Jermaine has long had a reputation for being the prima donna of the Jacksons. Jermaine Jackson, who will be touring with the band this summer, is not available to talk, though no reason is given. Photograph: David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images You need to check them out.’ After he heard us sing, he started buying instruments.” And she told my poppa: ‘Hey, Joe, the boys can really sing. My momma was an avid country-and-western fan, so we would harmonise with her all the time. “She’s the one who from the very beginning realised we had talent. We always hear about Joe’s role in the boys’ success, but what about their mother, Katherine? Actually, Jackie says, there wouldn’t have been a Jackson 5 without her. Their father saw the boys’ talent as a way out of Gary. Without Joe’s iron will, they say, they wouldn’t have made it. But the brothers are staunch defenders of Joe.
In 1993, Michael told Oprah Winfrey that his father would watch them rehearse and if they did anything wrong he would beat them with a belt leaving them covered in welts. “He did it to keep us occupied because he knew it was going to take us all day to move those bricks from over here to over there.” Well, there was a purpose of sorts, says Jackie.
For no purpose, whatsoever? Again, they nod and grin. We worked all the time, whether it was on our music or just moving bricks in the backyard from one spot to another spot.” And the reason he was tough with us was because we had gangs in the neighbourhood and he didn’t want us to fall into them, so he kept us busy. That’s just rumours jumping on this to sell magazines.”Ī moment later, he tells me: “He was real disciplined. I like the fact that he was tough, but he wasn’t like that with us. Joe, who died in 2018, had a reputation as the toughest father in the music business. There were nine Jackson children in all – six boys (all of whom performed in the band) and three girls (Janet became a huge star in her own right, while La Toya also had a lengthy recording career). 'That's just rumours jumping on this to sell magazines' Joe Jackson had a reputation as the toughest father in the music business. "Between shows, Jackie, remember?" Tito says. When did they sleep? "We slept in the cars," Jackie says. "That's about right," Jackie says, when I mention it. After school, it is said, they typically rehearsed for four hours, played a gig, did their homework and then got to bed between 2am and 4am. It was a crazy life, scheduled by their father.
Everyone does.”īefore signing to Motown, the Jackson brothers spent years rehearsing at home in Gary, Indiana. “Do we miss having hit records? Of course. They often finish sentences for each other.ĭo they miss having hits? Tito looks at me as if I’m mad. Listen to them and you could be forgiven for thinking they were just starting out, despite the 37 years that have elapsed since their last hit single. It’s hard to believe they are approaching 70. Jackie, who has been married three times and has four children, is smartly dressed and smiley. Tito, whose three sons make up the group 3T, is wearing his customary bowler hat – he says it’s the first thing he puts on when he gets up and the last thing he takes off at night. Both are youthful and run off high-energy batteries. They are Zooming from Las Vegas, where they live. It makes perfect sense to have MLK and Obama guesting on the song, Tito Jackson says today: “They are the two best rappers in the world.” Tito and Jackie, the oldest brother, laugh. Now the Jacksons are determined to remind us that it is also one of the great political songs, with its call for “all the colours of the world” to unite and tell the “marching men who are killing their brothers” that we all share the same blood.įorty years after first charting, Can You Feel It has been reworked to include clips from speeches by Martin Luther King and Barack Obama, part of a project to expand the band’s six albums for Epic with remixes and bonus tracks. Can You Feel It is one of the great disco songs.
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