Biography

Joseph Walter "Joe" Jackson (born July 26, 1928 in Fountain Hill, Arkansas, United States) is an American talent manager, former boxer and former musician best known as the father of American entertainers Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson, and the creator and manager of The Jackson 5, a Motown group comprising several of his children.


Early life

Joseph Jackson was born in Arkansas, the eldest of four to Samuel Jackson and Crystal Lee King. His parents separated when he was 12. He moved with his father to Oakland, California, where he lived until after turning 18 when he moved to East Chicago, Indiana, to live near his mother. While there, he met his future wife Katherine Scruse. After a brief marriage to another woman and then an annulment, Joseph and Katherine began a courtship resulting in their November 5, 1949 wedding. Settling in Gary, Indiana, Joseph, a former boxer, worked full-time as a crane operator at Gary's U.S. Steel company, while Katherine tended to their children. In the mid-1950s, Joseph started a music career with his brother Luther, playing guitar in a band called The Falcons. The group split up a couple of years later after failing to get a recording deal. Joseph returned full time to his job at U.S. Steel.

Current work

Joseph is currently hosting a boot camp for aspiring hip-hop artists, both to move his career to the next stage and to change what he sees as distasteful about the genre.