Janet Jackson

Janet Jackson

Janet Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer-songwriter and actress.

Although a success in her own right she will always be famous for being the sister of Michael Jackson.

Early Life

Janet Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana and is the youngest of the nine Jackson children. By the time she was a toddler, her older brothers - Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael - had already started to perform on stage at nightclubs and theatres as the Jackson 5.

Being born into the Jackson family meant Janet was almost destined to entertain before she was even born, even though Janet's love of horses originally inspired her to become a race-horse jockey.

Initially having no aspirations of becoming an entertainer her father had other ideas and by the time she was 7, she was performing with the rest of the family.

Janet Jackson commented, "No one ever asked me if I wanted to go into show business...it was expected."

Solo Career

After launching her recording career in 1982, Jackson saw moderate success with the release of her self-titled debut album and its successor 'Dream Street' (1984).

However, with the collaboration of record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Jackson found record-breaking success, producing five consecutive number one studio albums on the Billboard 200.

Beginning with the release of 'Control' (1986) followed by 'Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814' (1989), 'janet.' (1993), 'The Velvet Rope' (1997) and 'All for You' (2001).

Although Jackson experienced commercial decline with subsequent albums 'Damita Jo' (2004) and '20 Y.O.' (2006), her tenth studio album 'Discipline' (2008) became her sixth album to debut at number one.

Though Jackson is listed by the Recording Industry Association of America as the eleventh top-selling female artist in the United States with 26 million certified albums, Billboard named her one of the top-ten selling artists in the history of contemporary music.

She is ranked as the ninth most successful act in the history of rock and roll and the second most successful female artist in pop music history, having sold over 100 million albums worldwide.

Acting

As well as music Janet Jackson has also featured on both TV and film.

Starting in earnest on the American TV show 'Good Times' and then on 'Different Strokes' she then went on to star in the film 'Poetic Justice' with Tupac Shakur.

In July 2000, Jackson returned to the big screen with her second film,' Nutty Professor II: The Klumps', starring as Professor Denise Gaines opposite Eddie Murphy.

In 2007 Janet would once again return to acting with a role in 'Why did I get Married?'.

Infamous Super Bowl performance

In 2004 Janet Jackson played the famous half time show at Super Bowl XXXVIII.

Jackson's performance with Justin Timberlake resulted in the exposure of her right breast when Timberlake tore open Jackson's top. The incident occurred as Timberlake sang the lyric from his single 'Rock Your Body' - "Gonna have you naked by the end of this song."

The incident became the most-searched event in the history of the Internet surpassing the total number of searches for the September 11, 2001 attacks. This subsequently earned Jackson a place in the Guinness World Records as "Most Searched in Internet History."

Personal Life

Jackson began her relationship with record producer Jermaine Dupri in 2004 is set to marry him in the future.