Jermaine Jackson: We miss Michael

by **Admin** Sun Feb 24, 2013 12:02 am

Jermaine Jackson: We miss Michael

Jermaine Jackson, as told to Mel Evans
From: Sunday Magazine
February 24, 2013

LIVING my life as a member of the Jackson family has been fun, really.
We're thankful to God for being given this blessing. We were raised to be aware of the less fortunate people in this world, and that's what inspired us to try to bring some awareness of them through our music. That's why we wrote the songs we did and why Michael wrote the type of songs he did.

I don't regret starting performing at such a young age. It was a wonderful time. We were very blessed to have good people around us - such as the whole Motown machine - who really looked after us in the early '70s. And being in The Jackson 5 was the platform that launched all of our individual careers as well.

We still found time to be kids, even when we were touring the world. When I think of Michael then, what I remember most is all the clowning around and practical jokes.

Touring Australia in 1973 was such an adventure. We went all over the place and when we weren't performing, we were doing things like going into the outback, where we spent time with Aboriginal people and learnt how to throw a boomerang. I've been back since, but I'm looking forward to returning with my brothers.

It's not hard living your life under a microscope. Fame became part of our lives when we were young, so it's been easy to live our lives in the public eye. We've always been ourselves and always been respectful to each other and to others, so there's nothing we wouldn't want the public to know about.

I wrote my book, You Are Not Alone: Michael, Through a Brother's Eyes, because I wanted to set the record straight. There have been so many books written about Michael that weren't accurate or the truth, I wanted to tell my side of the story, which is the real story because I'm from the Jackson family and we lived through it.

It was very important for me to let people know the truth. Michael deserves a true documentation of his life, and I decided writing a book would ensure that happened. And it was a cathartic thing for me to do, too - I cried, as well as laughed, a lot. It was very emotional.

Touring again as The Jacksons has been healing for us. The first time Tito, Marlon, Jackie and I performed together without Michael was hard because we feel his presence so much and we miss him. We're still mourning his passing, but we felt it would be good to go out and play the music and make people happy, and at the same time, it's making us happy as well. He'd want us to do this.

Before starting The Unity Tour last year, we hadn't performed together as The Jacksons for more than two decades. But there's so much musical history there - we're performing 40 years of music. A bit of The Jackson 5, Michael's music and my music. We mix it up and have a lot of fun onstage.

I'm the best father that walks the Earth. I have seven kids and I could probably write a parenting manual - I'm really good! The secret is to become a child yourself; to be a good parent, you have to communicate on their level. I don't need to be strict with them.

I'd like to be remembered as someone who cared about people. [My family] loves to perform and loves making people smile, but at the same time, we want our music to open the hearts of people and maybe make them more considerate about those less fortunate than themselves.

Catch The Jacksons Unity Tour in Sydney on March 16, and Melbourne on March 19. For details, visit [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]