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Showbiz Tonight
Real Star Stories: The Jackson 5
Aired June 04, 2011 - 17:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
A.J. HAMMER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Tonight, a "Showbiz Tonight" special event, "Showbiz Tonight Presents Real Star Stories, the Jackson 5."
JACKIE JACKSON, FORMER MEMBER OF JACKSON 5: Our music was positive. We were just kids with dreams and wanting to do something good.
HAMMER: Jermaine, Jackie, Tito, Marlon, and Michael, how these five kids from Gary, Indiana, literally became an overnight sensation.
BARRY GORDY, FOUNDER & OWNER, MOTOWN RECORDS: I said, I don`t want any kid acts.
JACKIE JACKSON: Once we were in the studio, we were cutting our first record.
HAMMER: And they were on their way to changing the face of music. The life, the legend, the Jackson 5.
Welcome to this "Showbiz Tonight" special event. "Showbiz Tonight Presents Real Star Stories, the Jackson 5." Tonight, a revealing look. Five kids from Indiana who became one of the biggest musical acts in history. Millions of albums sold. Countless artists influenced. Michael Jackson`s career launched. A lasting legacy that will likely never be matched.
(on camera): One of the original members of the Jackson 5, Tito Jackson, is going to be joining me to share his fascinating stories.
But first, we begin with the lasting legacy of the Jackson 5.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SINGING)
HAMMER: It`s a moment that wowed the nation, the Jackson 5`s first appearance in 1969, at the variety show, "The Hollywood Palace."
(SINGING)
HAMMER (voice-over): The Jackson 5 burst onto the music scene on 1969 with their debut album, "Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5." Their first single "I Want You Back" --
(SINGING)
HAMMER: -- shot straight to number one.
(SINGING)
ALAN LIGHT, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE: "I Want You Back" is as perfect a single as everyone has ever made.
(SINGING)
HAMMER: The man behind the music was Motown Records legendary founder and owner, Barry Gordy. He says it was his assistant, Suzanne Dupass (ph), who discovered the Jackson 5.
GORDY: I said, I don`t want any kid acts. And Suzanne Dupass (ph) insisted that I at least take a look at them.
(MUSIC)
HAMMER: The oldest of the Jackson 5, Jackie Jackson remembers the day they first met with Gordy in 1969.
JACKIE JACKSON: We performed for the birthday, and we did our thing.
TITO JACKSON, FORMER MEMBER OF JACKSON 5: Yes.
JACKIE JACKSON: Next thing you know, we were in the studio. Within a week, maybe three days, we were in a recording studio, recording our first record.
(MUSIC)
LIGHT: The first four singles they put out went to number one. That had not been done before. That`s an extraordinary way to come out and introduce yourself to the world.
HAMMER: Their next two L.P.s produced hit after hit on the soul singles chart. "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save" and "I`ll Be There" all went straight to number one.
JIM NABORS, HOST, THE JIM NABORS SHOW: Ladies and gentlemen, my friends, The Jackson 5.
(APPLAUSE)
(SINGING)
HAMMER: The Jackson 5 immediately appeared on a slew of TV shows, including this appearance in 1970 on the "Jim Nabors Show," where 12-year- old Michael sings --
(SINGING)
GORDY: As a kid, Michael was always beyond his years.
(SINGING)
LIGHT: To watch Michael Jackson in the early days when he was 10, 11 years old, it was superhuman to see what he was capable of.
(MUSIC)
HAMMER: The Jackson 5 were breaking records and getting noticed, and together, they were making history.
(MUSIC)
MICHAEL YO, CORRESPONDENT, E! NEWS: The Jackson 5 was the first African-American group to take over the households of America. They were the first black group to do that.
(MUSIC)
LIGHT: If you think about how politically charged, racially-charged 1970 was, these were kids who weren`t changing up and cleaning the black style. It was modifying in a way that translated to a pop crowd.
