Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: August 27, 1937 – J.D. Crowe

Image from bluegrasstoday.com




From The Kentucky Encyclopedia -
The son of Orval and Bessie Lee (Nichols) Crowe, James Dee Crowe, country banjoist and bandleader, was born in Lexington, Kentucky on August 27, 1937. He attended Nicholasville High School and received a general education development diploma from Lafayette High School in 1967. In 1951 Crowe received his first banjo and began learning to play it by watching Earl Scruggs, who was featured in the Kentucky Mountain Barn Dance at Clay Wachs Arena in Lexington. In 1956 Crowe joined Jimmy Martin's band and spent five years on the road before returning to Lexington. By 1964 Crowe had formed his own band, the Kentucky Mountain Boys, which included at various times Doyle Lawson, Bobby Sloan, Red Allen, Bob Morris, and Larry Rice. In 1971 Crowe changed the group's name to J.D. Crowe and the New South. When the group disbanded in 1975, members of the New South included Crowe (banjo), Bobby Sloan (bass), Tony Rice (guitar), Ricky Skaggs (mandolin), and Jerry ("Flux") Douglas (dobro). Crowe and the New South were instrumental in developing bluegrass music through the use of drums, steel pedal guitar, and an extended repertoire. Crowe retired from active playing in 1987.

RON PEN, Entry Author

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Crowe, J., & New South. (1986). J.D. Crowe and the New South. Cambridge, MA: Rounder.
Fine Arts Library Media Center CD7603

Sharp, T., Crowe, J., & Kentucky Mountain Boys. (1970). Tip Sharp and the Ky. Mountain Boys. Lexington, Ky.]: REM Records.
Fine Arts Library Media Center LP7463

Skaggs, Monroe, Martin, Wiseman, Stanley, Crowe, . . . Time-Life Music. (2002). Time-Life's treasury of bluegrass (Special ed.). Richmond, VA : Universal City, CA: Time-Life Music ; Manufactured by Universal Music Enterprises.
Fine Arts Library Media Center CD8845

Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: August 26, 1957 - Nikky Finney

 

 

 

 

Photo by Rachel Eliza Griffiths, from www.poetryfoundation.org

 

 

 

From The Notable Kentucky African Americans database:
(Accessed August 26, 2016)

 

 

Born in Conway, South Carolina, Nikky Finney was an associate professor of creative writing and a former director of the African American Studies and Research Program at the University of Kentucky. She is a graduate of Talladega College in Alabama. She is a nationally recognized poet and author of books of poetry including On Wings Made of Gauze, Rice, and The World is Round. Her work has also been published in anthologies. She was a screenwriter on the documentary, M & M. Smith: for posterity's sake. In 2011, Nikky Finney received the National Book Award in Poetry. In 2012, Nikky Finney left the University of Kentucky and returned to South Carolina. For more see "BIBR talks to Nikky Finney," Black Issues Book Review, March/April 2003, vol. 5, issue 2, pp. 28-29; K. Hamilton, "You are only as writerly as the last thing you've written," in Monty, a supplement to the print magazine, Montpelier at James Madison University; and D. Shafa, "Stepping up," Kentucky Kernel, 09/27/06, Campus News section. UKnow article, "UK Professor Nikky Finney wins National Book Award for Poetry," available online, a University of Kentucky publication website.

See photo and additional information about Nikky Finney at "The Beauty and Difficulty of Poet Nikky Finney" by N. Adams, 04/08/2012, 6:39 AM, a NPR website.

 Read about the Nikky Finney oral history interviews available at the University of Kentucky Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, item records in the SPOKE Database.

See the Nikky Finney interview with Renee Shaw, program #843, "Connections with Renee Shaw" at the KET (Kentucky Educational Television) website.


Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Finney, N. (2011). Head off & split : Poems. Evanston, Ill.: TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press.
Young Library Books - 5th Floor PS3556.I53 H43 2010

Donohue, J., Johnson, F., Finney, N., Walker, F., Wilkinson, C., Media Working Group, & Kentucky Educational Television. (2008). Coal black voices (Kentucky muse ; 104). Covington, Ky.] : Lexington, KY: Media Working Group ; KET, Kentucky Educational Television.
Ask at Media Library Desk in B-67 Young Library AV-D2876

Finney, N. (1995). Rice. Toronto: Sister Vision.
Young Library Books - 5th Floor PS3556.I53 R530 1995

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/08/149936338/the-beauty-and-difficulty-of-poet-nikky-finney

Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: August 25, 1845 – Marcellus Jerome Clarke (“Sue Mundy”)

Image from en.wikipedia.org




From The Kentucky Encyclopedia -

Marcellus Jerome Clarke, who under the nom de guerre Sue Mundy was the best known of the Kentucky guerrillas during the Civil War , was born near Franklin, Simpson County, Kentucky, on August 25, 1845 (possibly 1844). He was the son of Brig. Gen. Hector M. and Mary (Hail) Clarke. Both parents died before he was ten, and Clarke was raised by relatives and received a common school education. With his foster brother John Patterson, he enlisted in the Confederate army and was mustered into Company B, 4th Kentucky Infantry, 1st Brigade, at Camp Burnett near Clarksville, Tennessee, on August 25, 1861. Taken prisoner when Grant forced the surrender of Fort Donelson, he was sent to Camp Morton near Indianapolis. He and Patterson escaped and returned to Kentucky, where the Federals captured Patterson, who was wounded and lost his eyesight. Clarke was deeply affected by the incident and vowed never to take a Federal prisoner. Clarke joined John Hunt Morgan's raiders and fought during many of Morgan's campaigns, first as a scout and later as an artillerist, rising to the rank of captain. After Morgan's death in September of 1864, Clarke returned to Kentucky, where he joined Sam ("One-Armed") Berry, Henry C. Magruder, and others in a guerrilla band that terrorized the state from mid- 1864 until the war's end. The origin of the name Sue Mundy is uncertain, although Clarke's shoulder-length hair and almost feminine beauty gave rise to the tale that he was in fact a woman. Though the band was guilty of shootings and train robberies, as well as the burning of bridges and at least one courthouse, the crimes attributed to the outlaws were exaggerated. Early in 1865, Clarke and his band joined Missouri's "Bloody" Quantrill for a raid in central Kentucky. Shortly thereafter, Clarke and three others were ambushed in Hancock County. The survivors took refuge in a tobacco barn near Webster in Meade County . When the news reached Louisville, troops were sent and on March 12, 1865, Clarke surrendered. He was taken to Louisville, where a military court found him guilty of guerrilla activities. The next day he was hanged at the old fairgrounds before a crowd of thousands, and his body was returned to Simpson County for burial. See  L.L. Valentine, "Sue Mundy of Kentucky," Register 62 (July 1964): 175-205 (Oct. 1964): 278-306. RICHARD TAYLOR, Entry Author Selected Sources from UK Libraries: Watson, T., & Brantley, P. (2008). Confederate guerrilla Sue Mundy : A biography of Kentucky soldier Jerome Clarke. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland &. Special Collections Research Center Closed Stacks - Ask at desk on 2nd Floor for assistance E470.5 .W38 2008 Taylor, R. (2006). Sue Mundy : A novel of the Civil War (Kentucky voices). Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. Young Library Books - 5th Floor PS3570.A9515 S84 2006 Kentucky's Civil War, 1861-1865. (2005). Clay City, Ky.: Back Home in Kentucky. Young Library Books - 4th Floor E470.4 .K44 2005

Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: August 24, 1911 - Durward Kirby

Kirby in 1962

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -
(Accessed on August 15, 2016)

Homer Durward Kirby (August 24, 1911 – March 15, 2000), known professionally as Durward Kirby (sometimes misspelled Durwood Kirby), was an American television host and announcer. He is best remembered for The Garry Moore Show in the 1950s and Candid Camera, which he co-hosted with Allen Funt from 1961 through 1966.

Early life
Kirby was born in Covington, Kentucky.[1] His family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, when he was 15. Kirby graduated from Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, then entered Purdue University to study engineering. However, he dropped out to become a radio announcer.

Radio
By 1936, Kirby was an announcer for WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio.[2] In 1937, an Associated Press news story reported that Kirby "made a name for himself" with his reporting on the Ohio River flood of 1937.[3] He also worked at radio stations in Chicago and Indianapolis before the war.[1]

He served in the United States Navy during World War II.

