Jackson is the first to admit that she never had the strongest singing voice in her family, but that didn't stop her father, Joe Jackson, from securing her a contract with A&M Records when she was 16.

While people tend to think of 'Control' (1986) as her first album, her true debut was a lacklustre self-titled record released four years earlier.

'It was my first time really being in the studio working with a producer, and Angela [Winbush, of the then-popular R&B duo René and Angela, who produced some of the tracks] made me comfortable,' she says. 'I had a very soft voice, but she'd get me to try different things with it. She made me surprise myself.'

The biggest surprise came in 1986 when Jackson went into the Flyte Tyme Studios in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and emerged with 'Control', one of the most brilliant albums of the decade.

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