Background and career
Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive, television presenter and musician, best known as a judge on American Idol from 2002 to 2013. Jackson has a prolific career as a session musician, primarily playing bass guitar for an array of jazz, pop, rock, and R&B performers since the 1980s. He moved on to work in music production and in the A&R department at Columbia Records and MCA Records. Jackson is best known from his appearances as the longest-serving judge on American Idol and executive producer for MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. In May 2020, Jackson was rehired as bassist for Journey following their sudden split with founding member Ross Valory.
Jackson was born June 23, 1956, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Julia, a homemaker, and Herman Jackson, a plant foreman. He graduated from Southern University in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in music.
Throughout his career, Jackson performed on more than 1,000 recordings, and is thus connected to more than 200 million record sales worldwide.
In the early 1980s, he played on three albums for Jean-Luc Ponty and with the rock band Taxxi. From 1986 to 1987, he joined the rock group Journey, initially as a session musician for their 1986 album Raised on Radio, before joining the band for the subsequent tour. He moved to Italy in the late 1980s and played on a record by Italian pop star Zucchero. The record, Zucchero and the Randy Jackson Band, was produced by Corrado Rustici who played guitar with Jackson on many albums in the early 1980s. Zucchero and Jackson presented the album's lead single "Donne" at the 35th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival. In 1985, Keith Richards was asked to provide music for the Whoopi Goldberg comedy vehicle Jumpin' Jack Flash. Richards assembled an all-star band which included Aretha Franklin on piano and lead vocals and Jackson on bass guitar. This song was the fourth track on Aretha's 1986 album titled Aretha. Jackson can be seen in the song's video. In the late 1980s, Jackson was still doing sessions. He was notably on the first solo album by famed session guitarist Steve Lukather. Jackson was a featured bass guitarist on five songs on Maze's 1989 "Silky Soul" album. He also performed on several of Kenny G's albums. Jackson was the bass guitarist on the 1991 self-titled Divinyls album (which features the song "I Touch Myself") as well as featured bassist on several tracks of Tracy Chapman's 1992 release, Matters of the Heart. He performed on the singles "Bang Bang Bang", "Open Arms", and "Dreaming on a World". That same year, Jackson also played bass on Bruce Springsteen's song "Human Touch".
On March 11, 2008, Jackson released an album produced entirely by himself, titled Randy Jackson's Music Club, Vol. 1. The album's release was preceded by the single "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow" sung by Paula Abdul. In 2009, Randy began working with former Idol finalist Kimberley Locke, producing her 4th album. The lead single, "Strobe Light", was released March 16, 2010. Jackson is the manager for the Charlotte-based band Paper Tongues. With the help of Jackson, they signed with a major label, A&M/Octone Records. He has also worked as an executive, spending eight years as vice president of artists and repertoire (A&R) at Columbia Records and four years heading A&R at MCA Records.
Jackson also hosts a radio top 40 countdown known as Randy Jackson's Hit List, which is syndicated by Westwood One. Every week, Jackson counts down his top 30 Urban AC and Mainstream AC hits. He also gives behind-the-scenes information on American Idol on the internet radio station Artist Underground.
