tonight, a "showbiz tonight" special event. real star stories. the jackson five. >> our music was positive. we were just kids with dreams and wanting to do something good. >> jermaine, jackie, tito, marlon, and michael. how these five kids from gary, indiana, literally became an overnight sensation. >> said, i don't want any kid

acts. >> once we were in the studio, we were cutting our first record. >> and they were on their way to changing the face of music. the life, the legend, the jackson 5. welcome to this "showbiz tonight" special event. we present real star stories, the jackson 5. tonight, a revealing look. five kids from indiana who became one of the biggest musical acts in history. millions of albums sold. countless images influenced. a lasting legacy that will likely never be matched. one of the original members of the jackson 5, tito jackson, is going to be sharing me to share his fascinating stories. first, we begin with the lasting legacy of the jackson 5. ♪ when i hadio to myself, i

didn't want you around ♪ >> it's a minute that wowed the nation, the jackson fuv's first appearance in 1965, at the hollywood palace. ♪ oh baby give me one more chance ♪ >> jackson 5 burst onto the music scene on 1969. their debut album, diana ross presents the jackson 5. their first single "i want you back" shot straight to number one. >> "i want you back" is as perfect a single as everyone has ever made. >> the man behind the music was motown records legendary founder and owner, barry gouerry gordy. he said it was his assist chbt who discovered the jackson 5. >> i said, i don't want any kid acts. my assistant insists i take a look at it.

>> jackie jackson remembers the day they first met with gordy in 1969. >> we performed for the birthday, and we did our thing. win a week, three days, we were in a recording studio, recording our first record. >> the first four singles they put out went to number one. that had not been done before. that's an extraordinary way to come out and introduce yourself to the world. >> their next two lps presented hit after hit on the soul singles chart. "i want you back" "abc" "i'll be saved" and "i'll be there" all weptd to number one. >> the jackson 5. ♪ you and i must make a pact >> they immediately appeared on a slew of tv shows, including this appearance in 1970 on the jim neighbors show. where 12-year-old michael sings. >>. ♪ i'll be there >> as a kid, michael was always

beyond his views. ♪ if you should ever find someone new ♪ >> to watch michael jackson in the early days when he was 10, 11 years old, it was superhuman to see what he was capable of. >> the jackson 5 were breaking records and getting noticed, and together, they were making history. >> the jackson 5 was the first african-american group to take over the households of america. they were the first black group to do that. >> if you think about how politically charged,rentialliy charged 1970 was, these were kids who weren't changing up and cleaning the black style. it was modified to a way that translated to a pop crowd. >> there may have been racial tensioned in the u.s. in the 1970s, buyou would have never known it watching the jackson 5 on tv like watching this appearance on the flip wilson show singing "abc."

>> there had been black singers who had made girls sing and swoon, but there hadn't been this kind of black, young, teen idol. that wasn't something we had seen before. >> our music was positive. we were just kids with dreams and wanting to do something good. >> morale bms and more fame came to the jackson 5. >> the jackson 5 were such a direct product of joe jackson's ambition. >> born and raised in sggary, indiana, joe and katherine jackson had six sons and three daughters. >> i think from my father, he saw something in us. >> every free minute the jacksons had outside of school, they practiced, and they competed in talent shows and contests around the nation. >> we all traveled together. it was great, something that i will never forget. >> it was a family doing it. >> all the uptown, through the

regal theater in chicago. >> a great learning experience. >> in 1974, they took their album and its hit single "dancing machine" on the road. ♪ she's a dancing machine >> making historic television appearances on soul train and the carol burnett show. and in the process, setting off a new dance craze, the robot. >> whatever was hot at the time, they would embrace it and make it better. >> the jacksons could look around and see there were other musical forces that were changed, that were ahead of where motown was, they were changing. they started to bristle against the restrictions motown kept on them. >> in 1974, their contract expired at motown, and the jackson 5 left their motown roots and signed on to epic. >> motown held the rights to the name jackson 5, so when the group left, they started calling

themselves the jacksons. >> and now, ladies and gentlemen, the jacksons! >> with more creative freedom and the addition of their brother randy, the newly branded jacksons forged ahead and dove right in to disco. >> they certainly had big hits after they were at epic. they had "shake your body down to the ground." "blame it on the boogie." "heartbreak hotel." a significant number of major hits that still came at that point. >> the jacksons would release one final album in 1989, but the jackson 5 will be forever remembered as the young, vibrant kids from indiana, who influenced music and culture around the world. >> there's so much more to the story. here to share the speernlsz, a man who had a front row to the

