By the time Janet was born into the Jackson family, her older brothers had already formed "The Jackson 5". As the youngest member of the Jackson clan, Janet was expected to follow in the footsteps of the children that had come before her, though she initially wanted nothing to do with show business. Years later, Janet Jackson is hailed as one of the most successful female vocalists of all time. She has made her name in both the film and television industries as well, and has established a career completely separate from that of her family. Six of her albums have debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, and she has received multiple Grammy nominations and awards. Janet Jackson is an inspirational powerhouse of talent, and has been for over twenty years.
Janet was born May 16th, 1966 in Gary, Indiana; the ninth child of Katherine and Joseph Jackson. Janet was still a baby during the early success of "The Jackson 5", and the family moved to California when she was five years old. Though she was surrounded by music, Janet longed to be a race-horse jockey. Her father, however, had other ideas, and at the age of seven she appeared on stage with her brothers in Las Vegas. She began acting in the variety show, "The Jacksons", and began playing a reoccurring role on the show "Good Times" when she was ten. She starred in "A New Kind of Family" between 1979 and 1980 and was on "Diff'rent Strokes" in 1981 and 1982. She also played Cleo Hewitt during the fourth season of the show based on the film "Fame".
Not too keen on getting into the family business, it took a while for Janet to enter the recording studio. Eventually Janet agreed to do a recording session with her brother Randy, singing the song, "Love Song for Kids" in 1978. When she was only fifteen, her father got her a contract with A&M records, and her debut album "Janet Jackson" was released in 1982. It did moderately well, and reached number six on the Billboard Hot R&B charts. Her second album, "Dream Street" came out in 1984, and its sales were far worse than her first album. That year, eighteen year old Janet eloped with her childhood friend James DeBarge, but the marriage didn't last. They divorced soon afterwords, and the marriage was annulled.
It may have seemed at first that Janet wasn't destined to walk in her older brother Michael's footsteps, but things would change with the release of her next album. In 1986, Janet released "Control", which had six major hits, including, "What Have You Done for me Lately", "Nasty", "What I Think of You", "Control", and "Let's Wait Awhile". Most of the videos that accompanied these songs were choreographed by Paula Abdul, and the strong messages about sexual abstinence and strong, female confidence and power made Jackson a role model for girls. She received three Grammy nominations, six Billboard Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, and three Soul Train Awards for "Control". It was also nominated for twelve American Music Awards, and holds a record for winning four of them.
Janet released "Rhythm Nation 1814" in 1989, and while her record executives wanted the album to be very similar to control, Janet fought to write what she wanted to. The album focused on the harsh topics of injustice, illiteracy, crime, and drugs, and was a huge success. It featured the hits "Miss You Much", "Black Cat", "Escapade", and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)". "Rhythm Nation 1814" was named the top selling album of the year by Billboard, and Jackson won her first Grammy due to it. She also won fifteen Billboard Music Awards, five American Music Awards, four Soul Train Music Awards, and three MTV Video Music Awards. The tour for the album was huge, and in 1991 Jackson secretly married Rene Elizondo. The marriage was not made public until their divorce in 2000.
After her contract with A&M Records was through, Janet signed with Virgin in the early 90's. In 1993 Janet released her fifth studio album, "janet.", which reached world-wide sales of over ten million copies. The album included the singles, "Again", "That's the Way Love Goes", "If", "Because of Love", "You Want This", and "Any Time, Any Place". That year she also made her movie debut in the film, "Poetic Justice", which featured her song, "Again" on the soundtrack. Though she didn't receive an Oscar nomination for her performance, the song was nominated by the Academy for Best Original Song. Her appearance on that September's cover of Rolling Stone (featuring her topless with her husband's hands covering her breasts) was hailed as one of the most popular covers in the history of the magazine, and was imitated world-wide. She collaborated with her brother Michael on the track "Scream" from his 1995 album "HIStory", and later that year Janet released her first greatest hits CD, entitled "Design of a Decade 1986/1996".
Depression and anxiety were the inspiration behind Janet's sixth album; 1997's "The Velvet Rope". The songs involved intense topics such as domestic abuse, depression, self-esteem, and homophobia. Singles included "Got 'Til it's Gone", "Together Again" (about a friend who had died from AIDS), "I Get Lonely", and "Get Deep", with "Together Again" being the most successful of the four. Jackson began touring to promote her album, and her HBO special, "The Velvet Rope: Live in Madison Square Garden" had over 15 million viewers. Towards the end of the 90's, Jackson recorded as a guest vocalist on several other artist's tracks, and was named the second most successful artist of the decade by Billboard Magazine, with Mariah Carey listed as the first.
Janet returned to the movies in 2000, acting in Eddie Murphey's "The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps". She recorded the track "Doesn't Really Matter" for the film's soundtrack as well. Her seventh album, "All For You" was released in 2001, and at 605,000 copies sold, it had the highest first-week sales total of her career. The title track was widely successful, and received extensive radio play. Other singles included, "Ventura Highway" and "Son of a Gun (I Bet You Think This Song is About You)"; the latter of which featured Carly Simon and was not very popular until remixed by Missy Elliot. In 2004, Janet accepted an invitation to perform at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show; a decision that would change her career dramatically. As most know, during her duet of "Rock Your Body" with Justin Timberlake, Jackson's right breast was exposed when Timberlake tore off her top. The incident went down in television history; it was searched online more than the September 11th attacks had been, and was the most replayed moment in TiVo history. It also earned Janet a Guinness Book record for the "Most Searched in Internet History". CBS, the NFL, and MTV all claimed that they had no idea this was going to happen, and both Jackson and Timberlake issued apologies, calling the incident a "wardrobe malfunction". CBS also refused to allow either of the performers to appear at the 2004 Grammy ceremony if they did not issue a public apology to the network, which Janet refused to do. Boyfriend Jermaine Dupri removed himself from the Grammy awards committee after this, and Jackson also willingly left her position on a made-for-TV biopic that was to begin filming for ABC. That March, the album "Damita Jo" was released to limited success. All three of the album's singles "Just a Little While", "I Want You", and "All Nite (Don't Stop)" failed to break the Top 40 hits. Jackson turned to acting for a little while, poking fun at the Super Bowl incident on SNL and appearing on the show "Will and Grace" as herself.
In 2006, Janet released her ninth album, "20 Y.O." The album sold over 296,000 copies in its first week, and Jackson soon launched a contest in which fans could design covers for the album; four were eventually selected. Unfortunately, "20 Y.O." was even less successful than "Damita Jo" was, and after its release Jackson left Virgin Records and joined Island Records. Janet once again turned to acting, starring in the highly successful film, "Why Did I Get Married?" in 2007. Janet's most recent album, "Discipline" was released this past February, and the album's first single "Feedback" became Jackson's biggest hit since "Someone to Call My Lover" in 2001. Jackson is expected to tour in support of "Discipline", which has become her first number one album since "All For You".
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Jacks on