Janet Jackson Wiki Information
Janet Damita Jo Jackson
(born May 16, 1966) is an American recording artist and actress. Born in Gary, Indiana and raised in Encino, Los Angeles, California, she is the youngest child of the Jackson family of musicians. She first performed on stage with her family beginning at the age of seven, and later started her career as an actress with the variety television series The Jacksons
in 1976. She went on to star in other television shows throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, including Good Times
and Diff'rent Strokes
.
At age sixteen in 1982, Jackson signed a recording contract with A&M, releasing her self-titled debut album the same year. She faced criticism for her limited vocal range, and for being yet another member of the Jackson family to become a recording artist. Beginning with her third studio album Control
(1986), Jackson began a long-term collaboration with record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Her music with Jam and Lewis incorporated contemporary R&B with elements of rap music, sample loop, triple swing and industrial beats, which led to crossover appeal in popular music. In addition to receiving recognition for the innovation in her albums, choreography, music videos, and prominence on MTV, Jackson was acknowledged as a role model for her socially conscious lyrics.
In 1991, she signed the first of two record-breaking, multi-million dollar recording contracts with Virgin Records, which established her as one of the highest paid artists in the music industry. Her debut album under the Virgin label, janet.
(1993), saw Jackson develop a public image as a sex symbol as she began to explore sexuality in her work. That same year, she appeared in her first starring film role in Poetic Justice
; since then she has continued to act in feature films. By the end of the decade, Jackson was named the second most successful recording artist of the 1990s. All for You
(2001), became her fifth consecutive studio album to debut at number one the Billboard
200 album charts. In 2007, she changed labels, signing with the Island Def Jam Music Group and released her tenth studio album Discipline
the following year.
Jackson is ranked by Billboard
magazine as one of the top ten best-selling music artists in the history of contemporary music, having sold over 100 million albums worldwide. [1] The Recording Industry Association of America lists her as the eleventh best-selling female artist in the United States, with 26 million certified albums. [2] Jackson's longevity in the recording industry has rivaled that of several entertainers and her musical style and choreography have influenced a number of contemporary pop and R&B artists.
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Biography
1966–1982: Early life and acting career
Janet Jackson was born in
Gary, Indiana, the youngest of nine children, to
Katherine Esther (
née Scruse) and
Joseph Walter Jackson.
[3] The Jacksons were lower-middle class and devout
Jehovah's Witnesses; Jackson stated that although she was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, she eventually stopped practicing organized religion and views her relationship with God as "one-on-one".
[4] By the time Jackson was a toddler, her older brothers—
Jackie,
Tito,
Jermaine,
Marlon and
Michael—were performing music at nightclubs and theaters as
The Jackson 5. In March 1969, the group signed a record deal with
Motown, and by the end of the year they had recorded the first of four consecutive number one singles. The Jackson 5's success allowed the family to move to the
Encino neighborhood of
Los Angeles,
California in 1971, where they settled in a gated mansion called Hayvenhurst.
Although born into a family of professional musicians, Jackson, whose love of horses resulted in a desire to become a race-horse
jockey, had no aspiration to become an entertainer. Despite this, her father planned for her to pursue a career in entertainment. Jackson once commented, "No one ever asked me if I wanted to go into show business ... it was expected."
In 1974, at the age of seven, Jackson appeared on stage in
Las Vegas,
Nevada with her siblings in a routine show at the MGM Casino.
Jane Cornwell documented in her biography of the singer,
Janet Jackson
(2002), that at age eight Joseph Jackson told Janet not to call him "Dad" anymore since he was her manager; he told her she would henceforth address him as "Joseph".
She began her career as an actress with the debut of the
CBS variety show
The Jacksons
(1976), in which she appeared with her siblings Tito,
Rebbie,
Randy, Michael, Marlon,
La Toya and Jackie.
In 1977, Jackson was selected by producer
Norman Lear to play a recurring role as
Penny Gordon Woods in the
sitcom Good Times
.
