Stars from the 60s, 70s and 80s perform numbers by the acclaimed singer-songwriter, plus an exclusive Jackie demo.
Everyone in the Ace A&R division will tell you there’s nothing better than working with someone whose music you have long admired, on a project that demonstrates your reasons for that long-standing admiration. Particularly if that person is someone likeJackie DeShannon. Jackie has been an Ace friend and fan through three compilations of her Liberty and Imperial singles and also “Break-A-Way: The Songs Of Jackie DeShannon”, one of the best sellers in our acclaimed Songwriter series. Six years have gone by since that collection debuted in 2008, so Mick Patrick, Peter Lerner and I decided it was about time we compiled a follow-up.
While “Break-A-Way” focused on the 1960s, “She Did It!” also embraces the 70s and early 80s – years when Jackie was just as prolific and, arguably, even more successful, thanks to classics such as ‘Put A Little Love In Your Heart’ and ‘Bette Davis Eyes’, heard here by Dorothy Morrison and Kim Carnes, respectively. Early gems from Brenda Lee, the Ronettes, the Kalin Twins and P.J. Proby and obscurities from Gerri Diamond, Delaney Bramlett, Joe & Eddie and an unissued Jack Nitzsche-produced masterpiece by Tammy Grimes are sure to please all buyers. The appreciation non-US artists have always had for Jackie’s songs is apparent in selections by the Searchers, Kiki Dee, Dave Berry, Peter & Gordon, Marianne Faithfull and a very young Olivia Newton-John.
Closer to home, Jackie’s fellow L.A. residents the Righteous Brothers and Darlene Love (singing lead with Bob B Soxx & the Blue Jeans) make extremely good fists of fine numbers. Given that Jackie is an honorary member of the Ace family, it’s only right we have included songs by members of her real-life family – brother Randy Myers’ band Raga & the Talas and husband Randy Edelman.
“She Did It!” was put together with the full co-operation of Jackie, who was interviewed specifically for the project by Mick and has again provided unseen photographs and a previously unheard song from her personal cache of 1960s demos, with which we close another essential selection of her finest songwriting moments.
By Tony Rounce
