Freddie Jackson
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Jackson was born October 2, 1956, in Harlem, and like so many soul stars, he was trained as a gospel singer from an early age, singing at the White Rock Baptist Church. There he met Paul Laurence, who would later become his producer and songwriting partner. After completing school, Jackson joined Laurences group LJE (Laurence-Jones Ensemble) and played the New York club scene. During the early 80s, Jackson moved to the West Coast and sang lead with the R&B band Mystic Merlin, but soon returned to New York to work with Laurence at the Hush Productions company. He sang on demo recordings of Laurences compositions, and also served as a backup singer for Melba Moore after she caught his nightclub act.
In 1985, Jackson landed a record deal with Capitol and issued his debut album, Rock Me Tonight. The Laurence-penned title track stormed the R&B charts, spending a whopping six weeks at number one, and made Jackson an instant sensation on urban contemporary radio. You Are My Lady gave him a second straight R&B chart-topper, and also proved to be his highest-charting single on the pop side, peaking at number 13. With Hell Never Love You (Like I Do) and Love Is Just a Touch Away also hitting the R&B Top Ten, Rock Me Tonight topped the R&B album charts and went platinum. Jackson wasted no time issuing a follow-up set; Just Like the First Time appeared in 1986 on the heels of a number one R&B duet with Melba Moore, A Little Bit More (from her album A Lot of Love). Another platinum seller, Just Like the First Time continued Jacksons incredible dominance of the R&B singles charts; Tasty Love, Have You Ever Loved Somebody, and Jam Tonight all hit number one, while I Dont Want to Lose Your Love went to number two.
The pace of Jacksons success slowed to less superhuman levels with the 1988 release of Dont Let Love Slip Away, which nonetheless featured another R&B chart-topper in Hey Lover, plus further hits in Nice and Slow and Crazy (For Me). The title track of 1990s Do Me Again duplicated that feat, and Main Course just missed, topping out at number two. Even so, Jacksons early placings in the lower reaches of the pop Top 40 had long since disappeared, and some critics charged that his albums were growing too similar to one another. Perhaps it was a lack of distinctiveness in his material that hurt Jacksons chances for a pop breakthrough; whatever the case, 1992s Time for Love failed to duplicate the crossover success Luther Vandross was belatedly enjoying, despite a hit cover of the soul classic Me and Mrs. Jones.
Seeking a new beginning, Jackson parted ways with Capitol in late 1993, and signed with RCA. His label debut, Here It Is, appeared the following year, with diminished commercial returns -- in part because his straightforwardly romantic allad style was increasingly out of step with the sexually explicit new breed of R&B crooner. Following a Christmas album, Jackson split with RCA and recorded Private Party for the much smaller Street Life imprint in 1995. Several years of silence ensued, until Orpheus issued Life After 30 in late 1999; the equally low-key release Live in Concert followed in 2000. Jackson continues to release records from time to time in a similarly low-key fashion, including an albums worth of soulful covers with 2005s Personal Reflections. Twice as Nice followed in 2006 from Orpheus Records.
