Immediately after Christmas in 1971, The Jackson 5 embarked on a concert tour of the South. In Dallas, a reporter arranged an interview in their hotel room. It wasn't long before fans had congregated outside the door, chanting, ‘Michael! Michael! Michael!’ Tito went out in the hallway hoping to quieten them down. When he opened the door, a group of girls burst into the room and began kissing and hugging Michael, totally ignoring the others. The brothers did not appear to be jealous and, rather, treated the incident as a chance to tease Michael. ‘Just wait till I get my solo song released,’ Jermaine said. ‘Then I'll be the ladies' man 'round here.’
‘Well, right now Michael's the real ladies' man,’ Jackie said after the girls were escorted out of the room by security guards.
‘Aw, c'mon, you guys,’ Michael said, bashfully.
‘You are, Mike,’ Jermaine agreed. ‘But not for long…’
Then all four brothers jumped on Michael, tickling him good naturedly and wrestling him to the ground. One could hear their laughter echo through the halls.
Growing Up in the Public Eye
It's always tempting, when dissecting a person's life, to go back in time and assign blame for the way things turned out, but it's not always fair. Certainly, Joseph and Katherine had the best intentions when they were raising their family, and didn't intend to harm their children. It's the rare parent, one would hope, who purposely sets out to completely screw up his kids' lives. If Joseph had told his brood to forget about show business, and focus on lives out of the public eye, such a demand would not have gone over well, at all. Try as they might have, the value system the Jackson parents passed on to their children was, at best, warped. Whatever it takes to get to the top, that's what they were told they had to do – that was their value system. Katherine tried to fight it and hoped to instill other ideals along the way – especially having to do with her religion – but none of them really seemed to matter when applied to the world in which her children were being raised, the world of show business. They were all caught up in the powerful illusion that if they became rich and famous, their lives would be better. Fate and circumstance, along with an obvious inadequacy in parental skills, set into motion a chain of events that would do irreparable harm to all of the Jackson children, and especially, to Michael. At least the older brothers had had a few years to act like children. Michael never did; he was barely five years old when thrust into show business.
Of course, the boys loved to perform and even wanted to perform. They excelled in that arena. The look of satisfaction on Michael's face when he was onstage made it clear that he was doing what he wanted to do, and that if someone had given him the choice between playing basketball with his friends and entertaining them on a stage, he would have chosen the later. However, a fine line exists between what children may want, and what may be in their best interests. It's not likely that Joseph understood as much, or was able to gauge the difference between what might be in the best interest of his children, and what his own agenda was for them.
It is not only the vast sums of money child stars earn which set them apart. Most child performers are shortchanged on their education, as well. Few have ever attended public school regularly. In the film industry, they are often tutored on the set. MGM even had a school for the youngsters who worked in their movies. Although the children were supposed to study a certain number of hours each day, filming often took precedence over education. They gleaned from their studies what they were able to, and then went back to their work in front of the cameras.
What's more, child performers are often cheated out of learning social skills – the all-important art of getting along with people. The other boys and girls with whom they associate are usually working children like themselves. Some of Judy Garland's happiest memories were of the short time during her teens when her career seemed to be going nowhere. She left the studio school, enrolled in Hollywood High – hiding her background from her fellow students – and enjoyed herself, immensely. (That happy period came to an abrupt end when a vice-principal told her she shouldn't be enrolled in school with ‘normal people’.)
