Joe was a disciplinarian who would later be accused by Michael of physical abuse, standing over rehearsals with a belt in one hand. There were claims Joe, who had a fearsome temper, would also shove them against a wall if a dance step went wrong. There were times when he would come to see me and I would start to be sick, Jackson once said of his father. Joe, in a 2003 interview, retorted: I whipped him with a switch and belt [but] I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick.
Jackson, chubby cheeked and cute as a button, was the natural frontman. He was so energetic that at five years old he was like a leader, Jackie told Rolling Stone magazine. We saw that… The audience ate it up.
Jackson was still only six when the group secured their first gigs, playing in strip clubs and burlesque palaces in their hometown. By 1968, they had recorded their first single through a local record label. The big break came when singer Gladys Knight spotted them at a performance in Harlem and recommended them to Berry Gordy, founder and president of Motown.