Biography

1958–1975: Early life and career debut

See also: The Jackson 5

Michael Joseph Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana to a working-class family. The son of Joseph Walter (Joe) and Katherine Esther (née Scruse), Michael was the fifth of six brothers and the seventh of nine children. His brothers and sisters are Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, Randy, Janet, La Toya and Rebbie. Joseph Jackson was a steel mill employee who often performed in an R&B band known as "The Falcons" with his brother, Luther. He was a strict disciplinarian, and many of the Jackson children recall being spanked or whipped by their father for misbehaving.^[1] Katherine, a Jehovah's Witness, raised the children in that faith.

Michael showed musical talent early in his life, performing in front of his classmates and other audience members during a Christmas recital at his school at the age of five. In 1964, Michael and Marlon joined the "Jackson Brothers", a band begun by brothers Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine, as backup playing congas and tambourine, respectively. Jackson later began performing backup vocals and dancing; at the age of eight, he and Jermaine assumed lead vocals and the group's name was changed to "The Jackson 5". The group recorded a number of singles for the local label Steeltown Records in 1967, and signed with the national Motown Records label in 1968.^[2][3] Rolling Stone described the young Jackson as "a prodigy" with "overwhelming musical gifts", noting that after Jackson began to dance and sing with his brothers, "he quickly emerged as the main draw and lead singer."^[3] Even though he sang with a "child's piping voice, he danced like a grown-up hoofer and sang with the R&B/gospel inflections of Sam Cooke, James Brown, Ray Charles, and Stevie Wonder."^[3]

The Jackson 5 toured Indiana extensively from 1965 through 1967. After winning a major local talent show in 1966 with renditions of Motown hits and James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)", led by Michael, they began playing professional gigs in Chicago, Illinois and across the mid-eastern United States. Many of these gigs were in a string of black clubs and venues collectively known as the "chitlin' circuit," where the young band often opened for stripteases and other adult acts.^[4]

The fledgling group set a record when all of their first four singles ("I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There") charted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.^[4][5] During the Jackson 5's early years, Motown's public relations team shortened Michael's age from eleven to nine to make him appear cuter and more accessible to the mainstream audience.^[6] Starting in 1972 Jackson released a total of four solo studio albums with Motown, among them Got to Be There and Ben. These were released as part of the Jackson 5 franchise and produced successful singles such as "Got to Be There", "Ben", and a remake of Bobby Day's "Rockin' Robin". Between 1971 and 1975, Michael's voice, according to Rolling Stone, "descended ever so slightly from boy soprano to his current androgynous high tenor."^[3] The group's sales began declining in 1973 and they chafed under Motown's strict refusal to allow them creative control or input. Although they scored several top 40 hits, including the top five disco single "Dancing Machine" and the top 20 hit "I Am Love", the Jackson 5 left Motown in 1975.