Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American recording artist and actress. Born in Gary, Indiana, and raised in Encino, Los Angeles, she is the youngest child of the Jackson family of musicians. She first performed on stage with her family at the age of seven, and started her career as an actress with the variety television series The Jacksons in 1976. She went on to appear in other television shows throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, including Good Times and Fame.
The youngest of the Jackson family, she initially stepped into the limelight in the family"s 1974 Las Vegas production, 1976 television show, and later on her own as a television actress. At age sixteen in 1982, she signed a recording contract with AandM, releasing her self-titled debut album Janet Jackson that same year, followed by Dream Street (1984).
In 1991, she signed the first of two record-breaking, multi-million dollar contracts with Virgin Records, establishing her as one of the highest paid artists in the industry. Her debut album under the Virgin label, Janet (1993), saw Jackson develop a public image as a sex symbol as she began to explore sexuality in her work. That same year, she appeared in her first starring film role in Poetic Justice. By the end of the 1990s, she was named the second most successful recording artist of the decade. All for You (2001), became her fifth consecutive studio album to hit number one on the Billboard 200 album charts. In 2007, she changed labels, signing with Island Records and released her tenth studio album Discipline the following year. Why Did I Get Married (2007) marked a concentrated effort for her to return to acting, followed by its sequel and For Colored Girls in 2010.
In 2004, Jackson ranked as the ninth most successful artist in the history of rock and roll according to Billboard. Jackson also holds the record for the most Billboard Music Awards won by a single artist, a record 33. In 2006, it was announced that Jackson was the "Most Searched on the Internet" and the "Most Searched-for News Item" in the Guinness Book of World Records. In 2007, she was ranked the seventh richest woman in the entertainment business by Forbes Magazine, amassing a fortune of over $150 million.
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