Joseph Joe Jackson was one of the most formidable and controversial figures in music history a man who shaped a dynasty with one hand and fractured a family with the other. As the father and manager of The Jackson 5, he launched some of the biggest careers in pop music, including those of Michael and Janet Jackson. But his legacy is inseparable from the serious abuse allegations made by several of his own children. He died on June 27, 2018, of pancreatic cancer at 89 years old, just days after the ninth anniversary of Michael’s death.
Here are seven things to know about Joe Jackson and his deeply complicated relationship with his most famous son.
He grew up in Arkansas and moved north as a teenager
Joe was born on July 26, 1928, in Fountain Hill, Ark., the oldest of five children. His parents, Samuel Jackson, a high school teacher, and Crystal Lee King, a housewife, separated when Joe was 12, scattering the family between Oakland, Calif., and East Chicago, Ind. At 18, Joe moved to Indiana to be near his mother and pursued a career in professional boxing before eventually settling into life as a factory worker. He married Katherine Jackson in 1949
Joe met Katherine Scruse in Indiana, and the two married in 1949. He had been briefly married once before, a union that was annulled. The couple settled in Gary, Ind., where Joe worked as a crane operator for U.S. Steel. Katherine later said she fell for him immediately upon their first meeting. Despite their enduring marriage, Katherine filed for divorce twice, though the couple never legally separated.
He fathered 11 children, together, Joe and Katherine had 10 children, Maureen Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon, Brandon, Michael, Randy and Janet. Brandon, Marlon’s twin, died shortly after birth. Joe also fathered a daughter, Joh’Vonnie Jackson, with Cheryl Terrell, a secretary with whom he allegedly maintained a 25 year affair. Joh’Vonnie has spoken publicly about her close relationship with her father, describing him as a regular and affectionate presence in her childhood home.
He built The Jackson 5 from scratch
Joe had previously played in a band called The Falcons with his brother before turning his attention to his children. After discovering Tito playing his guitar without permission, he channeled that moment into action forming The Jackson Brothers in 1963 with Jackie, Tito and Jermaine. By 1966, the group had been renamed The Jackson 5, with Marlon and Michael added to the lineup. Under Joe’s management, they went from local talent competitions to Motown Records, becoming one of the best-selling acts of their era.
He launched and lost Michael’s solo career
Joe served as Michael’s manager through his early solo work, but Michael fired him in 1979. Despite the split, Joe continued managing and launching the careers of several other children, including Jermaine, Rebbie, La Toya and Janet. In 2002, he was recognized as Best Entertainment Manager of All Time by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2014, he was inducted into the R&B Hall of Fame.
Multiple children alleged he abused them
In the 1990s, Michael and several of his siblings began speaking out about Joe’s alleged physical and verbal abuse during their childhoods. Michael described being hit, thrown against walls and subjected to relentless intimidation during rehearsals. Janet said she was struck once as a young child. La Toya alleged sexual abuse in her 1991 memoir, though she later recanted, saying she had been pressured into making the statements by her then-husband. Joe defended his discipline as a necessary response to the environment in Gary at the time, pointing to his children’s careers and clean records as evidence that his approach was justified.
He was excluded from Michael’s will and died in 2018
Despite a complicated bond Michael once described his father as a genius while also saying he feared him deeply Joe was not included in Michael’s will, signed in July 2002. The will established trusts for Michael’s children and named Katherine as their guardian, with Diana Ross listed as backup. Joe’s final years were marked by declining health, including two strokes in 2012 and 2015. He was ultimately diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and died on June 27, 2018. The Jackson family remembered him as a man who sacrificed greatly to give his children the lives and success they achieved a tribute that captured, in a few words, the contradiction that defined him.
