Father of Music Icon Michael Jackson Dead at 89

Joseph Jackson, the strong, fearsome patriarch of the musical Jackson family, has died, according to a person close to the family. He was 89.

The stage dad of Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson and their talented siblings took his family from poverty in Gary, Indiana, and launched a musical dynasty.

Five of his boys – Michael, Jermaine, Marlon, Tito and Jackie – made the clan an instant sensation with the arrival of the Jackson 5 in 1969.

Over the following decades, millions would listen to recordings by the Jacksons, and Michael would become one of the most popular entertainers in history before his death in 2009.

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