(MUSIC)
HAMMER: There may have been racial tensions in the U.S. in the early 1970s, but you would have never known it watching the Jackson 5 on TV --
(APPLAUSE)
-- like in this 1971 appearance on "The Flip Wilson Show" singing "ABC."
(SINGING)
LIGHT: There had been black singers who had made girls sing and swoon, but there hadn`t been this kind of black, young --
(SINGING)
LIGHT: -- teen idol. That really wasn`t something we had seen before.
(MUSIC)
JACKIE JACKSON: Our music was positive. We were just kids with dreams and wanting to do something good.
HAMMER: More albums and more fame came to the Jackson 5.
(MUSIC)
LIGHT: The Jackson 5 were such a direct product of Joe Jackson`s ambition.
HAMMER: Born and raised in Gary, Indiana, Joe and Katherine Jackson had six sons and three daughters.
UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER OF JACKSON 5: I think from my father, he saw something in us.
HAMMER: Every free minute the Jacksons had outside of school, they practiced. And they competed in talent shows and contests around the nation.
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER OF JACKSON 5: We all traveled together. It was great. It was something that I will never forget.
JACKIE JACKSON: It was a family doing it.
UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER OF JACKSON 5: All the uptown, through the regal theater in Chicago.
TITO JACKSON: And a great learning experience for us.
(SINGING)
HAMMER: In 1974, they took their album and its hit single "Dancing Machine" on the road --
(SINGING)
HAMMER: -- making historic television appearances on "Soul Train" and "The Carol Burnett Show," --
(MUSIC)
HAMMER: -- and in the process, setting off a new dance craze, the Robot.
YO: Whatever was hot at the time, they would embrace it and make it better.
(MUSIC)
LIGHT: The Jacksons could look around and see there were other musical forces that were changed, that were ahead of where Motown was, that black music was expanding. They were started against the restrictions that Motown kept on them.
(MUSIC)
HAMMER: In 1974, their contract expired at Motown, and the Jackson 5 left their Motown roots and signed on to Epic.
LIGHT: Motown actually held the rights to the name Jackson 5, so when the group left, they started calling themselves the Jacksons.
ANNOUNCER: And now, ladies and gentlemen, the Jacksons!
(MUSIC)
(APPLAUSE)
HAMMER: With more creative freedom and the addition of their brother Randy, the newly branded Jacksons forged ahead and dove right in to disco.
(MUSIC)
LIGHT: They certainly had big hits after they were at Epic. They had "Shake Your Body Down to the Ground" --
(SINGING)
LIGHT: -- "Blame it on the Boogie" --
(SINGING)
LIGHT: -- "Heartbreak Hotel" --
(SINGING)
LIGHT: -- a significant number of major hits that still came at that point.
(MUSIC)
HAMMER: The Jacksons would release one final album in 1989, "2300 Jackson Street," but the Jackson 5 will be forever remembered as the young, vibrant kids from Indiana, who influenced music and culture around the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(on camera): There`s just so much more to the incredible Jackson 5 story.
And here to share the J5 experience, a man who obviously had a front- row to this "Real Stars Story," an original member of the Jackson 5, Tito Jackson.
Tito, it is great to have you here.
When the Jackson 5 made their debut back in 1969, it was as if all of America instantly fell in love with you guys. You were all touring and competing for years before you made it big. What was that time like?
TITO JACKSON: Oh, that was a lot of work and a lot of practicing and traveling. Actually, we had this little Volkswagen van we used to pack with equipment, and we used to sleep and sit on the equipment because there were no seats on it. And we would ride for hours like this, whether we were going to Wisconsin or St. Louis or Chicago, or New York. This is how it worked.
HAMMER: Hard to imagine you legends all crammed into a V.W. van. And, of course, life really changed when you meet Motown legend, Barry Gordy, at his mansion and you performed for him at his birthday party. Tell me about that experience.
