La Toya Jackson

La Toya Yvonne Jackson (born May 29, 1956) is an American singer and television personality. The fifth child and middle daughter of the Jackson family, Jackson first gained recognition on the family's variety television series, The Jacksons, on CBS between 1976 and 1977. Thereafter, she saw success as a solo recording artist under multiple record labels in the 1980s and 1990s, including Polydor, Sony Music and RCA, where she released nine studio albums over the course of 15 years. Her most successful releases in the United States were her self-titled debut album (1980) and the 1984 single "Heart Don't Lie". Jackson's other songs include "Night Time Lover", "If You Feel the Funk", "Bet'cha Gonna Need My Lovin'", "Hot Potato", "You're Gonna Get Rocked!", and "Sexbox". Another one of Jackson's songs, "Just Say No" from her fifth album was composed for US first lady Nancy Reagan and Reagan administration's anti-drug campaign.

She is a two time New York Times best-selling author. Jackson posed for Playboy magazine in 1989 and again in 1991 to promote her book La Toya: Growing Up in the Jackson Family. In 1992, Jackson signed a contract with the Moulin Rouge to star in the successful Paris revue, Formidable. Despite subsequent musical success, Jackson's recording career began its decline in the 1990s as a result of her controversial marriage to entertainment manager Jack Gordon, whom she divorced in 1997. After a period of public seclusion, she returned to the music industry in 2004 with the singles "Just Wanna Dance", "Home", and "Free the World", which saw success on the Hot Dance Club Play chart in the United States. In 2011, she was a contestant on the fourth installment of The Celebrity Apprentice and released an extended play, Starting Over, which is her most recent release to date and was released alongside her best-selling autobiography.

From 2013 to 2014, Jackson appeared in her own reality television series on the Oprah Winfrey Network, Life with La Toya, which aired for two seasons.

Life and career

1956–1979: Early life and The Jacksons

Born on her sister Rebbie's 6th birthday on May 29, 1956, at St Mary's Mercy Hospital in Gary, Indiana, La Toya Jackson is the fifth of ten children born to Joe and Katherine Jackson and the middle female child between Rebbie and Janet. Growing up, La Toya tended to be shy. After her mother became a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1966, La Toya, along with the rest of her siblings followed. She would spend some of her time alongside her mother preaching door-to-door. "Every morning, Michael and I witnessed, knocking on doors around Los Angeles, spreading the word of Jehovah." By 1974, at seventeen, La Toya joined her brothers in the spotlight with a tap dancing routine when her father arranged for them to perform shows in Las Vegas, among other cities. La Toya attended the California Prep school in Encino, Los Angeles, California, and aspired to be an attorney specializing in business law. She attended college for a short time before her father insisted that she pursue a career in show business like the rest of the family.

In 1976 and 1977, La Toya and her sisters Rebbie and Janet appeared in all twelve episodes of The Jacksons—a CBS-TV variety program, with their brothers Jackie, Tito, Marlon, Michael, and Randy. Along with their brothers (sans Jermaine, who stayed at Motown and left the family group when his brothers moved to Epic Records), La Toya and her sisters sang, danced, and performed skits. In 1977, during the filming of The Wiz, La Toya traveled with her brother Michael (who was cast as the Scarecrow), to New York. Sharing an apartment, it was the first time either of them had lived elsewhere as adults. Close siblings, Michael and La Toya would not move out of the family's Encino home until they were 29 and 31 respectively. Her dates during this period included Diana Ross' brother Chico and a young David Gest. Jackson also dated Bobby DeBarge and was the inspiration for Switch's 1979 hit "I Call Your Name".

Under Joe Jackson's tutelage, Rebbie, La Toya and Janet formed a short-lived musical group. However, they never performed live and soon separated because of creative differences about the act's future direction. Consequently, no related material was ever released by the trio. The next year, La Toya began work on her first solo album.

