Wassup, Dog!

Biography:

Jackson was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the son of Julia, a homemaker, and Herman Jackson, a plant foreman. He has been married twice. His first marriage, to Elizabeth Jackson, ended in divorce in 1990; they had one child (Taylor) together. Since 1995, he has been married to Erika Riker, with whom he has two children Zoe (age 13) and his son Jordan (age 11). In 2003, Jackson lost 114 pounds (52 kg) following gastric bypass surgery. He stated in a February 2008 television commercial that he has Type 2 diabetes.

Career:

Randy Jackson, a Grammy Award-winning producer, is a 20-year music industry veteran. He started out playing bass at the age of 13, and got his big break when he joined the band Journey. Randy also spent eight years as Vice President of A&R at Columbia Records, followed by four years as Senior V.P. of A&R at MCA Records.










Randy has recorded, toured and performed with the likes of: Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, *NSYNC, Madonna, Elton John and Destiny's Child, among others. He has worked on over 1,000 gold and multi-platinum albums. His contributions have helped to sell over 200 million albums worldwide. With his talent, immense studio knowledge and record company experience, Randy is one of today's most highly regarded music industry experts.


Last fall, Randy launched his own radio countdown show, Randy Jackson's Hit List, for the Westwood One Radio Network.


Randy lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.

Credits:

• America's Best Dance Crew
• Randy Jackson's Hit List
• American Idol

source: American Idol Official Website and Wikipedia.org (Article) , Google Image Search and Wikipedia.org (Pictures).