TITO JACKSON: That was quite interesting because I remember, the first time we saw the mansion, we were all in awe because we had never seen something so extravagant. Barry Gordy had this golf course in his yard. He bet all of us he -- he would give us $100 if we could do a hole in one. We didn`t know how hard it was to do a hole in one, but we toured his whole yard trying to put that golf ball in the hole.
HAMMERS: And you never could have imagined you would be leading your lives as Barry Gordy led his life as life went on for you?
TITO JACKSON: No, we couldn`t imagine. But being under the arms of Motown, we knew we would be OK.
HAMMER: I want to bring in R&B singer and songwriter, Johnny Gill.
Johnny, it`s great to have you here as well.
You, of course, were in the massively successful group, New Addition, which was a boy band born in the 1980s. The Jackson 5 was probably the first ever African-American boy band. How did they specifically pave the way for your success?
JOHNNY GILL, R&B SINGER & SONGWRITER: Oh, my god. Without the Jacksons, there would definitely not be a New Addition. The list goes on from Boys 2 Men to a lot of the boy bands that you see today. The Jacksons started it all. I tell you, when I watch some of the footage here, it`s just -- it takes me back to a time and a place in my life when I was just a little kid, a little baby. And when you`re living in that moment, you really can`t grasp what is really going on when it`s happening. It`s like, I`m sitting there looking and I`m like, my god, this is -- this was royalty.
(LAUGHTER)
These guys have paved the way and opened the doors for so many of us.
HAMMER: And it`s been great to watch you throughout the years, Johnny, first with the bands and then in your solo careers. It`s clear it was part of your DNA, what the Jackson 5 brought to your life, but what to you is your lasting legacy?
GILL: I have often said, what is written in stone can never be erased. When you look at --
You know, Tito, you guys might not have gotten that hole in one on the golf course, but you sure as heck got a lot of number ones.
(LAUGHTER)
And that made up for your --
HAMMER: In golfing terms, I think it was eagles all the way out throughout their career.
Johnny Gill, Tito Jackson, thank you so much.
(CROSSTALK)
Please don`t go anywhere. I want you back in a second to talk about the Jackson 5`s dramatic impact on its youngest original member, Michael.
But first, the Jackson 5, musicians, cultural icons, and masters of merchandising?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LIGHT: To see the Jackson 5 on a cartoon reaching into white households on Saturday morning to kids who were their age and younger, that was a powerful statement.
HAMMER (voice-over): From cereal boxes to TV specials, the ABCs of J5 nostalgia next.
You`re watching a "Showbiz Tonight" special event, "Showbiz Tonight Presents Real Star Stories, the Jackson 5."
(MUSIC)
HAMMER: The Jackson 5 weren`t just a force of music, they were a force of fashion.
LIGHT: The Jackson 5 had such a clear visual identity, with the afros, with the pantsuits and the bell bottoms.
(SINGING)
HAMMER: With their variety show in the mid-70s, the Jacksons brought their style into living rooms across the country.
LIGHT: It was taking a lot of the young, black street style and putting that out to a general public. And that was a very powerful thing.
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HAMMER: Welcome back to the "Showbiz Tonight" special event, "Showbiz Tonight Presents Real Star Stories, the Jackson 5." I`m A.J. Hammer.
And now, behind the Jackson 5`s money making empire.
If you grew up on the `70s, you were probably up on Saturday mornings, and before you changed out of your P.J.s, you were watching a Jackson 5 cartoon, or maybe you took one of their lunch boxes to school or watch their star-studded variety show.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER (voice-over): The Jackson 5 were masters of branding and commercial success.
(MUSIC)
HAMMER: Not only did they grace the cover of magazines and cereal boxes, they also had a major endorsement deals.
(SINGING)
HAMMER: Like this 1973 Alphabets commercial.
(MUSIC)
HAMMER: Through much of the `70s, they had their own variety show and Jackson specials. And they had their own hit cartoon show called "The Jackson 5."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARTOON CHARACTER: Do you remember how I always dug the records when we played them?
