Jackie DeShannon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jackie DeShannon, real name Sharon Lee Myers (born August 21, 1944), is an American singer/songwriter with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock 'n' roll period.
Sharon Myers adopted the name Jackie DeShannon, believed to be the name of an Irish ancestor. Executives at Liberty Records thought the name Sharon Myers would not help sell records. (She once reported that record executives added "Shannon" to "Jackie Dee," one of the names under which she recorded, to create her name.)
Contents |
[edit] Life and early career
Jackie DeShannon was born Sharon Lee Myers in Hazel, Kentucky. The daughter of musically inclined farm parents, Sandra Jean and James Erwin Myers, DeShannon was introduced to singing country tunes on a local radio show at the age of six. By the age of eleven, DeShannon was already hosting her own radio program. When life on the farm became too difficult, the family moved to Aurora, Illinois, her mother's home town, and her father resumed his other career as a barber. After a year, they moved up the Fox River to Batavia, Illinois, where Sharon attended high school.
Recording under various names such as Sherry Lee, Jackie Dee, and Jackie Shannon, she had little success. However, her interpretations of country songs "Buddy" and "Trouble" gained the attention of Eddie Cochran who arranged for her to travel to California and meet singer-songwriter Sharon Sheeley, who formed a writing partnership with DeShannon in 1960. The partnership produced hits such as "Dum Dum" for Brenda Lee and "I Love Anastasia" for The Fleetwoods. The latter was named after one of her good friends in high school.
In 1960, DeShannon signed with Liberty Records. A string of mostly flop singles followed, although "The Prince" bubbled under at #108 in the US in early 1962, and "Faded Love" (#97 in February 1963) became her first US Hot 100 hit, albeit just barely .[1]
She broke through a little more solidly with "Needles and Pins" and "When You Walk in the Room" later in 1963. Both only reached the lower rungs of the U.S. pop charts, but were substantial top 40 hits in Canada where "Needles and Pins" made it all the way to #1. "Needles and Pins" and "When You Walk in the Room" later became U.S. and U.K. hits for The Searchers.
DeShannon recorded many other singles that encompassed teen pop, country ballads, rockabilly, gospel, and Ray Charles-style soul that didn't fare as well on the charts. During these years it was her songwriting and public profile rather than her recording career that kept her contracted to Liberty Records. DeShannon dated Elvis Presley and formed friendships with The Everly Brothers and Ricky Nelson. She also co-starred and sang with Bobby Vinton in the teen surf movie Surf Party.
DeShannon's biggest break came in February 1964 when she supported The Beatles on their first US tour, and formed a touring band with guitarist Ry Cooder. DeShannon also wrote "Don't Doubt Yourself Babe" for the debut album by The Byrds. Her music at this stage was heavily influenced by the American West Coast sounds and folk music. Staying briefly in England in 1965, DeShannon formed a songwriting partnership with Jimmy Page, which resulted in the hit singles "Dream Boy" and "Don't Turn Your Back On Me". Page and DeShannon also wrote material for singer Marianne Faithfull, including her Top Ten UK and US hit "Come and Stay With Me". DeShannon also appeared on the television show Ready Steady Go!
[edit] Hit love songs
Moving to New York, DeShannon co-wrote with Randy Newman, producing such songs as "She Don't Understand Him" and "Did He Call Today Mama?", as well as writing "You Have No Choice" for Delaney Bramlett. In March 1965, DeShannon recorded Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "What the World Needs Now Is Love," which provided her first Number 1 hit and regular appearances on television shows and club tours. (DeShannon's recording of the song was subsequently used in the 1969 film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.) She appeared in the 1967 film C'mon Let's Live a Little, with Bobby Vee, as a folk singer. DeShannon continued writing and recording but it was not until 1969 that she scored her next biggest smash single and album, both entitled "Put a Little Love in Your Heart". The single "Love Will Find A Way" from the same album was also a moderate hit. Switching to Atlantic Records in 1970 and moving to Los Angeles, DeShannon recorded the critically acclaimed albums Jackie and Your Baby Is A Lady, but they failed to produce the same commercial success as previous releases. In 1973, she was invited by Van Morrison to sing on his Hard Nose the Highway album.
"Put A Little Love In Your Heart" was performed as the closing number at the Music for UNICEF Concert, broadcast worldwide from the United Nations General Assembly in 1979.
