American pop group the Jackson Five sightseeing at Buckingham Palace in London, 1st November 1972. They are in London to appear in the Royal Variety Performance amongst other engagements. From left to right, brothers Jackie, Jermaine, Randy and Marlon Jackson. (Photo by John Downing/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Fans were shocked when it happened. After a string of massive hits with Motown Records, the Jackson 5 left the label in 1975. But what really went down? As Mason explains, it wasn’t about bad blood. It was about ownership—and a long-overdue leap toward freedom.
“Motown owned everything. The name. The masters. The creative process. The Jacksons were just showing up and performing.”
In their early years, the Jackson 5 were carefully molded by the Motown system. They had songwriters, choreographers, vocal coaches—the full machine. And it worked. But as the brothers grew older, especially Michael, they started craving more control over their sound and direction.
“They wanted to write. They wanted to produce. But that wasn’t the Motown model.”
Meanwhile, Jermaine Jackson—who was married to Berry Gordy’s daughter, Hazel—chose to stay with the label. The rest of the brothers—Michael, Jackie, Tito, Marlon, and Randy (who replaced Jermaine)—moved on to Epic Records, where they rebranded as The Jacksons.
“That’s why the name changed. Motown owned ‘Jackson 5.’ So they had to start over, in a way.”
Ironically, leaving Motown gave them the space to grow. It was during their Epic years that Michael began writing and producing, setting the stage for his breakout solo albums Off the Wall and Thriller—both with Quincy Jones.
“Motown made them stars. But leaving Motown made them artists.”
And even though it was a bold move, it paid off. The Jacksons continued to sell out tours, score hits, and evolve musically. They took the lessons Motown taught them—and then broke the mold.
“Sometimes you gotta leave the house to become a man,” Mason says. “And that’s exactly what Michael did.”