The couple of years that the younger Jackson boys spent in public schools are romanticized by Michael and Marlon as highlights of their lives but, in truth, they weren't very happy. Michael attended sixth grade at Gardner Street Elementary in Los Angeles, though not consistently because of his work schedule. In truth, he was just a guest there, making cameo appearances in the classroom as he might on a television variety show. His sixth grade teacher, Laura Gerson, remembered, ‘Once I was teaching the kids a song with a three-part harmony, and I hit a flat note that made my hair stand on end. Michael's eyes popped wide open. Nobody but him noticed. He never talked about himself. Occasionally, he would disappear and turn up on television…’ *
In the seventh grade, Michael joined Marlon at Emerson Junior High. But by this time, The Jackson 5's accomplishments at Motown had robbed them of their privacy. They only had two weeks at Emerson, obviously no time to integrate into the population or get to know anyone, before they were forced to leave. There had been a death threat against them, and that was the end of that: Joseph pulled them out of public school. His decision was fine with the boys; they wanted to leave, anyway. ‘There were mobs of people standing in the hallways just looking into the classrooms,’ Marlon recalled. ‘It was embarrassing, and frightening.’ From that time onward, the two were either enrolled in private schools or tutored at home.
California law requires that minors have a minimum of three hours of schooling a day when they are working. Mrs Rose Fine, accredited by the state as a ‘children's welfare supervisor’, became the tutor for all of the younger Jacksons. Much of their travelling time was spent studying for tests that they would take as soon as they checked into their hotel rooms. Between their studies, rehearsals, sound checks and concerts, and the usual goofing off, the Jacksons were kept busy.
When in private school, which occurred from time to time in between touring, Michael was bored by his studies, refused to do his homework, and was a terrible student. During class, he would draw pictures of animals and monsters when he should have been paying attention to his lessons. When called upon for an answer, Michael didn't have a clue as to what was going on, and he didn't care.
Jackie and Tito have unpleasant memories of their time at Fairfax High School, a public school in Los Angeles. The demands of their careers made normal routines almost impossible; they couldn't join any of the sports teams – a crushing disappointment for Jackie, who loved baseball – because they were the focus of attention. When they were singled out by classmates who had previously ignored them, the two brothers became suspicious of everyone. Who was legitimate in their intentions, and who had ulterior motives in wanting to know them?
Jackie and Tito would graduate from Fairfax when they were eighteen. At least they can reflect on a small period of time when they were exposed to people who weren't in show business, even if they did not enjoy that time. Michael, Marlon and Jermaine can not do as much; they were granted high school equivalency diplomas by Rose Fine, who was empowered to award them. Though technically graduated, the three younger Jacksons certainly did not obtain a good grounding in basic subjects, no slight to Rose Fine who probably did the best she could with them. To this day, each has problems with penmanship, grammar and (Michael in particular) spelling. They also lack a sense of history, except that which they managed to pick up during their travels.
As early as 1972, when Michael was about fourteen, he began exhibiting behaviour unlike that of his brothers. While they took the pressures of success in their stride, Michael seemed more affected by it. ‘He's just more sensitive than the others,’ Katherine would explain. If anyone in show-business history could ever be said to be lacking in ‘people skills’, it would be Michael Jackson. To this day, he doesn't really understand people, or even try to understand them, because when he was a youngster he was surrounded, for the most part, by either showbiz kids or wealthy
students who, like himself, were never exposed to the ‘normal’ masses.
By the time Michael was fourteen, Bill Bray (The Jackson 5's security man, who still works for Michael) would arrange for him to have access to freight elevators in hotels, rather than take public lifts along with ‘normal people’, as Michael called them.
A year earlier Michael had told Judy Spiegelman of Soul magazine, ‘I'm just like other kids.’ However, he soon realized he was not like them at all. The other group members didn't seem to mind ‘normal people’ – as long as they weren't in the form of a pack of rioting fans – even if they had nothing to do with them. Michael, though, was always the one who attracted the most attention. If he entered a room with any of his other brothers, he was the one to whom the fans would flock. Being singled out, being made to feel different, knowing all eyes were on him, had a deep impact on Michael. He began to show signs of a deep insecurity, and even inadequacy. It was as if he knew he didn't fit in. If he could spend his life on stage, he felt he would be happy. Unfortunately, the world was not his stage. He had to deal with the public, and he wasn't able to do so in a way that made him feel comfortable in his own skin.
