‘I will miss my dear friend Tito Jackson, says Wolverhampton businessman as tributes pour in for soul singer
“He was a great guy and a dear friend” says hotel owner – in tribute to soul star and Wolves super-fan .
The Jackson 5 star and older brother of pop-music icon Michael Jackson died aged 70 from a suspected heart attack while touring.
Wolverhampton entrepreneur Roy Bernard, a Jackson family friend, was among the first to be told of the singer’s sudden death just three weeks after they last met up at a show in Henley-on-Thames.
Roy, of Tettenhall’s The Mount hotel and restaurant in Mount Road, said: “I got a phone call from his brother Marlon at about 8am this morning. He told me that Tito had passed away
“I expect all of them will be phoning me during the course of the day.
“They are a really genuine family. All the brothers have been to Wolverhampton to visit us. They’ve been to stay at my homes in France and in Lower Penn.
“Tito is a dear friend of mine and has been for about ten years. I actually saw him three weeks ago at a concert and we spoke. He looked fine and believe it or not he’d got his Wolverhampton shirt on.”
“Among all the brothers he was the one who had no health problems. There’s been all sorts said on the internet, but my understanding is that he was in Germany at the time, where they had been performing last week. He had a big heart attack.”
A lifelong Jackson 5 fan, the 67-year-old first met Tito after purchasing a Michael Jackson photograph at a fans’ memorabilia auction in Manchester following his death in 2009.
“The following week I had a phone call from one of the brothers saying Tito wanted to speak to me. At first I thought it was a prank. I could hardly believe it.
“I explained that I was a big Jacksons fan and had been since my school days and have been going to the concerts for years. We became good friends from then.
