Janet Jackson first came to fame as an actress in the late 70's. She portrayed Penny who was the little girl adopted by the Evans family neighbor Willona on Good Times. Janet appeared in several other television programs including Different Strokes and Fame. Yet, Janet always wanted to be famous for singing. She loved to sing and released her self-titled and first album in 1982 with moderate success. Her second album “Dream Street” was released during her time on Fame hoping it would help boost record sales, but she still didn't find the success she wanted.
Janet took a break from acting in order to focus more on her marriage to childhood friend and singer James Debarge as well as her own singing career. By 1986 she was divorced and had launched her breakthrough album “Control.” The album spawned six Top 10 songs including “What Have You Done For Me Lately,” “Control,” and “Nasty.” Her videos became just as popular as the music as they were filled with great choreography that was created by Paula Abdul. These new moves were being imitated by fans all around the world.
“Rhythm Nation 1814” was Jackson's fourth album. It reached even higher success than her third. She had released it in 1989 and it remained on the charts until 1991. It is the only album in history to place in the charts for three years. Each year spawned another major hit including “Miss You Much,” “Escapade,” and “Love Will Never Do”. She found herself entering another marriage which ended in 2000. No one knew she was even married until the divorce papers became public. Despite Janet's successful singing career she was never able to have a successful love life.
In 1993 “Janet” was released and it not only became the first album by a female to debut at number one it also spawned several Top 10 hits once again. This put Janet down in history as the first female to have at least five or more singles to reach the Top 10 from three consecutive albums. The album cover was also controversial as she posed topless with only a man's hands covering her breasts.
Afterwards, Janet released 5 more albums but she has not been able to match the magnitude of the success of her previous three albums. Her latest album “Discipline” was released this year and debuted at number one, which enabled her to pass her brother Michael's record of five albums debuting at number one. She continues to try to out do herself, but it just seems to be an impossible task. Janet definitely has the talent, but hasn't been able to continue with the amount of chart-toppers she once had. She went back to acting in several movies including The Nutty Professor II with Eddie Murphy. Yet, she still desires to control the charts like she once did. After her performance with Justin Timberlake at the Super Bowl a couple years ago many wonder if it was a stunt on her part to get more attention to help boost her career. One will never know for sure. With her latest album time will only tell if she is able to control the charts once again and prevail as the queen of r&b and pop music.