1980–1987: Solo debut and follow-up albums

In 1980, Jackson released her self-titled debut album. In order to distinguish herself from her famous brothers, The Jacksons, La Toya only wanted her first name on the album. "I begged just to have it 'La Toya'. But my father said, 'It's your last name. You got to use it.' But I wanted to see what I could do as an individual." The first single "If You Feel the Funk", became a modest hit, climbing into the Top 40 of the US R&B chart. Her second single, "Night Time Lover", was produced by younger brother Michael, who provided backing vocals and co-wrote the song with La Toya. In turn, she provided the opening scream on her brothers', The Jacksons, 1980 hit, "This Place Hotel" as well as backing vocals on brother Michael's 1983 solo hit "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)". The La Toya Jackson album peaked at number 116 on the US Billboard 200, number 26 on the Billboard R&B album chart, and number 178 on the UK Albums Chart, making it her highest placing album.

In 1981, Jackson released a follow-up album, My Special Love, which generated two singles, "Stay the Night" and "I Don't Want You to Go".

1984 saw the release of Jackson's Heart Don't Lie. Jackson scored her biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit with the title track, which peaked at number 56. Other singles from this album were "Bet'cha Gonna Need My Lovin'", "Hot Potato", and a cover of Prince's "Private Joy." Jackson and Amir Bayyan co-wrote "Reggae Night" for Heart Don't Lie but the track did not make the cut. Jimmy Cliff's recording of the song was a hit and was nominated for a Grammy. Cliff commissioned Jackson to write two more songs: "Brown Eyes" and "American Sweet."

In 1984, Jackson licensed her name to a fashion line; "David Laurenz for La Toya." Apparel in the collection included Jackson's signature leather headbands. Jackson starred in television and print advertisements for Nikon cameras and the following year she became the spokesmodel for cosmetics firm Mahogany Image and launched her own eponymous fragrance, La Toya.

In 1985, Jackson participated on the single "We Are the World", an appeal for famine relief in Ethiopia. That same year Jackson featured in anti-drug music video "Stop the Madness". Her 1985 single "Baby Sister" received one of five Outstanding Song Awards at the sixteenth annual World Popular Song Festival in Japan. "Baby Sister" was included on the 1986 album Imagination, released just before Jackson's record label, Private-I, went bankrupt resulting in poor promotion. Jackson went on to record two duets; "Oops, Oh No!" with Cerrone, and "Yes, I'm Ready" with artist Jed. In 1987 Jackson was featured as a special guest at Minako Honda's DISPA (Disco Party) concert, joining in for the song, "Funkytown".

1988–1991: Public notoriety, abuse and exile from the Jackson family

In 1987, Jack Gordon was hired to co-manage La Toya by her father, Joseph. He later took over her management completely. Under Gordon's management, Jackson's public image became increasingly sexualized. Katherine Jackson recalled her shock seeing La Toya dance in a suggestive manner in 1988 for the first time in her autobiography My Family, The Jacksons: "she'd been so conservative that she'd once dropped a friend who had begun wearing low-cut tops and skirts with slits in them." Katherine believed that Gordon was distancing La Toya from her family so he could "become the dominating influence in her life." Around this time Jackson was disfellowshipped by the Jehovah's Witnesses. Defying her father, Jackson made a stormy exit from the family's Encino compound to take up residence in New York City. In late 1988, Jackson released the album La Toya, which featured the singles "You're Gonna Get Rocked!" and "(Ain't Nobody Loves You) Like I Do". The album also included a track titled "Just Say No", which was written for the Reagan administration's anti-drug campaign. The album included four tracks produced by Full Force, and three by Stock Aitken Waterman.

In March 1989, Jackson posed topless for Playboy magazine. Jackson saw the pictorial as a declaration of independence from her conservative upbringing and "to show my parents they couldn't dictate to me any more—that I control my life." In 1989, Jackson began recording her sixth album Bad Girl. That year Jackson staged a live pay-per-view concert, A Sizzling Spectacular!, from Bally's theatre in Reno. The show featured special guest star Edgar Winter.