Tito Jackson

For the Boston City Council member, see Tito Jackson (politician)

Tito Jackson
Birth name	Toriano Adaryll Jackson
Born	October 15, 1953 (1953-10-15) (age 58) Gary, Indiana, U.S.
Genres	R&B, blues
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
Instruments	Guitar, vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, programming (music)
Years active	1964–present
Labels	Epic, Motown
Associated acts	The Jackson 5

Toriano Adaryll "Tito" Jackson (born October 15, 1953) is an American singer and lead guitarist and original member of The Jackson 5. He is the older brother of American pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson.

Early life and rise to stardom

Main article: The Jackson 5

Tito was born the third of ten children of Joseph and Katherine Jackson. Growing up in a large family, young Tito originally hid his musical talent from his father. While his father was at work, Jackson would play his father's guitar while his siblings danced and sang.^[1] It was not until the young Jackson broke a string on the guitar that father Joseph learned about his musical aspirations. Joseph was then inspired to form a group around Tito and his two brothers, Jackie and Jermaine into a band in 1964 called The Jackson Brothers; eventually, younger brothers Marlon and Michael joined the group, and the brothers formed The Jackson 5 in 1964. During the group's tenure at Motown, public relations teams termed Tito as "the quiet Jackson" though he lived a different life out of the spotlight. Despite his talents as a guitarist, Motown refused to allow him or Jermaine, who played bass guitar, to play electric guitar for the duration of the Jackson Five's releases on Motown. Tito did not play guitar on his brothers' records until the group left for Philadelphia International in 1976 and changed their name to The Jacksons. Tito also started to contribute lead vocals and co-write several hit songs for his brothers after the release of the 1978 hit album, Destiny. The Jacksons followed up with an album titled Triumph which sold 3 million copies in the US and 10 million copies worldwide. In 1984, the group released Victory (reuniting the group with Jermaine) and followed it up with a tour. Tito sang lead on "We Can Change The World," and played many of the instruments; his other contributions to the album were limited to backing vocals. The subsequent tour would be one of the Jacksons' greatest successes, but almost immediately afterward, lead singer Michael Jackson resigned from the group. Brother Marlon also quit following the Victory Tour.

In 1985, Tito, along with other members of the Jackson family, participated in USA for Africa's famine-relief fund-raising single "We Are the World".

The Jacksons' final release, 2300 Jackson Street was a more "New Jack Swing"-oriented album, whose title song reunited all of the members of the Jackson family (minus LaToya). Tito did not contribute guitar parts to the record; however, he did contribute vocals, including a narration that precedes the first song.

He served as executive producer for the show The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty along with the rest of his brothers. The show has yet to see a second season.

Tito continues to tour with his original music, with various band members including producer/guitarist Angelo Earl and a management team that includes Ed Tate.

Personal life

Tito married Delores "Dee Dee" Martes (April 1, 1955 – August 27, 1994) in June 1972 at the age of 18, and later divorced in 1993.^[2] The couple had three sons, who compose the musical group 3T:

• Toriano Adaryll Jackson II. ("Taj") (born August 4, 1973)
• Taryll Adren Jackson (born August 8, 1975)
• Tito Joseph Jackson ("TJ") (born July 16, 1978)

During the summer of 2008, the Jackson family (including Tito) stayed at a holiday let (rental) for six weeks in Appledore, in Devon, England while searching for a house to buy in the area. The project was filmed for a Channel 4 documentary called "The Jacksons are Coming", which was aired in 2008.^[3][4]

In popular culture

Tito was portrayed by Gerrick Winston in the 2004 film Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story, the biopic of Michael Jackson which first aired on VH1.

Discography

• (2003) I Gotta Play^[5][6][7]

1. Call My Job
2. Caldonia
3. I Gotta Play
4. Stormy Monday
5. Big Legged Woman

• (2011) So Far So Good^[8]

1. So Good (feat. 3T)
2. We Made It
3. Cruisin

References

1. ^ Jackson, La Toya; Patricia Romanowski (1991). La Toya: Growing up in the Jackson Family. New American Library. ISBN 0-451-17415-1. 
2. ^ Dillon, Nancy; McShane, Larry; Schapiro, Rich (2008-06-28). "Nanny says Michael Jackson's stomach had to be pumped regularly". nydailynews.com (New York Daily News). http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/michael_jackson/2009/06/27/2009-06-27_coroner_releases_michael_jacksons_body_shattered_family_gathers_to_plan_king_of_.html?page=1. Retrieved 2009-06-28. 
3. ^ "The Jacksons to hit reality TV - in Devon". Telegraph.co.uk (London: Telegraph Media Group). 2008-04-02. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1583492/The-Jacksons-to-hit-reality-TV---in-Devon.html. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 
4. ^ Hume, Mick (2008-11-28). "Last Night's TV: The Jacksons Are Coming". The Times (London: Times Newspapers). http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article5247250.ece?openComment=true. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 
5. ^ [1] Record Company Network
6. ^ [2] Jackson Source
7. ^ [3] Rate Your Music
8. ^ http://www.jackson-source.com/component/content/article/42/313-release-titos-album-so-far-so-good

External links

The Jackson Family portal

• Official Website

Persondata
Name	Jackson, Tito
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	October 15, 1953
Place of birth	Gary, Indiana
Date of death
Place of death