
Singer, songwriter, actress and a business person, Janet was born May 16, 1966, in Gary, Indiana. She is the youngest of nine child born from Joseph Walter Jackson and Katherine Jackson, she grew up under the influence of a business family.
Janet’s brothers –Michael, Jackie, Tito, Marlon and Jermaine- signed up a contract with Motown Records in 1968, they ruled the charts with hits as “I want you back”, “Stop, the Love You Save” “ABC” and “Dance Machine”.
In 1969, Katherine took her daughters Rebbie, LaToya, Janet and her youngest son Randy to join Joseph in Los Angeles to further The Jackson Five’s career.
The Jackson’s children were raised in the Jehovah’s Witness faith, as her mother, who was baptized as a Jehovah Witness in 1963. LaToya Jackson famously told in her biography about the physical and sexual abuses by Joseph Jackson. When Michael Jackson became a superstar in the early 70’s, the tensions within the family increased a lot.
Her first appearance was in April 1974 in the Jackson family’s Las Vegas act. She also appeared in the summer replacement television show The Jacksons in 1976. She called the attention of a producer and he hired Janet to play Penny in the TV comedy series Good Times since 1977 to 1979. She continued working as an actress in the short-lived A new Kind of Family (1979-80), Different Strokes (1981-82), and the teen drama Fame (1984-85).
Unlike many of her siblings, she went to a school in Encino, California, before switching to Valley Professional School, from which she graduated in 1984. In September of 1984 she eloped with DeBarge band’s musician, James DeBarge, the family disapprove this and the marriage was brief, she requested an annulment in January 1985.
With the guidance of her brother, Michael Jackson, she was able to release her first studio and debut album in 1982. It had three hit singles, including “Young Love” and “Give your love to me” The album sold 250.000 copies. In her second album, Dream Street, she included Marlon, Jackie, Tito and Michael’s contributions.
Janet’s first major success was with her third album, Control (1986), released on the A&M label. It sold eight million copies worldwide and had two No. 1 singles “What Have You Done For Me Lately” and the title track. Janet won two awards in American Music Awards.
What made her become a star was her new sexier style, stage presence, and her dancing ability, and were all showcased in her videos.
Janet’s next album Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 put her as the first artist to have seven top five hits from a single album. The album had some hit singles, including “Black Cat”, “Miss you much” and “Escapade”, and it sold around eight million copies again, and it was her most socially conscious album. Janet started her first Tour, in support of the album, in the spring of 1990.
Her contract with Virgin Records was at the time the largest recording contract in history, signed in March 1991.
Janet released her fifth album, Janet (summer 1993) at the same time of her first starring film role, in the drama “Poetic Justice”, in which Jackson received an Oscar nomination for “Again”, which she performed on the movie’s soundtrack. She sold more than six million copies and she featured “Any time, Any place” which was her 14th gold single, becoming like this as the female solo singers with the most gold singles, like Aretha Franklin. Furthermore, “That’s the Way Love Goes” earned a Grammy nomination for the Best Rhythm & Blues Song.
The Velvet Rope (1997), her sixth album, put her sexually suggestive to a whole new level, that generated some critical and it didn’t reach the quantity of sells of her previous albums.
She continued performing with a costarring role with Eddie Murphy –who worked with her brother Michael Jackson in 1993- in “The Nutty Professor II” (summer 2000).
She released All for you, another smash hit album, which put Jackson squarely back on top of the pop world. She won an award for favorite female pop/rock artist in January 2002.
She had several problems with her appearance in the Super Bowl halftime show in 2004. During a performance with Justin Timberlake her right breast was exposed during a ‘costume reveal’. That’s why she didn’t appear at the Grammy Awards and she denied her collaboration to play Lena Home at the elder actress’ request.
(Extracted from © 2009 A&E Television Networks. All rights reserved)