Following the war, Kirby hosted Club Matinee in Chicago with Garry Moore on the NBC Blue radio network before moving to television in 1949 as an announcer.[4] He also worked on Meet Your Navy and Honeymoon in New York on network radio.[5]

Television
Kirby was a regular on Moore's television shows from 1950 to 1968. (The Associated Press's obituary for Kirby gives his years of working with Moore's television show as 1950-1951, 1958-1964, and 1966-1967.)[1] Kirby also appeared as a host, announcer, or guest on other television programs, including serving as one of NBC Radio's Monitor "Communicators".[6][7]

Stage
Kirby did some acting in summer stock theatre, including three years' appearances in productions at the Cherry County Playhouse in Michigan.[8]

Other information
Kirby stood 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall and had a mellow personality that served well as a foil for the stars with whom he worked. A versatile performer, he acted in sketches, sang, and danced. He moved with ease from slapstick to suave sales pitches for the sponsor's product. Critic John Crosby called him "one of the most versatile muggers and comedians on the air."[1]

Some of Kirby's comedic roles. Top from left: "Jennie", Old Southern Colonel, Prince Charming. Bottom from left: "Joe Dribble", "Whistler's Mother, a Japanese movie star.

His most embarrassing moment came during a Polaroid commercial, during which he forgot to pull the tab after taking a picture of Garry Moore holding his Christmas list. After nearly a minute of a Polaroid representative yelling, "Pull the tab!" from the audience, Kirby gave a mighty yank with his long arms and pulled all seven remaining pictures out of the camera. This required a fair amount of strength, not only to burst the developer pods but to rip through the stops on the film roll.[9]

Books
Kirby wrote three books: My Life, Those Wonderful Years; Bits and Pieces of This and That; and a children's book, Dooley Wilson.[1]

Personal life
Kirby married Mary Paxton Young on June 15, 1941, in Chicago, Illinois.[10] Paxton was a singer and actress on radio[11] who died in 1994. They had two sons.[1]

Death
Kirby died of congestive heart failure in Fort Myers, Florida, on March 15, 2000,[1] at the age of 88. He was buried next to his wife, Mary Paxton Young Kirby, in Coburn Cemetery in Fairfield County, Connecticut, where he had a summer home. He was survived by his two sons[6] and three grandsons.[1]

Cultural references
Kirby's name was spoofed in the animated series The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, wherein a man's hat (size 7-5/32) was called the "Kirward Derby". It supposedly had magic powers that made its wearer the smartest person in the world. Kirby considered suing, but his business manager pointed out that it would only bring more attention to the show. Jay Ward, producer of The Bullwinkle Show, even offered to pay Kirby to sue him; however, he did not pursue any further action.[12]

A button reading "Durward Kirby for President in '64" appears in the January 1964 edition of Mad.

In the Mary Tyler Moore Show episode "Phyllis Whips Inflation" (season 5, episode 114; aired 18 January 1975),[13] the character Phyllis Lindstrom explains that the drop in the price of her Polaroid stock is because the company hired Laurence Olivier to do its television commercials. She says they should have saved money and hired Kirby (a reference to his Polaroid commercial incident).

In the movie Pulp Fiction (1994), the character Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) orders a "Durward Kirby" burger.

The eponymous title track on the album Scraps by the band NRBQ includes the line: "I know a Melarooney boy named Durward Kirby; I yelled in his ear and wondered if he heard me."

Quotes
"Age is just a number, and mine is unlisted."

References

1.    Leisner, Pat (March 17, 2000). "Durward Kirby, TV funnyman, Garry Moore sidekick, dead at 88". Standard-Speaker. Pennsylvania, Hazleton. Associated Press. p. 2. Retrieved July 7, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. 

2.    "New Series in Estate Program". The Journal News. Ohio, Hamilton. August 6, 1936. p. 10. Retrieved July 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. 

3.    "Kirby to Announce Log Rolling Event". Oshkosh Daily Northwestern. Wisconsin, Oshkosh. Associated Press. August 11, 1937. p. 3. Retrieved July 6, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. 

4.    Rayburn, John, ed. (2008). Cat Whiskers and Talking Furniture: Memoir of Radio and Television Broadcasting. McFarland. p. 256. ISBN 0-7864-3697-2. Retrieved 2013-08-30.

5.    DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-2834-2. P. 153.

6.    "Durward Kirby". Find a Grave. 15 July 2000. Retrieved 2013-08-30.

