Childhood and The Jackson 5

1958 - 1963:

On 29th of August 1958 in Gary, a small unimportant town in Indiana, Katherine Jackson gives birth to a boy. She gives him the name Michael Joseph Jackson. Michael is the 7th of 9 children. He visits the kindergarten and the first years of Gary's elementary school, which he later calls his “childhood”. Michael is a sensitive child, maybe the most sensitive of the Jackson brothers and sisters. And he's just about five years old when he takes over the leading vocal part in the band of his brothers. It seems like this is already the final point behind Michael Jackson's childhood.

1964-1968
In public:

The Jackson 5 get famous very fast. First they only sing in night-clubs and bars but little Michael is very gifted and hard-working. His voice and dancing talent brings the band to talent-shows, which they always win. Obviously Michael enjoys standing in the spotlight. He's angel-like voice touched everybody and it seems like he only came into this world for singing and dancing. Even at the age of 8 or 9 Michael starts to write songs on his own. In his child-wantonness he says that one day he'll release the most successful music-album of all times.... The success of the Jackson 5 is incredible and when in 1967 they win in the Apollo-Theatre in New York the crowd cheers. After they got this last hindrance a carrier begins which nobody would ever dream of. Soon they're under contract with Motown, which is already a great aim but for little Michael it's just the beginning.

Behind the stage:

But behind the stage Michael cries. The little boy who's not yet 10 years old hardly can bear to see all the other children playing outside while he has to work hard for his success. His father Joseph is a hard man who does everything to guarantee the brother's success. He beats the children. And he'll get his success - unfortunately it costs the joy in the soul of his most talented son. Michael suffers more than the others under the strength of his father. He's so afraid of him that he really starts to regurgitate when he just sees his father. Michael has to grow up faster than every other child. All the responsibility for the family's success lays on his tiny shoulders. That's why even his once carefree shining child-eyes sometimes lose their smile...

Years later:

Almost 40 years later - Michael is by now the most famous man of the world - he still cries bitter tears inside when he thinks back to these times: "But I am the product of a lack of a childhood, an absence of that precious and wondrous age when we frolic playfully without a care in the world, basking in the adoration of parents and relatives, where our biggest concern is studying for that big spelling test come Monday morning. About his father: “My father is a tough man and he pushed my brothers and me hard, from the earliest age, to be the best performers we could be. He had great difficulty showing me affection. He never really told me he loved me. And he never really complimented me either. If I did a great show, he would tell me it was a good show. And if I did an okay show, he would say nothing..", Michael said crying, "He seemed intent, above all else, on making us a commercial success. And at that he was more than adept. My father was a managerial genius and my brothers and I owe our professional success, in no small measure, to the forceful way that he pushed us. He trained me as a showman and under his guidance I couldn't miss a step. But what I really wanted was a Dad. I wanted a father who showed me love. And my father never did that. He never said I love you while looking me straight in the eye, he never played a game with me. He never gave me a piggyback ride, he never threw a pillow at me, or a water balloon. But I remember once when I was about four years old, there was a little carnival and he picked me up and put me on a pony. It was a tiny gesture, probably something he forgot five minutes later. But because of that moment I have this special place in my heart for him. Because that's how kids are, the little things mean so much to them and for me, that one moment meant everything...”

1969 - 1973:
In public:

They move to Encino, California. The band tours, celebrates success after success and gets unbelievable many prices and markings. It seems like the music industry has found their new money-makers - especially one, the little Michael Jackson.

Behind the stage:

The more famous and popular the Jackson 5 became, the more problems they had with increasingly uncontrollable fans and with trying to maintain their privacy and some semblance of normal life. Michael reacted much more dramatically to these than his brothers did. Being mobbed by near hysterical girls was one of most terrifying experiences for Michael in those days. “I mean it was rough” he later explained. “I can testify that it hurts to be mobbed. You feel as you’re going to suffocate or be dismembered. There are a thousands hands grabbing at you.” Jermaine later explained: “Michael was scared to death. The rest of us were more amazed than scared, but Mike was genuinely frightened.” The house in Encino was lavish, and it was isolating. In Gary they had one bedroom for the parents and one bedroom for all the children. But in Encino, the place was so big, that they had to make plans to see each other - as Jermaine later explained. Their were losing touch with each other and the boys would never be as close as they had been in Gary. Michael was unhappy there. Michael’s school received a death threat against Michael. As a result, his parents pulled him out of public school and he and the brothers were tutored by an accredited children’s welfare supervisor. (Michael was eventually awarded a high-school equivalency diploma). Michael felt even more isolated. But beyond that, his isolation was a part of Motown’s control. As Jermaine remembers: “When the Jackson 5 started getting success Motown kept us out of the public eye on purpose as a strategy, to make a mystique, so were never allowed to visit friends or go to a ball game. And that’s bad for kids.”

Years later:

"Well, you don't get to do things that other children get to do, you know, having friends and slumber parties and buddies. There was none of that for me. I didn't have any friends when I was little. My brothers were my friends. People wonder why I always have children around, because I find the thing that I never had through them, you know Disneyland, amusement parks, arcade games. I adore all that stuff because when I was little it was always work, work, work from one concert to the next, if it wasn't a concert it was the recording studio, if it wasn't that it was TV shows or interviews or picture sessions. There was always me always something to do. And that left no time for play, which is a necessary and natural part of most children’s lives. Michael went on to tell Winfrey: “I remember going to the record studio, there was a park across the street and I’d see all the children playing and I would cry because it would make me sad that I would have to work instead.”

About his father beating him: "I guess I don't know if I was his golden child or whatever it was, some may call it a strict disciplinarian or whatever, but he was very strict, very hard, very stern. Just a look would scare you, you know. I was frightened. Like there's been times when he'd come to see me, I'd get sick, I'd start to regurgitate. I just wish, I could understand my father."