Jermaine Jackson.

Jermaine La Jaune Jackson was born December 11, 1954 in Gary, Indiana, a city founded in 1906 by United States Steel and known as a steel industry center, 25 miles from downtown Chicago. He was the fourth child of Joe Jackson, a guitarist for The Falcons and occasional steel mill worker, and Katherine Jackson, a pianist and singer. Along with brothers Tito, Jackie, and Marlon, Jermaine practiced songs on his father’s guitar; their mother taught them harmonies. They formed a band in 1964, and Joe Jackson, recognizing their potential, trained them under a strict regimen.

The Jackson 5 signed with Steeltown Records in November 1967 and released their first single Big Boy in January 1968. In 1969, they moved to Motown Records, becoming the label’s main focus in the early 1970s. Jermaine’s solo career began with a cover of Daddy’s Home in 1972, which sold over one million copies. When the band signed with Epic in June 1975, Jermaine remained loyal to Motown, partly because of his marriage to Hazel Gordy. He rejoined the renamed group The Jacksons in 1983 for the album Victory. In 1984, he duetted with Michael on Tell Me I’m Not Dreamin’ Too Good to Be True, which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, and with Pia Zadora on When the Rain Begins to Fall, which topped charts across Europe. His solo hits continued through the 1980s, including Let’s Get Serious and Dynamite. In 1989, Don’t Take It Personal reached #1 on the R&B chart. The Jacksons disbanded after 1989’s 2300 Jackson Street.

Jermaine married Hazel Gordy, daughter of Motown founder Berry Gordy, in 1973; they divorced in 1988. He then married Alejandra Genevieve Oiaza from 1995 to 2003. In 2004, he married Halima Rashid, who was arrested for domestic violence in November 2015; she filed for divorce in June 2016. Jackson has eight children from various relationships, including Jaafar Jackson, who will portray Michael Jackson in the upcoming 2026 biopic Michael. He converted to Islam in 1989 while in Bahrain and officially changed his surname to Jacksun on February 22, 2013.

Jermaine Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 as a member of the Jackson 5. His 1984 duet When the Rain Begins to Fall with Pia Zadora became a European classic, later covered by other artists. He published a memoir, You Are Not Alone: Michael Through a Brother’s Eyes, in 2011. Fans remember him as the Jackson brother who chose loyalty to Motown over fame when his brothers left for Epic in 1975.