Janet Jackson

Janet Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer from Gary, United States, born in 1966. She is the youngest of ten children in the Jackson family and begins her career in television before moving into recording. During the 1970s and early 1980s, she appears in programmes including Good Times, Diff'rent Strokes and Fame.

Recording career

Jackson signs with A&M Records in 1982 and releases her debut albums Janet Jackson and Dream Street in the 1980s before achieving wider success with Control and Rhythm Nation 1814. Those records establish her public image and contribute to crossover success in popular music. Her work helps shape new jack swing and is known for socially conscious and provocative themes, choreography and stage performance.

She later records for Virgin Records and releases Janet and The Velvet Rope in the 1990s. She also stars in the film Poetic Justice in 1993. In 2001 she reaches her tenth US number-one single with “All for You”. Her later albums include Damita Jo, 20 Y.O., Discipline and Unbreakable.

Style, impact and recognition

Jackson’s songs often deal with social issues and personal experience, and her appeal extends to a broad youth audience. She is associated with pop, contemporary R&B, dance, quiet storm and soul. Her recordings and performances contribute to the development of MTV and to breaking gender and racial barriers in the music industry.

She sells over 100 million records worldwide and holds records including the most consecutive top-ten entries on the US Billboard Hot 100 by a female artist. She is also the only artist to have seven singles from one album, Rhythm Nation 1814, reach the top five.

Awards and honours

Jackson receives five Grammy Awards, eleven Billboard Music Awards and eleven American Music Awards. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, eight Guinness World Records entries and is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. Billboard places her among its top artists on several all-time and genre-based lists.