Michael Jackson, right, gestures as he and his father, Joe Jackson, leave the Santa Maria Superior Court during the second week of Michael's child molestation trial on March 8, 2005 in Santa Maria, California. Picture: Facebook
Joe Jackson, the father of Michael Jackson and who created the Jackson 5 music family with iron will, has died. He was 89.
Entertainment sites TMZ and ET said Jackson died this morning in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer.
Representatives for family members did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but Jackson himself hinted at his impending death in a tweet two days ago.
“I have seen more sunsets than I have left to see. The sun rises when the time comes and whether you like it or not the sun sets when the time comes,” he wrote.
A strict disciplinarian father of 11 children, the steel worker in Gary, Indiana turned into one of music history’s most unlikely but most successful managers as he created The Jackson 5 from his family.
His most famous child, King of Pop Michael Jackson, would later break down in tears even as an adult when recalling his father beating him with his belt and, while publicly forgiving him, wrote him out of his will.
– Agence France Presse
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