Joe Jackson Dies Age 89

The former talent manager -- who launched Michael's career alongside his brothers with the Jackson 5 -- was hospitalized in mid-June for terminal pancreatic cancer.

Joe died Wednesday at 3:30AM in Los Angeles, according to TMZ.

The Jackson patriarch has battled various health problems in recent years, including his hospitalization in 2016 for a high fever. It was just one year before that when Joe, in 2015, suffered a stroke and three heart attacks -- which led to him receiving a pacemaker.

In the early 1960s Joe began shaping his sons Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and later younger sons Marlon and Michael into a musical group, which became the Jackson 5.

In 1968 the group had their first local hit in the Chicago area with "Big Boy." In October 1969 the Jackson 5 had their first national hit "I want You Back" which hit number one.

The group only went from strength-to-strength.

In 1982 he launched then 16-year-old Janet Jackson's solo career. While fathering and managing -- at least early on -- the careers of some of pop music's most successful acts Joe's public image suffered in the press.

He was alleged in various media reports to have had an abusive relationship with his children, leading to the estrangement of several of his offspring.

Michael is said to have forgiven his father years before his own untimely passing in June 2009 -- even building a section dedicated to the family patriarch at his Neverland Ranch.

Both Joe and his wife Katherine Jackson had previously denied all assertions of child abuse -- Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon affirmed their parents' side of the story.

Joe was inducted in 2002 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the Best Entertainment Manager of All Time by Jane L. Campbell, mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.