A handful of families have produced multiple music stars, building a legacy of intergenerational talent that reaches farther than most solo artists can hope — but along the way, many of these families have faced controversy, tragedy and chaos.
The Jackson family, for example, dubbed the “Royal Family of Pop,” yielded over a dozen successful musicians, most notably Janet and Michael Jackson. However, the family was fractured when Michael — who died of an overdose in 2009 at 50 years old — was accused of sexual abuse.
In the years since his death, the Jackson family has been embroiled in a feud, with additional abuse allegations, estate arguments and multiple lawsuits tearing them apart.
The Jackson family crossed over with another major musical family in 1994 when Michael married Lisa Marie Presley, the only daughter of Elvis Presley. Their marriage only lasted two years, but Michael played a huge part in the lives of Lisa Marie and her eldest children, Riley and Benjamin Keough, for the better part of a decade.
Lisa Marie went on to welcome twin daughters Harper and Finley with husband Michael Lockwood in 2008 before her own death in 2023, the most recent of a series of several tragic losses in the Presley family.
Below, Us Weekly breaks down some of the most complicated musical families in pop culture history and the controversies that surround them:
