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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1982)
Portland Observer, January 21 ,1 8 8 3 Page 5 The Jacksons: Will they quit? The Jacksons have com pleted what could be their last to u r, ac cording to M ichael. Following the D e tro it concert M ich ael said he would like to try other things. “ I think it's im portant to grow and I ’ve been doing this for so long. I sometimes feel like I should be 70 by now. W e 'v e been around the world twice, performed before kings and ambassadors. It's time to move on. I still want to make records. That’s how I want to spend my time the next few years.’’ The tour— completely sold out— drew an estimated 600,000 persons and grossed $5.5 million. Because Michael is considered to be the Jackson’s chief attraction, his decision will have an impact on his brothers* careers. Jackie, 30, is in terested in film scoring; T ito , 27 would like to study for his masters degree in music; Marlon, 24 is inter ested in actiong; Randy, 19, plans to work on a solo album. The question is: W hen these projects are com pleted will the groups come back to gether? The Jacksons* touring history goes back eleven years when the five brothers and two sisters toured in a VW van, then returned in the early morning hours to attend school that morning. The groups started as a trio — Jackie. T ito and Jermaine— singing cou n try-W e s te rn . By the tim e M ichael and M a rlo n were old enough to join them they were con centrating on the Top 40 hits, espe cially Motown tunes. They won sev eral regional competitions and ap peared on the Ed Sullivan show be fore their first Motown hit. Soon the Jacksons were dom ina ting the charts. They toured regular ly in the early '70s, appeared in Las Vegas and had their own T V series. Then they began to rebel against the M o to w n system o f having other Presents Revlon Platform Artist Marie Edwards from: Paris London Los Angeles Have your hair stlyed by one o f the b e st... Th« Jacksons: Michael, Tito, Randy, Jackin, Marlon. people write and produce their rec ords. They dreamed o f writing and recording their own songs. The Jacksons broke with Motown in 1976, switching to Epic Records, where they gained control over their recordings. H o w ever, Jerm aine, whose wife is the daughter o f M o- town’ s Berry G ordy, left the group over the switch. A n o th er setback was in 1980 when Randy was seriously injured in an auto accident and was not ex pected to walk again. Randy took it in stride and through hard work was soon back on the stage. I f he does decide to give up tour ing, Michael, who played the scare crow in " T h e W iz ,” will try films. He will begin work in February with producer Quincy Jones on his next LP so he will be free this summer to concentrate on acting. “ I'd lik e to do heavy d r a m a - something with depth, something so fu ll o f em otion that people get aroused the way they do in concert. " I t ’s beautiful at the shows when people jo in together. I t ’ s our own little w o rld . F or that hour and a h a lf, we try to show there is hope and goodness." 5 2 6 S.W . P ark A v e . P o rtla n d , 241-9462 241-9463 the Morgan-Park Building EXODUS 1639N.E. Albarta PORTLAND. OREGON 9721 1 284 7997 E2SUPERBC VALUES Exodus Mental Fitness Classes SPONSORED BY The Exodus Clean Team IM P L E M E N T IN G Tom Boothe’s " Q U A D R IP A R T IT E C O N C E P T ” as an education process for leaching Mental Fitness. This method teaches strengthening o f the mind by developing COMMERCIAL ELECTRONICS INC. We have a large selection of reconditioned TVs. "Service is our specialty" Trade in your old T.V. for a reconditioned beauty! 8139 N. Denver • 285-1626 We are open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day except Sunday
