There is so much legend around the Jackson family and some of their biographies are so obscure that, despite being the most famous lineage in the history of popular music, their adventures have not always aroused the necessary interest from their fans over the decades.
Because sixty years have passed since the origin of what was the most iconic boyband of the 20th century: six male brothers –the three girls from that large family were left out– who stood out as five under the mythical name of The Jackson 5… to later become The Jacksons and be eclipsed by the enormous talent of one of them: Michael Jackson.
When the King of Pop died in 2009 from acute propofol and benzodiazepine poisoning that he took to sleep, his four older brothers –Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon– revived the band in 2012, with live performances based on their hits of yesteryear. In their sixties and seventies they continue to make the public vibrate with the songs they sang as kids, that vibrant mix of R
Now reduced to a trio, the band exploits the powerful family brand all over the world. This Saturday they open the Sons de Món de Roses Festival (10 p.m.), which is why Marlon talks to La Vanguardia via the internet.
“You see, Jermaine has decided to do other things, he’s taken a break, but like our dad used to say, a monkey can’t stop the show,” he says, trying to rotate his image so it doesn’t appear inverted on screen.
Marlon was a year older than Michael and, therefore, they were partners in mischief in that working childhood that they had to live in Gary (Indiana), on the outskirts of Chicago, when their father gave them the choice between trying piecework or carrying bricks from one place to another, without more. The hard work undoubtedly paid off because, although Marlon did not have a great career on his own –he only made one album in 1987, after which he bought a television channel that he sold a decade ago–, he now confirms the good health of the artistic product of his early years.
“I don’t see them as old songs but as hits,” says the American artist. They still sound fresh, they’re timeless, they don’t get old. In our shows you see people who are 8 or 20 years old… who tell you that they grew up with that music, their parents played it for them. If you think about it, those songs were aimed at different demographic groups. The good thing about the case is that some lyrics were addressed to a younger audience, because we were kids but the music was for an adult purpose. And when they put it together they discovered that it excited all levels, that it gravitated over all ages and times. A delivery man asked me at home if he could take a picture with me. ‘It’s for my four-year-old. He adores you. He loves your records and cartoons.’”
Although they did not lack talent, those songs, in any case, were not signed by the Jackson 5. At Motown Records there was a team of songwriters who did it for them: Deke Richards, Fonce Mizell, Freddie Perren… they created formula after formula. And even Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown, was added to the payroll to collect royalties while clipping the creative wings of the kids. Willie Hutch wrote I’ll be There and others. And they sang songs by Smokey Robinson like My Girl… The machinery didn’t even allow little Randy to be an official part of the band: there were six of them, the mark was the mark.
Ironically, when they got fed up and left Motown for CBS they couldn’t use it again. Gordy kept it. The boss had sent Jermaine alone, he had married him to his daughter, perhaps to keep them. But none of that helped. Jermaine no longer joined The Jacksons and Randy was the fifth.
Still, the magic of The Jackson 5 lay in the way those songs were served. Already from that debut album, Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 (1969), both whites and African-Americans fell in love.
I don’t know where that magic comes from. We could continue to play them in the future and people would enjoy them. We have an energetic show, I don’t know where the energy comes from, but once on stage it happens, it’s magical”, says Marlon.
He was 7 or 8 years old when he went on stage. In 1966 she won a talent show performing My Girl and began touring the Chitlin Circuit (clubs for African-American artists) and other hangouts… “We had a great time. Before we even signed with Motown, we would play all over Illinois, Wisconsin, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania…and people were throwing money at us. Michael and I would split it up, pocket it, and come home with a bunch.”
But Michael flew very high. In solitary. At the end of the Victory tour (1984), the only album that brought the six brothers together, he would no longer record with them, beyond We Are The World…
What happened to the rest? Jackie, a vocalist, released two solo albums with little success and continued in music as a producer. Tito, a guitarist and vocalist in the low register, had a career as a musician for R
Were there disagreements that led to the end of The Jacksons, as happened with The Beatles?
“What happened is that we got older, people get married,” Marlon alleges. And we cannot be put in the same category as other groups because we are family, there were always family events that brought us together, we had a good time. Family always came first, then music.”
and Michael? “Michael had already released Thriller, an unbeatable album in sales because no one buys albums anymore,” he continues. But in the end his last name was Jackson. The brand was Jackson. And the foundation was The Jackson 5. That was the tree and branches came from there.”
Marlon is a religious man. He believes that for sins he renders an account before the Lord. Have you imagined Michael facing God?
“No never. The older I get, the more I understand the meaning of the gift God gave my family. It wasn’t about making money. It was about traveling the world, bringing people together, spreading love, harmony and peace through music.” Did he doubt your innocence on the child molestation charges? “No. People don’t understand that Michael healed the world, he did great things, in children’s cancer hospitals, for example, excited to see us. What happens is that one does not go around the world explaining these things if he does them from the heart ”. Did you give him any advice? “I gave him phrases… God will take you to anything, you just have to believe.”
