Jackson, Janet

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Janet Jackson

1966—

Singer, actor

Born into one of the most successful musical families in the history of pop music, Janet Jackson began her entertainment career as a television actress but established herself as a singing star of the first order by the end of the 1980s. Over the past two decades she has emerged as one of the biggest pop music stars of all time. At the tender age of sixteen she released her first album, and though it took a few years before she scored any large-scale hits, she soon rivaled the astonishing success of Michael, her superstar brother. She has released a number of smash singles and has also received many awards from her peers and from numerous civic organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The release of her long-awaited janet. album in 1993, along with her motion picture debut in Poetic Justice, signaled her transition to grown-up pop idol: sexier, more versatile, and more independent. Articulating her artistic goals in a Rolling Stone interview, she declared, "I'm talking about responding to the world emotionally, directly. Art that comes from the heart, not the head." Having sold over one hundred million albums, according to Billboard, that emotional appeal has clearly connected with much of the listening public.

Janet Damita Jo Jackson was born in 1966 to Joseph and Katherine Jackson in Gary, Indiana, the youngest of nine children. When five of her brothers—known as the Jackson Five—became pop superstars in the early 1970s, the family moved to California. Janet's first stage appearance was in a Las Vegas revue when she was seven years old. Unlike her brothers, Janet first made her way into the public eye through acting: at age eleven she landed the role of Penny on the situation comedy Good Times. Parts in the series Diff'rent Strokes and Fame followed, as she grew up before the nation's eyes. It was at the urging of her father that she ventured into music. "My dad would tell me, ‘You have to do this and this and this,’" she told Us magazine. "And I'd just say ‘Okay,’ and do it." Later on, Jackson remembered in a Rolling Stone interview that she told her father she didn't want him to manage her any longer: "I couldn't say the words —I was bawling like a baby—and finally he just said: ‘You don't want me involved in your career. Isn't that it?’ ‘Yes,’ I finally had the nerve to say, ‘that's it.’"

Music Moved Her

Janet's debut as a recording artist came with her 1982 album Janet Jackson, released by A&M Records. Even though the album's highest-charting single failed to reach the Top Forty, she established her own following by touring high schools to promote it and to encourage students to stay in school.

However, she threw her family a curve in the summer of 1984, when she eloped with the singer James DeBarge. The two announced their nuptials in September of that year from Michigan, though the wedding was annulled by the following spring and Jackson ended up returning to her family's home in Encino, California. "I went through a lot, from age 15 1/2 to about 19 years," she disclosed to Ebony in a 1993 interview. "I was very young. I used to hurt so badly that I'd ask God why, what have I done to deserve any of this? I feel now He was preparing me for this, for the future. That's the way I see it." In the wake of the marriage's annulment, Jackson was comforted by her longtime friend Rene Elizondo, with whom she later developed a romantic relationship.

November of 1984 saw the release of Jackson's second effort, Dream Street. Despite the participation of the producers Giorgio Moroder and Jesse Johnson and a duet with the pop legend Cliff Richard, the record didn't sell that well. Not until her next album, Control, did Jackson become a contender in the pop world. Teamed with the hot Rhythm and Blues (R&B) producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who cowrote much of the material, Jackson seemed in her musical element at last. "She had made two records with producers who basically said, ‘Here's the song, go in and sing it,’" Jam told Steve Pond of Us. "And when she started working with us, she expected us to do the same thing. But you have to remember that it really wasn't her idea to be a singer. It was really her father's, and she's gone from basically doing something that her father suggested to really enjoying it and feeling confident about it."

Gained Confidence with Control

Released in 1986 and promoted domestically with a thirteen-city tour, Control began to move thanks to the single "What Have You Done for Me Lately," which rose to the top of the R&B chart. During the album's lengthy stay on the British pop chart, it reached the number-eight position; in the United States it fared even better, topping the album chart and achieving platinum status. Thanks to the smash singles "Nasty," "When I Think of You," "Let's Wait Awhile," "The Pleasure Principle," and the record's title track, the twenty-year-old Jackson became the youngest artist to attain the number-one position on the U.S. charts since Stevie Wonder reached it at age thirteen. Control went on to sell eight million copies.

Jackson performed at the 1987 Grammy Awards but didn't take home any statues. She did, however, come up the winner in several categories of Billboard's year-end survey. Also, the video for "Nasty"—which was choreographed by the rising star Paula Abdul—won a trophy at the MTV Video Music Awards. In November A&M released Control—The Remixes, a collection of eight alternate versions of Jackson's hits.

