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Tito Jackson, Member of the Jackson 5, Has Died at 70, Family Says

Tito Jackson, a member of the famed Jackson 5, poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, July 24, 2019, to promote his solo project, a new version of his 2017 song "One Way Street." (AP)
Tito Jackson, a member of the famed Jackson 5, poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, July 24, 2019, to promote his solo project, a new version of his 2017 song "One Way Street." (AP)
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Tito Jackson, Member of the Jackson 5, Has Died at 70, Family Says

Tito Jackson, a member of the famed Jackson 5, poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, July 24, 2019, to promote his solo project, a new version of his 2017 song "One Way Street." (AP)
Tito Jackson, a member of the famed Jackson 5, poses for a portrait in Los Angeles, July 24, 2019, to promote his solo project, a new version of his 2017 song "One Way Street." (AP)

Tito Jackson, one of the brothers who made up the beloved pop group the Jackson 5, has died at age 70.

Tito was the third of nine Jackson children, which include global superstars Michael and sister Janet, part of a music-making family whose songs are still beloved today.

"It’s with heavy hearts that we announce that our beloved father, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Tito Jackson is no longer with us. We are shocked, saddened and heartbroken. Our father was an incredible man who cared about everyone and their well-being," his sons TJ, Taj and Taryll said in a statement posted on Instagram late Sunday.

The Jackson 5 included brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael. The family group, which was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, produced several No. 1 hits in the 1970s including "ABC,I Want You Back" and "I’ll Be There."

The Jackson 5 became one of the biggest names in music under the guidance of their father, Joe Jackson, a steelworker and guitar player who supported his wife and nine children in Gary, Indiana. As the family’s music careers took off, they relocated to California.

Born on Oct. 15, 1953, Toriano Adaryll "Tito" Jackson was the least-heard member of the group as a background singer who played guitar. His brothers launched solo careers, including Michael, who became one of the world's biggest performers known as The King of Pop.

Michael Jackson died at age 50 on June 25, 2009.

Speaking to The Associated Press in December 2009, Jackson said his younger brother's death pulled the family closer together.

"I would say definitely it brought us a step closer to each other. To recognize that the love we have for each other when one of us is not here, what a great loss," he said, adding he would personally never "be at peace with it."

"There’s still moments when I just can’t believe it. So I think that’s never going to go away," he said.

In 2014, Jackson said he and his brothers still felt Michael Jackson's absence in their shows that continued with international tours.

"I don’t think we will ever get used to performing without him. He’s dearly missed," he said, noting that his spirit "is with us when we are performing. It gives us a lot of positive energy and puts a lot of smiles on our faces."

Days before his death, Jackson posted a message on his Facebook page from Munich, Germany, on Sept. 11, where he visited a memorial to Michael Jackson with his brothers.

"Before our show in Munich, my brothers Jackie, Marlon, and I visited the beautiful memorial dedicated to our beloved brother, Michael Jackson. We’re deeply grateful for this special place that honors not only his memory but also our shared legacy. Thank you for keeping his spirit alive," he wrote.

Tito Jackson was the last of the nine Jackson siblings to release a solo project with his 2016 debut, "Tito Time." He released a song in 2017, "One Way Street," and told the AP in 2019 that he was working on a sophomore album.

Jackson said he purposely held back from pursuing a solo career, because he wanted to focus on raising his three sons: TJ, Taj and Taryll, who formed their own music group 3T. Jackson's website offers a link to a single featuring 3T and Stevie Wonder titled, "Love One Another."

Tito Jackson also is survived by his brothers Jermaine, Randy, Marlon and Jackie, his sisters Janet, Rebbie and La Toya and their mother, Katherine. Their father died in 2018.

Jackson's death was first reported by Entertainment Tonight.

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Entertainment

Actors and Fans Celebrate the ‘Miami Vice’ Television Series’ 40th Anniversary in Miami Beach

Ismael “East” Carlo, Joaquim de Almeida, Bill Smitrovich, guest, Edward James Olmos and Olivia Brown attend Miami Vice 40th Anniversary Reunion Opening Night Reception on September 12, 2024 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Getty Images/AFP)
Ismael “East” Carlo, Joaquim de Almeida, Bill Smitrovich, guest, Edward James Olmos and Olivia Brown attend Miami Vice 40th Anniversary Reunion Opening Night Reception on September 12, 2024 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Actors and Fans Celebrate the ‘Miami Vice’ Television Series’ 40th Anniversary in Miami Beach

Ismael “East” Carlo, Joaquim de Almeida, Bill Smitrovich, guest, Edward James Olmos and Olivia Brown attend Miami Vice 40th Anniversary Reunion Opening Night Reception on September 12, 2024 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Getty Images/AFP)
Ismael “East” Carlo, Joaquim de Almeida, Bill Smitrovich, guest, Edward James Olmos and Olivia Brown attend Miami Vice 40th Anniversary Reunion Opening Night Reception on September 12, 2024 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Getty Images/AFP)

Miami Beach residents and visitors can feel it coming in the air tonight — and the rest of the weekend — as “Miami Vice” cast and crew gather to celebrate the iconic television series’ 40th anniversary.

