Jackie Shane was an African American soul and rhythm-and-blues singer who gained fame in the 1960s for her powerful, soulful vocals, high-femme style and captivating stage presence. Shane was a pioneering transgender artist who challenged gender norms and pushed boundaries in the music industry. She was particularly influential in the Toronto Sound of Canada in the 1960s and 70s. She scored several chart-toppers with hits such as “Any Other Way” in 1962 and again in 1967. Jackie Shane seemed to abruptly disappear from the scene by 1971. After a swirl of rumors speculating her demise, she was rediscovered late in life.
Born May 15, 1940, in Nashville, Tennessee, Jackie grew up in a musical family and started singing in her Baptist church at a young age. Her heroines were Maria Callas and Marlene Dietrich. She later clarified that from the age of twelve, she viewed herself as a woman despite being assigned male at birth. At a time when homosexuality was a punishable offense she presented femme.
At the age of 77 In an interview with music journalist Elio Iannacci for The Globe and Mail, she refers to her feminine identity as her “natural state”, going on to say, “I remember walking down my neighborhood streets with my hat, my dress, my pocketbook and my gloves when I was 5. I couldn’t have cared less about anybody. I was doing my thing! Still am!”
She began her music career as “Little Jackie Shane” in the 1950s as a drummer and singer. As a young person, she performed wearing long hair, jewelry and make-up around the local clubs and bars of her hometown. According to Any Other Way: The Life & Times of Jackie Shane | Have You Seen Her – A Grrrl’s Two Cents podcast and video, “when she was 13, she came out as transgender to her mother who immediately got on board and even allowed Jackie to borrow her dresses, make-up and jewelry whenever she went to school.” Her mother Jessie Shane (who changed back to her maiden name after she broke up with Jackie’s father) was instrumental in helping support her young trans daughter. She encouraged her creative pursuits.
In the 1950s there was a group of venues that catered to segregated Black audiences known as ‘The Chitlin’ Circuit’ that ran through the Eastern, Midwestern and Southern states.
“As Preston Lauterback recounts in his 2011 book The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock ‘n’ Roll, which draws heavily on mid-20th century accounts from regional African American newspapers, it was common, almost more so than not, for a night’s revue to include a troupe of what would usually be billed as “female impersonators” before or after a comedian, a magician, a shake dancer and then finally, at the top of the bill, perhaps Fats Domino or Roy Brown.” - Alison Fensterstock, NPR
Jackie hit the road on the Chitlin’ Circuit, performing with various artists such as Little Richard, Jackie Wilson and many more.
After baring witness to a racist hate crime, Shane, fed up with life in the Jim Crow South had to get out. Jackie literally ran away with the circus by hitching a ride with a traveling carnival. Through the carnival she made her way to Cornwall, Ontario in 1959. Upon arrival in Canada, Shane said it was there where she finally felt free.
After a brief stint in Montreal, Jackie quickly joined Frank Motley and his Motley Crew, relocating with them to Toronto in 1961. In addition to singing with Motley, she performed solo, and far more feminine presenting shows in Toronto’s vibrant music scene. Jackie quickly gained a devoted following for her powerful solo shows. She became a regular at the popular Club Bluenote and many more. Jackie Shane was a dynamo to see live, and her charisma brought an audience of Black, white, queer, straight and more together. Jackie pushed the envelope, speaking her mind as unfiltered as ever.
Shane frequently sang in front of posters promoting civil rights events. In the environment of her solo shows, she didn’t have to hold back and could don a full frock and address social justice issues on stage. She had many devoted male lovers who she referred to as “her chickens”. Crowds were enraptured, and she was swept up in the queer scene of 1960s Toronto.
“One cannot choose where one is born, but you can choose your home. I chose Toronto,” she told to a CBC interviewer many decades later.
Jackie Shane's music was known for its soulful sound and socially conscious lyrics. In 1962, she released her first single, "Sticks and Stones," which became a hit in Canada. She went on to release several hit singles such as "Any Other Way," "In My Tenement," and "Stand Up Straight and Tall." "Any Other Way," became a Top Twenty hit in both Canada and the US (reaching the Top 10 in Canada). She performed alongside many famous musicians, including Etta James, Jackie Wilson, and James Brown.
Jackie thrived in Toronto’s vibrant queer community, and was a popular, beloved figure on the city’s music scene. She became a trailblazer for LGBTQIA+ and Black artists at a time when both communities faced significant barriers in the music industry. Early on, there was already common speculation on Shane’s gender. At a time when there was little representation of Black femme people to draw from, Jackie was frequently compared to Little Richard.
Shane – still presenting as a feminine man onstage – traveled all over the US and Canada with the band, performing on TV shows, going on live tours and recording in studios. Jackie stayed in Los Angeles for a short time where she worked as a recording session drummer. She refused to play the hit US teen music show of the day, American Bandstand due to its segregationist policy. She famously turned down a performance on the US’ most influential TV program, The Ed Sullivan Show, when she refused to perform without make-up. From The Globe and Mail interview:
“Nobody was going to buy me or change me for a dollar,” she says of the offers and trappings sent to her. “But [Little Richard] would sit there on stage and say things like, ‘Some people think I’m gay but I’m not.’ I would always be thinking, ‘If you’re not, Lord help us, there’s no such thing as gay.”
