janet

                             Janet Damita Jackson, 16 May 1966, Gary, Indiana, USA.
                              Jackson was the youngest of the nine children in the family that
                              produced the Jackson Five (including Michael Jackson,
                              Jermaine Jackson and LaToya Jackson ). When she was four
                              years old, the family moved to the Los Angeles area; three years
                              later she made her performing debut in Las Vegas with her
                              brothers. At the age of nine, she joined them on a television
                              special. She was cast in the US television programmes Good Times from
                              1977-79 and Diff'rent Strokes from 1981-82. She signed to A&M Records
                              in 1982 and recorded her self-titled debut album, followed by Dream Street in
                              1984. Both albums sold only moderately. Jackson's breakthrough came in
                              1986 with Control, which reached number 1 and produced an astonishing five
                              US Top 10 singles (including the chart-topping 'When I Think Of You') and
                              three UK Top 10 singles. The album was ultimately certified quadruple
                              platinum for sales of over four million copies in the USA. Jackson followed up
                              in 1989 with Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814, another quadruple
                              platinum album, which yielded the US chart-topping singles 'Miss You Much',
                              'Escapade', 'Black Cat', and 'Love Will Never Do (Without You)'. Jackson
                              undertook her first concert tour in 1990. By the end of the year she had
                              scooped eight Billboard awards, including Top R&B Albums and Singles
                              Artist, Best Pop and R&B Album Award for Rhythm Nation, and Top Hot
                              100 Singles Artist. The success of the Rhythm Nation album continued into
                              1991 when, in January, Jackson became the first artist in history to have culled
                              from one album seven Top 5 singles in the Billboard chart. Jackson's
                              commercial peak continued into the 90s with the unprecedented performance
                              of her Virgin Records' debut Janet, which entered the US album chart at
                              number 1, beating brother Michael's sales record by selling 350,000 copies in
                              its first week. Further US chart-topping singles included 'That's The Way Love
                              Goes' (number 1 for eight weeks) and 'Again', which were also UK bestsellers.
                              The compilation album Design Of A Decade was another huge seller, and
                              followed her collaboration with brother Michael on 'Scream'. Performing as
                              simply Janet, Jackson released her first studio set in four years, The Velvet
                              Rope, a deeply personal album that dealt frankly with her much publicised
                              emotional breakdown. The album entered the charts at number 1 in America,
                              while the single 'Together Again' topped the Hot 100 in January 1998. A
                              collaboration with BLACKstreet, 'I Get Lonely', was a US number 3 hit in
                              May. Both tracks also reached the UK Top 5. 'Doesn't Really Matter', a song
                              featured in the soundtrack to Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps, rose to the top
                              of the US charts in August 2000.