Janet Jackson Biography
The following biography
has been copied from
WIKIPEDIA.ORG
“The
Free Encyclopedia.”
Janet
Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966 in Gary,
Indiana) is an American pop, R&B and soul
singer-songwriter and the youngest child of the
hugely successful Jackson music family. She rose out
of the shadows of her famous brothers to become one
of the most successful female entertainers of all
time. She ranks as the ninth-most successful artist
in the history of rock and roll, and is the youngest
artist in the top ten of that group, according to
Billboard magazine in 2004. She is well known for
her high-octane dance moves.
*
* * *
Biography
Early life
Janet
was born the last of nine children in Gary, Indiana
to parents Joseph and Katherine Jackson. Sometimes
nicknamed "Papa Joe" or known as simply Joe, Joseph
worked hard labor as a crane operator in Gary's
steel mills. Before Janet was born, Joe had had his
own music career forming the R&B band, the Falcons.
They never got as far as the biggest nightclub in
Gary. Joseph was also a tough disciplinarian whose
teachings and lessons he instilled on his children
would later be questioned by those who have written
books about him since.
While
Joe was stern and gregarious, mother Katherine
seemed angelic. For a time before Janet was born,
Katherine also held down a job working as a store
clerk for Sears. She quit the job as soon as she
became a devout Jehovah's Witness in 1965. She was
considered the one who "kept the glue within the
family" during the earlier years.
By the
time she was a toddler, Janet's older brothers
Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael had
already begun to perform onstage at nightclubs and
theaters as the Jackson 5. In March, 1969, the group
signed to Motown Records, and by the end of the
year, the group recorded their first of their four
consecutive number-one singles, "I Want You Back".
By the time the J5 had achieved success, the entire
family moved out of Gary into the more sunnier
atmosphere of Southern California, eventually
settling in a gated mansion they named Hayvenhurst
in 1971. Janet was all but five years old by this
point.
Early career
When
Janet was 7, she had aspired to be a horse jockey
after a growing profound infatuation with horses.
However, her father thought otherwise, as he saw her
potential early on. After the success of the Jackson
5 began to dwindle due to a changing musical scene
and record industry politics, Joseph decided to
bring the rest of his offspring into the spotlight
including little Janet.
On
April 9, 1974, Janet made her public debut
performance at a Las Vegas nightclub, with nearly
all nine members of the Jackson family (Rebbie did
not join until a few months later at a different
city). Little Janet quickly became the star of the
show emulating and imitating various icons such as
Cher, Toni Tennille, and Mae West, in particular.
By
1976, Janet and the family's Vegas act had caught
the attention of CBS' president Fred Silverman. The
network was desperately trying to find a new variety
act to replace the recently ended Sonny & Cher Show,
since ABC had a competing show featuring Donny and
Marie Osmond.
Debuting on June 16, 1976, The Jacksons show became
the first African-American family to have a variety
show on TV. The show lasted only two seasons and was
cancelled in 1977.
Acting career
In
1977, 11-year-old Janet's talent for acting caught
legendary TV producer Norman Lear's ear. Lear was
looking for someone to reawaken one of his
groundbreaking shows from TV ruin - the family
sitcom Good Times. Casting her as an abused child
named Penny, Janet easily stole the spotlight from
the show's biggest star, J.J. Evans, played by
Jimmie Walker. J.J. was the apple of Penny's eye on
the show, a fact the character would make known
every time she saw him. Janet would become such a
popular draw to the show that she was named as one
of the starring cast members during the 1977-1978
season and would remain in the show until it was
cancelled in 1979.
Jackson
continued her acting career, appearing briefly in a
short-lived sitcom titled "A New Kind of Family",
which was cancelled in early 1980. In 1981, she
landed a recurring role on another family sitcom,
Diff'rent Strokes, playing Charlene Duprey, the love
interest of Willis (played by Todd Bridges). With
Janet's charisma, looks and sweetness, she had
become a teen idol and was the idol of black girls
who aspire to be her or look like her. A prime
example is Moesha Mitchell, who was portrayed by
Brandy Norwood on the 1990s sitcom Moesha. Norwood
was a huge admirer of Janet.
In
1984, Janet reluctantly took the role of Cleo Hewitt
in the musical series, "Fame". She later told
interviewers that her father told her to do the
role. After a year, Janet asked to be let go of her
contract. It would take Janet 19 years to appear in
another television series.
