Long before anyone thought of him as the quiet Jackson brother, Tito was a teenager in love. He married Dolores Martes, who everybody called Dee Dee, in 1972, when they were both still kids themselves. The story goes that they’d met as teenagers at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles.
They had three boys together, Taj, Taryll, and TJ. And those three grew up to do the thing you’d expect from Jackson kids. They formed a group. 3T landed a real hit in the mid-nineties with “Anything,” and for a while there they were pop stars in their own right.
3T – Anything (Official Music Video)
Tito and Dee Dee divorced in 1988, but he stayed a hands-on father to those boys the whole way through. Dee Dee died in 1994, which was a heavy blow for the family. Tito never remarried. He kept his private life genuinely private, something that wasn’t easy in that family, and he put his energy into his music and his sons instead.
Tito Jackson Talks About His Sons 3T and the Legacy of Michael Jackson
There was a famous uncle in the mix too. Michael was close with Taj, Taryll, and TJ, and he took a real hand in helping 3T get going, which is part of why those early records had the gloss they did. You can see the three of them at the very start of it all in this one.
3T Perform “Anything” and Interview on BET Video Soul (1995)
For all the drama that followed the Jackson name around, Tito’s own story is a pretty simple and decent one. Marry young, raise your kids, give them the music, and keep the rest to yourself.