As time went on Jackie leaned in to her feminine identity, and fully presented as such. Jackie frequently faced discrimination and prejudice as a Black transgender woman. She often performed in segregated clubs and faced backlash from some audiences and media outlets. She frequently encountered harassment and violence from the police and the public, but she refused to be silenced or marginalized. She continued to perform and inspire audiences with her music and her message of love and acceptance throughout the 1960s, into the beginning of the 1970s.
Director of the University of Toronto’s Women and Gender Studies Institute, Rinaldo Walcott says, “Recovering her offers us a way of looking at trans history as longer and deeper than what has been presented...Jackie Shane disrupts the narrative of the masculinity that was happening before her in sixties rock ‘n’ roll and R&B.” Walcott goes on to say, “If you listen to the live extended recording (which you can listen to on our Gemini playlist) that was made of ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’, you can hear that Jackie offered a send-up of capitalism, queerness, gender performance and sexual desire 40 years before we started discussing such things. Her music opens up the archives of trans life in a different way. It gives listeners a second take on what it means to be trans.”
Jackie Shane largely disappeared from the public eye in the 1970s, moving back to Nashville to care for her ailing mother. She had also experienced a lot during her time in the spotlight: everything from mobster encounters to the toxicity of the music industry, as well as racist and transphobic aggression. She settled into a private, quiet life surrounded by her beloved cats in Nashville.
For Numero Group producer, Douglas McGowwan, who was the one to convince Shane to reissue her old work, tracking her down was quite the struggle. McGowan told NPR that anybody who had attempted to call Shane would get hung up on on their first try. If they were to try calling her a second time, she would take out a whistle and blow it into the receiver:
“It’s happened to me when I don’t speak up immediately. Jackie will say hello and if I don’t say, ‘Hi Jackie it’s me Douglas!’ so that she gets that it’s me right away, she’ll hang up. I got the whistle blown at me once.” - Douglas McGowan, NPR
Jackie Shane's music has since gained renewed attention and appreciation when in 2017, the compilation of her music – Any Other Way (Numero Group) was released with her recordings being reissued and curated by Jackie Shane herself. This (as well as vintage videos of her performances on YouTube) spread her work to younger audiences, and her influence on the music world has broadened.
Upon release of her music, a new generation of devoted queer and trans femmes in love with her music blossomed. Jackie was now being rediscovered and held in admiration as the true inspiration that she is. Shane told the CBC:
“I really feel that I have made a place for myself with wonderful people. What I have said, what I have done, they say it makes their lives better.”
Shane inspired generations of musicians such as Sylvester, David Bowie, Janelle Monáe and Grace Jones with her talent and courage. Her legacy as a pioneering artist and advocate for marginalized communities has continued to inspire generations of musicians and activists. Shane's music and legacy have had a lasting impact on the music industry and the LGBT+ community. Any Other Way was nominated for a Grammy for Best Historical Album. Jackie Shane died peacefully in her sleep on February 21, 2019 at the age of 78. In 2019 she was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In her interview with Iannacci, she remained as fiercely political and sharply observant as ever. She referred to then-president Donald Trump as a “demented clown” and candidly said that though she was born and lives in the US, she did not recognize it as her country.
At the time of this writing, Jackie Shane’s home state of Tennessee (as well an alarming number of others) has enacted several pieces of legislation that negatively impact specifically the trans community as well as the greater LGBTQIA+ community including bills that restrict trans individuals’ access to restrooms and changing facilities that align with their gender identity. If enacted, The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) will allow individuals and businesses to use religious freedom as a legal defense for discriminating against LGBTQIA+ individuals. Such legislation undermines existing protections against discrimination and leads to further marginalization of the queer community – such as the state’s attack on drag performers prohibiting them from performing in public.
Jackie fought her entire life for hers and others rights. She never gave up standing up for her rights, and she is an ancestor who urges us to step up to do the same.
Jackie Shane told her interviewer:
“People have been trying to destroy me for my view for years. You can’t let evil take over and dominate your life. If you haven’t found something worth dying for, what are you living for?”
Jackie’s fierce determination to resist oppression is inspirational. Despite how influential she is, her story like so many others’ – particularly BlPOC trans folkx – was nearly swept under the rug. Jackie endured the odds. She lived on her own terms, as who she was, and she was afforded the (tragically rare) peace-of-mind of passing on asleep in her own bed at an old age. Her existence was a revolution.
Rest in Power, Jackie Shane.
Sources:
Iannacci, Elio, 2017, Jackie Shane’s coming home, The Globe and Mail, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/jackie-shanes-coming-home/article36599423/
Corp, Isabel, 2021, Any Other Way: The Life & Times of Jackie Shane | Have You Seen Her, A Grrrl’s Two Cents, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdekGMlY8Fs
Fensterstock, Alison, 2017, Jackie Shane, A Force Of Nature Who Disappeared, Has A Story All Her Own, NPR, https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/10/25/559775225/jackie-shane-a-force-of-nature-who-disappeared-has-a-story-all-her-own
Historica Canada, November 2, 2022, Heritage Minute: Jackie Shane, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRUjX3_f22k