LaToya Jackson Biography

LaToya Jackson Biography

LaToya Jackson (born May 29, 1956 in Gary, Indiana) is an American singer and the middle child of the Jackson family. Most notable for being featured on Playboy magazine and writing her memoirs on growing up in the Jackson family, she had a mega-successful career as a singer during the 1980s and 1990s with a poise to make a comeback in the new millennium. She is the sister of pop stars Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, and Jermaine Jackson.

Biography
 
LaToya Jackson Biography

LaToya Jackson was born the fifth of nine children to Joseph and Katherine Jackson in Gary, Indiana. After her mother became a devout Jehovah's Witness in 1966, LaToya, alongside her siblings, were doctrined to the religion. LaToya would spend most of her time alongside her mother practicing door-to-door evanglization as a result of her being a Witness. By 1974, LaToya was brought into the spotlight with her family after her father got the family to get together to perform several shows in Las Vegas and in other cities. By 1979, LaToya and her other sisters Rebbie and Janet formed a short-lived sister group though they never sung live together eventually breaking away after LaToya and Rebbie argued over the direction of the group. The next year, LaToya began work on her first solo album.

In 1980, LaToya released her self-titled debut. The album was successful and containing her global #1 single, "If You Feel the Funk". Some of her early #1 singles include "Heart Don't Lie" (1984), "Hot Potato" (1984) and "Private Joy" (1984), all from her diamond-selling Heart Don't Lie album, eclipsing brother Michael in superstardom in the process. Her first three albums, LaToya Jackson (1980), My Special Love (1982), and Heart Don't Lie (1984) all were #1 albums in America. However, 1986's Imagination was seen as a disapointment for only hitting #2 and selling 4 million. In 1988, after LaToya left her father's management company and aligned herself with ex-convict and manager Jack Gordon, she released LaToya, which would return her to the top of the charts, spawning #1 hits with "You're Gonna Get Rocked" and "You Blew". 1990's Bad Girl sold even more and 1991's No Relation was yet another blockbuster, containing the #1 hit single "Sexbox". Despite her popularity for non-musical activities including being featured on Playboy and later for writing a book criticizing her father's actions upon her and her siblings, LaToya's music career eclipsed the peaks of her siblings. A blockbuster tour, while in Paris' Moulin Rouge, in 1992 led to more demand for her touring and by 1996, after conquering all genres of the charts with cover albums of both country and Motown songs, she had retired from recording music. In 2003, she started work on a new album titled Starting Over, with the management company, Ja-Tail. After several failed plans to release the album, it is said to be released in the summer of 2006. However she's already scared two huge hit singles with "Just Wanna Dance" (2004) and "Free The World" (2005). She is currently the worlds second all-time most successful female recording artist, after Yoko Ono.

In 1989, LaToya Jackson ventured into nude modeling after her manager Jack Gordon coaxed her into posing nude for Playboy magazine. Her first cover and nude layout was one of the most successful issues in Playboy's storied history and generated a lot of buzz, mostly negative. She showed up again on Playboy in 1991 to promote her autobiography and later in a video for the magazine in 1994 becoming one of the first celebrities to have a Playboy home video aired.

After marrying Jack Gordon in 1989, LaToya Jackson estranged herself from certain members of the family though she still spoke to her siblings, if often at rare occasions. In 1991, she was further estranged from the family after the book, LaToya: Growing Up in the Jackson Family, came out. The book went into scathing details, including one of Joseph reportedly committing sexual abuse among the female members of the family, notably Rebbie and LaToya. Rebbie defended her father denying the rumors while other members claimed Gordon had written in that part in the book.

In 1993, LaToya Jackson went to a press conference overseas and announced that she had believed rumors that Michael had sexually abused children during Michael's initial accusations of child molestation came out that year prompting members of the family to debuke charges claiming LaToya was "controlled and used" by Gordon. Two years later, she made headlines again for announcing the so-called "Jackson Family Secret Phone Number Line". By 1996, however, LaToya ran out on her manager after he reportedly forced her to dance at a strip joint in Cleveland. The former devout Jehovah's Witness (she was shunned in 1987) refused to do so and in return, was booed and heckled by the predominantly male crowd.

In 1997, she ended her estrangement with the entire Jackson family and returned home to Hayvenhurst. That year, she divorced from Jack Gordon. LaToya has no children and currently lives in Las Vegas and keeps close contact with her mother and siblings, especially Michael and Janet. The trio made headlines during Michael's child molestation, conspiracy and alcohol trial in 2005 when they walked together hand-in-hand prompting the tabloids to nickname them "Charlie's Angels".

In April 2006, LaToya Jackson announced that she would be willing to pose for Playboy again, if the magazine were to approach her. If the magazine accepts her offer, LaToya hopes that this would help kick start the publicity campaign for her new album "Startin' Over".

LaToya Jackson Biography

Discography

Singles




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