‘He became a loner,’ Katherine Jackson would remember. ‘I was worried about him, but I hoped he would grow out of it, that it was a phase. He didn't get along with other people his age. He was better with adults. I don't know that he had friends his own age. I think, probably not. As always, his brothers were his friends. As long as we all had each other, I figured we would be okay. I prayed we would be okay.’
Tito Marries
Along with their incredible success in the music industry came, for the Jacksons, the inevitable lure of available women. Women of all shapes, sizes and colours began to proposition them, appearing backstage after concerts and offering to do all sorts of ‘favours’ for them. Though Michael and Marlon were too young, Jermaine and Jackie saw no reason not to take advantage of their young fans' overworked libidos. Tito wasn't really interested in groupies, though. He just wanted to settle down – and also get out of the household and put some distance between him and Joseph.
In 1972, Tito announced that he wanted to marry seventeen-year-old Delores (Dee Dee) Martes, whom he had met at Fairfax High School a few months before the group became famous. Joseph and Katherine were extremely upset, concerned that Dee Dee might be a gold-digger and Tito too inexperienced to see it. The least he could do, they argued, was insist that his fiancée sign a pre-nuptial agreement. He did, and she agreed.
Michael felt strongly that Tito was letting their fans down by marrying, and attempted to convince him to change his mind. ‘Think about all of those girls out there who love us,’ he said, trying to reason with his brother one day in the Motown offices.
‘They don't even know us, Mike,’ Tito said. ‘We can't live our lives for perfect strangers.’
‘But they do know us,’ Michael argued, according to a witness, ‘and we owe them, Tito. We owe them.’
‘So what are we supposed to do?’ Tito wanted to know. ‘Put up with Joseph for the rest of our lives? If that's the case, I don't even want to be in the group, then.’
Michael stopped arguing with Tito at that point, perhaps fearing Tito's next step might be to just quit the act.
Joseph and Katherine had hoped that Berry Gordy would insist that Tito, as a Motown recording artist, remain single. When Joseph presented the situation to Berry, however, he wanted no part of it. ‘Keep me out of it,’ he said. ‘As long as Michael isn't getting married, I'm cool.’
Joseph's face darkened. ‘Michael ain't the only one in the group, Berry,’ he said, according to his recollection. ‘Thanks for nothing.’
The wedding took place in June 1972 in a small, unpretentious chapel in Inglewood, California. Joseph spent most of the evening glaring at Dee Dee and her family. Katherine was nicer, though one suspected she was just trying to get through the day. (Their first baby, a son named after Tito, was born about a year later. Tito was on tour, so LaToya acted as Dee Dee's Lamaze labour coach.)
Groupies
Young Tito Jackson may have been off the open market, but Jackie and Jermaine were young, single and ready to explore whatever fame might bring their way in terms of female companionship. Joseph had been a terrible example to them in the past, and he didn't improve with time. In fact, when the boys became famous, he starting having liaisons with their fans! With him as their guide, was there any reason to think the brothers would act in a responsible manner? By 1972, the older Jacksons had left a long trail of broken hearts as they toured the country, city by city. Then, they rented an apartment near their house in Encino, where they could hang out with their female conquests away from Katherine's scrutiny.
Rhonda Phillips was one of ‘those’ girls. Today, she is a forty-nine-year-old divorcée who lives with her three children in Long Beach, California. Back in August 1972, she was eighteen when she met her idol, Jackie, who was twenty-one. She had been selected from the audience by one of the group's road managers when the brothers were on stage at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Backstage, Jackie gave Rhonda a slip of paper with an address on it and told her to meet him at that location in an hour. As she mulled over his offer, she sensed someone behind her, and turned around. It was Michael. ‘He was just a cute little guy,’ she said. ‘He had big teeth, a flat, wide nose, a perfectly combed natural; he looked like any pretty fourteen-year-old black boy you'd find in the neighbourhood. He noticed the slip of paper in my hand.’
