It is time we all say goodbye to the month of June. Call me superstitious if you like but to me, the month of June brings misery. First of all I hate the cold that comes to the southern hemisphere in the month of June. Secondly, on June 5, while swimming in the Caribbean Sea, I was confronted by a sting-ray with its sharp serrated projecting spine until this Rastaman who was also swimming nearby managed to shoo it away. That strengthened my superstitious beliefs about the month of June.
with Fred Zindi
I have reason to be superstitious about the month of June as I can justify this.
If we go back into history, Honore d’Urfe, a French writer and composer, died on June 1, 1625. Johann Casper Vogler, a German music composer, also died at the age of 67 in June, 1763 while another famous composer, Johann Paul Wessely, also died on June 1, 1810.
We move to Zimbabwe. The dastardly act of terrorism in Bulawayo happened last June. No words can adequately express the grotesque and barbaric bombing incident which killed and injured people at White City Stadium on June 23 during what was supposed to be a peaceful political party rally. I feel utter revulsion at the people who were responsible for this crime.
Come June 25, 2009, the world received the sad news that one of the world’s most talented pop musicians, Michael Jackson, had died. This was devastating news to all who loved his music.
As the Jackson family was celebrating the ninth anniversary of his death on June 25 this year, something must have triggered more depression in his sick father, Joseph Jackson. For two days later, on June 27, Joseph also died. He was aged 89.
It was Joseph Jackson who contributed immensely to the success of his children, The Jackson 5, especially to Michael. Had it not been for Joseph Jackson, the world would almost certainly never have experienced the pop music phenomena of the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson, nor seen the success of La Toya Jackson and Janet Jackson. As the father of this remarkable brood of talented children, Joe raised them and guided their careers with unbending single-mindedness.
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According to a British newspaper, The Guardian, though Joseph Jackson achieved extraordinary results with his sons, the process was often painful and controversial. In 1993 Michael Jackson told the world during the Oprah Winfrey show that he had been physically and emotionally abused by his father, and would literally be sick at the sight of him.
Michael had sacked Joe as his manager in 1979, and the other Jackson brothers followed suit in 1983. Janet recalled that she had once tried to call Joe “dad”, but was instructed always to address him as “Joseph”. In a bid to justify his strictness on his children, Joe boasted, “My kids was brought up in a way so they respect people, and they never was on drugs. They never went to no jail. They wasn’t in no gangs or nothing. They were brought up professionally.”
Born in Fountain Hill, Arkansas, Joe was the eldest of five children of Samuel Jackson, a teacher, and his wife, Crystal (nee King). Evidently, Joe learned the idea of strict parenting from his own parents. As Joe’s future wife, Katherine, wrote in her memoir, My Family, the Jacksons (1990): “Judging by the times that I heard Sam and Crystal Jackson utter the words ‘I love you’ — zero — Joe didn’t hear them often, if ever, when he was growing up.”
Joe later described his childhood as “lonely”. His parents split up when he was 12, and Joe moved to Oakland, California, with his father, while his mother went to live in East Chicago, Indiana. At 18 he moved to East Chicago and began to show promise as a boxer. He was already married, but began an affair with 17-year-old Katherine Scruse.
He swiftly had his first marriage annulled and married Katherine in November 1949. The couple moved into a two-bedroom house in Gary, Indiana, and when their first child, Maureen (known as Rebbie), was born in May 1950, Joe abandoned boxing for the security of a full-time job as a crane operator at US Steel.
Joe also harboured ambitions as a musician, and during the 1950s he and his brother Luther played guitar in a blues band, the Falcons, which never took off commercially and eventually split up. Meanwhile, by 1957 Joe and Katherine had four sons, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon, as well as another daughter, La Toya. Michael arrived in 1958 and Randy in 1961, with Janet, the youngest, born in 1966.
It was when he heard Tito playing the guitar that Joe became aware of the family’s latent musical talent. In 1963, Tito, Jermaine and Jackie formed a group, the Jackson Brothers, with their father as their manager. Joe purchased microphones and amplifiers so they could rehearse at home. They were joined by Ronnie Rancifer on keyboards and Johnny Jackson (no relation) on drums, and Joe put the group out on a gruelling schedule of talent shows, mostly playing covers of Motown hits.
With the addition of Marlon and Michael, the group became the Jackson 5. After winning talent competitions at such prestigious venues as the Regal theatre, Chicago, and the Apollo theatre, Harlem, New York, they released a couple of singles on Steeltown Records before signing to Berry Gordy’s Motown Records in March 1969. Their first four singles for the label topped the Billboard Hot 100, and they scored seven top 10 singles in a two-year period. With the group becoming Motown’s top priority and enjoying international chart success, Joe moved the family to a mansion in Encino, California.
Michael became a solo artiste in 1971 and the following year had his first chart-topping hit with Ben. Jermaine also branched out into solo work. But the stellar chart performance of the Jackson 5 was beginning to tail off, and Joe became dissatisfied with Motown’s efforts on behalf of his boys, as well as with the label’s poor royalty rate. Having masterminded a nightclub act in Las Vegas involving all the Jackson siblings, he negotiated a new and vastly more lucrative deal for the Jackson 5 with Epic Records in 1975, though Jermaine, who was now married to Berry Gordy’s daughter, Hazel, chose to remain at Motown. He was replaced in the group — now called the Jacksons, since Motown owned the Jackson 5 name — by Randy.
After a sluggish start, the Jacksons enjoyed a string of hit albums on Epic, including Destiny (1978) and Triumph (1980), but they were eclipsed by Michael’s solo success. In 1982 he released Thriller, which would become the biggest-selling album in pop history, and after the Jacksons’ Victory album and tour in 1984, announced he was leaving. 2300 Jackson Street (1989), released by the remaining quartet, was the end of the band..
No longer involved in managing his sons, Joe put his skills to work on behalf of his daughters, Rebbie, La Toya and Janet, but all of them dispensed with his services in due course. Janet, who parted company with Joe after her album Dream Street (1984), said: “I just wanted to get out of his house, get out from under my father, which was one of the most difficult things that I had to do.”
Joe’s public image became tarnished by revelations about the way he had treated his children, although Jermaine, Tito, Marlon and Jackie insisted he had not been abusive
Joe’s infidelities during his marriage also became public knowledge. In 1974 he had a daughter, Joh’Vonnie, with Cheryl Terrell, with whom he conducted a 25-year affair. However, despite stories that he was estranged from Katherine and that she had filed for divorce, the couple continued to maintain publicly that their marriage remained intact. When Michael died in June, 2009, his will named his mother as guardian of his three children, and he left nothing to Joe although he said he had forgiven him for the abuse.
In 2014, Joe accepted on Michael’s behalf a posthumous Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame award. At the same ceremony, Joe received a Lifetime Achievement award.
He is survived by Katherine and their children Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon, Randy and Janet; and by Cheryl Terrell and Joh’Vonnie.
Joe died on June 27, 2018. May his soul rest in eternal peace.
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