Katherine Jackson doesn’t celebrate Mother’s Day or birthdays for religious reasons. But Michael Jackson’s mother, who turns 95 on May 4, but she never forgets the principles that coming with being a mother.
Born in 1930, Katherine contracted polio at the age of two. Though she survived the devastating disease, she would walk with a noticeable limp for the rest of her life. As a child, Katherine wanted to be a country singer, but became discouraged upon realizing that there were rarely successful Black people in country music.
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Katherine later met Joe Jackson in 1947. After he annulled a previous marriage, the couple married in 1949. They sang together, while Joe played guitar, until he took a job at a steel mill and Katherine began giving birth to what would eventually be 10 children. Brandon, Marlon’s twin, died within 24 hours of childbirth.
“One thing about mothers,” Katherine says. “They have to really be there for their children when they need her. They should be there at all times and know where your children are at all times. You must make your ‘yes’ mean ‘yes’ and let your ‘no’ mean ‘no.’ That’s really the way to bring your children up.”
Unlike so much of her clan, Katherine Jackson has shunned the spotlight even as she supported Michael and his siblings singing, dancing and even moon-walking to greater and greater fame.
“Man of War” by the Jackson 5 and “Man in the Mirror” from Michael Jackson’s solo act are some of Katherine’s favorite songs..
“I love the message. It says, ‘Don’t go to war no more. Steady peace because peace is all we need.’”
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How She Became the Mother of Legends
The Jackson 5 was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana. It included brothers Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine, with younger brothers Marlon and Michael joining soon after. The Jackson 5 performed in talent shows and clubs on the Chitlin’ Circuit, then signed with Steel-town Records in 1967 and released two singles. The group was managed by Joe Jackson. In 1968, the group left Steel-town Records and signed with Motown and Berry Gordy, where they were the first group to debut with four consecutive number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 with the songs “I Want You Back”, “ABC”, “The Love You Save”, and “I’ll Be There”.
During the couple’s early years in Gary, Indiana, Katherine sang together with Joe Jackson as he played guitar. Joe and his brother Luther also formed an R&B band, the Falcons, in the mid-1950s, for extra income. Joe had a boxing career, but later went on to work as a crane operator at East Chicago’s Inland Steel Company to support the family. Katherine, a devout Jehovah’s Witness, began to work part-time at Sears in Gary and played clarinet and piano on the side. She knew that her son Michael loved music and had rhythm from an early age; one day she saw him dancing to the rickety old Maytag washing machine. Another son, Tito, would sneak to play Joe’s guitar while he was not home and one day broke a guitar string. After the guitar was fixed, Tito played for Joe. That sparked the forming of the family group that was named “The Jackson Brothers 5”, that later became the Jackson 5. While Joe led the rehearsals in the living room, Katherine designed and hand-sewed the stage outfits for the boys, and visited The Salvation Army for shoes. Jackson also spent time singing harmonies with the boys around the kitchen table. Jackson served as the family’s backbone
Katherine went to every concert she could.
“I’d have to say my favorite concerts of Michael’s—all of ‘em. I never got tired of seeing it over and over and over again. Because I thought that they were just that great.
But the tour that sticks out in her mind as the ultimate, she says was the brothers’ record setting Victory Tour in 1984.
“Especially the Victory Tour. I love that one because it had all of my sons in it. All six.”
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What Happened to Michael’s Children After His Death?
In July 2009, Katherine and Debbie Rowe, the mother of Michael’s two oldest children, reached a settlement pertaining to the care of Rowe’s children, Prince and Paris. The agreement provided that the children would be raised by Katherine, and Rowe would have visitation rights and would continue to receive the yearly payments to which Michael had agreed. On August 3, 2009, a judge named Jackson as the children’s permanent guardian.
As of 2011, Katherine resided at her home in Calabasas, California, with her grandson, TJ Jackson, son of Tito Jackson, and his family, having moved out of her Hayvenhurst home in Encino, California due to house renovations. On July 25, 2012, Jackson’s guardianship of the children was suspended by the court amid allegations that several Jackson family members might have held her against her will as a result of a financial dispute they had against Michael’s estate. Guardianship of the children was temporarily given to Michael’s nephew, TJ Jackson. Jackson’s guardianship later resumed, with TJ Jackson added as a co-guardian.
On November 1, 2017, Jackson resigned co-guardianship of Michael’s youngest son, Bigi. She stated her reasons included her own advanced age, the fact that Michael’s oldest children Prince and Paris Jackson were now adults, and Bigi being 15 years old. TJ Jackson was, without objection, awarded sole custody.
Michael’s generosity and his desire to “heal the world,” she says, were apparent from a very early age.
“You remember when they used to show the little African kids starving to death, flies all around their mouth? Well, Michael and I, would lay there on the floor watching TV. Michael would look up at me and said, ‘Mother,’ he said, ‘one day’ – he was only a kid then – ‘I’m going to do something about this.’”
Katherine says he kept his promise, sending boxes and boxes of food to people who needed it, paying tuition for those who couldn’t afford it.
The Last Time Ms. Jackson was Seen in Public
Katherine Jackson made a rare public appearance to show support for her daughter Janet Jackson’s new Las Vegas Residency.
The proud matriarch was pictured sitting in a wheelchair as she watched Janet, 58, who kicked off her first of 10 performances at the Resorts World Theatre on Monday.
Katherine could be seen taking in the show from the sidelines, as she sat holding onto her bag while her legs were covered with a white blanket.
It was an extremely rare sighting of the mother-of-10, who was last pictured in August 2023 when she went to watch her son Austin Brown perform at the Hard Rock Cafe in Los Angeles.
Janet made sure to put on a show for her beloved mother and the many fans in the audience as she took to the stage in a figure-hugging fit, an embellished tie, and a corseted boning structure to snatch her in at the waist.
“There’s not a day that passes I don’t think about my child and he should be here right now.” says Katherine.
We miss him too, Ms. Jackson. Happy Mother’s Day.
