My Touch of Madness: Jermaine Jackson’s Vocal Artistry
Jermaine is my touch of madness.
For the better part of a year, I employed my skills as a historical researcher to uncover information about Jermaine, endlessly sorting fact from fiction, gratuitous meanness from gratuitous praise, checking and doublechecking sources, watching videos, listening to streams, and reading, reading, reading, and reading. I am a fan, obviously, so I bend the rules of objectivity. Still, I want to do Jermaine justice.
Early in my research, I settled in to watch his live performance of “My Touch of Madness,” from his third studio album with Motown, My Name is Jermaine. The keyboard intro and soulful saxophone solo set the mood as he sang: “For your smile, I’d walk a country mile, for one touch of your hand, I’d crawl the desert sand…but my touch of madness girl, is in you.” I closed my eyes, immersed myself in the lush musical interlude, and fantastically, I was whisked back to 1976. Entranced, I reveled in Jermaine’s mellifluous words: “I’ll bring you a star from above, you are the frame, baby of all my wildest dreams, and without you girl, my life ain’t worth a thing….” Images of that perfect boyfriend danced in the theater of my mind, and thrillingly, he whispered those loving sentiments directly to me. Too soon, the video ended. A blaring YouTube ad startled me back to the present and reality, where such boyfriends, sadly, do not exist. Sigh!
Such is Jermaine’s innate genius. He can sell a song. He displayed this talent at age 15 with his standout cover of Simon and Garfinkel’s iconic Bridge Over Troubled Waters, a track from the Jackson 5’s 1970 Third Album. In this song, Jermaine skillfully presents himself as the one friend who will always have your back in times of despair. Now, how many 15-year-olds would you entrust your troubles to? Jermaine’s vocal stylings lead you to believe that he is indeed that person. However, Jermaine’s rendition of Shep and the Limelight’s Daddy’s Home, a song about a man happily reunited with his wife and children after a long absence, is where he really shines. Audiences were so captivated, that Jermaine’s cover, with his brothers’ back-up vocals, reached number 9 on the Billboard and number 3 on the Soul Singles chart. At age 17, Jermaine’s career as a solo artist was off to a propitious start.
As my experience with “My Touch of Madness” shows, Jermaine’s ability to connect with his audience is remarkable. He wears his heart on his sleeve and transfers the lovely qualities of his soft speaking voice directly to the performance. The listener of a Jermaine song gets the uncanny impression that he is singing directly to them. One can see this talent on full display in his last studio album, I Wish You L.O.V.E., with “My Funny Valentine,” hands down one of my favorite covers of this song (and there have been MANY covers). And like a fine Kashmiri carpet, Jermaine only gets better with age. After his live performance of “Smile,” a song he performed in honor of his brother Michael in 2014, the audience rose to their feet, several applauding through their tears. And one of my favorites is his “I’ll Be There” solo in 2012, another tribute to Michael. At age 57, his amazing falsetto and vibrato are in full force. His love for his brother so palpable that Jermaine reached his hand out from YouTube, clasped my heart, and pulled it out of my chest.
As a former vocal student, I am a huge fan of vocal artists. I admire technical proficiency, but I love to lose myself in a vocal, as I do when I listen to Jermaine. In all honesty, there is only one other vocal artist that has such an emotional impact on me: the legendary Patti LaBelle, who deserves her own essay. But there are two more facets to my love of Jermaine, and his songwriting ability is one of them. Check out my deep read of his poignant lyrics, “You Are My Brother’s Keeper.” Until then.