Joe and Katherine Jackson raised their 9 children in Gary, IN prior to moving to CA as their children became international superstars. Gary was where Joseph “Joe” Jackson settled at age 18 and met a future wife Katherine Screws. Married in 1949 they had 10 children over a period of 16 years: Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, LaToya, Marlon, Brandon (Marlon’s twin who died shortly after birth), Michael, Randy and Janet. “We were a family that sang all the time. We would take the furniture out of the living room and dance. We would have a songwriting competition while we washed the dishes. Music was our destiny.” 

One day Tito took out his father's forbiddeni guitar, breaking a guitar string in the process. Tito hid in fear but when their father demanded to be shown what he could do with the guitar, Tito obliged, shocking his father and giving him the idea to form a musical group  The Jackson 5 would dominate the airwaves of the late sixties well into the 1980's, thanks to hits such as “I Want You Back,” “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “Dancing Machine” and “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground).” The group would go on to sell more than 100 million records globally. Watcha clip from the early years below.

Click to Watch a 1970 live performance of I Want You Back.

Michael Jackson: To be there when Thriller hit the scene in the winter of 1982 was an unforgettable experience. The album and the short film changed the course of music and video history. It is often said that Thriller saved the music industry, selling a whopping 40 million copies at a time when record sales were in a major slump. The songs, Billie Jean, Beat It, Human Nature are permantent fixtures in the American musical landscape, and it made Michael Jackson the most popular man on the planet. He was already a superstar; the world watched him grow from an unbelievably talented pre-teen into an international icon whose style is reflected in the work of nearly every male pop star today. Everybody knows MJ. He's the King of Pop.

The Jackson 5, c. 1973