Photo by Tony Costa / Sygma
 
Negative Year: July 1979 (printed year: unknown)
Print size: 29.6x19.8 cm 
Style: Vintage print / gelatin silver print
 
The Backstory:
In 1965, a model called Evelyn Leahy was organising a children's fashion show. She needed a band and recalled a group she had recently seen play at a shopping mall in. She phoned their mother, a friend, and asked them to perform. The problem? - They didn't yet have a name. Leahy's suggestion? Simply, The Jackson Five.
 
They had a good sense to put Michael, who was just five when he joined, up front on lead vocals. He was not only a talented singer, but could dance like James Brown and had a lot of showmanship.
The Jackson 5’s big break came when they won a talent contest at Harlem’s famed Apollo Theater. Embraced by names as Gladys Knight, Bobby Taylor, and Diana Ross, the group attracted the attention of Motown’s Berry Gordy, who signed them to the label.
Motown moved the family to southern California and promoted them extensively after releasing their debut album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5 (1969).  Over the coming decade, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael would release a string of hits including "ABC", "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There". 
 
In the early 1970s Michael Jackson had his first successful solo releases. Following Michael’s megahit Thriller (1982) album, the group reunited for their hyped Victory Tour in 1984. However, the Jacksons disbanded after the tour. The Jacksons remained, nonetheless, one of the most phenomenally successful groups in music history. They changed the music world and were the first black teen idols to appeal to both black and white audiences. For many, this was a backlash to the folk movement - a glittery, delightful new presence in the mainstream of pop culture.
And they launched the career of Michael Jackson - the "King of Pop".