Photo: David Sedlecký · CC BY-SA 4.0
The family · 1953–2024
Tito Jackson
The brother whose borrowed guitar may have sparked the whole story — the Jackson 5's guitarist, the father of 3T, and a man who finally became a bluesman in his own right before his death in 2024.
Early life
The broken guitar string
Toriano Adaryll "Tito" Jackson was born October 15, 1953, at St. Mary's Mercy Hospital in Gary, Indiana — the third of the ten Jackson children. The family's origin story often centers on him: as a boy, Tito would secretly play his father Joe's off-limits guitar while Joe was at work — until he broke a string and was caught. Joe's anger turned to astonishment when he made Tito play for him; he bought Tito his own guitar and pushed the brothers to form a group. That moment is widely regarded as the spark of the Jackson 5.
The group
The guitarist Motown silenced
Tito was a founding member and the group's guitarist. In one of the more telling footnotes of the Motown era, the label didn't let Tito play guitar on the Jackson 5's studio recordings, using session musicians instead; his own playing only began appearing on records after the group moved to Epic in 1976. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 with the original five, and served as a pallbearer at Michael's 2009 memorial.
Solo career
A bluesman at last
Having set aside his own ambitions for decades to raise his sons, Tito built a blues solo career later in life. His 2016 album Tito Time produced "Get It Baby" (with Big Daddy Kane), which reached #20 on Billboard's Adult R&B Songs chart — reportedly making him the last of the Jackson siblings to earn a solo Billboard chart entry. He followed with the full-blooded blues album Under Your Spell (2021), featuring guests including Stevie Wonder and George Benson.
Personal life
Family & 3T
Tito married Delores "Dee Dee" Martes in June 1972; they had three sons — Taj, Taryll, and TJ — who became the 1990s R&B trio 3T. The couple later divorced, and Dee Dee died in 1994; her death, initially ruled accidental, was reinvestigated as a homicide, and Donald Bohana was convicted of second-degree murder in 1998. In 2020 Tito married Mizuki Matsui, and the couple had a daughter, Tariana.
His passing
September 2024
Tito died on September 15, 2024, at age 70, of a heart attack while traveling near Gallup, New Mexico — on a road trip to move antique cars from California toward a new home in Oklahoma. His death was announced by his three sons. He was buried at Forest Lawn in the Hollywood Hills (Michael and Joe rest at the separate Forest Lawn in Glendale). The family today →
In brief
Notable facts
- The broken-guitar-string story is the canonical origin of the Jackson 5.
- Motown didn't let him play guitar on the group's records.
- His three sons are the R&B group 3T (their "Why" featured Michael).
- He found a late-career identity as a bluesman, charting his first solo single in his sixties.
Sources