Pop superstar reveals she’s related to 3 equally famous people
Janet Jackson has a seriously famous family tree.
Most music fans already know the pop superstar is the sister of late singer Michael Jackson and fellow music performers Marlon, LaToya, Randy, Jermaine, Rebbie, Jackie and Tito. But in a new interview on BBC Radio 2′s “Zoe Ball Breakfast Show,” she revealed that she’s also related to equally well known celebrities Stevie Wonder, Tracy Chapman and actor Samuel L. Jackson.
“Are you related to Stevie?” radio host Scott Mills asks Janet.
“He’s our cousin,” Janet confirmed. “Not a lot of people know that. He’s our cousin on our mother’s side.”
She said Chapman, the Grammy-winning singer of hits “Fast Car” and “Give Me One Reason,” is also a cousin.
Samuel L. Jackson, an Oscar-nominated actor whose 200-plus credits range from “Star Wars,” “Pulp Fiction” and “Snakes on a Plane” to “Glass,” “Shaft” and Marvel’s “The Avengers,” is a cousin, too. Janet said “he’s not my brother” despite having the same last name.
According to Billboard, Jackson didn’t elaborate more on the family connections, but Wonder has long been tied to the Jacksons. The “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” singer and the Jackson 5 were both signed to Motown Records in the 1960s and 1970s; Wonder wrote songs for Jermaine (”Let’s Get Serious”) and recorded duets with Michael (”Just Good Friends” and “Get It”); Wonder performed at Michael’s 2009 memorial service; and Janet presented for Stevie’s 2008 induction in the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame ceremony.
Miss Jackson is a Grammy-winning pop singer known for hits like “Together Again,” “Rhythm Nation,” “Control,” “Nasty,” “What Have You Done for Me Lately,” “Love Will Never Do (Without You),” “All for You,” “Doesn’t Really Matter,” “That’s the Way Love Goes,” and “Scream” (with Michael Jackson). She performed in Syracuse in 2018 and at Darien Lake last month.
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