Jermaine Jackson Biography

Jermaine was the fourth of Katherine and Joseph Jackson’s ten children. Joseph had had musical aspirations, playing guitar with his brother’s band, The Falcons, and Katherine was a passionate pianist and singer. But their large family and lack of money ended their dreams with Katherine becoming a housewife, and Joseph, a worker at U.S Steel.

While his father worked long hours as a crane operator, Jermaine and his brothers, Tito and Jackie, secretly practiced their own songs using their father's guitar. Their song writing was discovered when Tito accidentally broke a string on his father's instrument and in owning up, Joseph asked for a demonstration.

Joseph realised immediately that maybe he and his wife might never make it as musicians, but their children might. Jermaine and his two older brothers began The Jackson Brothers in 1964. By the end of 1965, Jermaine's younger brothers Marlon and Michael had also joined, creating The Jackson 5.

After Jermaine and the group won a talent contest held at brother Jackie's high school, The Jackson 5 began taking their performances more seriously. Jermaine moved from lead singer to back-up singer, and then bassist, after several years as the rhythm guitarist and lead singer.

Jermaine and his brothers worked long hours and performed in several low-class night-clubs before securing a spot in the famous Amateur Night competition at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York. The group won the contest, impressing Motown CEO Berry Gordy, who awarded the group a record contract in 1968. The group became wildly successful, and their first four hits went directly to No. 1 on the US charts.

In 1972, while still with The Jackson 5, Jermaine began a solo career. A year later, he married Berry Gordy's daughter, Hazel. When The Jackson 5 left Motown for CBS records, Jermaine broke with the group and stayed loyal to Motown.

Jermaine's solo career throughout the late 70s and early 80s was fairly successful; his 1980 album ‘Let's Get Serious’ was nominated for a Grammy Award, and songs such as ‘Daddy's Home’, ‘Feel the Fire’, and ‘Let's Get Serious’ all hit at the top of the US charts Hot 100.

Despite his success with the label, Jermaine left Motown in 1983 for Arista Records, where he scored hits such as ‘Do What You Do’ and ‘Dynamite’.

In 1984, he re-joined the Jacksons for the first time since 1975 in order to perform the 55-concert Victory tour, named after the newly released Jacksons' album, ‘Victory’. Their reunion performances grossed $75 million, and set a new record as the largest grossing tour of the time.

After that, Jermaine recorded sporadically. He generated controversy in 1991 when his song ‘Word to the Badd’ was released. The song, with lyrics such as "Once you were made/ You changed your ways/ Even told me lies/ Could not trust you/ Still I loved you," read as an open attack on his brother Michael's overwhelming success as a pop star.

After the single hit airwaves, Michael and Jermaine met privately to repair their brotherly rift. Although the song wasn't pulled from the airwaves, Jermaine re-wrote the lyrics and changed the song's meaning.

In 2007, he entered the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ house and while he came only second, he was generally accepted to be one of the more attractive personalities in what many see as a last chance to earn freak-show.

When his world famous brother died in 2009, Jermaine sang Michael’s favourite song at the funeral. It was Charlie Chaplins’ ‘Smile’.

Jermaine recently announced his intention to write a memoir on his brother, Michael, in order to reveal "the truth as we know it", he said.

He explained that he was putting together the account of Michael's life, which will be entitled ‘You Are Not Alone: Michael, Through a Brother's Eyes’, so that the trial of Dr Conrad Murray and the controversy surrounding his brother's death will not be "the final word on how he is remembered", he vowed.

In a statement, he suggested that the family wanted to be the ones to have the last word on their beloved brother and son. He said: "Everyone has said it all about Michael and us; they cannot say anything more – now it is our turn."

He said the book would deal with "what really happened" with Michael, and not what "people think they know" about him.

Despite being part of the Jackson Five and enjoying a relatively successful solo career, Jermaine has recently claimed that he is broke.

He made the claim after a judge ordered him to pay his ex-wife £50,000 in missed child support payments.

Jermaine suggested that the amount he was being asked to repay was based on his earnings in 2007, which he implied were not typical as this included his £250,000 fee for appearing on ‘Big Brother’.

He said: "I'm not rich like Michael was. In 2008, I made no money."