Tito Jackson Dies: The Jackson 5 Founding Guitarist Was 70

Erik Pedersen
·4-min read
Tito Jackson Dies: The Jackson 5 Founding Guitarist Was 70

UPDATED with details: Tito Jackson, the founding guitarist of iconic ’70s hitmakers The Jackson 5 that featured a young Michael Jackson and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, died Sunday after reportedly having a heart attack while driving in New Mexico. He was 70.

His sons TJ, Taryll and Taj Jackson, who make up the band 3T, posted the news on social media but did not confirm a cause of death. The Gallup Police Department said an officer was flagged down at 6:17 p.m. near the American Heritage Plaza on Highway 491 and alerted to a person requiring medical aid. Jackson was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

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“We are shocked, saddened and heartbroken,” the trio wrote on Facebook. “Our father was an incredible man who cared about everyone and their well-being. Some of you may know him as Tito Jackson from the legendary Jackson 5, some may know him as ‘Coach Tito’ or some know him as ‘Poppa T.’ Nevertheless, he will be missed tremendously.”

Also featuring brothers Jermaine, Marlon, Jackie and later Randy, the group blasted out of Indiana in 1969 with its first four singles all hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100: “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “The Love You Save” and “I’ll Be There.” Their next two singles — “Mama’s Pearl” and “Never Can Say Goodbye” reached No. 2 in 1970. In all, The Jackson 5 — later called The Jacksons — had 10 Top 10 hits in the 1970s and another, “State of Shock,” in 1984. They also scored seven Top 10 in the UK.

The band’s first four LPs all made the Top 5 on the Billboard 200 in 1970, with their seminal Jackson 5 Christmas Album topping the chart that December. They would scored four more Top 10 long players through 1984 in the U.S. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

Born Toriano Adaryll Jackson on October 15, 1953, in Gary, IN, Tito Jackson was the second-oldest in the group, which came together in the mid-1960s under the watchful eye and heavy hand of their father Joe Jackson. The group won an amateur talent competition at the Apollo Theater in 1967 and signed an exclusive seven-year deal with Berry Gordy’s enormously successful Motown Records in 1969, leading to their string of hits, which also included “Dancing Machine,” “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground),” and “Enjoy Yourself.”

The group would move to Sony’s Epic Records in 1976 after its Motown deal ended. That year, the family was recruited to star in The Jacksons, a summer variety show on CBS that featured all of the Jackson siblings except Jermaine, who had re-signed with Motown. It came at the height of TV’s variety-show era and was the first to have an all-Black family cast, with Tito, Rebbie, Jackie, La Toya, Marlon, Michael, Randy and 10-year-old future star Janet Jackson. It aired one 12-episode season.

The group also was part on the early-’70s Saturday morning cartoon craze, with The Jackson 5ive airing on ABC for during the 1971-72 season. Created, produced and directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass — the duo behind beloved 1960s and ’70s animated Christmas specials — the series featured other actors voicing the Jackson Five’s roles.

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Lead singer Michael was just 11 when the group broke out, and he would release the powerhouse solo albums Off the Wall (1979) and Thriller (1982), solidifying his moniker as The King of Pop and growing more distant from the group. Michael and his brothers embarked on the massive Victory Tour of stadiums in 1984 and years later for a 30th anniversary concert special recorded at Madison Square Garden in 2001. Michael Jackson died in 2009 at 50, and his brothers — along with sisters La Toya and Janet — attended his memorial at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Tito Jackson started a solo career in the early 2000s that included the albums Tito Time (2016) and Under Your Spell (2021). He also managed his sons’ band, and all three were featured in Lifetime’s 2015 reality series The Jacksons: Next Generation, which followed the brothers as they tried to balance their music careers with family life and the pressures of being a Jackson.

Tito Jackson and two family members had been performing as The Jacksons, with upcoming concerts scheduled for the coming months in Atlantic City and Cincinnati.

Funeral and memorial plans were pending. He is survived by his three sons and nine grandchildren. Delores Jackson, who married Tito in 1972 and is the mother of TJ, Taryll and Taj Jackson, died in 1994.

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