Tito Jackson

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

Tito Jackson
Birth name	Toriano Adaryll Jackson
Born	(1953-10-15) October 15, 1953 Gary, Indiana, U.S.
Genres	R&B, blues
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, programming (music)
Years active	1963–present
Labels	Epic, Motown
Associated acts	The Jackson 5
Website	Official Website

Toriano Adaryll "Tito" Jackson (born October 15, 1953) is an American singer and lead guitarist and original member of The Jackson 5, which later changed their name to The Jacksons, who rose to fame in the late 1960s with the Motown label, later finding success under the Epic label in the 1970s and 1980s.

Biography

Early life and career

Jackson was the third eldest of the nine Jackson siblings and was raised in Gary, Indiana. His father, Joe worked with a band called the Falcons at the time of Jackson's birth but eventually quit after the length of his family expanded. Jackson's early career aspirations began when his father was often away at work at U.S. Steel, playing with his father's guitar, which had been forbidden to be used.

Jackson broke one of his father's guitar strings while his father worked night hours. When his father discovered that his string had broke, he ordered Jackson to play for him to avoid discipline. Upon playing the guitar, an impressed Joe Jackson later bought the eight-year-old Jackson his own guitar. Within a year, he discovered that Tito and his brothers Jackie and Jermaine could also hold notes and his father built a group around them simply calling them The Jackson Brothers. Younger brothers Marlon and Michael later became backing musicians.

In 1966, after Michael Jackson's emergence as a vocalist and dancer, the band's name changed to The Jackson Five and the brothers soon participated in talent contests, which led way to them performing professionally a year later. At first, Tito played bass while his brother Jermaine played rhythm guitar. The roles switched by the time Jackson was 13 and Jermaine played bass while Tito played rhythm. He later moved to electric guitar by the late sixties. In 1968, the band signed with Motown Records and began recording material a year later.

The Jackson 5

Main article: The Jackson 5

Motown changed their name slightly to The Jackson 5 and the band released their first album, Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5, which included their breakthrough hit, "I Want You Back". Ironically, while the Jackson 5 were noted instrumentalists, neither band member played instruments on the albums, as Motown had a hired team of West Coast and Detroit musicians playing on their recordings. While Michael was the main lead singer of the band, Motown did allow each of the other Jackson members to sing some leads. Tito, who is a natural baritone, hummed the bass melody in "I Want You Back" while his other brothers backed him up before Michael and Jermaine led the rest of the song, Tito also sung a partial lead in the group's 1970 hit, "ABC".

Tito also sung co-lead on the Diana Ross Presents... opening track, "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" and also sung co-lead on their cover of Funkadelic's "I Bet You" on their ABC. Tito also sung a part in other Jackson 5 hits such as "Mama's Pearl" and provided spoken vocal leads in the band's 1973 rendition of "Hum Along and Dance" and was the last of his brothers to sing a verse in the song before it faded. By 1975, most of the band had voiced their opposition to not being allowed control in the recording studio, thus leaving Motown for CBS Records that year.

After a lengthy court deposition, the band changed their name legally to The Jacksons and released their eponymously titled album, The Jacksons, in 1976, featuring a Tito/Michael composition, "Style of Life". Tito would also provide lead vocals on the 1977 Jacksons track, "Man Of War", on their Goin' Places album. However, by the release of 1978's Destiny, Tito wouldn't provide lead vocals though he continued to provide guitar riffs and, occasionally, compositions, including the 1980 track "Everybody" from the Triumph album, and the 1984 track "We Can Change the World" from the Victory album. 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".

Following the release of 1989's 2300 Jackson Street, in which only Tito, Jackie, Jermaine and Randy contributed, the Jacksons split up. Tito wouldn't resume his career in several years, choosing to work behind the scenes as he managed his sons' band, 3T.

Solo work and other projects

Jackson began a solo career in 2003 performing as a blues musician in various clubs with his band, which includes producer and guitarist Angelo Earl and a management team that includes Ed Tate. In 2007, in the United Kingdom, Jackson appeared as a judge on the BBC celebrity singing competition Just the Two of Us for series two of the show. He replaced singer LuLu who was a judge on series one. His co-judges were vocal coach CeCe Sammy, musician Stewart Copeland and radio DJ Trevor Nelson. During the tenure of his brothers' reality series, 2009's The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty, he served as one of the executive producers alongside his other brothers.

Personal life

Taryll, TJ and Taj Jackson, his three sons.

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. 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 Joe 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.

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 and was satirized by comedian Aries Spears in an episode of MadTV that featured La Toya Jackson as she played in a skit attacking TV host Jay Leno for his constant jokes on her family.

Discography

• (2003) I Gotta Play

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

• (2011) So Far So Good

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