‘Did Jermaine give you that?’ he asked.
‘No, Jackie.’
‘He wants you to meet him, doesn't he?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ Rhonda said. ‘I don't know if I should – ’
Michael cut her off. ‘Don't,’ he said. ‘I don't think you should meet him.’
Rhonda asked Michael why she shouldn't go. She remembered his answer: ‘My brothers don't treat girls too good. They can be mean. Please, don't go.’
Rhonda remembered thinking that Michael was only fourteen; what could he know? She changed the subject and asked him for his autograph. She thrust forward the piece of paper Jackie had given her, he scribbled on it and handed it back to her.
The group's representative had arranged the cab fare for Rhonda to meet Jackie. She was taken to the Jacksons' apartment in Encino. As the car pulled up to the curb, she happened to turn over the slip of paper in her hand and realized that Michael had written more than just his name on the back of it. There was a message: ‘I hope you don't go.’ It was signed ‘Michael Jackson’.
She went inside the apartment complex, found the Jacksons' and had sex with Jackie. ‘I won't be able to see you after this,’ he told her when they were finished. She began to cry.
‘Suddenly, I was ashamed,’ she recalled many years later. ‘He held me for a little while and then told me that someone from Motown would be waiting outside to take me home. He kissed me, and I left. The whole thing took less than half an hour.’
As Rhonda was walking down to the street, a white Rolls-Royce pulled up. Michael and Marlon were sitting in the back seat. The car pulled up to the curb. The boys got out and Marlon ran past Rhonda up to the apartment. Michael came over to her.
‘What are you doing here?’ he asked, his tone accusatory. ‘Were you up there with Jackie?’
‘Yeah, I was,’ she answered.
‘Did you have sex?’ Michael wanted to know.
Rhonda began to cry.
Michael shook his head sadly. ‘I'm sorry,’ he said. ‘Did he make you do it?’
‘No, of course not. I wanted to.’
‘You wanted to?’ Michael asked, seeming astonished. ‘But why would you want to?’
Rhonda got into the car. She rolled down the window. Michael was still standing at the curb. ‘Are you gonna be all right?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, I will be,’ she answered.
‘By now, I was sobbing,’ Rhonda recalled. ‘I rolled up the window and the car pulled off. I lo
oked out the back window and the last thing I saw was Michael Jackson standing there waving goodbye to me.’
During these salad days, Michael, fourteen, often shared a room with his brother, Marlon, fifteen and Jermaine, seventeen. Jermaine would wait for their security man, Bill Bray, to go to sleep before sneaking down to the lobby to pick up girls. Often, he would bring them back to the room and then instruct Michael and Marlon to, as Marlon recalled it, ‘play sleep’.
Yolanda Lewis is, today, forty-six, married, and living in St Louis. In an interview, she recalled an experience she had with Jermaine Jackson in 1972 when she was sixteen. ‘I was a real groupie,’ she remembered, ‘and the boys did a concert in Cleveland, where I was living at the time. Afterwards, a group of us girls went to the hotel where we knew they were staying. We had our J-5 buttons and posters, just wanting autographs, hoping to see the guys, maybe get a picture with them. Jermaine came down and struck up a conversation with a few of us. He was sweet, shy. He pulled me off to the side and asked me if I would like to come up to his room. Of course, I said yes. He was so handsome, with his big natural and white teeth.
‘We got up to the room, and I walked in behind Jermaine. It was pitch-black, with just a night light on in a corner.
‘ “Michael and Marlon are sleeping,” he whispered to me. “So we have to be quiet. Take off your clothes. Quick.” He wasn't exactly romantic. I jumped into bed with him and he climbed on top of me. As he climaxed, he shuddered so loudly I was afraid he would wake up Michael and Marlon, who were sleeping three feet away in the next bed. Or at least I thought they were sleeping. As I was slipping out of the room, I heard Michael say to Jermaine, “Nice job. Now, can we please get some sleep?”’
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