after disappearing for almost 50 years, miss jackie shane reemerged late 2017 with “any other way”, a comprehensive double-album of her music catalog. and because the universe looks out for our trailblazing queens, miss jackie’s album is now a 2019 grammy nominated album in the best historical recording category.
jackie shane was born in may 15, 1940 in nashville, tennessee. even from a the tender age of 4, it wasn’t unusual for jackie to dress up in her mother’s dresses, heals and jewelry. in an interview with rob bowman, jackie shared that her mother would come walk into her bedroom and find little jackie sitting at her mother’s vanity table wearing lipstick and rouge. “my mother would crack up”
by age 13, jackie told her mother that she is identified as a woman. her mother replied by telling her, “you have nothing to cry about or be shamed of or anything. you’re magnificent.”
after a stint of performing in a band as part of traveling carnival and after surviving being kidnapped by mobsters, jackie released her first single in 1962. she would go on to perform along side etta james, jam out with jimi hendrix and even fix up little richard’s wigs. this 1964 video of jackie performing “walking the dog” on the “night train”, a regional show in nashville, is the is the only existing video of miss shane performing.
jackie’s most notable hit was “any other way.” released in 1962, the song would become a massive regional hit in toronto, reaching the #2 spot. the song’s staying power proved to be strong when it saw a resurgence three years later. “any other way” would garner even more mainstream exposure years after the song had fallen off the charts.
after over a decade of performing across the country and throughout canada, and receiving an offer to join george clinton’s band funkadelic, miss jackie shane walked away from the biz in december of 1971. in the bowman interview, jackie says, “i’m not one of those people [where] this month I’m leavin’ show business and two months later, i’m back.”
in 2016, a 22-story mural was commissioned to by heritage toronto. the mural commentates the history of r&b icons and features muddy waters, bb king and others. jackie shane is in the center of the beautiful mural.
in 2017, after 46 years in seclusion, miss jackie shane reemerged with the release of “any other way”, a comprehensive double album featuring all of her music. the album marks the first official jackie shane release since 1969. the album is now up for a grammy!
jackie shane now resides in the south and enjoys the (re)discovery of her music. in a recent interview, she said, “i thought i would be forgotten. but i haven’t been. it goes to show i didn’t do it vain….that’s a beautiful thing.”
miss jackie shane is black history! miss jackie is queer history!
