Tito Jackson

Toriano Adaryll "Tito" Jackson (born on October 15 1953 in Gary, Indiana) is an American singer and guitarist and an original member of the The Jackson 5. little gay boy ill blow urhead off

Early life and rise to stardom

Main article: The Jackson 5

Growing up in a large family, young Tito Jackson originally hid his musical talent from his father Joseph. Tito was considered to be the favorite of the five considering he was "favoured" by his daddy. While his father was at work, Jackson would play his father's guitar while his siblings danced and sang. It was not until the young Jackson broke a string on the guitar that father Joseph learned about his musical aspirations. Joseph was then inspired to form a group around Tito and his two brothers, Jackie and Jermaine into a band in 1964 called The Jackson Brothers; eventually, younger brothers Marlon and Michael joined the group, and the brothers formed The Jackson Five in 1966. During the group's tenure at Motown, public relations teams termed Tito as "the quiet Jackson" though he lived a different life out of the spotlight. Despite his talents as a guitarist, Motown refused to allow him or Jermaine, who played bass guitar to play electric guitar for the duration of the Jackson Five's releases on Motown. Tito did not play guitar on his brothers' records until the group left for Philadelphia International in 1976 and changed their name to The Jacksons. Tito also started to contribute lead vocals and co-write several hit songs for his brothers after the release of the 1978 hit album, Destiny.

The Jacksons followed up with an album entitled Triumph which sold 10 million copies worldwide and 3 million copies in the US only, but Michael's Thriller became the biggest selling album of all. In 1984, the group released Victory (reuniting the group with Jermaine) and followed it up with a tour. Tito sang lead on "We Can Change The World," and played many of the instruments; his other contributions to the album were limited to backing vocals. The subsequent tour would be one of the Jacksons' greatest successes, but almost immediately afterward, lead singer Michael Jackson resigned from the group. Brother Marlon also quit following the Victory Tour.

In 1985, Tito, along with other members of the Jackson family participatied on USA for Africa's famine-relief fund-raising single "We Are the World".

The Jacksons' final release, 2300 Jackson Street was a more "New Jack Swing"-oriented album, whose title song reunited all of the members of the Jackson family (minus LaToya). Tito did not contribute guitar parts to the record; however, he did contribute vocals, including a narration that precedes the first song.

Marriage and Family

Tito married Delores "DeeDee" Martes in June 1972 at the age of 18, and later divorced in 1988. The couple had three sons, who compose the musical group 3T:

• Toriano Adaryll Jackson "Taj" II (b. August 4, 1973)
• Taryll Adren Jackson (b. August 8, 1975)
• Tito Joseph "TJ" Jackson (b. July 16, 1978)

In summer 2008, the Jackson family (including Tito) stayed at a holiday let for six weeks in Appledore, in Devon, England while searching for house to buy in the area. The project was filmed for a Channel 4 documentary The Jacksons are Coming, which was aired on 27th November 2008 at 9pm.

External links

• Official website Tito Jackson Official Website