At a Glance …

Born Janet Damita Jo Jackson on May 16, 1966, in Gary, IN; daughter of Joseph Jackson (a music manager) and Katherine Corse Jackson (a homemaker and sales clerk); married James DeBarge (a singer), 1984 (annulled 1985); married Rene Elizondo (film director and actor), 1991 (divorced 2000).

Career: Actor, 1973—; recording and performing music artist, 1982—; signed recording contract with Virgin Records, 1991; songwriter and coproducer of numerous solo albums with Virgin Records, 1993-2006.

Awards: Platinum records for Control, 1986, Rhythm Nation 1814, 1989, and janet., 1993; MTV Video Music Awards, 1987 and 1991; Grammy Award for Best Music Video, 1990; three Soul Train Awards, 1990; awarded star on Hollywood "Walk of Fame" during "Janet Jackson Week," Los Angeles, 1990; Billboard-Tanqueray Sterling Artist of Achievement, 1990; BMI Pop Awards, Songwriter of the Year, 1990; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Chairman's Award, 1992; Sammy Davis Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year, 1992; American Music Awards, Award of Merit, 2001; Radio Music Awards, Legend Award, 2004; NCAA Image Award, Best Supporting Actress, 2008; Human Rights Campaign, Humanitarian Award, 2005; Gay & Lesbian Alliance against Defamation, Vanguard Award, 2008.

Addresses: Office—c/o Island Records, 825 Eighth Ave., New York, NY 10019.

Though she began work on it in 1988, Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 did not hit the stores until the fall of the following year. Jackson described it to Essence as an album "containing my views about what was going on in the world and the problems we have in trying to educate the kids and give them hope." Working again with Jam and Lewis, Jackson proved that Control's success was no accident. The album topped the U.S. charts four weeks after its release and produced hit after hit, including "Miss You Much," "Escape," the hard-rocking "Black Cat," "Come Back to Me," and "Love Will Never Do (without You)." Jackson again performed at the Grammy Awards and again went home empty-handed, though the album's long-form video counterpart won a trophy. Regardless, Jackson received her share of honors, including a Los Angeles celebration of "Janet JacksonWeek," a star on Hollywood's "Walk of Fame," and an array of Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, and Soul Train Awards. BMI honored her as songwriter of the year in 1990, "Janet Jackson's year," according to David Ritz of Essence.

Ultimately, Rhythm Nation 1814—the number refers to the year in which the U.S. national anthem was composed—became the first album ever to have seven of its singles on the Billboard Top Five; four of those singles reached the number-one position. Jackson's 1990 world tour was an enormous success; she shared the wealth it generated by donating 25 cents from each ticket sold to the Cities in Schools program, which works to keep kids from dropping out of school. After the tour ended, she gave nearly a half-million dollars to the United Negro College Fund in the form of a Rhythm Nation Scholarship. In 1991 she signed a recording contract with Virgin Records that, at $50 million, stood as the most lucrative in history—for about a week, after which time it was surpassed by brother Michael's new deal with Sony.

Jackson received a Chairman's Award from the NAACP in 1992 in recognition of her public service work, especially on behalf of young people. "I don't consider myself a social leader," the singer told Essence, "but I do feel a responsibility that comes with being an entertainer. For me the big issues all come down to the children. What are we doing to protect them, to make their future world better? I'll never stop fighting illiteracy and drugs [and helping organizations that work to combat AIDS]," she added.

As she addressed these large issues, however, she found increasing public attention focused on conflicts within her family. Public acrimony between her sister LaToya—also a performer—and the rest of the Jackson clan gained considerable publicity, and Janet was forced to comment, admitting the rift. She told Ritz that she tried to reestablish contact with LaToya, but "communication between us has proved impossible."

Meanwhile, she and Michael appeared together on the 1993 Grammy Awards, where he jokingly stated that their dual appearance put to rest rumors that they were the same person. Entertainment Weekly's David Browne quipped, "Only Michael would take such a story seriously—after all anyone can see it is he and LaToya who look frighteningly alike." Janet admitted to competitive feelings with her brother in her Ebony interview, noting that she wants "to break his records," yet she insisted that this was not mere familial jealousy. "I'm very competitive. If someone is at No. 1 and I'm at No. 2, then I want the No. 1 spot. But I feel there is enough room for everyone. Everyone. I really do. Enough room for Whitney [Houston, megastar soul-pop diva], for myself, for my brother, for everyone."