7.    "Monitor Promotional Material". Monitor Beacon. Retrieved 16 September 2010.

8.    "Durward Kirby Opens Season At Cherry County Playhouse". Ludington Daily News. July 2, 1971. Retrieved 8 July 2016.

9.    Wensberg, Peter (September 1987). Land's Polaroid. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 115–117. ISBN 978-0395421147. Retrieved 2013-08-30.

10. "Miss Young Weds Durward Kirby". The Delta Democrat-Times. Mississippi, Greenville. June 15, 1941. p. 3. Retrieved July 7, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. 

11. Fidler, Jimmy (December 12, 1942). "Hollywood Roundup". The Evening Standard. Pennsylvania, Uniontown. McNaught Syndicate, Inc. p. 6. Retrieved July 7, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. 

12. Scott, Keith (2000). The Moose that Roared. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 181–182. ISBN 0-312-28383-0. Retrieved 2013-08-30.

13. ""Mary Tyler Moore" Phyllis Whips Inflation (1975)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 19 April 2012. 

Selected Sources from UK Libraries: 

Carroll, Mary. "Radio Live! Television Live! Those Golden Days When Horses Were Coconuts." The Booklist 97.1 (2000): 56. Web.

Full Text Available.

Dean, Adam. "Pulp Fiction." (2011): 404-05. Web.

Gale Cengage Virtual Reference Library

Schlipp, John. "REVIEW AND CRITICISM: BOOK REVIEWS: Crosley and WLW: A Broadcasting Legacy in Review." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 51.4 (2007): 690-91. Web.
Full text available

Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: August 23, 1901 - John Sherman Cooper