story, an original member of the jackson 5. tito jackson, great to have you here. when the jackson 5 made their debut in 1969, it was as if all of america fell in love with you guys. you were touring and competing for years before you made it big. what was that time like? >> oh, that was a lot of work. and a lot of practicing and traveling. actually, we had this little volkswagen van we used to pack with equipment, and we used to sleep and sit on the equipment because there were no seats on it, and we would ride for hours like this, whether we were going to wisconsin or st. louis or chicago, or new york, this is how it worked. >> hard to imagine you legends all crammed into a vw van. and things changed for you when you guys met berry gordy. >> i remember the first time we

saw the mansion, we were all in awe because we had never seen something so extrav gnlt. he had this golf course in his yard. he bet all of us he would give us $100 if we could do a hole in one. we didn't know how hard it was, but we toured the whole yard trying to put the golf ball in the hole. >> and you never could have imagined you would be leading your lives as berry gordy led his life as life went on for you? >> no, but being under the arms of motown, we knew we would be okay. >> johnny gill, it's great to have you here as well. u, of course, were in the massively successful group, new addition, which was a boy band in thp 1980s. the jackson 5 was probably the first ever african-american boy band. how did they specifically pave the way for your success? >> oh, my god. without the jacksons, there would definitely not be a new

addition, the list goes on to boys 2 men, a lot of the groups you see today, the jacksons started it all. i tell you, when i watch some of the footage here, it's just -- it takes me back to a time and a place in my life when i was just a little kid, a little baby. when you're living in that moment, yowl rhey can't grasp what is going on when it's happening. it's like i'm sitting there looking and i'm like, my god. this was royalty. these guys have paved the way and opened the doors for so many of us. >> it's been great to watch you throughout the years, johnny, first with the bands and then in your solo careers. it's clear it was part of your dna what the jackson 5 brought to your life, but what to you is your lasting legacy? >> i have often said what is written in stone can never be erased. when you look at tito, you guys might not have gotten the hole

in one on the golf course, but you sure as heck got a lot of number ones. and that made up for it. >> in golfing terms, i think it was eagles all the way out throughout their careers. please don't go anywhere. i want you back in a second to talk about the jackson 5's dramatic impact on its youngest original member, michael. first, the jackson fiechb, musicians, cultural icons, and masters of merchandising? >> to see the jackson 5 on a cartoon reaching into white households on saturday morning to kids their age and younger, that was a powerful statement. from cereal boxes to lunch boxes, "showbiz tonight" presents the jackson 5. they weren't just a force of

music. they were a force of fashion. >> the jackson 5 had such a clear visual identity with the afros, with the patch suits and the bell bottoms. ♪ ain't nothing like the real thing ♪ >> their variety show in the mid-70s, the jacksons, brought their style into living rooms across the country. >> it was taking a lot of the young, black street style, and putting that out to a general public. hat was a very powerful thing. [ man ] ♪ trouble ♪ trouble, trouble trouble, trouble ♪

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welcome back to the "showbiz tonight" special event. "showbiz tonight" presents real star stories, the jackson 5. i'm a.j. hammer. now, behind the jackson 5's money making empire. if you grew up on the '70s, you were probably up on saturday mornings and before you changed out of your pjs, you were watching a jackson 5 cartoon or

maybe you took one of their lunch boxes to school or had a star ship. they were masters of branding and commercial success. not only did they crase the cover of magazines and cereal boxes, they also had a major endorsement deal, like this 1973 alphabets commercial. through much of the '70s, they had their own variety show and specials and their own cartoon called "the jackson 5." >> you get to see the jackson 5 as a cartoon on tv, reaching into, you know, white households on saturday morning. that was a powerful statement. >> a little nostalgia. joining me from hala wood, johnny gill. and janet huber, the author of the book, jg and the bc kids.