From 1979 to 1980, Jackson starred in
A New Kind of Family
as Jojo Ashton, and then joined the cast of
Diff'rent Strokes
, portraying Charlene Duprey from 1981 to 1982.
She played a recurring role during the fourth season of the television series
Fame
as Cleo Hewitt, though she later commented that the series was not a project she enjoyed working on.
[5] [6]
1982–1985: Early recordings
Although Jackson was initially apprehensive about starting a music career, she agreed to participate in recording sessions with her family. The first of these, a duet with her brother Randy titled "Love Song for Kids", took place in 1978. When Jackson was sixteen, her father arranged a contract for her with
A&M Records.
Her debut album,
Janet Jackson
, produced by
soul singers
Angela Winbush,
René Moore and Leon F. Sylvers III, was released in 1982, the entire production of which was overseen by her father Joseph.
It peaked at number six on the
Billboard
Hot R&B albums chart.
[7]
Jackson's second album,
Dream Street
, was released two years later. Her father recruited her brothers to help produce the album: Marlon co-wrote two of the album's tracks, while Tito, Jackie and Michael provided background vocals.
reached number nineteen on the R&B albums chart; its sales were less than that of Jackson's debut album.
The album's only hit, "
Don't Stand Another Chance", peaked at number nine on
Billboard
's R&B singles chart.
[8] In late 1984, Jackson eloped with childhood friend and fellow R&B singer
James DeBarge. They divorced shortly afterwards, and the marriage was annulled in mid-1985.
[9] [10]
1986–1988: Control
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Following the release of
Dream Street
, Jackson decided to separate her business affairs from her family. She later commented, "I remember trying to tell my father I no longer wanted him to manage me. It would have been easier to have Mother tell him for me, but that was something I had to do for myself."
Jackson also stated, "I just wanted to get out of the house, get out from under my father, which was one of the most difficult things that I had to do, telling him that I didn't want to work with him again."
A&M Records executive John McClain hired producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis to work with Jackson. Within six weeks, Jackson, Jam and Lewis crafted Jackson's third studio album,
Control
.
[11] Jackson recalled that during the recording of the album, she was threatened by a group of men outside of her hotel in Minneapolis. She stated that "[t]he danger hit home when a couple of guys started stalking me on the street ... Instead of running to Jimmy or Terry for protection, I took a stand. I backed them down. That's how songs like 'Nasty' and 'What Have You Done for Me Lately' were born, out of a sense of self-defense."
Though Jam and Lewis were concerned with achieving cross-over appeal, their primary goal was to create a strong following for the singer within the
African-American community first.
[12] Jam commented, "[w]e wanted to do an album that would be in every black home in America ... we were going for
the
black album of all time."
Released in February 1986, the album peaked at number one on the
Billboard
200.
The
Newsweek
review of
Control
noted that the album was "an alternative to the sentimental balladry and opulent arrangements of
Patti LaBelle and
Whitney Houston."
[13] Rob Hoerburger of
Rolling Stone
asserted, "
Control
is a better album than
Diana Ross has made in five years and puts Janet in a position similar to the young
Donna Summer's—unwilling to accept novelty status and taking her own steps to rise above it."
[14] Five of the album's singles—"
What Have You Done for Me Lately", "
Nasty", "
When I Think of You", "
Control", and "
Let's Wait Awhile"—peaked within the top 5 of the
Billboard
Hot 100.
[15] "When I Think of You" became Jackson's first single to peak at number one. "
The Pleasure Principle" became a top 20 hit, peaking at number fourteen.
Most of the
Control
music videos were choreographed by a then-unknown
Paula Abdul. Jonathan Cohen of
Billboard
magazine commented "[Jackson's] accessible sound and spectacularly choreographed videos were irresistible to
MTV, and helped the channel evolve from rock programming to a broader, beat-driven musical mix."
was certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and has sold over ten million copies worldwide.
[16] [17] Billboard
credited it as being the fifth best-selling album of 1986 in the United States.
