A lot of folks don't realize what the J5 were doin' before they signed with Motown and/or before they released there first single. Some folks just think they just came from no where like they artist now a days. They honed the craft performin' with some of the rhythm and blues and soul greats of all-time.


As early as 1967, they were already performin' at the Regal Theater in Chicago (basically the Apollo of Chicago.) They won the their Armature night 4 weeks straight were they got to perform on the same bill as Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers and Gladys Knight & the Pips.


Later that year, they went up north to the Apollo in Harlem and won Armature night there also. They played the other theaters at that time known as (The Chitlin' Circuit) which included the Howard in DC and the Uptown in Philadelphia.


Other act's they'd be on the same bill as include James Brown, Sam & Dave, The O'Jays, Etta James, Delfonics, Marshall & the Chi-Lites, Jackie Wilson, Joe Tex among others. And this was long before Motown came calling!!

The Jackson 5's early years began as early as 1963 when Tito Jackson began playing Joe's guitar around the house with his other brothers Jackie and Jermaine singing Motown songs with him.

Also what's unknown is that when they started as "The Jackson Brothers", Tito played rhythm guitar, Jermaine didn't play an instrument during those early days. Then as the group discovered their talents (Tito went on to play lead guitar, while Jermaine played rhythm guitar and later bass), the younger brothers Marlon and Michael (especially him) began wanting to get in.

Even after Michael made his first public singing debut in late '63 during a Christmas recital at five, Joe still wouldn't let him (or Marlon) into his brother's band but after Katherine Jackson kept pushing for Michael, Joe finally allowed Michael and Marlon in the band in mid-1964 but gave them instruments. Michael played bongos and Marlon played tambourine.

Michael began to dance and do his own little numbers around 1965 or 1966 and by the latter year, it was no doubt in Joe's eyes from the responses Michael got singing and dancing that Michael was the reason the Jackson Brothers were getting ahead in the talent showcases they were starting to enter.

After a high school talent show win, the Jackson Brothers changed their name to The Jackson Five (not "5" at first) and Michael, Jackie and Jermaine began sharing lead vocals daily. In 1967, they made their first appearances at the chitlin' circuit where they got all that notice from the guys you mentioned. Even James Brown spotted them during one show and mentored them a bit.

1967 also marked the group's first professional year as entertainers and recording artists after signing with Steeltown Records and "Big Boy" was a big radio hit, it sold over 10,000 copies after the record was distributed by Atco Records in January of 1968. They released two more records and began getting top billing at black venues across the country as a professional act.

Joe had struggled to get them in Motown as late as 1966 but finally got them the deal in March 1969 but the Jacksons actually auditioned to get the deal in 1968 where that infamous audition tape came from in Detroit. Plus the Jackson Five were NEVER billed as a bubblegum act, they were much like their Chicago neighbors the Five Stairsteps, a premier soul group.

Motown babied them in a way when they got with them...

Michael and his brothers were professional since 1967.
[Edited 7/19/09 14:06pm]

LittleBLUECorvette said:

The Jackson's performed in Chicago at two other theaters as well, the Metropolitan and the Savoy Ballroom. Not the Regal, Metropolitan nor the Savoy stand today. The also played in bars in and around Gary, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Cleveland. They entered talent shows and played concerts at Gary Roosevelt High School gym, just steps away from their home on 25th and Jackson Street, and they performed at the Memorial Stadium in downtown Gary often.

Here's a pic... the front facade, of the Memorial Auditorium in Gary,IN.; some pyromaniac set it a blaze and destroyed it nearly a decade ago.

The Jackson Five also performed at Gary's Beckman Junior High School. I think their first paying gig was at Gary's strip joint, Mr. Lucky's around 1966 or 1967.
[Edited 7/19/09 14:16pm]

Timmy84 said:

Yes, they did. The school still stands but it's closed.

Timmy84 said:

Yep, after a show together at the Regal in July 68, Joe actually asked JB to take his boys on the road with his band. JB declined the offer.

Timmy84 said:

Yep also. The Steps producer/manager Curtis Mayfield had an encounter with the J5 earlier on as well. After the J5 opened for the Impressions, Joe asked Curtis about a gig. Mr. Mayfield respectfully declined as he was already dealing with a kid act at the time.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Yeah, Joe was trying to hustle the group to any professional act that showed some interest. I heard he also tried to get the boys to Sam & Dave's label Stax and Sam Moore also was trying to get them a deal but Stax didn't wanna sign a group of kids.
[Edited 7/19/09 14:50pm]

Timmy84 said:

Yeah, I think Sam was tryin to get them before Bobby T and Gladys noticed them, right?? There's a famous photo from early 68' of Sam & Dave headlining Apollo with supporting act The O'Jays right below and way at the bottom (ft. the Jackson Five.)


Joe Simon also declined. I guess no one wanted to deal with kid acts at that time ...
[Edited 7/19/09 15:01pm]

From 1968 ...






(credit j5-collector.com)

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Yeah Sam was definitely trying to get the Jacksons a deal and yeah no one wanted anything to do with child acts hence why there were so very few child acts at all. Especially child acts that sung raw, unadulterated soul. Have to say the Burkes were VERY lucky they weren't as young as the Jacksons.
[Edited 7/19/09 15:13pm]

In 1962, Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine began performing around the Gary area with two neighborhood children, Johnny Jackson and Ronnie Rancifer, in a group called The Ripples and Waves. Joe Jackson served as the manager, at first only part-time, and then eventually quitting his job at the steel mill. Jermaine sang lead and played bass, and Tito played guitar. Johnny and Ronnie were replaced the next year by Marlon and Michael, who was only 5 years old. Already showing talent as a singer and dancer, Michael eventually replaced Jermaine as lead vocalist, and the band was renamed The Ripples and Waves Plus Michael. Joe would later rename the group The Jackson Brothers before finally settling on The Jackson 5.

Angelic1302 said:

I'm loving this thread! Keep the info coming!

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Cool post. Keep this history coming. Some people give so little credit to the J5/Jacksons and discount anything regarding Michael's career before Thriller. I'm actually a bigger Jackson Five/Jackson fan than Michael Jackson solo artist only fan. I like the vibe they had performing together; you can't get that "feel" if you are not brothers. Don't get me wrong, I loved Off the Wall and most of Thriller, but I was a Jackson fan way before the Thriller era.

yoco said:

I wonder who won that "Battle of the Groups?" This was mid-68, The Vancouvers had a recent hit, Marshall & the Chi-Lites were just starting to make a name for them selves, The Vibrations were the vets, Dyke and the Blazers were on their JB thang. The Esquires and the Artistics, I've heard of them, but can't think of what they sang, and than you got the young J5, who'd only had one single up at that time "Big Boy."

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Let's not forget MJ doing those James Brown covers.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Too bad there isn't any video footage. I would love to see that.