This coming Monday, Nov 16, Jaafar Jackson will be honored in Los Angeles. He’s receiving the Actor Award (Film) at the Critics Choice Celebration of Black Cinema & Television for playing his uncle in “Michael.”
His life on stage started somewhere very different.
Jaafar is the son of Jermaine Jackson, Michael’s brother. Back in 2020, years before the movie came out, Jaafar told Khaleej Times about the first time he ever stood on a real stage. It wasn’t a school play or a family party. It was a full concert in the Netherlands, and his dad was right beside him.
The show was MAX Proms 2017, a concert put on by the Dutch broadcaster MAX. Jermaine was one of the performers, and the music came from the Metropole Orchestra (in Dutch, the Metropole Orkest), along with The New London Chorale and the Inspirational Community Gospel Choir. Jaafar, then in his early 20s, joined his father on stage. So did his younger brother, Jermajesty.
Some of our readers will remember an earlier family test, when a teenage Jaafar had to learn a Jackson 5 song for his dad. This was years later, and it was the real thing.
“That was my first time on stage. It was an incredible experience standing up on stage with my father, and younger brother,” Jaafar said.
Most parents would tell a nervous kid to relax and have fun out there.
Jermaine had something else in mind, and Jaafar remembered every word.
“But it was nerve-wracking at that same time, because before we went on stage my father said, ‘Don’t mess up, make sure you’re on point as we practised’.”
It’s blunt, and it’s the kind of thing a working musician says to another working musician. To Jermaine, his son was part of the act that night, and the act had to be right.
Yet the same dad who said “don’t mess up” was also the one sitting with Jaafar when he was too shy to be comfortable.
“He would accompany me to the studio to make me feel comfortable because I was very shy growing up,” Jaafar said.
Jermaine wanted his son ready, and he stayed close while he got there. Jaafar said his dad also “advised me on things I should do and things I should avoid in music business.”
That advice didn’t stop when Jaafar took on the biggest role of his life, and in this Entertainment Tonight clip he shares what his dad told him about playing the King of Pop.
Jaafar Jackson on the advice his dad gave him about playing Michael
Of everything his father told him, one line sums up the rest.
“My dad always told me to put my heart and soul into whatever I’m doing and work as hard as I can,” he said.
On Monday Jaafar will accept that award in Los Angeles for playing his uncle. The shy kid whose dad kept him company in the studio has come a long way since that night in the Netherlands.