[18] It won four
American Music Awards, from twelve nominations—a record that has yet to be broken—and was nominated for
Album of the Year at the
1987 Grammy Awards.
[19] [20] Richard J. Ripani Ph.D., author of
The New Blue Music: Changes in Rhythm & Blues, 1950-1999
(2006), observed that the album was one of the first successful records to influence the rise of
new jack swing, incorporating R&B,
funk,
jazz,
soul and various production techniques which emerged in the late-1980s.
[21] The success of
Control
, according to Ripani, bridged the gap between R&B and rap music.
1989–1992: Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814
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In September 1989, Jackson released her fourth album,
Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814
. Though executives at A&M wanted an album similar to
Control
, Jackson was unwilling to compromise her artistic integrity, and was determined to imbue her music with a socially conscious message that complimented her songs about love and relationships.
[22] Jackson stated, "I'm not naive—I know an album or a song can't change the world. I just want my music and my dance to catch the audience's attention, and to hold it long enough for them to listen to the lyrics and what we're saying."
[23] Producer Jimmy Jam told
The Boston Globe
, "We would always have a TV turned on, usually to
CNN ... And I think the social slant of songs like Rhythm Nation, State of the World and The Knowledge came from that."
[24] Rolling Stone
magazine's Vince Aletti observed Jackson shifted from "personal freedom to more universal concerns—injustice, illiteracy, crime, drugs—without missing a beat."
[25] Richard J. Ripani observed that the album, much like its predecessor, contained heavy styling of new jack swing; the use of sample loop, triple swing, rap vocals and blues notes are present in the album's title-track "Rhythm Nation".
Peaking at number one on the
Billboard
200, the album was later certified six times platinum and eventually sold over twelve million copies worldwide.
The release became the only album in history to produce number one hits on the
Billboard
Hot 100 in three separate calendar years—"
Miss You Much" in 1989, "
Escapade" and "
Black Cat" in 1990, and "
Love Will Never Do (Without You)" in 1991—and the only album in the history of the Hot 100 to have seven top 5 hit singles.
[27] [28] [29] The corresponding music video for "Rhythm Nation" won the 1989
Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video.
[30] Billboard
named
Rhythm Nation 1814
the number-one selling album of the year in 1990, winning multiple music awards.
[31] [32] Jackson was dubbed a reigning "Princess of Pop" by the
Chicago Tribune
.
[33] Although some attributed Jackson's accomplishments to her producers, Jimmy Jam stated "when someone says, 'Well, she brought in Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis,' you've got to remember that we weren't exactly ...
Quincy Jones ... 'Control' was our first smash. The same with Paula. It wasn't like Janet [hired]
Fred Astaire ... She took a chance on all of us."
[34]
The
Rhythm Nation 1814 Tour, Jackson's first world tour in support of a studio album, aimed to recreate the "award–winning, visually innovative" music videos of
Rhythm Nation 1814
and
Control
, and was described as "an elaborately choreographed spectacle" by
Entertainment Weekly
.
[35] With an attendance of more than two million patrons, the Rhythm Nation 1814 Tour remains the most successful debut tour by any recording artist.
[36] As Jackson began her tour, she was acknowledged for the cultural impact of her music.
Joel Selvin of the
San Francisco Chronicle
wrote "the 23-year-old has been making smash hit records for four years, becoming a fixture on MTV and a major role model to teenage girls across the country", and William Allen, then-executive vice president of the
United Negro College Fund, told the
Los Angeles Times
, "Jackson is a role model for all young people to emulate and the message she has gotten to the young people of this country through the lyrics of 'Rhythm Nation 1814' is having positive effects."
[37] [38] Jackson established the "Rhythm Nation Scholarship" as a joint venture with the United Negro College Fund, as well as donating funds from her concert tour to other educational programs, raising over $1/2 million dollars to fund educational projects.
[39] [40] Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge
(2000) documented that Jackson's success during this time period placed her on par with several other recording artists, including her older brother Michael Jackson,
Madonna and
Tina Turner.
[41]
With the release of
Rhythm Nation 1814
, Jackson fulfilled her contract with A&M Records. In 1991, after being approached personally by
Virgin Records owner
Richard Branson, she signed a highly publicized multi-million dollar contract with the label. The contract value was estimated between
$32–50 million, and she became the highest paid female recording artist in contemporary music.
