Frederick Anthony Jackson (born October 2, 1956) is an American R&B

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

. Originally from New York, Jackson began his professional music career in the late 1970s with the California funk band Mystic Merlin. Among his well–known R&B/soul

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

are " Rock Me Tonight (For Old Times Sake)" (1985), " Have You Ever Loved Somebody" (1986), " Jam Tonight" (1986), " Do Me Again" (1990), and " You Are My Lady" (1985). He contributed to the soundtrack for the 1989 film, ''

All Dogs Go to Heaven ''All Dogs Go to Heaven'' is a 1989 animated musical fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Don Bluth and co-directed by Gary Goldman (his directorial debut) and Dan Kuenster. Set in New Orleans in 1939, it tells the story of Charlie B. Barkin ...

'' with the Michael Lloyd-produced duet "Love Survives" alongside

Irene Cara Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer and actress who rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film '' Fame'', and for recording the film's title song " Fame", which reach ...

. He also appeared in the movie ''

King of New York ''King of New York'' is a 1990 neo-noir crime film directed by Abel Ferrara and written by Nicholas St. John. It stars Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Victor Argo and Wesley Snipes, with supporting roles played by Gianc ...

''.

Biography

1956–1980: early life and education, Mystic Merlin

Born in the

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

section of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, Jackson was trained as a

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

singer from an early age, singing at the White Rock Baptist Church of Harlem. There he met Paul Laurence, who would later become his

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

and

songwriting A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

partner. After completing school, Jackson joined Laurence's group LJE (Laurence Jones Ensemble) and played the New York

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

scene. During the late 1970s, Jackson moved to the West Coast and sang lead with the band Mystic Merlin (with which he released three studio albums, 1980–1982), but soon returned to New York to work with Laurence at Hush Productions.

1981–2013: solo career

Jackson sang on demo

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...

of Laurence's compositions, and also served as a backing singer for

Melba Moore Beatrice Melba Smith (born October 29, 1945) known by her stage name Melba Moore, is an American singer and actress. Biography Early life and education Moore was born Beatrice Melba Smith on October 29, 1945, in New York City to Gertrude Melba ...

after she saw his nightclub act in 1981. In 1984, Jackson landed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

, and released his debut album, '' Rock Me Tonight'' in 1985. The Laurence-penned title track stormed the R&B chart, spending six weeks at number one, and made Jackson an instant hit on urban contemporary

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

. "You Are My Lady" gave him a second straight R&B chart-topper, and also proved to be his highest-charting single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at No. 12. With "He'll Never Love You (Like I Do)" and "Love Is Just a Touch Away" also hitting the R&B Top Ten, ''Rock Me Tonight'' topped the R&B album

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

and went

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

. Jackson issued the follow-up ''Just Like the First Time'' 1986, on the heels of a number one R&B

duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

with Melba Moore, "A Little Bit More" (from her album ''A Lot of Love''). Another platinum seller, ''Just Like the First Time'' continued Jackson's dominance of the R&B singles charts; "Tasty Love," "Have You Ever Loved Somebody," and "Jam Tonight" all hit No. 1, while "I Don't Want to Lose Your Love" went to No. 2. The pace of Jackson's success slowed with the 1988 release of ''Don't Let Love Slip Away'', which nonetheless featured another two R&B chart-toppers in "Hey Lover" and "Nice 'N' Slow." The title track of 1990's ''Do Me Again'' and "Love Me Down" duplicated that feat, and "Main Course" just missed, topping out at No. 2. Even so, Jackson's earlier placings in the lower reaches of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 had long since disappeared, and some

critics A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governme ...

charged that his albums were growing too similar to one another. Jackson appeared as a lounge singer on the 1989 ''

The Golden Girls ''The Golden Girls'' is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris that aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning seven seasons. The show's ensemble cast stars Beatrice Arthur, Betty ...

'' episode "Two Rode Together" and sang the Disney song "

It's a Small World It's a Small World (stylized in all lowercase and in quotations or with exclamation mark) is an Old Mill boat ride located in the Fantasyland area at various Disney theme parks around the world. Versions of the ride are installed at Disney ...

" to Sophia. Also in 1989, Jackson sung the duet "Love Survives" with

for the soundtrack to the film ''

''. Seeking a new beginning, Jackson parted ways with Capitol/EMI in late 1993, and signed with

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

BMG Records Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) was a division of a German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America on 1 October 2008. Although it was established in 1987, the music c ...

. His label debut, ''Here It Is'', appeared the following year, with diminished commercial returns. Following a Christmas album, Jackson split with RCA and recorded ''Private Party'' for the smaller Street Life imprint of

Scotti Brothers Records Scotti Brothers Records (typically spelled Scotti Bros. Records) was a California-based record label founded by Tony and Ben Scotti in 1974. Their first success was releasing singles and albums from teen pop star Leif Garrett. They later helpe ...

in 1995. Several years of silence ensued, until Orpheus issued ''Life After 30'' in late 1999; the equally low-key release ''Live in Concert'' followed in 2000. After returning to the charts with ''It's Your Move'' in February 2004 (Martland Entertainment), Jackson released his tenth

studio A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to study or zeal. Types Art The studio of any artist, esp ...

album, ''Transitions'', in September 2006 on the record label Orpheus Music. At the end of 2010, Jackson released a new album on the Entertainment One Music label, entitled ''For You'', and produced by hit songwriter Barry Eastmond. The album featured the single "I Don't Wanna Go".

