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Jackie DeShannon Filmography
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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 is one of the first female singer songwriters of the rock 'n' roll period.
Sharon Myers adopted the name Jackie DeShannon, believed to be an Irish ancestor. Record company executives at Liberty Records thought the name Sharon Myers wouldn't sell records.
Jackie DeShannon was born in Hazel, Kentucky. The daughter of showbusiness 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. 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" and "He's the Great Imposter" for Brenda Lee and The Fleetwoods respectively. DeShannon was then commissioned to write the soundtrack for the 1961 film
Splendor in the Grass.
In 1962, DeShannon signed with Liberty Records and recorded "Needles and Pins" and "When You Walk in the Room", with both resulting in major American hits. English group The Searchers later covered both songs in 1963 for success on the UK charts. She 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 singing, which 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' Doubt Yourself Babe" for The Byrds debut album. 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 hit singles "Dream Boy" and "Don't Turn Your Back on Me". Both 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!. When
Jimmy Page recorded his first solo single for Fontana Records, DeShannon sang vocals on "Keep Moving", the B-side of "She Just Satisfies".
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 Bramblett. In late 1965, DeShannon recorded Bacharach and David's "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and it provided her first Number 1 hit and regular appearances on television shows and club tours. 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 wasn't until 1968 when 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" off 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 successes of previous releases. In 1973 she was invited by Van Morrison to sing on his
Hard Nose the Highway album.
While DeShannon hasn't 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 1975 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 worldwide Number 1 single for singer
Kim Carnes in 1981. "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. A version of "When You Walk in the Room" by Pam Tillis in 1994 topped the country charts.
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LiteraturePJ Proby: Three Week Hero
I've especially enjoyed sharing some of my enthusiasms for obscure musical acts here on Boing Boing as the guest blogger. This post is about PJ Proby, crazed crooner and rock and roll hellion. I am a massive, massive fan of this guy's music. I've been fascinated by him for years and would LOVE to make a documentary about him. No one plays the sad, apologetic lonely guy better than PJ Proby. His voice can make a grown man cry, but you'd almost have to be half-mad to sell a song like he can. And half-mad PJ Proby probably is... Once famously blacklisted in the UK for repeated splitting his blue velvet trousers onstage, it's tempting to call PJ Proby the "Zelig of rock and roll." Despite the fact that today almost no one remembers who the guy is/was, he was a peer and fellow performer of The Beatles, Tom Jones, Cilla Black, The Rolling Stones, Jackie DeShannon, Marc Almond, St. Etienne and many others. His sister dated Elvis Presley and Proby himself sang the "vocal guides" imitating Elvis that the King would then re-record during his Hollywood movie phase. His first British TV appearance was as a special guest on "Around the Beatles." His 1968 album "Three Week Hero" featured none other than a young Led Zeppelin (or the "New Yardbirds" as they were then known) warming up as his backing band and he appeared as "The Godfather" touring with The Who during their 1997 "Quadrophenia" production. Van Morrison even wrote a song called "Whatever Happened to PJ Proby?" I could go on and on, he's led a very colorful, albeit very self-destructive life, but I'll leave the bio for the links and concentrate on all the great PJ Proby performances you can find on YouTube after the jump (and trust me, this isn't the best stuff that's out there). "You Can't Come Home Again (If You Leave Me Now) | "Around The Beatles" (1964) | "Hold Me" (first UK hit single) | "That Means A Lot" (Lennon-McCartney composition) | "Somewhere" | ""What's Wrong With My World?" | PJ Proby/Marc Almond duet "Yesterday Has Gone" (1996) | Interesting Marc Almond interview on the difficulties of working with PJ Proby | "Niki Hoeky" (audio only) (Can someone out there please post a video of this?) | Official PJ Proby site | Get Hip to His Conflagration | The Fall and Rise of PJ Proby | How P.J. Proby's life is falling apart at the seams (Recent article about the 69-year-old singer's legal troubles) | St. Etienne's Bob Stanley on the Pop Mavericks...
Published: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:50:11 GMT - Source: Boingboing.Net - Read the article
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