[42] [43] [44] That same year, Jackson secretly entered into her second marriage with long-term friend—dancer, songwriter and director
René Elizondo, Jr. In early 1992, Jackson recorded a song entitled "
The Best Things in Life Are Free" with
Luther Vandross, featuring
Bell Biv Devoe and
Ralph Tresvant, for the
Mo' Money
film soundtrack.
[45]
1993–1996: janet.
, Poetic Justice
and compilation album
In May 1993, Jackson's fifth studio album entitled
janet.
(pronounced "Janet, period."), was released by Virgin Records and debuted at number one on the
Billboard
200.
Jackson commented, "... [c]ertain people feel I'm just riding on my last name ... That's why I just put my first name on
janet.
and why I never asked my brothers to write or produce music for me."
[46] The New Rolling Stone Album Guide
(2004) commented that the album's number one hit single "
That's the Way Love Goes"—winner of the 1994
Grammy Award for Best R&B Song—and the top 10 singles "
If", "
Because of Love", "
You Want This", and "
Any Time, Any Place", all contained "grown-up desires".
wrote: "As princess of America's black royal family, everything Janet Jackson does is important. Whether proclaiming herself in charge of her life, as she did on Control (1986), or commander in chief of a rhythm army dancing to fight society's problems (Rhythm Nation 1814, from 1989), she's influential. And when she announces her sexual maturity, as she does on her new album,
Janet.
, it's a cultural moment."
[48] Robert Johnson of
San Antonio Express-News
wrote that the album ranges from "dreamy and sensual" to "downright erotic", and although "[
janet.
] isn't perfect ... it should be enough to make her the Queen of Pop."
[49] Conversely,
David Browne of
Entertainment Weekly
gave it a moderate rating, asserting "her wispy voice is often smothered by her two male producers", and regarded
janet.
as a "blatant rip-off of the club-beat style of Madonna's
Erotica
."
[50] janet.
was later certified six times platinum by the RIAA, with worldwide sales exceeding twenty million copies.
[51] [52]
In July 1993, Jackson made her film debut in
Poetic Justice
.
Rolling Stone
described Jackson's performance as "a beguiling film debut" despite her inexperience, while
The Washington Post
considered her "believably eccentric".
[53] [54] Jackson's ballad "
Again" was featured on the film's soundtrack, and garnered a nomination for the
Academy Award for Best Original Song.
[55]
In September 1993, Jackson appeared topless on the cover of
Rolling Stone
magazine with the hands of her then-husband René Elizondo, Jr. covering her breasts. The photograph is the original full-length version of the cropped image used on the cover of the
janet.
album, shot by
Patrick Demarchelier.
[56] Sonia Murray of
The Vancouver Sun
later reported, "Jackson, 27, remains clearly established as both role model and sex symbol; the Rolling Stone photo of Jackson ... became one of the most recognizable, and most lampooned, magazine covers of the year."
[57] In the cover story, "Sexual Healing" by David Ritz, Jackson explained, "... sex has been an important part of me for several years. But it just hasn't blossomed publicly until now. I've had to go through some changes and shed some old attitudes before feeling completely comfortable with my body. Listening to my new record, people intuitively understand the change in me."
[58] Ritz likened Jackson's transformation to
Marvin Gaye as he stated, "[j]ust as Gaye moved from
What's Going On to
Let's Get It On, from the austere to the ecstatic, Janet, every bit as serious-minded as Marvin, moved from Rhythm Nation to janet., her statement of sexual liberation."
Jackson's second world tour—the
janet. Tour—garnered critical acclaim as Michael Snyder of the
San Francisco Chronicle
described Jackson's stage performance as erasing the line between "stadium-size pop music concerts and full-scale theatrical extravaganzas", and Steve Pick of the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
observed Jackson's show made the
janet.
album's numerous hit singles more effective with her "larger-than-life stage persona".
