Jermaine Jackson

The lone Jackson family member to stay with Motown while the other brothers split for CBS/Epic (he was then married to Berry Gordy’s daughter Hazel), Jermaine enjoyed a artistically diffident career during the ’70s at Motown, surfacing with an occasional hit like a remake of “Daddy’s Home” (1972) and “Let’s Be Young Tonight” (1975). Jermaine got a badly needed shot in the arm from Stevie Wonder, who wrote and produced “Let’s Get Serious,” a Top Ten pop and soul dance hit that came around the time of brother Michael’s pop ascendancy. After scoring a Top 20 pop hit in 1982 with the infectious “Let Me Tickle Your Fancy,” Jermaine left Motown in 1983 for Arista Records, where he scored a pair of hits in 1984 with “Do What You Do” and the scintillating dance number “Dynamite.” Subsequently, he re-joined the Jacksons in time for their ill-fated Victory tour in 1984. Jackson has recorded sporadically since, though he generated controversy in 1991 when “Word to the Badd,” a thinly veiled attack on his brother Michael, was leaked out to urban music stations. ~ John Lowe