Image from www.centrelinkonline.com

From The Kentucky Encyclopedia -

John Sherman Cooper, U.S. senator and diplomat, was born on August 23, 1901, at Somerset, Kentucky, to John and Helen (Tartar) Cooper. His father, a prominent lawyer, farmer, and businessman, served as Pulaski County judge, a position also held by Cooper's maternal grandfather. Educated first in a private school but mainly in the Somerset public schools, Cooper in the fall of 1918 enrolled at Centre College . After one academic year, he transferred to Yale University, where he received an A.B. in 1923. Cooper entered Harvard Law School in the fall of 1923, but after his father's death the following summer he returned to Somerset to head the family. Passing the Kentucky bar examination in 1928, Cooper began the practice of law in Somerset. In the same year he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives, where he was one of only three Republicans to oppose Gov. Flem Sampson 's (1927-31) unsuccessful effort to politicize the state's Health Department. Cooper supported the governor's bill to provide free textbooks, and he introduced a bill to prohibit injunctions against labor strikes. After serving two terms as judge of Pulaski County (1930-38), he made a bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1939. Defeated by King Swope , he resumed the practice of law in Somerset. He had been appointed to the University of Kentucky board of trustees in 1935, a position he held until 1946. At the age of forty-one, Cooper enlisted in the U.S. army as a private and was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1943. He served with Gen. George Patton's 3d Army in France, Luxembourg, and Germany. After the war, Captain Cooper headed the reorganization of the German judicial system in Bavaria and served as legal adviser for the repatriation of displaced persons in the 3d Army occupation zone. While still in Germany, Cooper was elected circuit judge for Kentucky's 28th Judicial District. During his tenure, blacks were allowed to serve on trial juries for the first time in that judicial district. In 1946 Cooper was elected to the U.S. Senate to fill the unexpired term of A.B. Chandler, who had resigned to become commissioner of baseball. He won over John Y. Brown, Sr. , by 42,000 votes, the largest majority given a Republican in Kentucky up to that time. As a freshman senator (November 6, 1946 to January 3, 1949), Cooper sponsored the first bill to provide 90 percent parity support for tobacco, and he quickly established a reputation for independence. His bid for reelection was thwarted by Democrat Virgil Chapman. In 1949 Cooper affiliated with the Washington law firm of Gardner, Morison and Rogers. President Harry S. Truman appointed him a delegate to the U.N. General Assembly in 1949, and he served as an alternate delegate in 1950 and 1951 and again in 1968 and 1981. He was an adviser to Secretary of State Dean Acheson at the London and Brussels meetings of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Council of Ministers in 1950. Cooper was again elected to the Senate over Thomas R. Underwood , to fill the vacancy created by the death of Virgil Chapman , starting November 5, 1952. However, in 1954 his bid for reelection was defeated by his good friend, former Senate majority leader and Vice-President Alben Barkley, and his term ended on January 3, 1955. President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Cooper ambassador to India and Nepal in January 1955; U.S.-Indian relations demonstrated a marked improvement during Cooper's tenure. Cooper was elected over the Democratic candidate, Lawrence Wetherby, to fill the unexpired U.S. Senate term created by the death of Alben Barkley. In the senatorial election of 1960, Cooper won his first full six-year term, defeating Keen Johnson by 199,000 votes. In 1966 he won over John Y. Brown, Sr. , by 217,000 votes. Cooper, who did not seek reelection in 1972, served from November 7, 1956, to January 3, 1973. He cosponsored with Sen. Jennings Randolph the Appalachian Regional Development Act. He vigorously opposed deployment of the antiballistic missile system ( Cooper-Hart Amendment), and attempts to weaken the Tennessee Valley Authority. From his position on the Foreign Relations Committee, he was one of the earliest, most persistent, and influential critics of the Vietnam War. A 1960 Newsweek poll of fifty Washington news correspondents named Cooper the ablest Republican in the Senate. President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1963 appointed him to the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. From 1973 to 1989 Cooper was a member of the law firm of Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C. He took leave from the firm in 1974 to accept President Gerald Ford's appointment as the first U.S. ambassador to the German Democratic Republic, serving in that post until late 1976. In 1944 Cooper married Evelyn Pfaff. They were divorced in 1947. Cooper was married to Lorraine Rowan Shevlin from March 17, 1955, until her death on February 3, 1985. Cooper died on February 21, 1991, in Washington, D.C., and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. See  Clarice James Mitchener, Senator John Sherman Cooper: Consummate Statesman (New York 1982) Robert Schulman, John Sherman Cooper: The Global Kentuckian (Lexington, Ky., 1976). WILLIAM COOPER, Entry Author Selected Sources from UK Libraries: Cooper, J. (1927). John Sherman Cooper Papers, 1927-1979. Storage Off Campus Retrieval Special Collections (Ask at Desk) 80M1 Cooper, W., Birdwhistell, T., Smoot, R., Merritt, H., & Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History. (1976). John Sherman Cooper Oral History Project. Special Collections Research Center Spec Coll Research Center - Oral History Collection OHCoop Smoot, R. (1988). John Sherman Cooper : The paradox of a liberal republican in Kentucky politics. Lexington, Ky.: [s.n.]. Young Library Theses 5th Floor Stacks Theses 1988

Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: August 21, 1941 - Jackie DeShannon

Image from acerecords.co.uk

From Wikipedia (accessed August 20, 2015)

Jackie DeShannon (born August 21, 1941)[1][2] is an American singer-songwriter with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock 'n' roll period. DeShannon is currently an entertainment broadcast correspondent reporting historical anecdotes and current Beatles band members' news for Breakfast with the Beatles on Sirius XM Satellite Radio on the weekends.

Early life and education

DeShannon was born Sharon Lee Myers in Hazel, Kentucky,[3] the daughter of musically inclined farming parents, Sandra Jean and James Erwin Myers. By age six, she was singing country tunes on a local radio show. By age 11, she was hosting her own radio program. When life on the farm became too difficult, the family moved to her mother's hometown, Aurora, Illinois, where her father resumed his other career as a barber.[citation needed]

After a year, they moved to nearby Batavia, Illinois, where she attended high school.In Batavia, the Myers family lived at 713 East Wilson Street. In May 1955, while in 8th grade, Sharon Lee Myers, then 13 years old, was featured in the local newspaper for her vocal talents and personal appearances at community gatherings, the local hospitals, and for assorted organizations.[1] According to the Batavia Herald, she had her own Saturday morning radio show Breakfast Melodies on radio station WMRO. Further:

Though only 13, the youngster can boast almost 11 years of voice training and experience and in the past she has toured most of the south making personal appearances. Also she has sung on radio with a rhythm band for 2 years and has appeared on television 3 times.[1]

In March 1956, "Sherry Lee Myers" made "another guest appearance on Pee Wee King's popular Country and Western Television Show" on Saturday evening, March 3, on Channel 2[2]—the CBS network affiliate in Chicago, Illinois. According to the Batavia Herald:

