La Toya Jackson was born into a working class family in Gary, Indiana in the mid-1950’s. Little did she know growing up, that she would become a world renowned tabloid celebrity and the sister of some of the most successful musical acts of all time; The Jackson 5, Michael Jackson and latterly Janet Jackson.
La Toya's early ambition was to help children and the elderly. She studied business law until she dropped out of college at her father’s suggestion to become a pop star in her own right. La Toya recorded four albums under her father’s management each a commercial
… More disappointment compared to the successes of previous Jackson siblings, but not huge disasters compared to many other R&B and disco divas in the early 80's. La Toya enjoyed a few minor R&B hits with the likes of 'If You Feel The Funk' and 'Bet'cha Gonna Need My Lovin'. Her debut album sold well in excess of 100,000 copies, but subsequent albums failed to have much longevity on the charts.
In 1984 she enjoyed her biggest hit with the single Heart Don't Lie which made #56 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as gaining a good response from MTV. A further honour followed with her first Grammy nomination for writing Jimmy Cliff’s hit ‘Reggae Nights’.
The late 80’s saw La Toya part ways with her father’s management; she took up with a new manager, Jack Gordon, and signed a deal with a new label Teldec Records in 1988. La Toya took control and gave herself a sexier and harder image. The album ‘La Toya’ was picked up for a worldwide release by RCA Records, but radio didn’t take to her cutting edge hip-hop sound, the whole project was a major flop. Soon after she married her manager Jack Gordon in a controlling and loveless marriage that lasted almost a decade.
Not being one to take failure lying down La Toya posed for Playboy in 1989 as a symbol of her new found independence. Her family were disgusted and went on television to publicly condemn La Toya. Playboy readers, however, were not interested in the opinions of the other Jackson’s. La Toya’s issue was the magazines biggest seller ever, breaking all previous records. La Toya continued recording in Europe and enjoyed a Top 20 hit in Europe in 1991 with the single 'Sexbox'.
However, it was her tell all book that was La Toya’s defining moment of that year. ‘La Toya: Growing Up In The Jackson Family’ in which she discussed her early life. In the book she accused her father of physical and verbal abuse. La Toya went on to appear in Playboy again in another huge selling spread which featured La Toya posing topless. Her family disowned her.
Talk shows and magazines went crazy for La Toya’s childhood stories and she was a regular face on television for quite some time. Things came to a head when La Toya accused her father of sexual abuse against her older sister live on the Donahue show in 1991.
In 1992 things looked up for La Toya when she was paid a huge salary to revive the ailing nightclub the Moulin Rouge in Paris for a year. Although she terminated her contract a few months early she did help raise the clubs profile and her reputation as a live act. She also landed her first acting role on the television series Counterstrike.
La Toya’s allegations continued through the next year or so and in 1993, while on tour in Bulgaria, a press conference was called in which La Toya said that she believed her brother was a danger to children.
Throughout the next few years La Toya’s career nose-dived, she was no longer taken seriously. Events such as her getting booed off stage at a strip club and shopping with live snakes draping from her neck only further damaged her career. In 1996 she was in the headlines again after being savagely beaten by her husband with a metal chair. Charges were initially filed, but quickly dropped. In 1997 after years old horrendous physical and mental abuse La Toya called home and her brother Randy flew out and rescued La Toya from her Las Vegas home.
Over the next seven years La Toya recovered from the shame and hurt she’d endured during her marriage. In 2003 she finally returned on a very special episode of Larry King Live. La Toya’s appearance gave the show its highest international ratings in years. She explained how she was controlled and abused by her ex-manager and hinted at his connections with organised crime, something that had been rumoured in the tabloids many times. A brand new single ‘Just Wanna Dance’ followed in 2004 and was a Billboard Dance/Club Top 20 hit in 2004. Another single ‘Free The World’ followed in 2005 and only narrowly missed the Top 20.
La Toya could later be seen at Michael Jackson’s 2005 trial where she showed her unquestioning support and shared her true feelings about the accusations against him. In December 2006 La Toya began filming a new series for CBS called Armed and Famous which will air in the new year. A brand new album is due to follow in 2007 on Ja-Tail/Bungalo Records/Universal Music.
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