The show premiered on NBC on Sept. 16, 1984, and ran for five seasons. The “cocaine cowboy”-era crime drama, featuring Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as undercover cops, was revolutionary in its use of pop culture, style and music and spawned a film reboot in 2006. And by filming the show primarily in South Florida, the series helped transform the image of Miami and Miami Beach in a way that would reverberate for decades.

Former cast members, including Edward James Olmos and Michael Madsen, met with fans Friday at the Royal Palm South Beach and were set to return Saturday. Also attending were Saundra Santiago, Olivia Brown, Bruce McGill, Joaquim De Almeida, Bill Smitrovich, Pepe Serna and Ismael East Carlo.

“It was not ‘Hill Street Blues.’ It was not ‘Police Story,’” Olmos said on Friday. “It was way different in artistic endeavor on all levels. The creativity, as far as music, writing, production value. The production value was so overwhelming. We spared nothing. I mean, these people were serious, and they spent a lot of time and money for each episode, and it shows.”

Olmos said that the show had a profound effect on introducing Miami to the world and creating an idealized version of South Beach that would later become a reality.

“When we were here, when we started the show in 1984, there was no South Beach,” Olmos said. “There was a South Beach, but it was dilapidated. The buildings were all literally falling into disrepair.”

Years before serious restoration efforts would transform South Beach into a center of fashion, music and tourism, Olmos said productions crews were painting the exteriors of the neighborhood’s historic Art Deco buildings themselves to make them look good on camera.

“We would paint the facades and put out tables, and we did what now became the reality of South Beach,” Olmos said.

While most television production was still being done in Los Angeles or New York in the 1980s, Olmos doubts the show would have been as successful if they had tried to fake South Florida in California.

“They could have never shot this anywhere else in the world,” Olmos said. “Look at the show from the very first episode, and as it went on, the beauty of Miami is unprecedented.”

Premiering just a few years after the launch of MTV, “Miami Vice” embraced contemporary style and music. Besides Jan Hammer’s original scoring, the producers regularly included songs from popular artists like Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Dire Straits and Foreigner.

Fred Lyle, an associate producer and music coordinator for “Miami Vice,” said the importance of music was evident from the first episode, as “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins plays while Johnson and Thomas cruise the streets of Miami in their Ferrari convertible.

“And that’s when ‘Miami Vice’ became different musically than anything else,” Lyle said. “Music was going over this scene, that scene. One song was helping to stitch the fabric of the narrative together.”

Aside from the show’s style, the stories and characters also had substance. Veteran television actor Bruce McGill has played countless cops, coaches and other authority figures over several decades, but he said his guest role as a burnt-out former detective in the second season of “Miami Vice” stands out compared to the straight-laced characters that comprise most of his career.

“It was a very good part that they allowed me to make better, to enhance, to ham it up a little,” McGill said. “And it was very satisfying.”

“Miami Vice” fan Matt Lechliter, 39, traveled all the way to Miami Beach from Oxnard, California, to celebrate the show’s anniversary.

“I wasn’t alive when it premiered, but it’s a part of me,” Lechliter said.

Lechliter said he remembers watching the later seasons and reruns with his parents as a child but really became a fan when he rediscovered the show about five years ago.

“I binge-watched it,” Lechliter said. “I was like, ‘Wow, this really is amazing.’ When I heard about this event, I said, ‘I’ve gotta go.’”

The anniversary celebration will continue through the weekend with career discussions, as well as bus and walking tours of filming locations.

The Miami Vice Museum is open to the public from Friday to Sunday, featuring a wide range of items never before displayed together since the show’s conclusion in 1989. The exhibit is being hosted at the Wilzig Erotic Art Museum.

And to kick off the celebration on Thursday, Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner met with cast and crew at the Avalon Hotel in South Beach to present a proclamation declaring Sept. 16, 2024, as “Miami Vice Day.”