On the eve of their Australian tour, Jackie Jackson tells Shari Nementzik Michael is always by their side.
Why did The Jacksons decide to tour?
We had requests from fans around the world who had asked for us to tour after my brothers passing. We had a tour planned with Michael and the brothers after his 02 Arena shows, he was going to take eight months to a year off and then we were supposed to tour together, all of us, but it never happened. Fans from around the world are mourning his loss, we are still mourning, when you lose a sibling you never stop mourning, you think of them all the time, it never goes away, so we decided to come out because the fans wanted us to come out and sing with us and here we are.
How do you honour Michael’s memory through the shows?
We do a piece where we honour him on stage, it is very emotional, it is a bittersweet moment, we sing songs and show pictures on the monitors behind us and it is really touching. It is a great piece.
What do you miss most about Michael?
I just miss his laughter and him just being away from it all and being Michael because to me he is just plain Michael. People look at him as Michael the superstar, the singer, entertainer but to me he is just Michael, he is my brother. He is a great person and we just miss that about him.
Is it hard for you to perform without him?
We feel his spirit on stage every night, we know exactly where he would be on stage if he was with us because we can feel his spirit there, that is why we perform so hard on stage because we know he would be doing the same thing.
Do you think you’ll ever retire?
No, we love the stage! As long as Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart are doing it, I’m going to keep doing it.
For more information on the tour and to buy tickets go to: www.thejacksons.com
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
