Jackson’s family disapproved of DeBarge, and the marriage was brief, as she applied for an annulment in January 1985, which was granted the following November.

With the guidance of her brother Michael, with whom she is closer than are most of her siblings, Janet Jackson released her debut album Janet Jackson, in 1982. The album reached No. 84 on the pop charts and had three hit singles, including “Young Love” and “Give Your Love to Me.” The self-titled album sold about 250,000 copies, as did her follow-up, Dream Street, which featured contributions from her brothers Michael, Tito, Jackie, and Marlon. Jackson scored her first major success in 1986 with Control, released on the A&M label. Control, produced with the writing-producing team of Jimmy Jam (James Harris III) and Terry Lewis, sold eight million copies worldwide and featured two No. 1 singles, “What Have You Done For Me Lately” and the title track. Nominated for three Grammy Awards and nine American Music Awards, it won two of the latter. Jackson’s new, sexier style, stage presence, and dancing ability were all showcased in her videos, and combined to make her a star. Her next album, Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814, was a more socially conscious album, also produced by Jam and Lewis, who wrote nearly half the songs. The album spawned a number of hit singles, including “Black Cat” (written by Jackson herself), “Miss You Much,” and “Escapade,” and again sold around eight million copies. Rhythm Nation, which won three American Music Awards, made Jackson the first artist to have seven Top 5 hits from a single album. Jackson embarked on her first tour, in support of the album, in the spring of 1990. Jackson’s contract with Virgin Records, signed in March 1991, was at the time the largest recording contract in history, at $32 million. (Michael Jackson reportedly held off signing his so-called “billion-dollar” contract until after Janet signed so as not to steal her publicity.)

In the summer of 1993, Jackson unveiled her fifth album, titled Janet as well as her first starring film role, in the drama Poetic Justice, directed by John Singleton, who had received two Oscar nominations for writing and directing his debut feature, Boyz N the Hood. The film received disappointing reviews, but Jackson received an Oscar nomination for “Again,” which she performed on the soundtrack. Janet (another Jam and Lewis collaboration), sold more than six million copies, and featured “Any Time, Any Place,” which became Jackson’s 14th gold single, tying her with Aretha Franklin as the female solo singers with the most gold singles.