Tito Jackson said he and his brothers always “feel the presence” of the late Michael Jackson onstage.
As The Jacksons — which now includes Tito’s brothers Marlon and Jackie and Tito’s son Taryll — prepare to play Rewind South Festival, which is located in Henley-on-Thames in Remenham, United Kingdom, this weekend, Tito has spoken about the “tragedy” of the late King of Pop’s passing from acute propofol intoxication 15 years ago at 50 and how the world has “missed out on a lot of goodness” from the “Thriller” hitmaker.
“The world was not kind to Michael at all. I don’t know why. I would always say if we didn’t have him, we sure would miss him. His death was such a major tragedy. The world definitely missed out on a lot of goodness from him because he wasn’t just a musician or an artist — he was a loving person. He loved to give,” Tito said of his scandal-ridden sibling, who faced allegations of sexual abuse that continued beyond the grave.
The family has been through many legal disputes and and other fights over the years, including a long-running tax dispute, but Tito doesn’t have the time for it anymore.
“I don’t have time to put it in my head. We know ourselves and we know each other. It just angers me. There are not too many people that I trust. Learning from this business … Well, there are a whole lot of wealthy people in show business that are not artists, so you wonder how they got all their wealth,” he insisted.
“We always feel his presence on the stage. So that helps us a lot, too. I can imagine Michael probably would have had three or four more hits by now, and they’d still be talking about him on the radio,” Tito continued.
“When that time of year comes around, you feel this presence and just try to enjoy all the moments that you remember that you had together,” he said.
“Sometimes we like to have a performance on that day,” Tito said, discussing where he believes the “Beat It” hitmaker would be now. “Those are the days I really feel close to him — when we’re working and enjoying music — because that’s what we did together. Besides being brothers, that was our play time.”
