Jackie DeShannon’s Intriguing Resonance
When she walked in the room everybody took notice
JACKIE DeSHANNON entered 1963 as a 21-year-old singer who had released fifteen singles, every one a flop! Hundreds of artists who had been more successful had come and gone during that time, yet her record company at the time, Liberty Records, kept with her. This would seem to be both a sign of her talent and a sign of the intelligence of the decision-makers at Liberty for sticking with her for so long.
Christened Sharon Lee Myers in 1941, she released her first record in 1956 under the pseudonym Sherry Lee. She was 15. She released more records, first as Jackie Dee, then as Jackie Shannon. She finally settled on Jackie DeShannon in 1960, although it had no effect on her records reaching the charts.
Things began to change in early ’63 when her soulful reading of “Needles and Pins” made the national pop charts, peaking at #58 on Cash Box while only reaching #84 on the Billboard. A few months later, it went all the way to #1 on Canada’s most important survey, the weekly chart from CHUM-1050 AM out of Toronto.
Jackie DeShannon was starting to look a little like a successful recording artist.
Before we go any further, this article was originally published as “When Jackie DeShannon Walks in the…
