See Zayn Malik's departure from One Direction positively - Jermaine Jackson

"I think if Zayn wants to go solo, then he should be given the freedom and space to carve out a solo career," he said in an interview with Bernama.

The Jackson Five’s message was understandably a message aimed at comforting the millions of One Direction (1D) fans worldwide - especially young teenage girls -- who were heartbroken when it was announced last week Zayn was leaving 1D.

The brother of the late King of Pop should know better as Michael, who joined the Jackson Five in 1964, left the group in 1971 at the age of 17 to pursue what was to become a highly successful and unprecedented solo career of epic proportions.

Jermaine, who also left Jackson Five to pursue a solo career, was here with three of his brothers from Jackson Five, and performed at the annual Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix Gala 2015 in aid of Bidara Kedah.

As teens, especially young girls, all over the world are still reeling from the news about Zayn, this however is not the end of his career. Perhaps, he is just the Michael Jackson of his time.

Michael left Jackson Five as he felt that being in the group was stopping him from pursuing a solo career although the group was already a world sensation in which he was the lead singer and dancer.

Incidentally, Zayn also has the highest pitch among the 1D boys and is touted to have one of the strongest voices in the music industry.

ID is an English-Irish pop boy band which comprises Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn.

They produced four world record-breaking albums, including Up All Night, Take Me Home, Midnight Treasures and Four, which topped charts in major markets and generated hit singles like What Makes You Beautiful, Live While We’re Young, Story of My Life and Steal My Girl.

As Jermaine pointed out, ‘like all the other break-ups in music history, the fate of the band could go a number of ways, but one leaving the group to move on to bigger solo endeavours, is just another norm thing.

"It's always going to be people saying: 'Oh! should stay ... You shouldn't have gone.

"But if he stays true to what he knows how to do, then he'll be fine," he said.

The same thing happened when the Beatles broke up, with John Lennon and Paul McCartney going separate ways to pursue successful solo careers, although diehard fans still question what might have been had they stayed together.

Likewise, Jermaine's solo career throughout the late 70s and early 80s was successful.