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
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