La Toya Jackson

La Toya Yvonne Jackson, born May 29, 1956 is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, television personality, actress, businesswoman, philanthropist, activist and former model . She is the fifth child of the Jackson family. She maintained a career as a singer throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and returned to music in 2004 with her Billboard charting songs "Just Wanna Dance" and "Free the World". A forthcoming EP, Starting Over, will be released June 21, 2011 with a full-length album to follow later in the year.

Biography and career

Early life

Born on her sister Rebbie's 6th birthday on May 29, 1956, in Gary, Indiana, La Toya Jackson is the fifth of nine children born to Joseph and Katherine Jackson and the middle female child between Rebbie and Janet. Growing up, La Toya was a shy homebody. After her mother became a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1965, La Toya, along with the rest of her siblings followed. She would spend some of her time (alongside her mother) preaching door-to-door. "Every morning, Michael and I witnessed, knocking on doors around Los Angeles, spreading the word of Jehovah. By 1972, at sixteen, La Toya joined her brothers in the spotlight with a tap dancing routine when her father arranged for them to perform shows in Las Vegas, among other cities. Jackson aspired to be an attorney specializing in business law. She attended college for a short time before her father insisted that she pursue a career in show business like the rest of the family.

1970s: The Jacksons

In 1976 and 1977, La Toya and her sisters Rebbie and Janet appeared in all twelve episodes of The Jacksons - a CBS-TV variety program, with their brothers Jackie, Tito, Marlon, Michael, and Randy. Along with their brothers (minus Jermaine), La Toya and her sisters sang, danced and performed skits. In 1978 during the filming of The Wiz, La Toya traveled with her brother to New York. Sharing an apartment, it was the first time either of them had lived elsewhere as adults. Close siblings, Michael and La Toya, would not move out of the family's Encino home until they were 30 and 31 respectively.

Gentleman callers during this period included Diana Ross' brother Chico, Prince, and a young David Gest. Jackson also dated Bobby DeBarge, and was the inspiration for Switch's 1979 hit "I Call Your Name" and 1980's "You and I".

Under Joe Jackson's tutelage Rebbie, La Toya and Janet formed a short-lived musical group. However, they never performed live and soon separated because of creative differences about the act's future direction. Consequently, no related material was ever released by the trio. The next year, La Toya began work on her first solo album.

1980-83: Solo career

In 1980, Jackson released her self-titled debut album. In order to distinguish herself from her famous brothers, The Jacksons, La Toya only wanted her first name on the album. "I begged just to have it 'La Toya'. But my father said, 'It's your last name. You got to use it.' But I wanted to see what I could do as an individual."The first single "If You Feel the Funk", became a modest hit, climbing into the Top 40 of the US R&B chart. Her second single, "Night Time Lover", was produced by younger brother Michael, who provided backing vocals. In turn, she provided the opening scream on her brothers', The Jacksons, 1980 hit, "This Place Hotel" as well as backing vocals on brother Michael's 1984 solo hit "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)".

 Heart Don't Lie and international success

1984 saw the release of Jackson's critically acclaimed album Heart Don't Lie. Jackson scored her biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit with the titular track "Heart Don't Lie", which peaked at number 56. Other singles from this album were "Bet'cha Gonna Need My Lovin'", "Hot Potato", and a cover of Prince's "Private Joy." Jackson and Amir Bayyan co-wrote "Reggae Nights" for Heart Don't Lie but the track did not make the cut. Jimmy Cliff's recording of the song was a hit and was nominated for a Grammy. Cliff commissioned Jackson to write two more songs: "Brown Eyes" and "American Sweet."

In 1984 Jackson capitalized on her rising popularity by licensing her name to a fashion line; "David Laurenz for La Toya." 

Departure from the family home and Playboy

Under Gordon's management, Jackson's public image became increasingly sexier. Katherine Jackson recalled her shock seeing La Toya dance in a suggestive manner in 1988 for the first time in her autobiography My Family, The Jacksons, "she'd been so conservative that she'd once dropped a friend who had begun wearing low-cut tops and skirts with slits in them." Katherine believed that Gordon was distancing La Toya from her family so he could "become the dominating influence in her life. Around this time Jackson was disfellowshipped by the Jehovah's Witnesses. Defying her father, Jackson made a stormy exit from the family's Encino compound to take up residence in New York City.

In late 1988, Jackson released the album La Toya, which featured the singles, "You're Gonna Get Rocked!" and "(Ain't Nobody Loves You) Like I Do". The album also included a track titled "Just Say No", which was written for the Reagan administration's anti-drug campaign. The album included four tracks produced by Full Force, and three by Stock Aitken Waterman. The album is notable for being the first one Jackson released after changing her management.

Public notoriety, abuse, and exile from the Jackson family

On September 5, 1989, after her Sizzling Spectacular concert in Nevada, Gordon forcibly married Jackson, claiming it was for her own protection against kidnapping by her family. La Toya Jackson states that this was both unplanned and against her wishes. According to Jackson; "I told him, 'No way, Jack! I can't marry you. You know what marriage means to me. I've never been in love; I don't even date.... It's not right. I don't love you. I don't have feelings for you.'" Jackson tried to run out of the chapel three times but bodyguard Antonio Rossi grabbed her saying, "There's some things you have to do. Even if you don't want to. Jackson told Ebony magazine the marriage was "strictly in name only. It has never been consummated." Six months into the marriage, Jackson asked Gordon for an annulment when in Rome, Italy. In response, Gordon repeatedly bashed her head against the corner of the hotel room table saying that he would never let her go. Paparazzi subsequently photographed Jackson with black eyes, which Gordon claimed was caused by an intruder. From this point forward, Jackson lost all contact with her family and wrote an autobiography, La Toya: Growing Up in the Jackson Family, which accused her father of physical abuse.