[59] [60]
During this time period, Jackson's brother Michael Jackson was immersed in a
child sex abuse scandal, of which he denied any wrongdoing.
[61] Jackson gave moral support to her brother, and denied allegations made by her sister La Toya Jackson in her book
La Toya: Growing up in the Jackson Family
(1991) that their parents had abused her and her siblings as children.
In an interview with Lynn Norment of
Ebony
, Jackson commented on her sister's then-estrangement from the family, stating, "her [husband
Jack Gordon has ... brainwashed her so much she keeps herself away from us."
[62] Norment reported during the recording of
janet.
, "LaToya suddenly showed up and created a scene at the Minneapolis recording studio", despite the fact that "[Jackson's] sister had ignored her calls for four years prior to that."
In addition, Jackson criticized her brother Jermaine Jackson for attacking Michael in his 1991 single "Word To The Badd".
In October of 1994, she collaborated with her brother Michael on "
Scream", the lead single from his 1995 album
HIStory
, which was written by both siblings as a response to the media scrutiny he suffered from being accused of child sexual abuse.
[63] The song debuted at number five on the Hot 100 singles chart, becoming the first song ever to debut in the top 5.
Scream
is featured in the
Guinness Book of Records
as the "Most Expensive Music Video Ever Made" at a cost of $7 million, which was filmed in May 1995. Jackson and her brother won the 1995
Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video for
Scream
.
In October 1995, Jackson's first compilation album,
Design of a Decade 1986/1996
, was released via A&M Records and debuted at number three on the
Billboard
200.
The lead single "
Runaway" peaked at number three on the Hot 100.
[64] Design of a Decade 1986/1996
was certified two times platinum by the RIAA and sold over four million copies worldwide.
[65] [66] In January 1996, Jackson renewed her contract with Virgin Records for a reported $80 million dollars.
[67] The contract established her as the then-highest paid recording artist in contemporary music, surpassing the recording industry's then-unparalleled $60 million dollar contracts earned by her brother, Michael Jackson and Madonna.
[68] [69] [70]
1997–1999: The Velvet Rope
During the two year period prior to the release of her sixth studio album,
The Velvet Rope
, Jackson reportedly suffered from depression and anxiety.
Michael Saunders of
The Boston Globe
considered the album to be an introspective look into Jackson's bout with depression, describing it as a "critical self-examination and an audio journal of a woman's road to self-discovery."
According to Jackson, "[w]e've all driven by premieres or nightclubs and have seen the rope separating those who can enter and those who can't. Well, there's also a velvet rope we have inside us, keeping others from knowing our feelings. In The Velvet Rope, I'm trying to expose and explore those feelings ... During my life, I've been on both sides of the rope. At times, especially during my childhood, I felt left out and alone. At times I felt misunderstood."
[71] The Velvet Rope
also introduced
sadomasochism into Jackson's music.
Eric Henderson of
Slant
wrote, "
The Velvet Rope
is a richly dark masterwork that illustrates that, amid the whips and chains, there is nothing sexier than emotional nakedness."
[72] Larry Flick of
Billboard
called
The Velvet Rope
"[t]he best American album of the year and the most empowering of her last five."
[73]
Released in October 1997,
The Velvet Rope
debuted at number one on the
Billboard
200 and the RIAA later certified the album three times platinum.
[74] In August 1997 the album's lead single, "
Got 'Til It's Gone", was released to radio, peaking at number 36 on the
Billboard
Hot 100 Airplay.
[75] The single
sampled the
Joni Mitchell song "
Big Yellow Taxi", and featured a cameo appearance by rapper
Q-Tip.
Got 'Til It's Gone
won the 1997
Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.
The album's second single "
Together Again", became Jackson's eighth number one hit on the
Billboard
Hot 100 singles chart, and placing her on par with
Elton John, Diana Ross, and
The Rolling Stones.
[76] The single spent a record 46 weeks on the Hot 100, as well as spending 19 weeks on the UK singles chart.
"
I Get Lonely" peaked at number three on the Hot 100.
