Michael Jackson’s father dies at 89

Joe Jackson, father and early manager of the Jacksons, reportedly died at age 89 on Wednesday morning, 27 after a battle with cancer in the United States.

According to a U.S. entertainment website TMZ, the Jackson family patriarch was born in 1928 and married wife Katherine in 1949. He went on to have 11 children.
TMZ quotes family sources as saying Joe passed away at 3:30 AM Wednesday in Los Angeles.

“We broke the story … Joe was hospitalized in June with terminal cancer. His family had been flocking to his bedside since. His wife, Katherine, had been at his bedside as were some of Joe’s children and grandchildren”, TMZ details.

He had been battling health problems for some time now, and was hospitalized back in 2016 after coming down with a high fever, but reportedly bounced back not long after and was seen partying in Vegas. His health was also fragile after a stroke and 3 heart attacks back in 2015. Doctors implanted a pacemaker.

Joe may have been the most successful parent managing his children in the history of music. He, with a little help from Diana Ross, engineered the careers of The Jackson 5, and then Michael and Janet Jackson as solo artists.

The elder Jackson took a lot of heat from Michael and his siblings for abusing parenting and management practices, including physical brutality. Joe copped to it but, far from apologizing … he said his methods made his kids successful and kept them out of jail.

As a manager, Jackson launched the career of son Michael Jackson, [who predeceased his dad] — along with Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Tito as the Jackson 5 in the 1960s. The Jackson 5 signed with Berry Gordy’s Motown Records, and in 1970, their first three singles (“I Want You Back,” “ABC” and “The Love You Save”) all went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Son Jermaine Jackson tweeted about his father’s health on June 21. “My father’s health is not good, but ‘dying’ is a harsh word chosen by headline writers, not me,” he wrote at the time. “For however long he has left, my mother, siblings, and relatives want to be with him, without hindrance.”

But on June 24, a more ominous update was posted on Joe Jackson’s Twitter page: “I have seen more sunsets than I have left to see. The sun rises when the time comes and whether you like it or not the sun sets when the time comes.”