Joe Jackson was an American music manager who had a net worth of $500 thousand at the time of his death in 2018. Joe Jackson was best known for being the father of a number of international pop stars, including Michael Jackson, La Toya Jackson, and Janet Jackson. He was the manager of The Jackson 5. The Jackson 5 became the first American group to have their first four singles go straight to #1 on the “Billboard” Hot 100 singles chart.
Joe Jackson was born on July 26, 1928, in Fountain Hill, Arkansas. He was the son of Crystal Lee and Samuel Joseph Jackson, who worked as a teacher. The oldest of five children, Jackson had a troubled childhood, reporting his father to be very strict and domineering. Joe reportedly lived a lonely childhood and had few friends. His parents separated when Jackson was 12, and his siblings moved with their mother to East Chicago, Indiana. Joe, however, moved with his father to Oakland, California. His father remarried when Joe was 18, and at that point, Jackson joined the rest of his family in East Chicago. He did not finish high school.
Joe got a job at the Inland Steel Company in East Chicago. It was here where Jackson pursued his dream of becoming a boxer. He found success with the Golden Gloves program and was preparing for a professional athletic career when he met 17-year-old Katherine Scruse, who was a student nearby at Washington High School. He was already married at the time but had the union quickly annulled in order to be with Katherine. Jackson married Katherine Scruse in November 1949, and the pair bought their first home, a small two-bedroom house in Gary, Indiana. They went on to have ten children, their first being Maureen Rebbie Jackson. Joe got a second job at the American Foundries in Chicago, and Katherine began working at Sears in Gary, Indiana. Around this time, Joe was playing guitar in a band with his brother Luther called The Falcons.
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It was in 1963 that Jackson became acutely aware of their children’s musical talent and quickly transformed himself into the acting manager for the family group that would soon be known as The Jackson 5. He started working first with the three oldest sons in the family: Tito, Jermaine, and Jackie. They eventually recruited Michael and Marlon, and the band originally performed under the name The Jackson Brothers. They started out playing local talent shows and at high school functions locally, but eventually, Joe began booking them in more serious venues, including the Apollo Theater in NYC. The Jackson 5 landed their first record contract in November 1967 with Gordon Keith, the president of Steeltown Records in Gary.
The Jackson 5 released their first single in 1968, “Big Boy,” which unfortunately saw no real success. However, the following year, the group won an amateur night contest, and their win secured them a Motown record contract in March 1969. The family then moved to Los Angeles, with Joe sitting in on every recording session the Jackson 5 performed for the Motown label. It was with the release of their first Motown single, “I Want You Back,” that the group received widespread fame. The song quickly hit #1, and subsequently, the group released their first three albums. Other songs that reached #1 included “ABC,” “The Love You Save,” and “I’ll Be There,” all in 1970. In 1974, Joe formed his own record label, Ivory Tower International Records, and the artists he signed under his management toured the world with The Jackson 5 as opening acts.
The Jackson 5 left Motown Records in 1975 to sign with Epic Records. However, a few of the sons had begun to go their separate ways, with Michael and Jermaine signing deals to release solo albums. In the mid-seventies, the group was forced to rename themselves The Jacksons when they found out that Motown president Berry Gordy had copyrighted the band’s original name.
Joe put his daughter Janet Jackson’s career on the map in 1982 when he got her involved in movies and as a recording studio, financing the recording of her first demo. She later signed with A&M Records.
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While the group enjoyed much success, tensions eventually led to them firing Joe as their manager. Michael later accused Joe of abuse, which some siblings confirmed and others denied. Jackson enforced long and intense rehearsals for his sons and booked them in more and more respectable venues until they landed a spot at the renowned Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. When another woman gave birth to a child fathered by Joe Jackson, wife Katherine publicly denounced him and filed for divorce twice but eventually dropped both cases.
In 1993, Michael spoke out against Joe on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” detailing the physical and mental abuse he endured at the hands of his father as a child. This issue split the Jackson siblings. On June 25, 2009, Michael died suddenly. Michael’s last will and testament listed his mother as the guardian of his three children. His father, Joseph, received nothing from Michael’s estate.
Joe Jackson died on June 27, 2018, at the age of 89 after suffering from pancreatic cancer.
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