Motown Spotlight: May 2026 - Jermaine Jackson, Former Ladies Of The Supremes

I’d been reading quite a few comments recently across social media about Jermaine Jackson. Not about his music, but his appearance and how it’s changed over the years. As far as I remember, it’s never been confirmed that he’s undergone plastic surgery on his face, but when he attended the premiere of Michael, his late brother’s biopic, Jermaine re-ignited speculation by having noticeable changes in his facial structure, particularly his nose, and an overall tightness of his face. Plus his hair and styling appeared unnatural, as if it was glued to his head. Well, we all change appearance as we get older, and as I look at his pictures now, perhaps a tweak here and there is obvious.

Actually, although I’ve ‘written’ this out loud, it’s really got nothing to do with me, or anyone else, if he wants to change his appearance. But, I can’t leave this subject without saying, he was such a handsome younger man and perhaps, he should have left well alone to live with his ageing good looks.

Anyway, moving on. With the release of Michael and Jermaine’s rare appearance in public, it got me thinking about this lovely young man, quietly spoken with a stutter and gentle manners. I first met him properly at Motown during May 1980 when he was in London promoting the “Let’s Get Serious” single and album. He was an absolute joy to work with, as I’ve probably chanced to mention several times., so let’s stay with him awhile and pick out highlights of his solo career with Motown.

In September 1972, after the Jackson 5 had returned to America after another sell-out Japanese tour, Jermaine hit the promotional trail for his solo album, “Come Into My Life” about which he once said, “There are a lot of songs on it which I hoped would be included. There are slow ones, since I do ballads better, although people who like to dance will be unhappy about that. But on the whole the album sounds really good.”

The list of producers was awesome with The Corporation, Gloria Jones and Pam Sawyer among them. “You’re In Good Hands” was the only single lifted. The Jackson also confirmed during this interview that he had no plans to marry Berry Gordy’s daughter, Hazel. Erm….

“Come Into My Life” was the follow-up to his July ’72 debut, “Jermaine” which followed the Jackson 5’s “Lookin’ Through The Windows” album. Once again a whole load of producers contributed their talents to a project that comprised several pre-loved tracks like the Four Tops’ “I’m In A Different World”; The Isley Brothers/Kim Weston’s “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While)” and a slight re-wording of Gladys Knight and the Pips “If You Were My Woman”. This time Jermaine enjoyed two US hits – “That’s How Love Is” and “Daddy’s Home”. Jermaine’s album releases between 1976-78 were “My Name Is Jermaine”, “Feel The Fire” and “Frontiers.”

You may remember that the young Jackson also lent his name and talent to other acts. Two spring to mind – Switch and Lovesmith, so named due to their ability to switch to different lead singers and instruments during a song, a demo of their music found its way into Jermaine’s hands.

Hazel also heard the tape and speeded up the procedure for them to become Motown artists, enabling them to release their self-named album within eighteen months. “Switch” contained the hit single “There’ll Never Be”.

The other outfit, Lovesmith, comprised four brothers from St Louis, who previously recorded as the Smith Connection on Holland-Dozier-Holland’s Music Merchant label. Noted Jermaine, “They got a lot of experience with Brian and Eddie, and just as it took me four to five years to come into my own, so it is with Lovesmith. They’ve devoted so much time and effort to what they’re doing that I think their time is here now.”

The “Lovesmith” album, released only in America in August 1981, pleased Jermaine no end, although he stressed at the time, “With them being a new act and with the way the business and economy are now, it’s hard for a new act to get the chances that used to be available…..We wanted to build a concept behind the album because that’s the way I started with Switch.” Despite his intervention, both groups lacked staying power.

When father Joe Jackson was unwilling to sign his songs’ publishing rights to Jobete, among other things, he negotiated a multi-million dollar deal with CBS/Epic in 1975. As Motown owned the name Jackson 5, The Jacksons were born.

Jermaine remained with Motown because by this time he was married to Hazel Gordy! Did he feel obliged to stay with the company? I don’t know, but loyalty goes a long way in the music industry. It happened that Jermaine and Hazel were on holiday, camping with Barry White and Glodean, when Joe Jackson made his decision.

Said Jermaine at the time, “When I returned my father told me to come over to his house without Hazel, so I knew something was wrong. I went to his room and on the bed were all he contracts from CBS/Epic already signed by my brothers. I just said I wasn’t going. I made my decision and knew I had to live by it. I believe that if it was meant for me it would have happened in a nicer way. My father wasn’t able to adjust quickly and he was initially upset but I had given my word.” His brother Randy replaced him.

When the move or non-move, as the case may be, became general knowledge, people told Jermaine he had betrayed his family and that he would never be successful at Motown. To be fair, it took awhile but he did eventually become an A-list artist, but certainly not on the same scale as The Jacksons with Michael on lead.

Jermaine commented, “I became a different person for a while because I felt the whole world was mad at me. My brothers were hurt by it but they didn’t show any anger towards me, although they couldn’t understand how we’d been raised together and I could go one way and they the other.”

In another interview, he explained that he felt Motown was the place for the group “and I just didn’t agree with the move they made. So, I made my choice, and they made their choice….I have a lot of my own ideas and I felt that if you do something you might as well do it the right way, and I saw a lot of things that weren’t going right out there. I disagreed with them but nobody would stand up with me…When my father took over the management it was a big change. He wasn’t trained for it…it wasn’t right….Booking us here, booking us there, he was just taking a shot at it. I discussed these feelings with my brothers but nobody listened.”

