Joe Jackson Dies, Decades After Discovering Sons' Talents In Gary

LOS ANGELES, CA — Joe Jackson, patriarch of the famed Jackson family and manager of The Jackson 5, who brought their talents out of Gary, Indiana, died Wednesday after a long battle with cancer.

The father of late singer Michael Jackson died at a Los Angeles hospital early Wednesday morning, TMZ reported. Jackson left his controversial stamp on the American music scene through his children, engineering the careers of Michael and Janet Jackson as a relentless taskmaster and a shrewd manager.

According to USA Today, Jackson managed his sons' breakout band the Jackson 5, which led them out of poverty in Gary, and started his own record label Ivory Tower International Records. The 89- year-old had been battling cancer for a long time after having bounced back from multiple strokes.

His wife, Katherine, had been at his bedside recently, as had some of his children and grandchildren. Jackson had a complicated relationship with his children. Known for driving them to the heights of fame, some of his children, including Michael, accused him of emotional and physical abuse. The elder Jackson admitted to the abuse, but offered no apologies, instead arguing that his stern ways kept his children out of trouble and taught them the discipline needed to make it in the music industry, TMZ reported. In the end, however, it cost him. He spent his final years living apart from his wife of 60 years and estranged from some of his 10 children.

Though he's best known for managing his children's blockbuster careers, Jackson was a prominent talent manager, earning a place in the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. His path to the music business was an unlikely one.

The son of a steel worker, Jackson was born in Arkansas but lived a nomadic childhood, bouncing from Chicago to Oakland between his mother and father. He dropped out of high school and became a boxer in in the Golden Gloves Program. The discipline and ethos of a fighter would define his later career when he began managing his young sons' band in the early 60s.

Jackson coached his sons Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, Jackie and Michael in the band that became The Jackson 5. Jackson refused to accept early rejection. He maintained a strict rehearsal schedule with his children and famously kept them on the road performing at any venue that could grow their audience. They started out in local talent shows but were soon playing the Apollo Theater and boasting hit singles such as "ABC" and "I'll Be There."

Read the rest of Joe Jackson's obituary via Hollywood Patch

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