[edit] Later career
While DeShannon has not produced any further Top Ten singles of her own, her songs have been covered by other artists who have in turn converted them into hits. In 1974, with Donna Weiss, she composed "Queen Of The Rodeo" and "Bette Davis Eyes" for her album New Arrangement. The song "Bette Davis Eyes" later became a world-wide Number 1 single for singer Kim Carnes in 1981. It earned DeShannon the 1982 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
The songs "Breakaway", recorded by Tracey Ullman in 1983, and "Put A Little Love In Your Heart", recorded by Annie Lennox and Al Green in 1988, also became huge hits, the latter of which Dolly Parton also covered in 1993. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Stevie Nicks had a Top 40 US hit in 1986 with a cover of "Needles And Pins", which was a song DeShannon orignally recorded, although not one she wrote. A version of "When You Walk In The Room" by Pam Tillis in 1994 topped the country charts. Another recent cover of "When You Walk In The Room" was by ex-ABBA vocalist Agnetha Fältskog, both in her comeback album My Colouring Book and as a UK and European hit single.
Jackie was portrayed by singer Liz Phair in an episode of the NBC period drama American Dreams.
[edit] Personal life
DeShannon is married to singer/songwriter and film music composer Randy Edelman, who is her third husband. Her first husband was Liberty Records executive Irving "Bud" Dain, to whom she was married on January 29, 1966.
[edit] Discography (albums)
- Jackie DeShannon (1963)
- Breakin' It Up on the Beatles Tour (1964)
- Don't Turn Your Back on Me (1964)
- Surf Party (1964) (soundtrack)
- This Is Jackie DeShannon (1965)
- In the Wind (1965)
- You Won't Forget Me (1965) (compilation)
- C'Mon Let's Live a Little (1966) (soundtrack)
- Are You Ready for This? (1967)
- New Image (1967)
- For You (1967)
- Me About You (1968)
- What the World Needs Now Is Love (1968)
- Lonely Girl (1968) (compilation)
- Laurel Canyon (1969)
- Put a Little Love in Your Heart (1969)
- To Be Free (1970)
- Songs (1971)
- Jackie (1972)
- Your Baby Is a Lady (1974)
- New Arrangement (1975)
- The Very Best of Jackie DeShannon (1975) (compilation)
- You're the Only Dancer (1977)
- Quick Touches (1978)
- Together (1980) (soundtrack)
- Pop Princess (1981) (compilation)
- Jackie DeShannon (1985) (compilation)
- What the World Needs Now Is ...: The Definitive Collection (1987) (compilation)
- Good as Gold! (1990) (compilation)
- The Best of Jackie DeShannon (1991) (compilation)
- Trouble With Jackie Dee (1991)
- The Early Years (1998) (compilation)
- Come and Get Me: Best of 1958-1980 (2000) (compilation)
- You Know Me (2000)
- High Coinage: The Songwriters Collection 1960-1984 (2007) (compilation)
[edit] Film appearances
- Surf Party (1963)
- Intimacy (1966)
- C'mon Let's Live a Little (1967)
[edit] TV appearances
- Hollywood A Go Go (1965)
- Hullabaloo (1965)
- Playboy After Dark (1969)
- The Wild Wild West (1969) (The Night of the Janus)
- The Catcher (1972)
[edit] Singles as a recording artist
| Release date | Title | Chart Positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Pop (Billboard) | US R&B | US A/C | Canada (Pre-1965: CHUM Chart; 1965 on: RPM Top 40) |
||
| June 1956 | "Baby Honey" (as Sherry Lee) (Chuck Adams) |
||||
| July 1957 | "I'll Be True" (as Jackie Dee) (William McLemone) |
||||
| June 1958 | "Buddy" (as Jackie Dee) (Dee) [i.e. DeShannon] |
||||
| December 1958 | "Just Another Lie" (as Jackie Shannon) (E.R. Suarez) |
||||
| April 1959 | "Lies" (as Jackie Shannon) (George E. Springer/Harry Barris) |
||||
| January 1960 | "So Warm" (DeShannon) |
||||
| July 1960 | "Put My Baby Down" (DeShannon) |
||||
| October 1960 | "Teach Me" (D. Abrams/Bobby Helms) |
||||
| May 1961 | "Think About You" (DeShannon) |
||||
| July 1961 | "Wish I Could Find A Boy (Just Like You)" (DeShannon) |
||||
| October 1961 | "Baby (When Ya Kiss Me)" (DeShannon/Sharon Sheeley) |
||||
| February 1962 | "The Prince" (DeShannon/Sheeley) |