Early musical endeavors
Janet
always had an interest in music, writing her first
song at the age of nine, but she never aspired to be
a professional singer. Nonetheless, she agreed to
participate in music just to help her family out.
Her first-ever recording was a duet with baby
brother Randy on a song titled "A Love Song for
Kids" in 1978. She would participate in her family's
other recordings, particularly with sister LaToya
and brother Michael.
In
1981, Janet and her two older sisters LaToya and
Rebbie had wanted to start their own musical group,
but disagreements between the older sisters forced
the group to disband before ever making a record.
Beginning a professional music career
Although she was asked by her father Joseph to start
a singing career, Janet was uncomfortable with being
in the recording studio feeling she was not as
talented vocally as her brothers, particularly
brother Michael, who was becoming a pop superstar
thanks to his albums, Off the Wall and Thriller.
Nonetheless, at the age of 16, she released her
debut album simply called Janet Jackson though the
teenager protested that her last name should not
have been on the cover. Produced by soul singers
Angela Winbush, Rene Moore and Leon Slyvers of the
famed Slyvers family music group, the album reached
#6 on the Billboard R&B album charts, and spent 45
weeks in the Top 50 and hit #63 on the Billboard Pop
albums chart.
The
album featured 3 Top 20 Billboard R&B singles "Young
Love" (#6), "Say You Do" (#15) and "Come Give Your
Love To Me" (#17). Two of the singles, "Young Love"
and "Come Give Your Love to Me", went as high as #64
and #58 on the Billboard pop charts respectively.
The
album sold over a quarter million copies in the US.
Billboard Magazine gave Janet the rank of being the
tenth biggest-selling R&B artist at the end of 1982,
while the debut album was given the rank of being
the tenth biggest-selling R&B album of 1983.
Despite
the modest success, Jackson found that she had to
compete with brother Michael for pop music
prominence, after his success with his hit albums.
In
1984, Janet, now eighteen, released her second
effort, titled Dream Street. It marked a musical
progression from her debut, with more funky,
up-tempo production by brother Marlon and famed
disco producer Giorgio Moroder, producer of hits for
artists like Donna Summer.
The
album only peaked at #147 on the Billboard pop album
charts when it was released that July, though it
reached #19 on the R&B chart, and the album overall
only sold half of what her self-titled debut sold.
Critics began to demean Jackson's career as a pop
star over before it actually began.
Around
the same time, she fell in love and eloped with
James DeBarge, member of the Motown family group
DeBarge. The marriage was annulled in March 1985,
with DeBarge's drug habit often cited as the reason.
After the marriage was annulled and after years of
dealing with the tensed atmosphere of being a member
of a world-famous family, Janet was searching for
her own place.
In
Control and leading a Nation
After
the limited success of her first two albums, A&M A&R
John McClain decided to bring in much needed help to
make Janet a star. McClain recruited producers Jimmy
Jam and Terry Lewis to revive the dying music career
of the 19-year-old. Before leaving for Minneapolis,
however, the producers were given the blessing of
Janet's father...and manager after they promised him
that Jackson would not sound anything like Prince.
Within
months, Jackson, Jam & Lewis crafted what became one
of the best-produced records to come around in that
particular time. Naming it "Control", Jackson told
her life through a funky musical basis:
"When I
was 17 I did what people told me,
Did
what my father said and let my mother mold me,
First
time I fell in love I didn't know what hit me,
So
young and so naïve I thought it would be easy,
But now
I know I got to take control..."
Janet
got the last laugh when the album was released in
February, 1986, and became a smash based on hits
like "What Have You Done For Me Lately", "Nasty" and
"When I Think of You". Jackson's success, however,
was not just due to Jam & Lewis' funky productions,
but also Jackson's high-tech dance moves that seemed
to defy gravity in well-produced music videos that
received heavy rotation on MTV, BET, VH-1 and other
music video channels. The album peaked at #1 that
May and sold over 5 million copies in The United
States according to the RIAA. Jackson performed
brilliantly at both the American Music Awards (where
she won two out of an unbelievable nine nominations)
and Grammy Awards (where the album was up for Album
of the Year) and was now in the same levels of
success that had once eluded her.
When
Janet went into her next record, she was under
pressure to deliver the same spark that had made
"Control" remarkable with the same messages and the
same format. However, Janet, now 22, was looking at
different matters. She had seen images of shootings,
drug dealing, gang-related violence and poverty on
TV and wanted to sing some of those messages into
what ended up becoming "Rhythm Nation 1814".