Poetic Justice and janet.: Two New Personae

The year 1993 marked not only the release of another massively successful Jackson album but also her first acting role in a feature film. Jackson was cast by the director-writer John Singleton, who became a Hollywood sensation with his debut film Boyz N the Hood, to play the lead role in his follow-up effort, Poetic Justice. "It was something about Janet that really made me feel this character was her," he told Allison Samuels of Upscale magazine. "It's something about her eyes that are very telling." Though she grew up in the suburbs, Singleton remarked to Essence that he had "always viewed Janet as the Ultimate Homegirl. She has a secret fire. I call it subdued intensity." Jackson was advised against accepting the role by some industry figures who wanted her to stay closer to her pop-singer persona. "The studio head adamantly warned me against it," she said. "‘It's a mistake for your first feature film to be all Black.’ He said it was too ethnic, too artsy, too heavy. ‘Make a comedy. Take it easy. Play a character closer to you. Play it safe.’" Instead, Jackson took the role of Singleton's hairdresser-poet and prepared by—as Singleton recalled it—"doing hair in a salon on 54th Street in South Central Los Angeles."

Jackson made new friends during the project. She told Ritz, "I met four girls from South Central through John—one of them was a hairdresser—who wound up living with me for eight weeks. We shopped, played, danced, went to Disneyland. We did everything together, we talked long into the night about our lives, opening our hearts to each other. The learning process never stopped." Nonetheless, she and the film received a less-than-friendly response from critics. The Time reviewer Richard Schickel called it "simply awful" and described Jackson's acting as a nonperformance, insisting that she "relates to the camera lens as if it were a mirror." Entertainment Weekly found the movie a "dawdling mishmash" and had no more praise for Jackson's work than did Schickel: "Jackson isn't an inept actress, yet there are no more edges to her personality than there are to her plastic Kewpie-doll visage."

While other artists might have withered at such critical scorn, Jackson seemed to sail past the debacle of the movie's critical reception and into the glow of her new album's success. The heavily promoted janet. presented the singer's new, sexier image as lusty and independent. The hit singles "That's the Way Love Goes" and "If" sported steamy videos. Jackson ex- plained to Us that her mother wanted to attend the filming of the latter. "I said, ‘Some of my movements are very sexy. They're not dirty, they're very sexy. And just by you being my mother, I'd be embarrassed.’ She responded, ‘Well, if I make you shy in any way or pull back, then I shouldn't be there.’ I said, ‘No, you can come down if you like.’" Yet, perhaps unsurprisingly, "She wound up not coming."

"As princess of America's black royal family," reasoned the Rolling Stone reviewer Touré, "everything Janet Jackson does is important." Thus, "when she announces her sexual maturity, as she does on her new album, janet., it's a cultural moment." Touré noted that Jackson's new duties as coproducer somewhat toned down the pyrotechnics of Jam and Lewis, "resulting in a less groundbreaking sound but a wider-ranging album," and dubbed it a "victory." The Upscale reviewer David Taylor pointed to janet.'s combination "of a variety of musical genres—funk, hip-hop, jazz, rock and rap," as well as diverse guest vocals from the opera star Kathleen Battle and Chuck D of Public Enemy, deeming the 1993 release "without a doubt, an outstanding album." Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly found it overproduced, fraught with "Hallmark [greeting card] lyrics, and uncertain about its own sexual boldness." Nonetheless, the album soon proved that reviews were immaterial to Jackson's success as a musical artist. And despite her struggles, as Singleton commented in the Us interview, "The way I look at it, she just has a really good job."

With not only a good job but also an incredibly famous family, Jackson was able to team up with one of the most noted entertainers of the twentieth century, her brother, Michael Jackson. The pair teamed up in 1995 to record the single "Scream." The song was a send up to the many media outlets that had been tormenting Michael in the early 1990s. The video created for the song proved to be one of the most expensive in history and arguably one of the most excitingly choreographed videos ever.

Her Design of a Decade: 1986-1996 release in 1995 celebrated ten years at the top of the charts for Jackson. The compilation included hits from Control through janet. and two new songs, "Twenty Foreplay" and "Runaway," and was also available in video form. But her next feature album, The Velvet Rope, took the newfound sexuality from janet. to the next level. In a 1997 interview with Jet, Janet said, "The Velvet Rope will mean different things to different people. To me, it became the concept that allowed me to put into words and music so much of what I've been going through. The Velvet Rope is my most personal album."

The album included topics on everything from racism to AIDS, same-sex love, and soft-shelled bondage. But the most revealing portions of the recording would not be decipherable until the announcement in 1999 of a marriage between Jackson and long-time companion, Rene Elizondo. With the announcement that he was filing for divorce from the singer, Elizondo revealed that the pair had been married since 1991. He went on to file suit against Jackson for $10 million, citing uncompensated work on albums dating back to Rhythm Nation 1814. Jackson had begun publicly recognizing Elizondo's contributions to her career during the promotion of The Velvet Rope.