#108 | |||
| July 1962 | "Just Like In The Movies" (DeShannon/Sheeley) |
||||
| August 1962 | "You Won't Forget Me" (DeShannon/Sheeley) |
||||
| December 1962 | "Faded Love" (Bob Wills/Billy Jack Wills) |
#97 | |||
| April 1963 | "Needles and Pins" (Sonny Bono/Jack Nitzsche) |
#84 | #1 | ||
| July 1963 | "Little Yellow Roses" (Trevor Peacock) |
#110 | #32 | ||
| November 1963 | "Till You Say You'll Be Mine" (DeShannon) |
||||
| March 1964 | "Oh Boy" (Sonny West/Bill Tilghman/Norman Petty) |
#112 | |||
| May 1964 | "Hold Your Head High" (DeShannon/Randy Newman) |
||||
| August 1964 | "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" (Trad.) |
||||
| September 1964 | "When You Walk in the Room" (DeShannon) |
#99 | #26 | ||
| November 1964 | "Don't Turn Your Back On Me" (DeShannon) |
||||
| April 1965 | "What the World Needs Now Is Love" (Burt Bacharach/Hal David) |
#7 | #40 | #1 | |
| October 1965 | "A Lifetime of Loneliness" (Bacharach/David) |
#66 | |||
| May 1966 | "Come and Get Me" (Bacharach/David) |
#83 | |||
| July 1966 | "Windows and Doors" (Bacharach/David) |
#108 | |||
| September 1966 | "I Can Make It With You" (Chip Taylor) |
#68 | |||
| January 1967 | "Come On Down (From The Top Of That Hill)" (John Bromley/Cleminson/Cooper) |
#121 | |||
| March 1967 | "The Wishing Doll" (Elmer Bernstein/Mack David) |
||||
| May 1967 | "I Haven't Got Anything Better To Do" (Lee Pockriss/Paul Vance) |
||||
| September 1967 | "It's All In The Game" (Charles Dawes/Carl Sigman) |
#110 | |||
| February 1968 | "Me About You" (DeShannon/Nitzsche) |
#119 | |||
| May 1968 | "Nobody's Home To Go Home To" (Carole Bayer Sager/Toni Wine) |
||||
| July 1968 | "Didn't Want To Have To Do It" (John Sebastian) |
||||
| August 1968 | "The Weight" (Robbie Robertson) |
#55 | #35 | ||
| December 1968 | "Laurel Canyon" (DeShannon) |
||||
| March 1969 | "Trust In Me" (Bobby Womack) |
||||
| June 1969 | "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" (DeShannon/Jimmy Holiday/Randy Myers) |
#4 | #2 | #12 | |
| October 1969 | "Love Will Find A Way" (DeShannon/Holiday) |
#40 | #11 | #17 | |
| December 1969 | "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?" (John Barry/Hal David) |
||||
| March 1970 | "Brighton Hill" (DeShannon/Holiday) |
#82 | #9 | ||
| May 1970 | "You Keep Me Hangin' On/Hurt So Bad" (medley) (Brian Holland/Lamont Dozier/Eddie Holland + Teddy Randazzo/Bobby Hart) |
#96 | |||
| August 1970 | "It's So Nice" (Irvin Hunt/Sam Russell) |
#84 | |||
| June 1971 | "Keep Me Warm" (Johnny Christopher) |
||||
| September 1971 | "Stone Cold Soul" (Mark James/George Klein) |
||||
| May 1972 | "Vanilla Olay" (A-Side) (DeShannon) |
#76 | #21 | ||
| "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" (B-Side) (Neil Young) |
#38 | ||||
| October 1972 | "Paradise" (John Prine) |
#110 | #33 | ||
| November 1972 | "Chains On My Soul (I Won't Try To Put Chains On Your Soul)" (Mary Unobsky/Donna Weiss) |
||||
| June 1973 | "Sweet Sixteen" (Van Morrison) |
||||
| November 1973 | "Your Baby Is A Lady" (DeShannon/Weiss) |
||||
| June 1974 | "Jimmie, Just Sing Me One More Song" (Wendy Gail/Vicki Gellman) |
||||
| September 1975 | "Let The Sailors Dance" (DeShannon/Randy Edelman) |
||||
| May 1976 | "All Night Desire" (DeShannon/John Bettis) |
||||
| October 1977 | "Don't Let the Flame Burn Out" (DeShannon) |
#68 | #20 | ||
| February 1978 | "To Love Somebody" (Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb) |
#44 | |||
| May 1978 | "You're The Only Dancer" (DeShannon) |
||||
| August 1978 | "Things We Said Today" (John Lennon/Paul McCartney) |
#35 | |||
| March 1980 | "I Don't Need You Anymore" (from the movie Together?) (Paul Anka/Burt Bacharach) |
#86 | |||
Note: North American releases only. DeShannon never charted in the UK, nor on the US Country charts.
[edit] References
- ^ Nite, Norm N. Rock On: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock n' Roll (The Solid Gold Years). Thomas Y. Crowell (1974), p. 180. ISBN 0-690-00583-0.
[edit] External links