Sherry Lee is a busy young lady. Each Saturday morning at 9:30 she is on the WMRO radio show, Saturday nights she is the vocalist with the valley's Square Dance Band, Don Lee and his Fox Valley Boys. She had made appearances with the Pee Wee King Show at Ottawa, Rockford and LaSalle in recent weeks. Following her television appearance this Saturday night, the young Batavia artist will appear at the West Aurora Junior High School auditorium on Sunday, March 4th for three shows, 2, 4, and 8 P.M.[2]

She attended Batavia High School for two years (1955–1957), leaving school after her sophomore year.[4]

Early recording career
She began to record under various names such as Sherry Lee, Jackie Dee, and Jackie Shannon, with mixed success. Billboard noted (10 June 1957) that Sherry Lee Myers, "16-year old C&W singer of Batavia, Illinois," had recently signed to George Goldner's Gone label in New York as a rockabilly artist, and that her "handlers" (Irving Schacht and Paul Kallett) had changed her name to Jackie Dee. Her only release on Gone included "I'll Be True" (A) and "How Wrong I Was" (B), which appeared in both 78 rpm and 45 rpm versions. Jackie almost certainly sang these songs at the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia on 3 July 1957, and at the Paramount Theater in New York, two weeks later, with Alan Freed's Big Rock 'n' Roll Show.[5]

However, her interpretations of country songs "Buddy" (as Jackie Dee) and "Trouble" (as Jackie Shannon) gained the attention of Rock 'n' Roll star Eddie Cochran, who arranged for her to travel to California to meet his girlfriend, singer-songwriter Sharon Sheeley, who formed a writing partnership with DeShannon in 1960. Their partnership produced Brenda Lee's hit Dum Dum.[6]

In 1960, DeShannon signed with Liberty Records, adopting the name Jackie DeShannon, believed to be the name of an Irish ancestor, after executives at Liberty thought the name Sharon Myers would not help sell records. In a Fresh Air interview (June 14, 2010),[7] DeShannon said that she chose "Jackie" as a cross-gender name. Since she had a low singing voice, she could be heard as either male or female.When she found that "Jackie Dee" was too similar to Brenda Lee, Sandra Dee, et al., she changed it to Jackie Dee Shannon, which people heard as DeShannon. The name stuck.

Armed with her new name, she made the WLS Chicago radio survey with the single "Lonely Girl" in late 1960. A string of mostly flop singles followed, although "The Prince" bubbled under at No. 108 in the United States in early 1962, and "Faded Love" became her first US Billboard Top 100 entry, squeaking in at No. 97 in February 1963.[8]

She fared better with the Sonny Bono-Jack Nitzsche song "Needles and Pins" and the self-penned "When You Walk in the Room" later in 1963. Both reached the lower rungs of the US pop charts, but were Top 40 hits in Canada, where "Needles and Pins" made it all the way to No. 1. "Needles and Pins" and "When You Walk in the Room" later became US and UK hits for The Searchers.

DeShannon 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 recording career that kept her contracted to Liberty. 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't Doubt Yourself Babe" for the debut album of The Byrds. 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 the hit singles "Dream Boy" and "Don't Turn Your Back on Me". DeShannon also wrote material for singer Marianne Faithfull, including her Top Ten UK and US hit "Come and Stay With Me", which became Faithfull's biggest UK hit, peaking at #4 in 1965. It would be three years before Jackie DeShannon would record the song for herself, on her 'Laurel Canyon' album in 1968. She also appeared on the television show Ready Steady Go!

Hit love songs
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 Bramlett. In March 1965, DeShannon recorded Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "What the World Needs Now Is Love",[9] which led to club tours and regular appearances on television and went to No. 7 on the US charts and No. 1 in Canada. (DeShannon's recording of the song was subsequently used in the 1969 film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.) 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 was not until 1969 that she scored her next smash single and album, both entitled "Put a Little Love in Your Heart". The self-penned single sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[10]

The single "Love Will Find A Way" from 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 success as previous releases. In 1973, she was invited by Van Morrison to sing on his album, Hard Nose the Highway. "Put A Little Love In Your Heart" was performed as the closing number at the Music for UNICEF Concert, broadcast worldwide from the United Nations General Assembly in 1979.[citation needed]

