Terry Jacks
Terry Jacks (born
March 29,
1944 in
Winnipeg,
Manitoba) is a
Canadian singer,
songwriter,
record producer and
environmentalist.
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Growing up as part of the
hippie generation, a teenage Terry Jacks migrated to the west coast where, as a guitarist and singer, he joined a
Vancouver,
British Columbia band called The Chessmen. The group had a few minor local hits before disbanding, after which Jacks teamed up with soloist
Susan Pesklevits (born 1948,
Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan). Jacks composed, arranged, and produced their material while Pesklevits sang lead vocals. The duo performed at small Vancouver clubs before adding another guitarist and drummer to restyle themselves as
The Poppy Family.
While Jacks and Pesklevits personal relationship led to marriage, they eked out a living until the band burst onto the national charts in
1969 with their Terry Jacks–produced debut album,
Which Way You Goin' Billy? that saw the
45rpm single go to No. 1 in Canada and reach No. 2 on the
Billboard charts in the
United States, selling upwards of three million copies. The single won a
Juno Award while Terry Jacks earned two Junos for best producer of a single and of an album. The Poppy Family won a Juno for best group and immediately followed up with
Poppy Seeds but it never achieved anything close to that initial success, causing some to view them as
one-hit wonders). The Poppy Family did place two other singles in the U.S. Top 50, "That's Where I Went Wrong" (No. 29, 1970) and "Where Evil Grows" (No. 45, 1971), the latter of which was a duet between Terry and Susan (unusual since Susan was lead singer on most of the group's singles). Eventually The Poppy Family split up.
Jacks' marriage also dissolved, but he and Susan remained friends and he produced her first solo album in
1973. Working on his own, Terry Jacks helped on a
Beach Boys album that initially included the recording of an English-language version of the 1961
Jacques Brel song, "
Seasons in the Sun". When the group chose not to go with it on their album, Jacks decided to do it himself, rewriting the final verse and rearranging parts of the chorus. Released in 1973 on his own record label, the song became the largest-selling single in Canadian history and earned Jacks three Juno Awards. In the United States, the song went to
No. 1 on the charts. Jacks wrote and recorded a number of other songs and went on to become a successful
record producer for other Canadian singers, earning a Juno nomination as Producer of the Year.
He became involved in the environmental movement, focusing on
pollution issues in Canada and the United States and lending his name to
United Kingdom organizations such as
The Woodland Trust.
He married a second time and has a daughter, Holly. That marriage also ended. In 1996, Jacks produced the CD,
A Good Thing Lost 1968-1973, a collection of The Poppy Family songs. He lives in Pender Harbour, British Columbia, where he is still active in the music industry and the environmental movement.
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List of musicians from Canada*
Terry Jacks discography and biography
