As well as a special feature he's put together spotlighting the early years of the career of Jackie DeShannon.
Take it away, Ken!
Hello, Kent ...
I wanted to let you know that I have started a project trying to create an encyclopedia of Illinois music and musicians. I've called it the Illinois Rock & Roll Music Archives.
I have a Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/870729336712789/ - telling stories of some of the artists that have emerged from Illinois.
Here's one story that I thought you might have an interest in posting - Jackie DeShannon.
Ken Voss
Jackie DeShannon – The Early Years
How many of you remember Jackie DeShannon singing the Top 10 hits “What The World Needs Now Is Love” and “Put A Little Love In Your Heart?” Did you know she was from Batavia, Illinois!
Born Sharon Lee Myers (8/21/41), her family originally lived on a farm in Kentucky. By age six, she was already singing country tunes on a local radio station there. As her mother was originally from Aurora, the family relocated to the western suburbs, moving to Batavia in 1953.
Just in eighth grade, Myers hosted her own Saturday morning radio show “Breakfast Melodies” on WMRO in Aurora. On Saturday nights she performed as a vocalist with Don Lee and his Fox Valley Boys square dance band. And made numerous guest appearances on local TV shows including Pee Wee King’s popular “Country and Western Television Show” on Chicago’s CBS-affiliate channel 2. She attended Batavia High School for two years from 1955 - 1957, but dropped out to pursue a musical career.
As a 16-year-old, Myers first commercial recording was on the Hammond, Indiana-based Mar-Vel label where she was billed as Sherry Lee. Owned by long-time record entrepreneur Harry Glenn, while the label served as an outlet for Myers, it was not a label that would launch a career. Glenn had an unorthodox method of promotion, “personally promoting his releases in a carnival-like manner,” it was noted in bopping.com, “loading his car up with records and traveling from town to town with his set of loudspeakers trying to persuade all those who would listen that his recordings were a must.”
For this first single, Glenn partnered Myers with country singer Shorty Ashford on “I’m Crazy Darling” with the B-side “Baby Honey” (Mar-Vel 903) being her first solo credited side as Sherry Lee, the label noting her as “Miss Country Music.” Take a listen to her first record “Baby Honey” - https://youtu.be/NEiaVdjMl9U
In her early years, the small independent record labels didn’t seem to like her real name with various releases as Sherry Lee, Jackie Dee and Sharon Lee before finally settling on the stage name she is best known as – Jackie DeShannon.
Her next single “How Wrong I Was” came out on the Gone label, this time as Jackie Dee.
By now, there was enough interest in Jackie that Liberty Records sent her to Nashville to record, where she stepped into more of a rockabilly style with a tribute to Buddy Holly, titled simply “Buddy.” And while the record proved she was a rocker on par with the likes of Wanda Jackson and Brenda Lee, it was an era where female vocalists were receiving very little airplay from radio programmers.
Yet, the small independent labels still putting out singles by Jackie continued changing her name. Next, she was called Sharon Lee, releasing a single “Kissing Game” b/w “No Deposit No Return” for the Excellent label.
In 1959, the Cincinnati, Ohio-based Fraternity Records called her Jackie Shannon. There, she was teamed with Rusty York and the Cajuns. As both Jackie and Rusty were originally from southern Kentucky, there was a familiar vibe to working together. The single “Just Another Lie” came out in the beginning of 1959 billed as Jackie DeShannon and the Cajuns. However, she only appeared on the A-side, the flip being the instrumental “Cajun Blues” by The Cajuns. That record then was licensed to the Sage label, and then to Dot, who released it in April of that year.
York recalled that time when Jackie was touring with his group. “Man, that girl could sing,” he said in an interview in the book We Wanna Boogie: An Illustrated History of the American Rockabilly Movement. “We’d travel around to these little record hops and dance programs, and she would say she wanted to be a big-name singer,” the book noting she was “still a brunette and decked out in fitted shiny gold slacks, the teenager proved a popular regional attraction.”
One more single came out under the moniker Jackie Shannon with “Lies” b/w “Trouble” on the P.J. label, a small label that only issued two singles, one by Jackie and one by York. That single was then licensed to Dot, and re-issued the following year on the Sand label.
After a show in Chicago, Jackie met rockabilly star Eddie Cochran, who gave her some advice that changed her life. “He was very encouraging,” she recalled in Finding Her Voice: The Saga of Women in Country Music. “He said, “If you really want to get somewhere, you’ve got to come to California.” And that she did. The connection with Cochran also led to an introduction to his girlfriend, songwriter Sharon Sheeley. That resulted in Jackie and Sheeley forming a songwriting team penning songs for the likes of Brenda Lee, Irma Thomas and The Byrds (she would later go on to enjoy a brief songwriting partnership with Jimmy Page as well as writing hits “Come and Stay With Me” for Marianne Faithful and the Kim Carnes’ hit “Betty Davis Eyes” earning her a Grammy in 1982 for Song of the Year).
Connecting with the Edison International label, she finally became Jackie DeShannon. In a 2003 interview, Jackie recalled, “In the beginning when I was making records, radio stations were not playing records by girls. It was suggested I choose a name that could be a boy or a girl. So there you have it.” She became Jackie DeShannon. She recorded two singles for this label.
