Tito Jackson has died. Michael's brother was 70 years old. The cause of death has not yet been released, but Steve Manning, manager and family friend, told Entertainment Tonight that the singer had a heart attack yesterday while traveling by car from New Mexico to Oklahoma. The news was confirmed by his nephew Siggy Jackson to People and his three children, who wrote on Instagram: “We are shocked, saddened and heartbroken. Remember to do what our father always said: 'Love one another.' We love you, Dad.”
Third child of Joseph and Katherine Jackson, Tito had been a member of the Jackson 5 (later the Jacksons), the family band at the height of their popularity in the late '60s and '70s. He played guitar, but in the Motown days he was not allowed to participate in the recording of instrumental parts, which were entrusted to session men.
Tito Jackson was in the line-up for the Victory Tour, the 1984 concert tour that featured his brother Michael, by then a pop superstar as a solo artist thanks above all to Off the Wall And Thriller. “I’ve always been the quiet one in the group, so people joke about it,” Tito said in 2018. “One of my favorite basketball players, Charles Barkley, asked, ‘If Tito wasn’t in the Jackson 5, who would miss him?’ It broke my heart, it broke my heart.”
In the 2000s Tito Jackson embarked on a solo career, with a more blues and rhythm & blues twist, and was part of the judging panel of the BBC talent show with Stewart Copeland and others. Just the Two of Usparticipated in the TV series The Jacksons: A Family Dynastylaunched the careers of 3T, the group of three sons Taj, Taryll and TJ.
He released a solo album only in 2016, Titus Timelaunched by the single Get It Baby featuring Big Daddy Kane. His latest album is Under Your Spell of 2021, with guests including Stevie Wonder, George Benson and Joe Bonamassa. He recently put together a version of the Jacksons with Marlon and Jackie.
In his latest Instagram post, he is seen in Monaco with his two brothers in front of a memorial erected in memory of Michael. “We are deeply grateful for this special place that honors not only his memory, but also our shared legacy. Thank you for keeping his spirit alive.”