Terry Jacks

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Terry Jacks
Terry Jacks 1974.JPG
Jacks in 1974
Background information
Birth name Terrence Ross Jacks
Born (1944-03-29) 29 March 1944 (age 69)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Genres Rock, pop, soft rock
Occupations Singer–songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar
Years active 1962–present
Labels Columbia, Goldfish, Bell, A&M
Associated acts The Poppy Family

Terrence Ross "Terry" Jacks (born March 29, 1944, Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer and environmentalist.

Contents

Early life [edit]

Jacks was born and raised in Winnipeg. The family relocated to Vancouver in the early 1960s and Jacks took up guitar in his teens and at 18 formed a band called The Chessmen with guitarist Guy Sobell. The group had four top-ten hits in Vancouver between 1964 and 1966.

The Poppy Family [edit]

Following The Chessmen, Susan Pesklevits (Susan Jacks) asked Terry to accompany her on guitar and, after adding Craig McCaw, the group The Poppy Family was formed. Craig McCaw later introduced Satwant Singh to the group. Susan and Terry were married in 1967. The Poppy Family had several hits in Canada and internationally, their biggest being "Which Way You Goin' Billy?", which went to #1 in Canada and #2 on the Billboard charts in the U.S. The song was written and produced by Terry Jacks. Jacks earned a Gold Leaf award in 1970 for his production of the first Poppy Family album.

In the early 1970s, Terry and Susan travelled to L.A. where Terry was to work with The Beach Boys to record the song "Seasons in the Sun" but the project was never finished and the couple returned to Vancouver, making the decision to record the song themselves.

Solo and production work [edit]

The couple recorded two more albums before Susan left the marriage in 1973: Susan's solo album I Thought of You Again... and Terry's solo album Seasons In The Sun. The song "Seasons in the Sun", released in late 1973 on his own record label, Goldfish Records, became the largest-selling international single by a Canadian artist at that time and earned Jacks two Juno Awards. It is Rod McKuen's 1965 adaptation of "Le moribond", a 1962 original by Belgian singer Jacques Brel; for his version, Jacks made some modifications to the lyrics. In the United States,[1] in Great Britain[2] and in Germany,[3] in these countries it was released on Bell Records, and the song went to #1 on the charts. The B-side of "Seasons In The Sun" was a humorous song entitled "Put the Bone In" which was ostensibly about a woman asking her butcher to put in a bone with the rest of her meat order, but was intented to be a sexual double entendre. (The tune, recorded in Vancouver while Jacks was on tour, contained several members of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team on backing vocals.)

Jacks later released "If You Go Away" (another McKuen adaptation of a Jacques Brel song entitled "Ne Me Quitte Pas"), which reached #8 in Great Britain and #24 in Germany, and a cover of Kevin Johnson's "Rock 'N' Roll (I Gave You The Best Years Of My Life)", both of which had more success in Canada but also made the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the USA.

Jacks wrote and recorded a number of other songs and went on to produce records for Valdy, Buddy Knox (unreleased), Nana Mouskouri[citation needed], Chilliwack (including "Crazy Talk") and a handful of other artists.

Film [edit]

Jacks has worked in documentary film and video, producing several shorts on environmental themes including The Tragedy of Clearcutting, The Southern Chilcotin Mountains and The Warmth of Love (The Four Seasons of Sophie Thomas) with cinematographer Ian Hinkle.[4] The video production The Faceless Ones earned an Environmental Gold Award from the New York International Film Festival.[citation needed]

Personal life [edit]

In the late 1970s, Jacks married his manager Margaret (Maggi) Zittier and gradually withdrew from the music world. The couple had a daughter, Holly Michelle Jacks in 1985. Jacks became involved in the environmental movement, focusing on pulp mill pollution issues in Canada. His environmental work has earned him several awards including one from the United Nations Association of Canada and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee. He lives near Vancouver.

Discography [edit]

Studio albums [edit]

  • Seasons in the Sun (1974)
  • Y' Don't Fight The Sea (1975)
  • Pulse (1983)
  • Just Like That (1987)

Singles [edit]

Year Song CAN CAN AC U.S. UK[5]
1970 "I'm Gonna Capture You" 16 - - -
1972 "Concrete Sea" 16 16 - -
1973 "I'm Gonna Love You Too" 7 - 116 -
1974 "Seasons in the Sun" 1 1 1 1
"If You Go Away" 45 10 68 8
1975 "Rock 'N' Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)" 22 5 97 -
"Christina" 9 - 106 -
"Holly" 64 - - -
1976 "Y' Don't Fight the Sea" 31 - - -
"In My Father's Footsteps" 59 - - -
1977 "Hey Country Girl" 73 28 - -
1981 "Greenback Dollar" - 9 - -
1983 "You Fool Me" - 26 - -
1987 "Just Like That" - 17 - -

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Joel Whitburn: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993. Menomonee Falls / Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd. 1994, p. 295
  2. ^ Stephen Nugent, Pete Fowler, Annie Fowler: The Log Of American / British Top 20 Hits, 1955-1974. In: Charlie Gillett, Simon Frith (eds.): Rock File 4. Frogmore, St Albans: Panther Books Ltd 1976, p. 203
  3. ^ Günter Ehnert (ed.): Hit Bilanz. Deutsche Chart Singles 1956-1980. Hamburg: Taurus Press 1990, p. 105
  4. ^ SophieThomas.org
  5. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 273. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 

External links [edit]

Authority control
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