La Toya Jackson
The Lost Girl
LaToya Jackson was born on May 9, 1956, and is the daughter of Katherine Jackson and Joe Jackson. LaToya Jackson is the fifth child of the Jackson family. LaToya has the same birthday as her sister Rebbie, and briefly had a singing career in the 80s and 90s, but was never able to achieve the same critical and commercial success as Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. Of Michael Jackson’s brothers and sisters, LaToya Jackson is sometimes referred to as “the lost girl” because of her dalliance in so many industries and her inability to find her true calling. Growing up, LaToya was very shy. As a Jehovah’s witness, she followed her mother, Katherine Jackson, door-to-door, preaching to nearby families. LaToya briefly attended college, planning to become an entertainment lawyer, but like the rest of Michael Jackson's family, Joe Jackson had other plans for her. Joe made her stop going to college, because he wanted her to pursue a career in show business like her brother Michael Jackson. In the 70s, LaToya and her sister Rebbie appeared in the show The Jacksons, a variety show on CBS. LaToya and Michael were very close.
At the end of the 1970s, LaToya Jackson and her sisters tried to form a girl-group, but they never got their act together, and shortly disbanded.
In the early 80s, LaToya Jackson decided to go solo and she released her first single, If You Feel The Funk. Her songs were all moderately successful. LaToya wanted to use only her first name to distinguish herself form the rest of the Jackson family, but her father advised her not to do so. Her career continued from the 80s into the mid-90s, but she never truly achieved great success like Michael or Janet Jackson, to her disappointment. In 1997, LaToya Jackson took a hiatus from music after she was divorced from her husband.
LaToya’s relationship with her family became very estranged in the 90s because of her ex-husband, Jack Gordon. Gordon claimed that the Jackson family was going to kidnap LaToya because they hated him so much. The Jackson family also resented Gordon for sexualizing LaToya’s image and encouraging her to pose nude in Playboy.