LaToyaJackson

LaToya
Jackson

    Michael may have earned the moniker "Wacko Jacko" but LaToya is as wacked as any of her siblings. With a modicum of talent and alot of nerve she has parlayed her name into a career. She has received more publicity for her antics than any of her recordings. Despite the fact that many of her recordings are indeed excellent.
     Born May 29, 1956 in nearby Gary, Indiana, LaToya was the second daughter born to Joe and Katherine. Unlike Rebbie, the eldest and Janet the baby, LaToya never really seemed to find her niche within the musical clan. She stood by and watched as all of the family's energy was put into making her brothers a successful singing act. Her show business career started at the young age of 16 when she performed side-by-side with her brothers, The Jackson Five at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The next several years found Toy, (her nick name), with no "real-world" skills at a loss as to what to do with her life. Performing with her family and pressure from daddy Joe made the inevitable happen.
     In 1980, with Joe as her manager, she secured a record deal with Polydor Records based solely on her name. All the stops were pulled out to record her debut album, "LaToya Jackson." She was immediately targeted to the club market with the 12" single "If You Feel The Funk." The song was a wise choice as clubbers soon took to it and radio embraced it. The album was spurred along with a stellar cast including: Ray Parker, Jr., Patrice Rushen, Stevie Wonder and Emilio Castillo. Even brother Michael weighed in producing the track "Nighttime Lover." The album was an overall pleasing debut and actually showed promise for Toy.
     Her second album "My Special Love" was released on Polydor in 1981. Benefiting from solid arrangements and the well-rounded production of Ollie E. Brown, her sophomore album is a flavorful mixture of lively uptempo romps and smooth-sailing slow jams. A 12" single was released of "Stay The Night." The uptempo danceable track was flipped over by the smart D.J.'s and "Camp Kuchi Kaiai" (co-written with Janet ) became an early morning classic. The album became a second successful venture for her and it actually looked like she might have a future in the recording world.
    During a routine housecleaning at Polydor Toy was set out like last years newspapers. She waited three years before signing with Private-I Records in 1984 and by then the musical landscape had changed drastically since her debut. Gone were the quality musicians, replaced with drab synthesizers and mechanical rhythms. "Heart Don't Lie" was the first 12" single from the same-titled album. Following it was the equally flat 12" single of "Hot Potato." Neither were hits although they did receive some minor club exposure and the rest of the album is undistinguishable. 1986's "Imagination" was mostly disposable material that even with a highly talented singer would have been hard to sell. The label folded and Toy was once again without a recording contract.
     After leaving her father's production company in 1986 she next landed on RCA Records in 1988. On "La Toya" the production team of Full Force surrounds her with the right machinery: clever background riffs, samples and special voice effects that can stray the listener from her lack of interpretation and weak songs. Their contributions, "You Blew" and the 12" single "Such A Wicked Love," are clever jams which position Jackson as a street-hip artist. Even a 12" single by Stock, Aitken & Waterman, "Just Say No," is a winner. The album like most of her releases remains uneven.
     Full Force was recruited for a second quick album that same year. "You're Gonna Get Rocked" was the only 12" single from the same-titled album which sank quicker than the Titanic. LaToya was ready to put her recording career on hold for the time being. She then electrified the world by posing for Playboy Magazine in 1989. Her layout sold over 8 million copies within one month; more than any other issue in Playboy's 50 year history and La Toya became the highest-paid model of the publication. Needless to say the family was horrified and the rift that had begun earlier with the dismissal of Joe as her manager now became a huge gap. A 1991 autobiography entitled: "La Toya, Growing Up In The Jackson Family," which made it on the New York Times Best Seller list at the No. 2 position for several weeks, sold over a million copies. The book alleged sexual abuse, mental abuse and told all the family's dirty little secrets. Needless to say the huge gap now became an almost irreversible split. An album released to coincide with the book entitled "No Relations" produced the 12" single "Sexbox." The tune "Be My Playboy" also kept her in the public's mind by reminding us of her pictoral expose.
     A series of bizarre interviews puncuated the next two years until the release of 1993's "Step Up Workout With La Toya Jackson," an excersize video that sold better than some of her recordings. Continuing her bizarre career path she then hosted an infomercial promoting psychic phenomena before signing a year-long deal with the world-famous Moulin Rogue in Paris, but left after only four months, a contract breaking moment that cost the singer half-a-million dollars.
     Back in the states she fled to the south to record her 1994 album "From Nashville To You." What can one say about LaToya singing country music? Actually quite alot but I'm sure the dismal sales proved that the public didn't think it could handle her as a country act! Competing with her country album was a live album from her short-lived Moulin Rouge gig, it sold little more than a few thousand copies. Her marriage to manager Jack Gordon set tongues to wagging earlier in her career and by 1995 his svengali-ish effect even has him co-writing tunes on her album "Bad Girl." The album was geared towards the dance clubs but even they were bored with her at this point.
     Her divorce from husband/manager Jack Gordon was finalized in 1997, allowing Jackson to reconcile with her family and begin working on her comeback. The single "Just Wanna Dance" appeared in 2003 but was released with only Jackson's nickname - Toy - on the label. The single appeared on her 2004 album "Startin' Over," released by the Ja-Tail label. For the most part Toya has kept a lower profile in the new millenium only popping up on the occasional television show. It also seems she has grownup and given up on creating weirdness for the sake of publicity, one can only hope so. We still honor her for the handful of great 12" singles she gave the disco community..thanks Toy!