Joe Jackson, patriarch of musical Jackson family, has died
— -- Joe Jackson, the father of Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson and the manager of the famed Jackson family, died Tuesday, a family source confirms to ABC News. He was 89.
His grandson Randy Jackson also tweeted, "RIP to the king that made everything possible!!! I love you."
Jackson had been battling health issues in recent years. He suffered a stroke while visiting Brazil for his 87th birthday two years ago and was hospitalized in the intensive care unit of a Sao Paulo hospital.
Jackson had also suffered minor strokes before that, including one in 2012.
Joseph Walter Jackson was born the eldest of five children to Crystal Lee and Samuel Jackson, a schoolteacher, in Fountain Hill, Arkansas, on July 26, 1928. His family eventually settled in East Chicago, Indiana, where he later met and married Katherine Scruse. The newlyweds purchased a three-room house in Gary, Indiana, where they raised their 11 children.
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Jackson, himself a guitar player whose blues band failed to take off, began working with his eldest sons, Jackie, Tito and Jermaine, and their group The Jackson Brothers in the early 1960s. After younger sons Marlon and Michael joined the group, the name was changed to The Jackson Five and eventually The Jackson 5.
As the group grew into international sensations and Michael Jackson left to pursue his hugely successful solo career, more scrutiny was placed on Jackson. Stories that he had abused his children, which he denied, surfaced in the media. Michael Jackson famously told Oprah Winfrey of the whippings his father doled out with switches and belts but publicly forgave him, honoring him with an annual Joseph Jackson Day at Neverland Ranch.
Nonetheless, following Michael Jackson's death, his will left nothing to his father, instead distributing his assets to his mother and his three children.
Despite reports of extramarital affairs over the years and more recent reports that Joe Jackson was estranged from wife Katherine, she repeatedly denied that they were separated.
Jackson was inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2014.