Jackson was able to keep the turmoil in her relationship out of the press even after the release of such a revealing piece and continued to expand her entertainment career with a successful tour surrounding The Velvet Rope. Her next project had her once again wetting her acting chops in a comedy, starring opposite the comedian Eddie Murphy in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000). Her next release, All for You, appeared to be the opposite of The Velvet Rope by trading in the sad solitude for an upbeat and happy song, but it still oozed sexuality. The first single, "All for You," was the tenth number-one single for the singer, so she still had much to celebrate. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Jackson stated, "This album could have ended up exactly like The Velvet Rope because of what's gone on in my life since then, like the divorce. But I believe we have choices and paths, and it's about choosing the right path, the promising path."

In 2001 Jackson received the Award of Merit at the twenty-eighth annual American Music Awards. She was also the first artist honored by MTV Icon, a series of programs dedicated to artists they consider to be music video icons. She also launched an All for You World Tour during the summer of 2001. With nearly thirty years in entertainment, Jackson managed to remain an innovator and trend setter in the entertainment business. In 2004 she received the Legend Award at the Radio Music Awards.

Also in 2004 Jackson released her Damita Jo album. But controversy dogged her that year, after an incident during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston. The singer Justin Timberlake ripped off part of her costume, exposing her right breast in what publicists termed a "wardrobe malfunction." The furor triggered an investigation by the Federal Communications Commission and led to the CBS television network rescinding its invitation for Jackson to appear at the Grammy Awards ceremony, because she would not apologize.

Jackson's Super Bowl apparel mishap seemed to cause more than a minor career hiccup. Her videos were blacklisted for a time by MTV, and some radio stations refused to play her songs. Neither Damita Jo nor her next album, 20 Y.O., managed to hit the one million mark in U.S. sales.

As she worked toward a comeback, Jackson, who was approaching age forty, chose to remake her physical image as well as her public image. She began working out vigorously and sticking to a healthy diet, eventually losing as much as sixty pounds in 2006. In 2007, after a seven-year absence from the big screen, Jackson returned to her acting roots with a starring role in Tyler Perry's film Why Did I Get Married? The movie received enthusiastic praise from critics, and Jackson received an NAACP Image Award for her work in the picture.

Meanwhile, Jackson's romantic partner—and the producer of her recent albums—Jermaine Dupri became frustrated over Virgin's lack of support of Jackson's records and left his position as president of Virgin's urban music division for a similar job at Island Records. Jackson made the move with him. Her first record on her new label, Discipline, released in early 2008, climbed to the top of the Billboard charts, marking Jackson's first appearance at number one since 2001. It seemed that the rehabilitation of Jackson's image—and selling power—was complete.

Selected discography

Janet Jackson, A&M, 1982.

Dream Street, A&M, 1984.

Control, A&M, 1986.

Rhythm Nation 1814, A&M, 1989.

janet., Virgin, 1993.

The Velvet Rope, Virgin, 1997.

All for You, Virgin, 2001.

Damita Jo, Virgin, 2004.

20 Y.O., Virgin, 2006.

Discipline, Island, 2008.

Sources

Books

Rees, Dafydd, and Luke Crampton, Rock Movers & Shakers, ABC-CLIO, 1991.

Periodicals

Billboard, September 9, 2006.

Chicago Tribune, April 23, 2001.

Ebony, September 1986; September 1993; March 1999; October 2006, p. 180; April 2008, p. 72.

Entertainment Weekly, May 21, 1993; July 23, 1993; May 4, 2001.

Essence, May 1993, pp. 84-86, 140-142.

Jet, November 17, 1997; June 19, 2000; January 29, 2001; April 20, 2001.

Newsweek, July 21, 1986; May 24, 1993, p. 51.

Rolling Stone, April 24, 1986; October 19, 1989; June 24, 1993, p. 78; September 16, 1993, pp. 38-43, 82.

Time, April 26, 1993, p. 73; July 26, 1993, pp. 67-68.

Upscale, June 1993, pp. 27-31; September-October 1993, p. 108.

Us, August 1993, pp. 66-74, 92.

USA Today, February 2, 2004; October 27, 2004; February 26, 2008, p. 1D.

Online

Ibanga, Imaeyen, "Will Jackson's ‘Discipline’ Be Her Breakthrough?" ABC News, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/WinterConcert/story?id_4306913&page_1 (accessed May 28, 2008).

"Janet Jackson," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p_amg&sql_11:fifuxqe5ldae˜T0 (accessed May 28, 2008).