Michael Jackson grew up in Gary, Ind., the seventh of nine children.
Patriarch Joseph Jackson saw star potential in his sons,
and molded Michael, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon into a
singing group called the Jackson 5.
Joseph Jackson wasn’t the only one who saw talent in his young sons:
In 1969, Motown Records president Berry Gordy Jr. signed the group to his label.
It didn’t take long for
Jackson 5 songs like "ABC" and "I'll Be There" to become pop favorites.
Gordy was especially taken with young Michael.
“This little kid had an incredible knowingness about him that really made me take notice”
he told author Gerald Posner in the 2002 book “Motown.” “He sang his songs with such feeling, inspiration and pain — like he had experienced everything he was singing about.” Smokey Robinson recalled Jackson was “a strange and lovely child an old soul in the body of a boy. He was driven, determined, intense.”