And finally, Jackie signed a major label deal with Liberty / Imperial, enjoying a long and successful relationship with the label. Her first single “Lonely Girl” hit the U.S. charts. And her big breaks came in 1964, when she opened a U.S. tour for The Beatles and co-starred in the teen movie Surf Party.
From there her releases kept climbing up the charts, her most popular years 1965-69, with records in the Top 100 surveys through 1980.
Jackie DeShannon Early Years
Note: All these sides have been included on the compilation Jackie DeShannon: The Early Singles 1956-1962 (Jasmine JASCD1008)
As Sherry Lee
1957 - I’m Crazy Darling b/w Baby Honey (Marvel 903)
As Jackie Dee
1957 - How Wrong I Was b/w I’ll Be True (Gone 5006)
1958 - Buddy b/w Strolypso Dance (Liberty F-55148)
As Jackie Shannon and the Cajuns
1959 - Just Another Lie b/w Cajun Blues (Fraternity F-836)
1959 - Lies b/w Trouble (P.J. Records 101)
Licensed to Dot (45-1590) in 1959 and then re-issued
on Sand (330) in 1960
on Sand (330) in 1960
As Jackie DeShannon
1960 - I Wanna Go Home b/w So Warm (Edison International F-416)
1960 - Put My Baby Down b/w The Foolish One (Edison International F-418)
(courtesy Illinois Rock & Roll Music Archives - https://www.facebook.com/groups/870729336712789/)
The Illinois Rock & Roll Music Archives is a group dedicated to the music and the musicians from Illinois. The artists, the recordings, the studios, the players, the labels, the managers, the agents and all those involved with making music happen. Includes bios, discographies and stories about the artists and recordings.
www.facebook.com/groups/870729336712789/
You'll find lots of cool, interesting and very rare things here already ... so this is a page you'll likely want to come back to again and again. I suggest you bookmark it NOW for future reference. (kk)
******
The Illinois Rock & Roll Music Archives is a group dedicated to the music and the musicians from Illinois. The artists, the recordings, the studios, the players, the labels, the managers, the agents and all those involved with making music happen. Includes bios, discographies and stories about the artists and recordings.
www.facebook.com/groups/870729336712789/
You'll find lots of cool, interesting and very rare things here already ... so this is a page you'll likely want to come back to again and again. I suggest you bookmark it NOW for future reference. (kk)
Jackie DeShannon first charted here in Chicago in 1960 when "I Wanna Go Home" reached #16 on The Top Tunes Of Greater Chicagoland Chart.
A couple more singles made the same chart as "extras" before she started cranking out the hits we best know her for. ("Lonely Girl," 1960 and "Heaven Is Being With You," 1961.) "Lonely Girl" debuted at #37 in its only week on The WLS Silver Dollar Survey at the close of 1960.
In 1963, she again achieved "extras" status with her version of "Needles And Pins," a song that would loom large for The Searchers as The British Invasion took hold of the American music charts the following year ... and then in 1965 she hit The Top Ten with her recording of the Hal David / Burt Bacharach classic "What The World Needs Now Is Love."
Not shown above are some of her early national hits ... "The Prince" bubbled under at #106 in Music Vendor and #108 in Billboard in April of 1962; "You Won't Forget Me" hit #104 in Cash Box and #141 in Music Vendor later that year. Both of these releases were on the Liberty record label ... as were the next batch of minor chart hits that followed.
Then, in 1963, she finally cracked The Top 100 when "Faded Love" peaked at #97 in Billboard. "Needles And Pins" would become her biggest hit to date when it reached #58 in Cash Box Magazine in May of that year (yet topped out at #84 in Billboard.) "Little Yellow Roses" (#108, 1963); "When You Walk In The Room" (#81, 1964); "Oh Boy" (#112, 1964); "She Don't Understand Him Like I Do" (#142, 1964) and a reissue of "When You Walk In The Room" (#131, 1964) also predated her big break-through hit, "What The World Needs Now Is Love," which came hot on the heels of a switch to Imperial Records.
Call it a "worst kept secret," a "long-standing rumor" or a "Beatles factoid," but it would appear that Jackie hooked up in a major way with John Lennon during her US tour with The Beatles. Incredibly, she still does a guest spot on the Sirius/XM Beatles Channel to this day, phoning in to Chris Carter's "Breakfast With The Beatles" morning show! (kk)
THE JACKIE DeSHANNON HIT LIST is actually a pretty short list when one considers the incredible length of her career, paying her dues until she finally got noticed and earned her spot in The Top Ten. Although only two of her records ever made it into The Top Ten, both were HUGE hits and reflective of the Sounds of the '60's.
1965- What The World Needs Now Is Love (#7)
1968- The Weight (#35 Cash Box / #55 Billboard)
1969- Put A Little Love In Your Heart (#3 Record World / #4 Billboard)
1969 - Love Will Find A Way (#30 Record World / #40 Billboard)
THE JACKIE DeSHANNON HIT LIST is actually a pretty short list when one considers the incredible length of her career, paying her dues until she finally got noticed and earned her spot in The Top Ten. Although only two of her records ever made it into The Top Ten, both were HUGE hits and reflective of the Sounds of the '60's.
1965- What The World Needs Now Is Love (#7)
1968- The Weight (#35 Cash Box / #55 Billboard)
1969- Put A Little Love In Your Heart (#3 Record World / #4 Billboard)
1969 - Love Will Find A Way (#30 Record World / #40 Billboard)