Later career
While DeShannon has not produced any further Top Ten singles of her own, her songs have been covered by other artists who have converted them into hits. In 1974, she co-wrote "Queen of the Rodeo" and "Bette Davis Eyes" with Donna Weiss for her album New Arrangement.[11] "Bette Davis Eyes" went on to become a worldwide No. 1 single for Kim Carnes in 1981, earning Weiss and DeShannon the 1982 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

DeShannon co-wrote "Break-A-Way", recorded by Irma Thomas in 1964, and by Tracey Ullman in 1983. "Put A Little Love In Your Heart" reached Billboard No. 9 in 1989 as a duet by Annie Lennox and Al Green and was also covered by Dolly Parton in 1993. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Stevie Nicks had a Top 40 US hit in 1986 with a cover of "Needles and Pins", which DeShannon originally recorded but did not write. A version of "When You Walk in the Room" by Pam Tillis in 1994 topped the country charts. Another recent cover of "When You Walk in the Room" was in 2004 by ex-ABBA vocalist Agnetha Fältskog, both in her comeback album My Colouring Book and as a UK (No. 34) and European (No. 53) hit single. Chris Hillman, one of the original members of The Byrds, also did a cover of "When You Walk in the Room" on his solo 1998 album "Like a Hurricane".

DeShannon was portrayed by singer Liz Phair in an episode of American Dreams. On June 17, 2010, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Using her continuing access and friendship with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, DeShannon currently appears as a contributing entertainment broadcast correspondent regarding planned and current touring and personal news and publicity pertaining to the two surviving Beatles.[citation needed] In 2012 Jackie wrote and recorded "For Africa, In Africa," a song inspired by the urgent need for action to provide clean water for the African Continent.

Personal life
She has a brother, Randy James Myers, with whom she has sometimes written songs. In the mid 1960s, she dated Jimmy Page and Love guitarist Bryan MacLean. It is likely that Page wrote the song "Tangerine" (which appeared on the third Led Zeppelin album) after the breakup of his relationship with DeShannon in early 1965.[citation needed]

Her first husband was Liberty Records executive Irving "Bud" Dain, whom she married on January 29, 1966 (annulled in 1967).[12] DeShannon has been married to singer/songwriter and film composer Randy Edelman since 1977. They have one son, Noah (born 1978).[12] 

References

1.    "Sharon Lee Myers, Only 13, Is Talented Batavia Vocalist", Batavia Herald [Batavia, Ill.], May 5, 1955, p. 1.
2.    "Batavia Banter: On Television Show." Batavia Herald [Batavia, Ill.], 1 March 1956, p. 12
3.    Biography at Allmusic.com; accessed August 19, 2014.
4.    DeShannon's photograph appears in the Echo, the Batavia High School yearbook, for 1956 and 1957.
5.    Lerner, Peter. "Sweet Sherry: The Early Recording Career of Jackie DeShannon"
6.    BMI Repertoire Search Tool, "Dum Dum"
7.    "June 14, 2010 show". Fresh Air. National Public Radio. 2010-06-14. 
8.    Nite, Norm N. Rock On: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock n' Roll (The Solid Gold Years). Thomas Y. Crowell (1974), p. 180. ISBN 0-690-00583-0.
9.    Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 24 - The Music Men. [Part 2]" (audio). Pop Chronicles. Digital.library.unt.edu. 
10.  Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London, UK: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 258. ISBN 0-214-20512-6. 
11.  "Jackie DeShannon 'New Arrangement' 1975". Waddywachtelinfo.com. 1980-01-01. Retrieved 2012-03-25. 
12.  Sheff, David. "Jackie Deshannon Wrote the Tune but Randy Edelman Put a Little Love in Her Heart", People, May 5, 1980; accessed August 19, 2014. 

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Time-Life Music. 1965, Shakin' All over. Chicago]: Time-Life Music, 1989. Classic Rock.
CD319, Fine Arts-Media Center

One Kiss Can Lead to Another Girl Group Sounds, Lost & Found. Burbank, CA: Rhino, 2005.
BCD68, Fine Arts-Media Center

Time-Life Music. 1969. Chicago, Ill.]: Time Life Music, 1988. Classic Rock.
CD211, Fine Arts-Media Center