Jackson donated a portion of the proceeds earned from "Together Again" to the
American Foundation for AIDS Research.
Neil McCormick of
The Daily Telegraph
observed, "[Jackson] even makes a bid for
gay icon status, delivering a diva-ish performance reminiscent of Diana Ross on 'Together Again' (a post-Aids pop song), singing a paean to homosexuality on the jazzy 'Free Xone' and climaxing (if that's the right word) with a bizarre lesbian reinterpretation of
Rod Stewart's
'Tonight's the Night'."
[77] Rolling Stone
regarded "Free Xone" as the album's "best song", describing it as an "anti-homophobia track [which] shifts moods and tempos on a dime, segueing from a
Prince-like jam to a masterful sample from Archie Bell and the Drells' 'Tighten Up'."
[78] The Velvet Rope
was honored by the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum, and received the award for Outstanding Music Album at the 9th Annual
GLAAD Media Awards.
[79]
In 1998, Jackson began the
The Velvet Rope Tour, an international trek that included Europe, North America, Africa, Asia, New Zealand and Australia. Robert Hilburn of the
The Los Angeles Times
reported, "[t]here is so much of the ambition and glamour of a
Broadway musical in Janet Jackson's new Velvet Rope tour that it's only fitting that the concert program credits her as the show's 'creator and director'."
[80] Jackson's HBO special,
The Velvet Rope: Live in Madison Square Garden
, was watched by more than fifteen million viewers. The two hour concert beat the ratings of all four major networks in homes that were subscribed to HBO.
[81] The following month, Jackson separated from Elizondo Jr.
[82] As her world tour came to a close in 1999, Jackson lent guest vocals to a number of songs by other artists, including
Shaggy's "Luv Me, Luv Me", for the soundtrack to
How Stella Got Her Groove Back
, "God's Stepchild" from the
Down on the Delta
soundtrack, "
Girlfriend/Boyfriend" with
BLACKstreet, and "
What's It Gonna Be?!" with
Busta Rhymes. Jackson also performed a duet with Elton John for the song "I Know the Truth". At the 1999
World Music Awards, Jackson received the Legend Award alongside
Cher for "lifelong contribution to the music industry and outstanding contribution to the pop industry."
[83] As 1999 ended,
Billboard
magazine ranked Jackson as the second most successful artist of the decade, behind
Mariah Carey.
[84]
2000–2003: Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
and All for You
In July 2000, Jackson appeared in her second film,
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps
, as Professor Denise Gaines, opposite
Eddie Murphy. The film became Jackson's second to open at number one at the box office, grossing an estimated $42.7 million dollars in its opening weekend.
[85] [86] Her contribution to the film's soundtrack, "
Doesn't Really Matter", became her ninth number one
Billboard
Hot 100 single. In the same year, Jackson's husband filed for divorce. Jeff Gordinier of
Entertainment Weekly
reported that for eight of the thirteen years Jackson and Elizondo had known one another, "[they] were married—a fact they managed to hide not only from the international press but from Jackson's own father."
[87] Elizondo filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Jackson, estimated between $10–25 million; they did not reach a settlement until 2003.
Jackson was awarded a top honor from the
American Music Awards—the Award of Merit—in March 2001 for "her finely crafted, critically acclaimed and socially conscious, multi-platinum albums."
[89] Jackson became the inaugural honoree of the "
mtvICON" award, "an annual recognition of artists who have made significant contributions to music, music video and pop culture while tremendously impacting the MTV generation."
[90] Jackson's seventh album,
All for You
, was released in April 2001, debuting at number one on the
Billboard
200.
Selling 605,000 copies,
All For You
had the highest first-week sales total of Jackson's career.
[91] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
Allmusic stated "[Jackson's] created a record that's luxurious and sensual, spreading leisurely over its 70 minutes, luring you in even when you know better", and
Jon Pareles of
The New York Times
commented, "[a]s other rhythm and blues strips down to match the angularity of hip-hop, Ms. Jackson luxuriates in textures as dizzying as a new infatuation."
[92] [93]
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The album's title-track, "