Tito Jackson, original member of the Jackson 5, is dead at the age of 70. Steve Manning, a former Jackson family manager, confirmed the news to Entertainment Tonight on September 15. “It’s with heavy hearts that we announce that our beloved father, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Tito Jackson is no longer with us,†Jackson’s sons Taj, Taryll, and TJ wrote on Instagram. “We are shocked, saddened and heartbroken. Our father was an incredible man who cared about everyone and their well-being.†A cause of death has not been determined, but Manning believes he suffered a heart attack while driving from Orlando to New Mexico.
Toriano Adaryll Jackson was the third of ten Jackson children, born in Gary, Indiana, in 1953. Well before he played guitar and sang backup in the Jackson 5, Tito would play his father Joe Jackson’s guitar at home, and one day he broke a string, according to a 2019 Tito interview. In response, Joe Jackson made Tito play for him. Impressed, Joe Jackson began the Jackson 5, setting off a spark that eventually scored the brothers a recording contract with Motown (which they left for Epic Records in 1975), snagged four No. 1 hits for the group, and thrust Michael Jackson into the spotlight.
The Jackson 5’s last recorded album, 2300 Jackson Street, came out in 1989. Tito and his brother Jackie are the only brothers who appear on all 16 albums the Jackson 5 recorded between 1969 and 1989. Tito later put out two solo records: Tito Time in 2016 and Under Your Spell in 2021. As part of the Jackson 5, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Of the original band, Tito is survived by Jackie, Jermaine, and Marlon.