Topic: Jermaine Jackson

Jermaine La Jaune Jackson (born December 11, 1954) is an American singer, bassist, composer, a member of The Jackson 5, older brother of American pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson and occasional film director. He also produced and recorded duets with American singer Whitney Houston in her early years as a recording artist.

Jackson is the fourth child of Joseph and Katherine Jackson, born in Gary, Indiana after his brother Tito Jackson. His brothers and sisters are Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Marlon, La Toya, Michael, Randy and Janet. He was raised as a Jehovah's Witness by his devout mother (though he later converted to Islam in 1989 after a trip to Iraq and has been staunch supporter of peace in the region). Jermaine was the original lead singer of the Jackson Brothers—an earlier incarnation of The Jackson Five—until 1968, when younger brother Michael began assisting with lead vocals. He remained the lead vocalist with Michael for many years. Jackson graduated from Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California in 1973.

Jermaine and his brothers signed with Motown Records in 1968. As the co-lead singer of The Jackson 5 after his brother Michael, Jermaine sang notable parts of "I Want You Back", "I'll Be There", "The Love You Save","Dancing Machine", and many other Jackson 5 songs. In 1975, after six years performing with his brothers, Jermaine split from the Jackson 5 to continue his solo career at Motown Records while the other Jackson brothers left to sign with Epic Records. In 1983, he reunited with his brothers for the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. After the success of the broadcast, he rejoined the band to record the album Victory and participated in the Victory Tour. He stayed with the group for their final album 2300 Jackson Street in 1990. In 2001, he reunited with his brothers to perform for the 30th anniversary of Michael's solo career, in an interview he states," when Michael had his success, me and my brothers were kind of jealous."