Tito Jackson, a founding member of the Jackson 5, who, along with his brothers Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael, became a teen idol in the 1970s with a string of hits that included “ABC” and “I’ll Be There,” died on Sunday. He was 70.
A spokesman for his youngest sister, the singer Janet Jackson, said in a statement on Monday that Mr. Jackson died of a heart attack while driving to Oklahoma from New Mexico. The statement did not specify where he died. Mr. Jackson told The Tulsa World in June that he had recently moved to a ranch in Claremore, Okla., about 25 miles northeast of Tulsa.
The Jackson 5, one of the most popular musical acts of their era, were responsible for launching the solo career of Michael Jackson, who became known as the “King of Pop” and was one of the most emulated musicians of all time. Michael Jackson died in 2009 at 50.
The story of the Jackson 5, from their humble beginnings in Gary, Ind., to their various levels of success, has been well documented. It was the subject of a five-hour ABC mini-series in 1992, “The Jacksons: An American Dream.”
Toriano Adaryll Jackson was born on Oct. 15, 1953, in Gary to Joe and Katherine (Scruse) Jackson. Tito is largely remembered for being the guitarist in the group, a skill he picked up by watching his father. The elder Mr. Jackson, who managed the Jackson 5, died in 2018.
In a 2019 interview with the YouTube channel Vlad TV, Tito Jackson said that as a child he would play his father’s guitar behind his back.
“One day I broke the string and I didn’t know what to do about it,” he said. “He came home and saw the string broke and was really upset about it.”
After his father punished him, Mr. Jackson recalled, he asked him to demonstrate what he knew. His father then gave him the guitar and instructed him to learn every song on the radio.
The brothers soon began performing as the Jackson Brothers; Michael, the youngest, was given a spot after impressing the family with a performance of “Climb Every Mountain” at a talent show. The group’s name was changed to the Jackson 5 after someone suggested it after a performance at a wedding.
Tito was the second oldest, after Jackie, followed in age by Jermaine, Marlon and Michael.
Signed to Motown Records, the Jackson 5 became a household name in the 1970s, regularly appearing on television variety shows alongside the likes of Cher and Diana Ross. Their music, through more than a dozen albums, provided a soundtrack for a generation and incited a level of fandom comparable to what elite pop stars like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé enjoy today.
“I remember the very first time we went to the U.K. and we had something like 10,000 screaming fans to greet us at the airport,” Mr. Jackson said on an interview on the TV show “Sister Circle” in 2019. “I got lost in the airport and 1,000 fans chasing me, pulling everywhere. It was crazy.”
(Another Jackson brother, Randy, joined the group in 1975, replacing Jermaine, who had started a solo career. The group toured and recorded as the Jacksons after leaving Motown, which owned the name Jackson 5, for Epic Records in 1976.)
Three of the Jackson 5’s biggest songs — “ABC,” “I Want You Back” and “I’ll Be There” — were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; among the other inductees that year were the Bee Gees, Joni Mitchell and. Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Mr. Jackson continued to work in the music business over the years. He released a solo album, “Tito Time,” in 2016, and toured alongside some of his brothers. The Jacksons (Tito, Jackie, Marlon and Tito’s son Taryll) were scheduled to perform in Atlantic City, N.J., in October and in Cincinnati in November.
In addition to his brothers and his sister Janet, Mr. Jackson is survived by include his sisters La Toya and Rebbie; his mother; three sons, Taj, Taryll and TJ; nine grandchildren; and two step-grandchildren.
“We’ve always said that it’s the fans that make the artist,” Mr. Jackson told “Sister Circle.” “We go to work, we make music and we do all these other things, but it’s actually the fans who love it and buy it.”
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