Let’s move on to happier things. The “Let’s Get Serious” album was dance-orientated much against Jermaine’s wishes. He believed disco had damaged the industry, with record companies saturating the market with a basic four/four beat at the expense of other types of music. He conceded though when told this could turn out to be the biggest album of his career, after a two year absence from the recording studio: “I decided to stop what I was doing and go over my past to make sure ‘Let’s Get Serious’ was the best. I’m the first to admit that my previous albums I did on my own didn’t do as well as I hoped, but they did give me valuable experience and I learned from those. The lack of my success forced me into searching for the right ingredients and I believe that’s what has made this new album so acceptable.”

The “Let’s Get Serious” single which returned Jermaine Jackson to the global charts was penned by Stevie Wonder and Lee Garrett for Stevie’s own use. However, Berry Gordy intervened and snatched it for his son-in-law before Stevie could record it.

Said Jermaine, “As well as Stevie writing and producing the three songs for the album he also involved himself in the songs I did for myself, and wanted his songs to fit my concept. They inspired him to write two completely new (ones) ‘Let’s Get Serious’ and ‘Where Are You Now’ with Rene Hardaway, and the third ‘You’re Supposed To Keep Your Love For Me’ which I recorded years ago with the Jackson 5, and sang lead on.”

While “Let’s Get Serious” had hit written all over it, the song caused a few problems as Stevie sang the middle chorus – and when Jermaine and Hazel flew to London in May 1980 to promote it on UK television, he was forbidden by Stevie to sing the song ‘live’. Panic set in with Motown’s promotion folk, but, happily, a solution was found thanks to a Continental video featuring Jermaine singing Stevie’s part.

The week long promotional tour was a tight schedule of interviews and night-time personal appearances when he was mobbed by over-enthusiastic punters – Jacksonmania of sorts had returned to London! It was a hard slog as these tours are, but so well worth it, particularly as both him and Hazel were absolute treasures to be with: nothing was too much either. They stayed at The Churchill Hotel in Portman Square, a favourite for Motown/EMI, although their downtime was little. Here is a page from that actual 1980 itinerary; the print is rather faint but you may be able to make out what was expected of him and where.

Jermaine and Motown were riding high – and about time too because if anyone deserved success it was him – but choosing a follow-up single is always a nail-biting experience at the best of times. However, the decision was split across the Atlantic. America chose “You’re Supposed To Keep Your Love For Me”, later nominated for a Grammy in the Best R&B Male Vocalist category, while the UK danced away again to “Burnin’ Hot” in July, with the American single as its follow-up.Originally titled “I’d Rather Dance, Disco Fever”, Jermaine said Berry Gordy believed the song to be a runaway hit: “He changed the title because by the time the album came our, disco was finally burnt out. So we changed it to ‘Burnin’ Hot’, and added a little sex appeal and so forth.” Although a good seller, the single failed to repeat its predecessor’s success, and sadly this was to be Jermaine’s only period of continued success as a Motown artist, even though future releases maintained a high standard.

As an aside here, he was a regular visitor to London where he invariably acted as his father-in-law’s representative. In fact, it was Berry himself who sent Jermaine to London during December 1980 to host Motown/EMI’s Twentieth Anniversary champagne party held at the EMI Records’ headquarters in Manchester Square. And what a celebration it was too!

Before closing this JJ page, a couple of personal mentions. You may be aware he was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, but converted to Islam in 1989 after an inspirational trip to Bahrain, and taking the name Muhammad Abdul Aziz Sharit.

He’s been married and divorced three times and has seven children. There’s more to reflect on about Jermaine growing up within the music industry but perhaps that’s for another time. Besides, I’m running out of space and must talk about my favourite trio – The Former Ladies of The Supremes – who, as you know, are celebrating their fortieth anniversary this year. Forty years!

Three new compilation albums are now available across major streaming platforms like Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Prime and YouTube featuring a selection of the many recordings produced and arranged by Steve Weaver with Former Ladies of The Supremes from 1994 onwards. “Live! Live! Live!, “The Greatest Hits” and “Love Songs”.

Steve says these are the first of several projects he’s been working on in recent months, and with the help of his studio wizard John Purser, who has been a huge help to Steve and the ladies from day one, new tracks will be released later on.

While this is just fabulous news, the downside for folk like me: there’s no plans for CD releases, but this is understandable because the cost is high. However, that may change, so watch this space. Here’s a picture of said Steve with Lynda Laurence, Scherrie Payne and Jean Terrell.

I don’t have room here to print the tracks so have a quick look-see on the streaming platforms. Oh, nearly forgot, there are also plans for a special 40th anniversary collection, due for release early July to coincide with the ladies milestone celebratory performance in Los Angeles on 18 July.

Of note, “It’s quite remarkable to think that 2026 marks forty years since Scherrie Payne approached Jean Terrell and Cindy Birdsong to form a new Supremes trio, with Motown’s blessing. When Cindy chose to devote her time to the church, Lynda Laurence stepped in, and together they began recording and performing, continuing a legacy that remains both authentic and enduring.”

As Diana Ross once admitted, the ladies have been “keeping the legacy authentically alive” and that commitment is evident in everything they do. “In fact,” Steve added, “the group has now been active for more than twice the length of time The Supremes were originally signed to Motown – 15 January 1961 – 12 June 1977. In an industry where many acts are fortunate to sustain even a few years of success, this is no small achievement. It’s a testament to the music, the dedication, and the lasting connection they continue to share with fans and audiences around the world.”

Congratulations ladies!

Sharon Davis