Escape and seclusion

In 1996, Gordon attempted to force Jackson to dance at a Cleveland, Ohio, strip club. She refused to do so and in return, was booed and heckled by the predominantly male crowd. When Jackson became aware that Gordon was planning to feature her in a pornographic film she decided she'd had enough. Jackson phoned brother Randy who flew to New York to help her escape while Gordon was out. Only days later, La Toya filed for divorce from Las Vegas and sued Gordon in civil court for years of abuse under the Violence Against Women Act.

La Toya Jackson ended her estrangement with the entire Jackson family and returned home to Hayvenhurst. Jackson forgave her parents for her stifled upbringing reasoning, "I've come to realize that as we get older, we grow and learn a lot more. And I think that my father and my mother, they raised children the best way they know how." According to La Toya, Michael knew that she was forced to attack him in the press against her will and he did not blame her. "He never held any of that against me, I remember when I'd got away from this total hell I'd been through where I'd been beaten, abused, controlled and forced to say those terrible things about Michael, which I didn't for a moment believe, he held out his arms and just hugged me. I was crying saying: 'I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.' He just held me tight and said: 'I am your brother, I always knew it wasn't you saying those words."  Jackson's last single of the 1990s was "Don't Break My Heart."

Re-emergence and return to music

Jackson publicly re-emerged on Larry King Live on March 9, 2003. Her appearance caused CNN's phone lines to stay busy for hours and was King's highest-rated show in three years. Jackson announced her first musical project in six years, Startin' Over. Startin' Over's lead single was 2004's "Just Wanna Dance", released independently under her pseudonymous nickname "Toy" in order to avoid any prejudices DJs might hold against La Toya Jackson's name. The plan worked, with "Just Wanna Dance" reaching #13 on the US Billboard Hot Dance chart. "Free the World" was released later that year to similar success. Jackson's label, Ja-Tail Records secured a deal with Universal Music Group to distribute the album, which was delayed several times due to extenuating circumstances. The 2003 promotional copy of Startin' Over leaked online in 2006, however Jackson's management revealed that the entire album was being re-recorded with an all-new track list and updated sound. That year Jackson became the spokeswoman for Australian malt beverage Star Ice's US launch.

Armed and Famous and Celebrity Big Brother

"I Don't Play That"

On January 10, 2007, the reality TV show Armed & Famous premiered on CBS starring Jackson and other celebrities. The program documented Jackson's basic training and service as a reserve police officer with the Muncie Police Department. Jackson maintains her badge by continuing to volunteer as a deputy.

The show was eventually removed from the CBS lineup, due to its inability to compete with American Idol. VH1 subsequently aired the remaining episodes. On the show, Jackson demonstrated her phobia of cats, after she began hysterically screaming and locked herself in a squad car. This fear, she revealed, was caused by a childhood memory in which a relative was attacked by a cat. She underwent on-screen therapy to try to relieve her of this phobia. A single called "Armed and Famous" was planned but the title was changed to "I Don't Play That" shortly before it was sent to radio stations, where it failed to take off, on January 29, 2007, due to CBS' cancellation of the show.

Death of brother Michael

La Toya Jackson on October 18, 2009 at an AIDS Walk in Los Angeles

The final version of Startin' Over was completed in late 2008, just before Jackson joined the cast of Celebrity Big Brother. A new lead single, "Love, Honor, and Obey," planned for a summer 2009 release, was put on hold because of the death of Jackson's younger brother Michael. Instead, "Home" was released on the 28th of July 2009 in Michael's memory with all proceeds going to AIDS Project Los Angeles, one of his favorite charities.

La Toya Jackson was one of the first siblings present at Reagan-UCLA Medical Center on June 25, 2009, after brother Michael Jackson was pronounced dead after suffering cardiac arrest. She was named as the informant on her brother's death certificate. Jackson requested a second autopsy to be carried out after noting suspicious medical paraphernalia in Michael's rented house, evasive behavior by his doctors, and discovering that $2 million in cash and jewels had gone missing. On July 13, an interview was published in News of the World and the Daily Mail wherein Jackson went public with her conclusion that Michael was murdered. The Los Angeles County Coroner ruled Jackson's death a homicide weeks later.

New business ventures, Celebrity Apprentice and Starting Over

In 2010, Jackson launched Dream Cream, a hand cream for German cosmetics firm Alessandro International, and named Teddy Riley head of Ja-Tail Record's music division.

Jackson took part in NBC's Celebrity Apprentice, which aired from March through May 2011 and raised $65,000 for her chosen charity, AIDS Project Los Angeles. La Toya was "fired" from Celebrity Apprentice in episode 8 during season 11, which aired on April 24, 2011 on NBC. In an Apprentice first, Jackson was rehired the following episode, as she felt she couldn't defend her case. La Toya was fired for the second time on May 8, 2011 and became the first person in history to be fired from The Apprentice twice within the same season. She was also the first guest judge to appear in two episodes of season three of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Awards and other achievements

Jackson co-wrote "Reggae Nights" for reggae artist Jimmy Cliff, which received a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Recording. She later recorded the song for her album No Relations.

She won one of five Outstanding Song Awards at the 1985 World Popular Song Festival in Japan, for her single "Baby Sister"

Jackson received a US Congressional Tribute for her participation in a "Beat It" rally and Stay In School Campaign

She was one of the recipients of a Grammy Award for Record of the Year as a vocalist for "We Are the World".

Jackson's foot prints were immortalized on Rotterdam's Star Boulevard Walk of Fame on 19 December 1991, originally located in Scheveningen.

She has a namesake dessert at Millions of Milkshakes in West Hollywood. The "La Toya Jackson Shake" consists of strawberries, raspberries, caramel, topped with whipped cream and a Cadbury flake.