and manager of the Jackson family of entertainers which includes Michael Jackson, The Jackson 5, Rebbie Jackson, La Toya Jackson, and Janet Jackson.

Early life

Joseph Jackson was born in Fountain Hill, Arkansas, the eldest of five to Samuel Jackson (1893-1993) and Crystal Lee King (1907-1992). His siblings were Samuel, Jr. (born c. 1930), Helen (born c. 1931), Luther (1935-2010) and Alfred (born c. 1942). His parents separated when he was age 12. He moved with his father to Oakland, California, where he lived until after turning 18 years old, 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 and subsequent annulment from another woman, Joseph and Katherine continued an affair, resulting in his second marriage on November 5, 1949.

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

See also: The Jackson 5

By 1964, Joseph had discovered that his three eldest sons, Jackie, Tito and Jermaine, had musical talent. He 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 Rebbie, La Toya, and Janet until all three eventually left his company for solo ventures.

While Jermaine had some substantial solo success after leaving the Jackson 5, his status dwindled after the rise of his younger siblings Michael and Janet. The other Jackson children's careers suffered a similar fate to Jermaine's after the eighties. Daughter La Toya's attempts to find stardom led to a number of failures. After his children left his company, Joe tried managing other groups, but was unable to find success. Michael and other siblings had often described Joe as a poor businessman always getting into bad deals.

Public image

Joseph's image as a father became tarnished from the late 1980s onward, as the media reported stories told by his children that he was heavily abusive toward them. When he managed his family, he allegedly ordered each of them to call him "Joseph", which contributed to several siblings being estranged from their father. Joseph is also alleged to have engaged in several extramarital affairs; two affairs resulted in the birth of two other daughters, Tawanda and Joh'vonnie, born in 1972 and 1974, respectively.

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 admitting that his father's strict discipline played a large part in 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." It was alleged that Joseph would also trip up or push his male children into walls to show his dominance.

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. 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." 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." Despite the much-publicized abuse, Michael honored his father with an annual "Joseph Jackson Day" at Neverland Ranch and ultimately forgave him, noting that Joseph's deep-South upbringing during the Great Depression and the Jim Crow years and working-class adulthood hardened him emotionally and made him push his children to succeed as entertainers.

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. 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. In the same interview, Joe Jackson expressed an extreme dislike of gay people after Theroux asked if he'd like to see Michael settle down with a "partner".

Following Michael's death on June 25, 2009, Joseph attended the BET Awards on June 28. The event was hastily reorganized as a tribute to Michael following his sudden passing. Joseph appeared at the event, speaking to several reporters about Michael's death. He struggled with CNN reporter Don Lemon's questions about his family, first appearing cheerful, then mournful, then asking a family spokesperson 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. Additionally, when speculation arose that a Norwegian friend of Michael, named Omer Bhatti, was Michael's son, Joseph accepted the claims, even though sources close to Bhatti had denied the claims.

Joseph Jackson was portrayed by Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs in the mini-series The Jacksons: An American Dream & by Frederic Tucker in the 2004 VH1 biopic Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story.

Children

Ten children were born to Katherine and Joe Jackson.

• Maureen Reillette "Rebbie" Jackson (born May 29, 1950)
• Sigmund Esco "Jackie" Jackson (born May 4, 1951)
• Toriano Adaryll "Tito" Jackson (born October 15, 1953)
• Jermaine La Jaune Jackson (born December 11, 1954)
• La Toya Yvonne Jackson (born May 29, 1956)
• Brandon Jackson (March 12, 1957, died at birth)
• Marlon David Jackson (born March 12, 1957)
• Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)
• Steven Randall "Randy" Jackson (born October 29, 1961)
• Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966)

Quotation

“	All the boys have to clean their own rooms, wash dishes, mop and wax the floors. We want them to be good boys and respect their mother and father.	”
—Joe Jackson, 1970

External links

• Official website for Joseph Jackson
• Profile at German branch of Random House
• BBC Interview 2003