Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana, United States of America. He was the eighth child of Joseph Walter Jackson and Katherine Esther Jackson. His father was a former boxer who had a background in playing musical instruments while his mother played the piano and clarinet. She also was wanted to be a performer but worked with a company called Sears. Jackson joined some of his siblings to create a band called "The Jackson 5" but soon, he decided to go solo in 1971.