The Jacksons paying tribute to their father Joe Jackson During the first concert after the passing of their father, papa Joe's boys Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon pay tribute to their father live on stage at ScotFest 2018 in Edinburgh, Scotland on 6 July 2018. Although Marlon does the talking on behalf of the brothers, Jermaine adds the word "our hero" to describe his father. Joe Jackson passed away on 27 June 2018 at age 89. Video recorded by Jackson Source.

Joe Jackson, the patriarch of the legendary The World's Most Popular Music Family The Jacksons, was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale near his son, Jermaine's brother Michael, on Monday 2 July 2018.  Joe, who died at the age of 89 from pancreatic cancer, was farewelled in a private ceremony at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, the same cemetery where Michael was buried in. The Jackson family patriarch died on Wednesday and is survived by eight of his children (with Katherine) and multiple grandchildren.

Joseph Walter Jackson, born on 26 July 1929, has passed away on 27 June 2018 at age 89. We owe this man a lot of thanks and gratitude for creating the World's Most Popular Music Family and Pop Royalty. Sending love, light and condoleances to the entire Jackson Family and all Jacksons fans worldwide.  

Many years ago God planted a special seed in the earth. The seed was put there to be cultivated, nourished and cared for very carefully. It began to germinate into a strong root and then a beautiful tree. Its roots were very busy feeding from the earth so that the tree would continue to grow very strong and proud on a solid foundation. As years went by, the tree began to sprout many branches. The branches were very strong individually and collectively and were always accompanied by hummingbirds, larks and other types of singing birds. Even though the branches were pointing in many different directions, they knew that if they stayed together the tree could weather any storms that were ahead. The tree was so beautiful to look at and everyone who saw it wanted to take a branch or two for their own satisfaction, but the root system always believed, “United we stand, divided we fall but together we can conquer all.” Today this tree is now planted in the minds of human beings all over the world. No matter how far the branches may grow in life, it all started from a seed that was planted at 2300 Jackson Street in Gary, Indiana. The root of the tree is Katherine and Joseph Jackson who gave the tree life, direction and a strong foundation so that the whole world could appreciate its beauty and what it stands for.

Jermaine Jackson, 1989
2300 Jackson Street album

Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon Jackson got a warm reception Friday June 15th in the hometown of Motown Records and were given the ceremonial keys to the city by Detroit police Chief James Craig. The celebration was initially supposed to have included the renaming of a street after their more famous brother, Michael, but the plan was abandoned after it emerged that the brothers had thought the street would be named after The Jackson 5. A Detroit ordinance prohibits streets from being ceremonially renamed after groups or organizations. The remaining members of The Jackson 5 performed Saturday at a free concert in the city. 

Fifty years after The Jackson 5 signed with Motown and came to Detroit for the first time -- famously performing for the label's roster around Berry Gordy's home swimming pool -- the city will honor the group with a street named after it. Well, one of its members, at least -- and possibly more. 

Michael Jackson Ave. was announced Thursday for a block in Detroit's downtown, with an unveiling to take place during the second annual Detroit Music Weekend June 14-17. The surviving Jackson 5 brothers -- Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon -- will headline the festival and receive a key to the city. But Jackie and Marlon, on hand for the Thursday announcement, were surprised that the street was being named just for their late younger brother and indicated there might be a change.

Marlon told Billboard that the street was "supposed to be" named for the entire group and added that "I think it is going to be that. There was a mistake." A Detroit city ordinance requires any honorary street naming to be for an individual only, but sources said that talks were underway to allow for an exception to that. Festival founder and producer Vince Paul explained, "I'd like to do the other four brothers individually. It seemed appropriate to start with Michael because of his premature passing, so that's the first one we'll start with. But if I had my druthers there'll be [streets named for] Tito, Jackie, Marlon. That's where I'm going with it." 

Aretha Franklin was the recipient of a street naming before last year's Detroit Music Weekend. Altering the ordinance will also allow the festival to name streets for other legendary Detroit acts, such as The Temptations, Four Tops and Supremes without controversy.

The two Jacksons were nonetheless happy to be returning to Detroit for the festival, especially during the anniversary year of their arrival at Motown. "We should have a music festival here," Jackie said. "This is the music city. This is where the music comes from. Everybody talks about the Motown sound all over the world, so we should have a music festival here." Marlon added, "We're looking forward to it. Music is universal. It all accomplishes the same thing -- unity, happiness, love, peace. That's what music is about and that's what Detroit is about, too."

In addition to the Jacksons' free public performance on June 16, a tribute concert to the group will take place the night before, with former Jacksons and Michael Jackson keyboardist Greg Phillinganes co-directing the band with Kern Brantley.

Detroit Music Weekend will also feature more than 500 performers on five stages during the Saturday program, including former Grand Funk Railroad frontman Mark Farner, Emmy-winning actor and recording artist Jeff Daniels and his son Ben Daniels' Band, and the Craig Brown Band. Full information is available at DetroitMusicWeekend.org.

While in Switzerland recently, Coopzeitung caught up with Jermaine Jackson and published their interview (in German) this week. Read it at http://www.coopzeitung.ch/jermainejackson. 

Photo: Philipp Zinniker

Jermaine Jackson is among the jury members and performers of the Finale of Kids Voice in which  8 finalists of season 4 will sing alongside the jury members. Besides Jermaine, the other jury members are Patrick Fiori, Christophe Willem, Michael Jones and Damian Lynn! The show is oon Saturday 28 April 2018 at the Rosey Concert Hall in Rolle, Switzerland. Tickets are available at Ticketcorner. 

Watch Jermaine Jackson's interview on Rap 77 on with Júnior Coimbra (CEO of Eagle North America Corp., Jogo das Estrelas & Rap77 Podcast, son of soccer legend Zico & Ambassador of the Adventure of Humanity Project in Brazil). Jermaine talks about his efforts as a humanitarian, sports, his brother Michael and about the show he performed in São Paulo in the 1970s.

While everyone is anxiously waiting for  Jaafar Jackson to release music, he's working hard in the studio and he decided to share a snippet of just his vocals of a song he's been working on. Brace yourself! 

Hear what Jermaine Jackson has to say about what he misses about the Jackson 5 days, about what changed in his life when he embraced Islam, about being close to his family members, about Jackson tributes being made all over world, about nowadays music and the music from the past, about Michael performing the best Superbowl half-time show ever and about Bruno Mars not being the next Michael Jackson. Audio taken from the live on air interview Jermaine Jackson did with W radio Colombia on 5 February 2018 that aired in Spain, the United States and Latin-America.  Audio is courtesy of W radio Colombia.

Listen to the original interview on W Radio with Spanish translations: