La Toya Jackson

La Toya Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, and grew up as the fifth of Joe and Katherine Jackson's ten children. She joined her brothers in a tap-dancing routine arranged by her father for performances in Las Vegas and other cities. In 1976 and 1977, she appeared with Rebbie Jackson, Janet Jackson, and her brothers on the CBS variety program The Jacksons, performing songs, dances, and comedy sketches.

Jackson initially hoped to become an attorney specializing in business law, but she entered show business after her father encouraged her to follow the family's entertainment path. She and Rebbie and Janet briefly formed a musical group under their father's direction, although the trio never performed live or released material. Jackson began preparing her first solo album soon afterward.

Jackson released her self-titled debut album in 1980. She had wanted the cover to use only her first name so she could establish an identity separate from The Jacksons, but her father insisted that she use the family surname. The album became her highest-charting album, reaching number 116 on the Billboard 200 and number 26 on the Billboard R&B albums chart. Her early singles included "If You Feel the Funk" and "Night Time Lover," the latter produced and co-written by her brother Michael Jackson.

Her subsequent albums included My Special Love (1981), Heart Don't Lie (1984), Imagination (1986), La Toya (1988), Bad Girl, No Relations, From Nashville to You, and Stop in the Name of Love. The title track of Heart Don't Lie became her biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit, peaking at number 56. She also co-wrote "Reggae Night" with Amir Bayyan for the album, although Jimmy Cliff's recording became the better-known version and received a Grammy nomination. Her 1985 song "Baby Sister" won an Outstanding Song Award at the World Popular Song Festival in Japan.

Jackson participated in the famine-relief single "We Are the World" in 1985 and contributed to the anti-drug campaign associated with "Stop the Madness." She also licensed her name to the David Laurenz for La Toya clothing line, appeared in Nikon advertising, became a spokesperson for Mahogany Image cosmetics, and launched a fragrance called La Toya. Her two memoirs, La Toya: Growing Up in the Jackson Family and Starting Over, made her a two-time New York Times best-selling author.

In 1987, Jackson's father hired entertainment manager Jack Gordon to co-manage her, and Gordon later assumed complete control of her management. Jackson's public image became more sexualized during this period, and she moved from the family's Encino home to New York. She was also disfellowshipped by the Jehovah's Witnesses. In 1989, she posed for Playboy, describing the decision as an expression of independence from her conservative upbringing, and appeared again in the magazine in 1991 to promote her first autobiography.

Jackson and Gordon married on September 5, 1989, after her concert in Nevada. She later described the marriage as forced and said that Gordon subjected her to physical abuse, threats, surveillance, and restrictions on her contact with her family. Gordon disputed aspects of her account, including the circumstances surrounding injuries that Jackson attributed to him. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1997.

After learning that Gordon planned to feature her in a pornographic film, Jackson contacted her brother Randy Jackson, who flew to New York and helped her leave. She filed for divorce and sued Gordon under the Violence Against Women Act. She also ended her estrangement from her family and returned to the Jackson family home. During this period, she stepped away from public performance and later resumed occasional work in Europe and South America while rebuilding her career.

Jackson returned to public life with an appearance on Larry King Live in March 2003, where she announced a new musical project. Her 2004 single "Just Wanna Dance" was released under the nickname "Toy" and reached number 13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance chart. She followed it with "Free the World," a song inspired by the September 11 attacks, and "Home," released in 2009 with proceeds directed to AIDS Project Los Angeles.

The planned album Startin' Over was ultimately issued as an extended play in 2011, alongside Jackson's second memoir, Starting Over. Her work has incorporated pop, R&B, dance, rock, reggae, and country styles. She has cited James Brown as a major influence and drew on Josephine Baker and La Goulue when developing her stage presentation for the Moulin Rouge revue Formidable in Paris, where she performed in 1992.

Jackson expanded her television career with appearances on Celebrity Big Brother, The Celebrity Apprentice, RuPaul's Drag Race, and America's Next Top Model. The 2007 series Armed & Famous documented her training and service as a reserve police officer with the Muncie Police Department. She later hosted her own reality series, Life with La Toya, which aired for two seasons on the Oprah Winfrey Network from 2013 to 2014.

In 2018, Jackson won the celebrity edition of Worst Cooks in America, with the season's charity award directed to Race to Erase MS in her name. She appeared as the character Alien on the first season of The Masked Singer in the United States, competed as Menina on the Spanish edition in 2021, and appeared as Burger Gal on The Masked Singer Australia in 2023. She also made her stage debut in the off-Broadway musical Newsical and served as an executive producer of the documentary Dancing in Jaffa.