2014–present: later career

On August 26, 2014, Jackson released the single "Love & Satisfaction," written by Dustin "Dab" Bowie, Gregory Bowman, Kameron Corvet, Bertram Ford Jr, and Selasi "The African Kid," and released by the entertainment company Climax Entertainment. The single received some positive reviews and airplay, and allowed Jackson to reintroduce himself as he toured internationally in support of the release, as well as appear with artists

Jeffrey Osborne Jeffrey Linton Osborne (born March 9, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and lyricist. He is the former drummer and lead singer of the American R&B/soul group L.T.D. (band), L.T.D., with whom he began his musical career in 1970. B ...

Peabo Bryson Robert Peapo "Peabo" Bryson ( ; born April 13, 1951) is an American singer and songwriter. He is known for singing soul ballads (often as a duet with female singers) including the hit singles " Tonight, I Celebrate My Love", "You're Looking Like ...

, and

Stephanie Mills Stephanie Dorthea Mills (born March 22, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to stardom as Dorothy Gale in the original seven-time Tony Awards, Tony Award winning Broadway theatre, Broadway run of the musical ''The Wiz'' ...

at various performances and festivals. In late 2016, Jackson announced that he was recording a new album and that a new single would be released early the following year to mark his true return to recording studio and on May 1, 2017, the lead single "One Night" from his forthcoming album ''Love Signals'' was released via Climax and reached No. 1 on the internet radio

Indie Soul Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests * Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of comme ...

chart associated with the Internet Broadcasters Alliance on June 12, 2017, while reaching in the top 50 of independent R&B, smooth jazz, and soul charts around the US and Europe. In January 2018, Jackson appeared on the cover of ''STS Entertainment and Fashion Magazine''. He performed in Albany, GA on April 21, 2018, at a Soul Music festival along with the 69 boys and various other performers. In August 2019, it was announced that Jackson would perform later that month as the headlining act of the 37th annual African World Festival, hosted by the

Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History (The Wright) is a museum of African-American history and culture, located in Detroit, Michigan. Located in the city's Midtown Cultural Center, The Wright is one of the world's oldest an ...

. In 2019, Jackson released the single "A Million Ways". A fiction piece in the November 25, 2019, issue of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', by

John Edgar Wideman John Edgar Wideman (born June 14, 1941) is an American novelist, short story writer, memoirist, and essayist. He was the first person to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction twice. His writing is known for experimental techniques and a focus o ...

, titled "Arizona", is written as a letter to Jackson.

Controversy

In August 1988, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

music magazine ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' reported that Jackson had verbally attacked

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' over his black music chart success.

Discography

* '' Rock Me Tonight'' (1985) * '' Just Like the First Time'' (1986) * '' Don't Let Love Slip Away'' (1988) * '' Do Me Again'' (1990) * '' Time for Love'' (1992) * '' Here It Is'' (1994) * '' At Christmas'' (1994) * '' Private Party'' (1995) * '' Life After 30'' (1999) * ''

It's Your Move ''It's Your Move'' is an American sitcom television series created by Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye, starring Jason Bateman, Tricia Cast, Caren Kaye, Ernie Sabella, David Garrison, Adam Sadowsky, and Garrett Morris. The show originally aired ...

'' (2004) * '' Personal Reflections'' (2005) * '' Transitions'' (2006) * '' For You'' (2010) * ''Love Signals'' (2018)

Tours

*Tasty Love Tour (1986–87) *Hey Lover Tour (1988–89) *Do Me Again Tour (1991) *Finer with Time Tour (Summer 2014) *One Night Tour (Spring/Summer 2017)

Awards

* 1985 – nominated for

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

: Best New Artist * 1985 – nominated for Grammy Award: Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance – Male (" You Are My Lady"). * 1986 – nominated for

American Music Award The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show produced by Dick Clark Productions since 1974. Nominees are selected on commercial performance such as sales and airplay. Winners are determined by a poll of the public and ...

for Favorite Male Artist – Soul / Rhythm & Blues * 1988 – won American Music Award: Favorite Soul / Rhythm & Blues Single (" Nice 'N' Slow").

References

External links

Freddie Jackson
a
Wenig-LaMonica Associates
*
My Space PageFreddie Jackson 2012 Audio Interview at Soulinterviews.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Freddie 1956 births Living people 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers American contemporary R&B singers American funk singers American soul singers American ballad musicians Capitol Records artists Musicians from Manhattan People from Harlem RCA Records artists Singers from New York City