she also played aunt vivon the fresh prince of bellaire. you grew up in the jacksons generation. what was it like to see a black pop group so so big time when there were civil rights issues. >> for me growing up in a high school in a little town where there was probably ten black kids, it was monumentis, it was like nothing you had ever seen. it gave you a hope you could make it from a small town. i had five brothers, so we all grabbed our coca-cola bottles and our glasses and acted like jackson 5. >> and johnny gill, you were a product of the jackson 5 generation. and i heard you say as a kid watching the jookson 5 special was like watching an event, why? >> the whole family would gather

around, and we were in awe. as kids, we didn't really believe they were real. >> egypt, i want to ask you as somebody else who got to follow the jacksons as you were growing up, how do you think they impacted america culturally. >> we were in the middle of the civil rights movement. black people were ready to break out, not only break out and dance, break out and scream, break out asand tear the walls down. to have them on television, i'm sure you can agree, janet, is like black people are on tv. i can do it, too. and you had implications, little white girls and little white boys singing and dancing to the same song. they also helped to bridge the cultural gap. >> if you look at pictures from back then, there was a lot of that going on. let's go back to somebody who was right there and brought it all to us, tito jackson, did you have any idea what an impact you were making in all these ways on

an entire generation of kids? >> no. us as children, you know, we were just having fun. we loved music and we were performing with people like jackie wilson, gladys knight and the miracles and so on. we wanted to be like these guys. we would study and stare them to death. we were kids with a dream, to be superstars. >> at a point, tito, you probably got used to seeing footage of yourself on television or on magazines or postered, but seriously, we're looking at lunch boxes, i think i had a thermos. at one point, what was that like for you seeing yourselves on all this murchls? >> it was very exciting. but there was so much in our life at the time, you know, doing new things that we didn't have time to concentrate and stop and enjoy all the things that were happening around us.

people ask me today, what was it like, like you just asked and it was hard to grasp it because we were doing so much and we were just kids with a dream. my brothers and i talk about it all the time. can you believe we did so much as little children? we can't believe it ourselves. >> it's funny, it's almost hard to believe. maybe we enjoyed the ride a little more than they were able to because they were right in the mix of it. >> it was work to us. >> from the time die and nan ross introduced you, you were overnight sensations. when you look at the pictures and albums and videos, you say i remember when. but in that moment, you didn't get a chance to enjoy it. >> i thank you all. tito, when we come back, michael jackson's brother tito back with me. he's going to tell us the dramatic story of how the jackson 5 molded michael into the pop sensation we came to know and love. this is a "showbiz tonight"

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>> michael jackson is the greatest performer that ever lived and influenced generations an of people. we haven't even felt the full impact of it, of the brothers. they're amazing. all friends of mine, by the way. >> so how did the jackson 5 impact its youngest original member, michael jackson? ♪ you hear the door slam >> the move afc michael jackson's 1983 smash hit "thriller" owe a lot to his jackson 5 roots. especially their work after 1975. >> those later jacksons records were kind of a canvas where michael tried out a lot of the things that then fully flowered

on "thriller" and in his solo work. >> watching michael on the hit variety show "the jacksons" in 1977, you can't help but see the roots of thriller and so much more. ♪ you're fighting for your life inside ♪ >> did the robot and everybody went insane. and that was years before he did the moon walk. >> with me again michael's brother and jackson 5 band mate tito. so tito, there's no doubt that michael got a lot of his dance moves that made him famous in his solo career straight from the jackson 5. how did you develop those memorable incredible moves? >> actually, we used to put ourselves in a room, you know, and we would practice all day. we would put the song on that we had choreographed and jackie, marlon and michael would stay there and they would work out dance moves and get in front of the mirror and say this worked, that doesn't work.

they had something that worked, they would practice it for hours. >> yeah, it was the kind of thing, tito, that seemed as natural as it appeared to come to you guys and to michael later on. it was a lot of hard work, wasn't it? >> it was a whole lot of work. i can't even imagine that i did all of that work. and i enjoy today looking back on it as god's gift and very grateful but i wouldn't want to go through that again. that was -- it was hard. >> it's nice to look back. at least you know you had it in you at some point, right? that's always a good thing. when you look at michael's later work and watch the "thriller" video, when you watch billie jean, do you clearly see the jackson 5's influence in michael's moves? i know he evolved, but you see the j 5, don't you? >> absolutely. he's part of the product. you can't peel something off an apple and not call it an apple. he's definitely part of the product. that was training camp for michael. everything he did afterwards

were just things that had he accomplished during the jackson 5 as far as his dance movement and his -- everything about him, his video ideas, everything. we used to brainstorm and talk about things that was out of the circle and try to couple with things that were unusual and different. that was our whole thing. wented to be different. >> it certainly was different. tito jackson, thank so much for sharing your amazing story with us tonight. this is it for real star stories, the jackson 5. i'm a.j. hammer. thank you for watching. for the latest entertainment, check out check out cnn.com/showbiztonight. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

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