Joe Jackson, the father of the Jackson family, has died after a battle with cancer, TMZ reports. He was 89.
The patriarch of the Jackson family was recently hospitalized with cancer following years of health scares, including heart attacks and a stroke — both of which occurred in 2015.
Jackson, who was born in 1928 and married wife Katherine Scruse in 1949, has long been tied to a complicated legacy, one overshadowed by his reputation as a heavy-handed manager with storied discipline of his children. Still, despite the reports on his public image, the father of 11 leaves a lasting imprint on the music world that is uncontested.
It was in the ’60s, when Jackson grouped five of his sons to form the Jackson 5. Together, the family would launch Jacksonmania across the country and beyond, giving Motown Record its first No. 1 record (“I Want You Back”), becoming the first act in popular music to reach No. 1 on the Billboard chart with their first four charted singles (“I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “The Love You Save” and “I’ll Be There”), having their first three albums reach the Top 5, and scoring seven top 10 singles in a two-year period. It’s also worth noting that he also managed Michael when Off the Wall was released in 1979, as well as Janet for her first two albums, including her self-titled debut in 1982 and Dream Street in 1984.
“I’m glad I was tough, because look what I came out with,” Joe Jackson said during an interview with CNN in 2013. “I came out with some kids that everybody loved all over the world. And they treated everybody right.”
Joe is survived by his wife Katherine, and most of his children, with the exception of Brandon, Marlon’s twin brother who died within 24 hours of his birth, and Michael, whose nine-year death anniversary took place two days ago.