Domineering pop patriarch dies
Joe Jackson, who has died aged 89, failed in his ambition to become an R&B star but found ample compensation in managing the Jackson 5 and the Jacksons, the wildly successful soul and disco groups comprising his own children; with the transformation of his son Michael from child star to the most famous musician on the planet, however, came accusations that he had been an abusive patriarch who bullied and terrified his children in the pursuit of success. Michael Jackson himself publicly discussed in his later years the violent discipline which he and his brothers suffered at their father’s hands. In a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Michael claimed that, as a child, he had been whipped with a belt and taunted for having a supposedly large nose, which some commentators thought accounted for his subsequent obsession with plastic surgery. Joe Jackson ‘‘practised us with a belt in his hand’’, Michael said in the 2003 documentary Living With Michael Jackson. ‘‘If you didn’t do it the right way, he would tear you up.’’ In 2008, a documentary on the television channel VH1 titled Michael Jackson’s Secret Childhood alleged that the senior Jackson had forced his sons to endure long and exhausting rehearsal sessions, harsh punishment and verbal viciousness, adding also that his wife Katherine’s religious beliefs as a Jehovah’s Witness had ‘‘confused’’ Michael. After Michael Jackson’s increasingly bizarre behaviour culminated in his being tried and acquitted on charges of child abuse in 2005, his fans, mostly unwavering in their affection for him, were happy to see Joe cast as the villain of the story. He became fixed in the minds of the public as one of the most egregious (if successful) examples of the pushy showbusiness parent who forces his children to achieve the stardom he never attained, with scant attention to the toll taken on their mental well-being. Michael Jackson died aged 50 in June 2009, from an overdose of anaesthetic medication administered by his personal physician, Conrad Murray, who later served two years for involuntary manslaughter. Joe Jackson did not improve his image by taking the opportunity to promote his latest record label in the course of paying tribute to his son. The senior Jackson defended himself robustly, if not always plausibly, against Michael’s accusations of cruelty. In an interview with the BBC documentary-maker Louis Theroux in 2003, he declared: ‘‘I whipped him with a switch and a belt. I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick.’’ When Theroux pointed out that Michael’s fear of meeting his father often led him to ‘‘regurgitate’’, Jackson replied: ‘‘He regurgitates all the way to the bank. That’s right.’’ After Michael’s death, Joe told Larry King of CNN: ‘‘The media keep hollering about saying that I beat Michael. That’s not true . . . Michael was never beaten by me, I’ve never beaten at all.’’ In 2001, addressing the Oxford Union, Michael Jackson had spoken about the ‘‘positive’’ side of his father’s professional approach, crediting him with training him as a showman and doing his best to save his children from the life of demeaning poverty that he had himself experienced – while conceding that he struggled to express affection. ‘‘My father was a managerial genius,’’ he said, ‘‘and my brothers and I owe our professional success, in no small measure, to the forceful way that he pushed us.’’
Joseph Walter Jackson was born in Fountain Hill, Arkansas, the first of five children of Samuel Jackson, a school teacher and strict disciplinarian, and Chrystal Lee King. A sister, Verna, contracted polio and died aged seven. His parents, who struggled financially, separated in 1940 and young Joe moved to Oakland, California, with his father. After annulling a short marriage to his first wife, Jackson married Katherine Scruse on November 5, 1949. The couple moved to 2300 Jackson St in Gary, Indiana, and their first child, Maureen, was born the following year. Katherine had a further nine children over the following 16 years: Sigmund (aka Jackie, 1951), Toriano (aka Tito, 1953), Jermaine (1954), La Toya (1956), twins Marlon and Brandon (1957; the latter died at one day old), Michael (1958), Steven (1961) and Janet (1966). Joe Jackson played guitar with a blues band called the Falcons, but their best efforts did not secure them a record contract. He began to teach his sons to play the guitar. In 1962 the three oldest boys, Jackie, Tito and Jermaine, formed a group called the Jackson Brothers, with Joe as their manager. Michael and Marlon later joined the group, and Michael was six when they won their first trophy at a talent contest. A crucial signing to Motown Records in Detroit came in March 1969, and in October that year the group broke into the mainstream with the first of many huge-selling singles: I Want You Back. Including their first four singles and a debut album titled Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5, the band sold more than 10 million records and moved as bona fide pop stars to California. Joe Jackson managed the group for the remainder of their career, as well as running his Ivory Tower International record label. He navigated the Jackson 5’s switch from Motown to the Epic label in 1975, a deal which gave the group a much larger percentage of royalties. Randy Jackson replaced Jermaine, who remained signed to Motown, having in 1973 married Hazel, the daughter of the label’s owner Berry Gordy. The group, renamed the Jacksons for legal reasons, declined in commercial stature from the early 80s, partly due to a change in musical fashions but also because of the phenomenal individual success of Michael Jackson, whose 1982 album Thriller enjoyed unprecedented sales. It remains the biggestselling LP of all time, with at least 50 million units sold, and has received 33 platinum awards and eight Grammys. Michael formally left the Jacksons in 1984. Before receiving his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, Joe Jackson had previously suffered a stroke and heart troubles. He is survived by Katherine and eight of their 10 children, as well as Joh’vonnie, his daughter by his long-term mistress Cheryle Terrell. –
‘‘I whipped him with a switch and a belt. I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick.’’
Joe Jackson on son Michael