by Eric McKeever

Created on: May 28, 2008

Janet, Damita Jo or Miss Jackson if you're nasty, these names are all synonymous with Janet Jackson, one of the greatest contemporary music female artists of all time. Her success seemed predestined as she was born into a musical family that featured several talented brothers and sisters, remember Michael?. But she took an untraditional route to stardom. Early on, she appeared with them in "The Jacksons" variety show and made acting appearances as Penny on "Goodtimes" and as Charlene on "Different Strokes", but music was in her blood and this soft-spoken beauty had her sights on greater things.

By the time she was 16, her father and manager Joe Jackson had secured a contract with A and M records. The result was her self-titled album "Janet Jackson". It was a moderate success and prompted the release of "Dream Street." "Dream Street" failed to equal the success of her first album. By 1984 Jackson was starring on television again, this time as Cleo Hewitt on the Emmy Award winning "Fame."

Things seemed to be going well for Miss Jackson, but under the surface was bubbling a woman who was yearning for independence from her family and the squeaky clean image the world had of her. She secretly eloped with R and B singer James DeBarge. It was annulled shortly after the fact, but it was then that we realized that Janet had more to say.

Fast forward to 1986- Janet was introduced to former members of The Time, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Their collaboration was Janet's "Control." Many people were not prepared to see a strong, mature Janet, but this musical and emotional breakthrough established the framework for her future albums. Janet's popularity was enhanced through the medium of music videos and "Control" became a multi-platinum award-winning album.

She continued working with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis on her next album "Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814" in 1989. Taking her message heavy song one step further, Janet wrote about social issues as well as love and relationships. This album was a commercial and critical success garnering a Grammy and several Billboard, MTV and Soul Train awards.

But it was Jackson's next album 1993's "janet," that solidified her place in music history as the first female artist to debut at number one (according to the Neilsen rating system.) A few months after the release of "janet," Jackson appeared in the film "Poetic Justice" opposite Tupac Shakur and directed by "Boys in the Hood" director John Singleton. To top off this successful

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