And
even though Janet had finally scored a hit album,
many critics wrote her off as a "studio project" and
still were quoting her as "Michael's sister" often
to remind her of the person she was now engaged in a
"friendly rivalry" with. Janet was determined to
prove critics wrong. When "Rhythm Nation 1814" was
finally released in October, 1989, she proved them
wrong both artistically and commercially. In an
artistic sense, Janet gave her fans messages of
unity ("Rhythm Nation"), education ("The
Knowledge"), poverty ("State of the World") and
school shootings ("Living in a World We Didn't
Make"). But she also brought a funnier and romantic
side to things in songs like "Escapade" and
"Alright" while "Black Cat", the solo Jackson
production, showcased a more rock side. Ballads like
"Come Back to Me" and "Lonely" showcased the calm
and cool delivery of Jackson's voice.
Commercially, Jackson made history. As the album
peaked at #1 in the beginning of 1990, Jackson found
even more success with a three-set of videos from
her "Rhythm Nation" mini-movie and the accompanying
songs for the non-social message songs that filled
up the mini-movie. Jackson even co-choreographed
most of the dance moves in all the videos. Because
of them, Jackson's status as a hit-making diva was
solid. Amazingly, seven songs hit the Top 5 on
Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart between 1989 and
1991. Four of those ("Miss You Much", "Escapade",
"Black Cat" & "Love Will Never Do (Without You)"
were #1 records. The album sold over 6 million in
the U.S. according to the RIAA and became the
top-selling album of 1990, winning the Billboard
Award for the top selling album of that year. Janet
finally had gotten to her big brother's stature even
winning multiple awards at the Billboard Music
Awards in almost the same fashion of Michael's
8-time Grammy wins. Ironically, Jackson only won one
of the 8 Grammys she was nominated - for Best Long
Form Music Video. Around the same time, Janet
embarked on a world tour that ended up making her a
critical darling and the tour itself became the
best-selling debut tour by an artist in rock
history.
New
Agenda & New Attitude
After
finding success as a singer, Jackson was given
another chance at an acting career when director
John Singleton allowed her to audition as a tough,
poetic hairdresser from South Central, Los Angeles.
The film was called Poetic Justice. Riding off the
success of his groundbreaking "Boyz in the Hood"
movie, Singleton wanted to find similar gold in
"Justice". Instead of Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ice
Cube, Singleton brought Jackson and rapper Tupac
Shakur in as the stars of the romantic drama. When
the film opened in 1993, fans were shocked at
Jackson's attitude. Before, she always had a shy
demeanor but as Justice, Janet cursed and even
threatened people who ever crossed her. The new
attitude brought along a change in Jackson's music
as she entered the studio to record her fifth album
(third with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis). The mood was
now more brash in its sensual and sexual tone. The
music was deep and provocative. The vocals were
sexier than ever.
When
Jackson released the simply titled "janet." album in
May, 1993, many in the music industry have said that
she truly broke out of the shell of her older
brother. The first song, "That's The Way Love Goes",
became a hit out of left-field because Jackson's new
label Virgin had originally wanted the hard-edged
"If" to be the first release. Instead, Jackson's
demand that the former was to be released, led to
her having her longest-running #1 single on the
Billboard pop charts. Janet also scored a hit with
the latter and four other singles including the
Oscar-nominated "Again" and #1 R&B single of the
year, "Any Time, Any Place" (spent 10 weeks at #1 on
Billboard's Top R&B Chart). The album became a huge
success worldwide, reaching #1 in 22 countries,
selling nearly 17 million copies. "janet." was
awarded Grammy, MTV Video Music, and Soul Train
Awards.
Inside Her Velvet Rope
In
1996, Jackson re-signed with Virgin for a reported
$80 million. Around the same time, she was busy
trying to create a concept around her sixth studio
effort. Yet she was faced with personal demons that
almost downplayed the recordings. Jackson
acknowledged later she went through clinical
depression. The result was possibly her most painful
album, "The Velvet Rope". Despite the usual love
song ("I Get Lonely"), sex song ("Rope Burn") and
anti-racism anthem (the hidden track "Can't Be
Stopped"), most of the album showcased pain, life
lost, and spiritual growth. The album's almost
avant-garde approach took most of the buying public
off guard when it was released on October 7, 1997;
though it ended up becoming another multi-platinum
effort for the diva. And unlike her previous albums,
only two songs (the AIDS anthem "Together Again" and
the smoky R&B number "I Get Lonely") were released
as singles while three more were charted overseas.
