I was born in Gary, Indiana, on a late summer night in 1958, the seventh of

my parents' nine children. My father, Joe Jackson, was born in Arkansas, and

in 1949 he married my mother, Katherine Scruse, whose people came from

Alabama. My sister Maureen was born the following year and had the tough job

of being the oldest. Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, LaToya, and Marlon were all

next in line. Randy and Janet came after me.

A part of my earliest memories is my father's job working in the steel mill.

It was tough, mind-numbing work and he played music for escape. At the same

time, my mother was working in a department store. Because of my father, and

because of my mother's own love of music, we heard it all the time at home.

My father and his brother had a group called the Falcons who were the local

R&B band. My father played the guitar, as did his brother. They would do

some of the great early rock ¦n' roll and blues songs by Chuck Berry, Little

Richard, Otis Redding, you name it. All those styles were amazing and each

had an influence on Joe and on us, although we were too young to know it at

the time. The Falcons practised in the living room of our house in Gary, so

I was raised on R&B. Since we were nine kids and my father's brother had

eight of his own, our combined numbers made for a huge family. Music was

what we did for entertainment and those times helped keep us together and

kind of encouraged my father to be a family-oriented man. The Jackson 5 were

born out of this tradition - we later became the Jacksons - and because of

this training and musical tradition, I moved out on my own and established a

sound that is mine.

I remember my childhood as mostly work, even though I loved to sing. I

wasn't forced into this business by stage parents the way Judy Garland was.

I did it because I enjoyed it and because it was as natural to me as drawing

a breath and exhaling it. I did it because I was compelled to do it, not my

parents or family, but by my own inner life in the world of music.

There were times, let me make that clear, when I'd come home from school and

I'd only have time to put my books down and get ready for the studio. Once

there, I'd sing until late at night, until it was past my bedtime, really.

There was a park across the street from the Motown studio, and I can

remember looking at those kids playing games. I'd just stare at them in

wonder - I couldn't imagine such freedom, such a carefree life - and wish

more than anything that I had that kind of freedom, that I could walk away

and be like them. So there were sad moments in my childhood. It's true for

any child star. Elizabeth Taylor told me she felt the same way. When you're

young and you're working, the world can seem awfully unfair. I wasn't forced

to be little Michael the lead singer - I did it and I loved it - but it was

hard work. If we were doing an album, for example, we'd go off to the studio

after school and I might or might not get a snack. Sometimes there just

wasn't time. I'd come home, exhausted, and it'd be eleven or twelve and past

time to go to bed.