CARTOON CHARACTER: I sure do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIGHT: To see the Jackson 5 as a cartoon on TV, reaching into, you know, white households around the country on Saturday morning, that was a very powerful statement and in impactful thing.
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER: Well, let the nostalgia talk begin. Joining me again from Hollywood, R&B singer and songwriter, Johnny Gill. And right now in New York, radio host and editor of Egyptsaidso.com, Egypt Sherrod, and Janet Hubert, the author of the book, "J.G. and the B.C. Kids." She also played Aunt Viv on the `90s sitcom, "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air."
Janet, you grew up in the Jackson`s generation. What was it like to see a black pop group go so mainstream at a time when, let`s face it, there were still some serious civil rights issues in this country.
JANET HUBERT, AUTHOR & ACTRESS: Well, for me, growing up in a high school in a little town where there was probably maybe 10 of us, 10 black kids in the whole town, it was monumental. It was like nothing you had ever seen. It gave you a hope and the feeling that you could actually make it from a small town. I had five brothers, so we all grabbed our Coca-Cola bottles and we put out microphones on and we all wanted to be the Jacksons. It was spectacular.
HAMMER: And look at you. You made it.
HUBERT: Yes.
HAMMER: And so did Johnny Gill.
Johnny, you were also a product of the Jackson 5 generation.
(LAUGHTER)
And I heard where you have said that, as a kid, watching the Jackson 5 special was like watching an event. Why?
GILL: Oh, my god. It was like the whole family would gather around and -- you know, we were just in awe. I mean, you didn`t -- as kids, we didn`t really believe they were really real.
(LAUGHTER)
HAMMER: Egypt, I want to ask you, as somebody else who got to follow the Jacksons along as you were growing up, how do you think that they impacted America, not just musically, but culturally.
EGYPT SHERROD, RADIO SHOW HOST & EDITOR, EGYPTSAIDSO.COM: You have to think, at that time, when the Jacksons first came out, we`re in the middle of the civil rights movement. Black people were ready to break out, not only break out and dance, break out and scream, break out and tear the walls down. To have them on television -- I`m sure you can agree, Janet -- it was like, oh, my god, black people are on TV. Mom, I can do it, too.
But the bigger implications there were now you had little white girls and little white boys also singing and dancing to the same song. So they also helped to bridge the cultural gap.
HUBERT: They were sporting afros at that time.
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
HUBERT: OK?
(CROSSTALK)
HAMMER: If you look at pictures from back then and what was going on, there was a lot of that going on.
HUBERT: Oh, yes. All about that afro thing.
HAMMER: Let`s go back to somebody who was right there and brought it all to us.
Tito Jackson, did you have any idea what an impact you were making in all these ways on an entire generation of kids?
TITO JACKSON: No. Us, as children, you know, we were just having fun. We loved music and we were performing with people like Jackie Wilson, Gladys Knight and the Miracles, and so on. We wanted to be like these guys. We would study and stare these guys to death. And that`s all we were, were kids with a dream, to be superstars.
HAMMER: At a point, Tito, I imagine, you probably got used to either seeing footage of yourselves on television or seeing yourselves on magazines or posters. But seriously, we`re looking at cereal boxes that had your pictures on it.
(LAUGHTER)
There were lunch boxes. I`m pretty sure I had a Jackson 5 thermos at one point.
(LAUGHTER)
What was that like for you seeing yourselves on all this paraphernalia and merchandise?
TITO JACKSON: Well, it was very exciting. But there was so much in our life at the time, you know, doing new things that we didn`t have time to concentrate and stop and enjoy all the things that were happening around us. People ask me today, what was it like, like you just asked, and it is hard to grasp it because we were doing so much, and we were just kids with a dream. It`s hard to grasp. My brothers and I talk about it all the time. Can you believe we did so much as little children? We can`t believe it ourselves.
HAMMER: It`s funny. It`s almost hard to believe. Maybe we enjoyed the ride a little more than they were able to because they were right in the mix of it.