The tour, however, became a bigger success. A
televised show from New York helped Jackson and her
crew get nominated for Emmy's. The album also showed
signs that personal strain had been developing in
one of Jackson's relationships with a former dancer.
The
Marriage & Divorce of Rene Elizondo
When
Janet suffered from the aftermath of her failed
marriage to James DeBarge in 1985, former dancer
Rene Elizondo was always by her side. They began an
on-again, off-again courtship in 1986 that resulted
in a secret marriage in March, 1991. Many speculated
at the time of "The Velvet Rope", their marriage had
begun to fall apart. According to both Jackson and
Elizondo, the couple had become more business
partners than a couple. Together, they helped
cultivate the sounds that made Jackson's music
popular. By 1999, however, their marriage was all
but over. But it took a year into Jackson working on
her second box-office flick, "The Nutty Professor
II: The Klumps" that their marriage would finally be
told to the world as Rene revealed in 2000. Jackson
explained in interviews that she chose not to tell
fans about her marriage because since she had been
in the public spotlight at a young age that if word
ever got out about her marriage, then it would have
made it worse and the marriage was to be over
anyway. Elizondo later sued Jackson for spousal
support as they went through a nasty court battle
that finally ended in 2002 with the divorce
finalized and Elizondo only receiving half the
multi-million dollar pay-off he was hoping for.
All For
You and then some
Janet
released her eighth album in 2001. Titled "All For
You", Jackson made music history with the album's
title track reaching every format of radio that day
of its release. The song's success helped the album
reach #1 and become a big seller. The other big hit
included was "Someone To Call My Lover". Unlike "The
Velvet Rope", "All For You" showcased a much happier
Janet living the single life.
Meanwhile, Jackson was on the mind of many a gossip
column about her alleged rapports with everybody
from actor Matthew McConaughey, singer Justin
Timberlake, singer Johnny Gill and rapper Q-Tip.
There were already innuendos (that were later
denied) that Jackson engaged in lesbianism with her
female back-up dancers. However, in reality by 2002,
Jackson was accompanying herself with hip-hop
producer and music mogul Jermaine Dupri.
Super
Bowl XXXVIII
During
the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII on February
1, 2004, Janet Jackson performed with Justin
Timberlake to an audience of more than 100 million
people. During this live performance, her top was
torn open by Timberlake, exposing Jackson's right
breast; the nipple was partially covered by a
starburst-shaped decoration held in place by a
piercing. Timberlake called the incident a "wardrobe
malfunction".
Timberlake's song, "Rock your body" has suggestive
lyrics which state, "gonna have you naked by the end
of this song". Jackson apologized at first, calling
it an accident and claiming that Timberlake was
supposed to pull away the bustier and leave the
red-lace bra intact, however, she later said to an
interviewer for Genre magazine that she wishes she
had not apologized at all.
CBS,
the NFL, and MTV, which produced the halftime show,
disclaimed all responsibility under a hailstorm of
controversy. The FCC has announced an investigation.
As a
result, CBS cancelled its invitation to Jackson to
perform at the 2004 Grammy Awards ceremony
(strangely, Justin Timberlake was not only allowed
to be at the Grammys, but was actually a presenter).
The FCC tightened up restrictions on lewd content on
television and the entertainment industry suffered a
major backlash. They delayed the broadcast of all
live performances and shows by five seconds.
Programs that once pushed the envelope began
eliminating even mildly coarse language from their
broadcasts. Some performers were penalized for
things they had gotten away with previously. Many
people directly blamed Jackson for this new wave of
censorship while in fact the FCC was responsible for
it (and Timberlake has been mostly excused of all
wrong doing).
To make
things worse, Jackson was told by representatives
and family members of entertainment legend Lena
Horne that the project was put on hold due to the
incident and Jackson would not be playing Horne.
Despite
all of that, Jackson has managed to survive the
incident and that of the troubles her older brother
Michael was facing due to his child molestation case
before his acquittal (which Janet was present for)
by showing the perseverance that has made her a
superstar.
