Fifty-seven years ago this week, most of America met the Jackson 5 for the very first time. It was October 18, 1969, on an ABC variety show called The Hollywood Palace.
Diana Ross, already a huge star with The Supremes, walked out and introduced “Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5” to the country. Michael was 11 years old. It was their first national variety-TV appearance, and it changed everything for those boys from Gary, Indiana.
Motown leaned into the connection hard. The label even named the group’s first album “Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5.” For decades, a lot of people grew up believing Diana Ross was the one who discovered them.
Here’s the thing, though. She wasn’t.
Before we get to who really found them, watch the moment that started it all.
The night Diana Ross introduced an 11-year-old Michael and his brothers on national TV
Keep your eye on little Michael. He’s the smallest one up there, and he commands the stage like he’s been waiting his whole life for this exact minute.
That night the boys sang a medley that ended with their brand-new single “I Want You Back.” A few months later, at the end of January 1970, that song went all the way to No. 1 in the country.
Now, the real story. The man who actually brought the Jackson 5 to Motown was a veteran singer named Bobby Taylor. He saw them perform, believed in them and helped get them through the door at the label. Diana Ross was the famous face Motown put on the posters, because her name sold records and drew cameras. Bobby Taylor did a lot of the quiet early work that nobody put on an album cover.
None of that takes anything away from Diana. She truly cared about those kids, and her star power helped launch them to the whole world in one night. But the discovery story most of us grew up with leaves out the man who really opened the door.
The boys moved fast after that first big night. Within weeks they were turning up on other major shows too, including the famous Ed Sullivan stage, selling the same song to even bigger audiences.
The Jackson 5 bring “I Want You Back” to The Ed Sullivan Show
Watch how tight they are as a group. These weren’t lucky amateurs who stumbled into fame. They had played hundreds of shows before most of America ever saw them.
So this week, picture a skinny 11-year-old stepping into a TV spotlight for the first time, with the whole country suddenly watching. That was the start. And the rest, as they say, is history.