HUBERT: Probably. Probably.
SHERROD: I was just thinking --
TITO JACKSON: It was work to us.
SHERROD: From the time, Diana Ross introduced you, the next day, you were overnight sensations. It was probably a whirlwind that you could barely remember. And when you look at the pictures and albums and videos, you say, oh, I remember when.
TITO JACKSON: Yes.
SHERROD: But in that moment, yes, you didn`t get a chance to enjoy it.
TITO JACKSON: Unbelievable.
(CROSSTALK)
HAMMER: Janet Hubert, Egypt Sherrod, Johnny Gill, I thank you all.
Tito, please stay right where you are because when we come back, Michael Jackson`s brother, Tito, back with me. He`s going to tell us the dramatic story of how the Jackson 5 molded Michael into the pop sensation we came to know and love.
This is a "Showbiz Tonight" special event. "Showbiz Tonight Presents Real Star Stories, the Jackson 5."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONIO "L.A." REID, RECORD EXECUTIVE, SONGWRITER & RECORD PRODUCER: Michael Jackson is the greatest performer that ever lived and influenced generations of people. We haven`t even felt the full impact of it, of the brothers. They`re amazing. All friends of mine, by the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: So how did the Jackson 5 impact its youngest original member, Michael Jackson?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
HAMMER: The moves of Michael Jackson`s 1983 smash hit "Thriller" owe a lot to his Jackson 5 roots, especially their work after 1975.
LIGHTS: Those later Jacksons records were kind of a canvas where Michael tried out a lot of the things that then fully flowered on "Thriller" and in his solo work.
(MUSIC)
HAMMER: Watching Michael on the hit variety show "The Jacksons" in 1977, you can`t help but see the roots of "Thriller" and so much more.
(SINGING)
TITO JACKSON: We did the Robot and everybody went insane. And that was years before he did the Moon Walk.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HAMMER: With me again Michael`s brother and Jackson 5 band mate, Tito.
So Tito, there`s no doubt that Michael got a lot of his dance moves that made him famous in his solo career straight from the Jacksons and the Jackson 5. How did you develop those memorable, incredible moves?
TITO JACKSON: Actually, we used to put ourselves in a room, you know, and we would practice all day. We would put the song on that we had choreographed, and Jackie, Marlon and Michael would stay there and they would work out dance moves and get in front of the mirror and say, this worked, that doesn`t work. They had something that worked, they would practice it for hours.
HAMMER: Yes, it was the kind of thing, Tito, that seemed as natural as it appeared to come to you guys and to Michael later on. It was a lot of hard work, wasn`t it?
TITO JACKSON: It was a whole lot of work. I can`t even imagine that I did all of that work. And I enjoy today, looking back on it as god`s gift and very grateful, but I wouldn`t want to go through that again. That was -- it was hard.
HAMMER: It`s nice to look back. At least, you know you had it in you at some point, right? That`s always a good thing.
When you look at Michael`s later work, when you watch the "Thriller" video, when you watch "Billie Jean," do you clearly see the Jackson 5`s influence in Michael`s moves? I know he evolved, but you see the J5, don`t you?
TITO JACKSON: Absolutely. He`s part of the product. You can`t peel something off the apple and not call it an apple. He`s definitely part of the product. That was training camp for Michael. Everything he did afterwards were just things that had he had accomplished during the Jackson 5 as far as his dance movement and his -- everything about him, his video ideas, everything. We used to brainstorm and talk about things that was out of the circle, and try to come up with things that were unusual and different. That was our whole thing. We wanted to be different.
HAMMER: It was such magic and it certainly was different.
Tito Jackson, thank so much for sharing your amazing story with us tonight.
That is it for this "Showbiz Tonight" special event, "Showbiz Tonight Presidents Real Star Stories, the Jackson 5."
I`m A.J. Hammer. Thank you for watching. For the latest entertainment new, check out CNN.com/showbiztonight.
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