Life
after Super Bowl
Many
thought it was awkward that a month after the Super
Bowl scandal, Janet released her ninth album, "Damita
Jo", with the cover of a topless Jackson covering
her breasts. Controversy dogged what was potentially
a hit album. But even in the midst of everything,
the album still managed to make a #2 debut on the
charts though it was her first since "Rhythm Nation"
to not make it #1 in its first week. The album sold
three million copies worldwide to date and garnered
Platinum status in America. It could be because this
album is a "copy controlled" disc in Europe. The
only big hit from the album was her Grammy-nominated
Motown-like soul ballad, "I Want You". The single
for "I Want You" was only released in Europe and
Japan as part single with "All Nite (Don't Stop)."
"All Nite (Don't Stop)" was Janet's first single not
to hit the top 40 since her song "Come Give Your
Love To Me" from her Debut album Janet Jackson The
album, itself, was nominated for a Grammy for Best
Contemporary R&B Album.
Fighting back against her critics, Jackson began
doing interviews. She also hosted Saturday Night
Live and was heavily praised in her ability to make
light of her 'wardrobe malfunction'. She
impersonated Condoleezza Rice flashing her breast to
the 9/11 commission to divert attention from the war
in Iraq. In a much lighter tone, Jackson appeared on
a TV show for the first time since she was the
special guest on the hit show, "Will & Grace" as
herself.
As of
2005, there are plans to release a new album, which
would feature production once again from Jimmy Jam &
Terry Lewis with her boyfriend Jermaine Dupri as one
of its executive producers. Jimmy Jam told an
interviewer that the new album, expected to feature
more dance numbers, will come out in 2006, 20 years
after Jackson began her successful journey.
[Updated by PSP: In
October 2005, she was accused of having a hidden
child by her ex-brother-in-law. Then a papparazzi
took a video of her sunbathing in the nude - which
of course made its way all over the internet.]
*
* * *
Trivia
-
Janet's first biography was released in 1977 as
a joint bio about her and brother Randy
-
Janet's first musical recording was a duet with
brother Randy on the b-side to his modest
charted hit single, "How Can I Be Sure" on a
song titled "A Love Song for Kids", in 1978 when
she was only twelve.
-
Janet sung background vocals on brother
Michael's Top 10 hit, "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young
Thing)", in 1983.
-
Janet wore a key earring throughout her tenure
as a rising pop superstar in the 80s.
-
Janet became the first artist to score a #1 hit
simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 and
Mainstream Rock singles chart with "Black Cat"
in 1990.
-
Brother Michael claims in his "Home Movies"
documentary in 2003 that Janet emulated his
choreography from his "Captain EO" short movie
into her "Rhythm Nation" music video which she
choreographed with Anthony Thomas four years
later.
-
Janet's first nickname was "Dunk", given to her
by brother Michael.
-
Janet's debut tour, has been dubbed the all time
greatest debut tour in history.
-
Janet is the #2 most successful artist on the
Billboard Dance/Club Play Chart, behind only
Madonna.
-
Janet holds the record for most weeks spent at
#1 on the R&B chart for her 1994 single, "Any
Time, Any Place."
-
Janet Jackson is the only artist to place seven
consecutive Top Five singles on the Billboard
Hot 100 from one album, Rhythm Nation 1814.
-
Janet's breakthrough album Control had one
single - "When I Think Of You" hit #1 on the
Billboard Hot 100. However, the other five
singles ("What Have You Done For Me Lately,"
"Nasty," "Control," "Let's Wait Awhile" and "The
Pleasure Principle") all hit #1 on the R&B
Chart. "When I Think Of You" hit #3 on the R&B
chart.
-
Janet remains the only Jackson family member to
be nominated for an Academy Award. Her single
"Again" was nominated for Best Original Song in
1994.
-
Janet held a record for having the most Top 10
hits in a succession of years: 9 (1989-1998) and
held a record for the most consecutive Top 10
hits of any artist: 19
*
* * *
The
above biography has been copied in part or in whole
from an article on
Wikipedia.org
"The Free Encyclopedia." It has been modified under
the NGU Free Document License Section 5 in the
following manner: (1) All links within the article
have been removed, including text links such as
"[#]"; (2) The "[Edit]" text and link have been
removed [if you would like to update the article,
you may do so from the original page]; (3) the table
of Contents links and text have been removed; and
(4) all of the sections of the original article have
not been copied. All of the above text is available
under the terms of the
GNU Free Document License.
URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Jackson
Date Article Copied:
July 11, 2004
We
will try to replace this article with an original
biography in the near future, but we hope this will
be of help to our visitors in the mean time.
For
additions & corrections,
Click Here |