Biography
Susan Jacks, born Pesklevits, navigated multiple phases across her professional trajectory. At the outset she took the stage unaccompanied, guesting on the CBC-TV series Music Hop, where she first encountered Terry Jacks, the musician she would later marry. When a scheduled engagement required a guitarist, she contacted her future husband; his outfit the Chessmen had already dissolved, so he stepped in to accompany her. The two soon formed a duo and began playing intimate venues. A subsequent transition moved the couple into an ensemble format as they linked up with tabla player Satwant Singh and guitarist Craig McCaw to establish the Poppy Family.
International attention arrived via the 1969 single “Which Way You Goin’ Billy?,” which secured four Juno Awards. Averse to live work, Terry Jacks reduced the Poppy Family the next year by releasing Singh and McCaw. Performing still under the Poppy Family name, Susan and her husband charted with “Where Evil Grows” and “That’s Where I Went Wrong.” An additional guitarist joined for the live appearances they were urged to undertake and for studio sessions. By 1973 both Susan and Terry Jacks had launched solo careers. That year she issued a self-titled album produced by her husband; the record yielded “I Want You to Love Me” and “I Thought of You Again,” the latter written by Terry Jacks and nominated for a Juno. She also dissolved the marriage that year, assembled a backing group she called Cheese, and toured. The singles “Tall Dark Stranger,” “Anna Marie,” and “All the Tea in China” earned her another Juno nomination.
In 1975 Jacks completed her follow-up album Dreams, yet Ray Pettinger—her husband’s former partner at Goldfish Records—blocked its release after acquiring Terry Jacks’ stake and renaming the imprint Casino Records. Jacks sued Pettinger for diverting her resources to fund the purchase; although she prevailed, the victory cost her the Dreams album and several years of career momentum. Returning in 1980, she recorded the album Ghosts for CBS, again with Terry Jacks producing. Two years later she released Forever under producer Tom Lavin.
By 1983 Jacks had wed Ted Dushinski of the Canadian Football League and secured a fresh contract in Nashville, the city to which she moved that year. The album Tall Dark Stranger appeared the following year and received yet another Juno nomination. Several years later the new label collapsed. For roughly half a decade she focused on songwriting instead of performing, holding a managerial post at a music-publishing firm before advancing to vice-president at a consulting company.
In 2004 Jacks and Dushinski left Nashville to resettle in Canada following his lung-cancer diagnosis. He died in October 2005; shortly afterward Jacks herself received a kidney-failure diagnosis. A transplant took place in 2010, with her brother serving as donor. When she resumed performing in 2011, she frequently appeared at benefits promoting organ donation. Kidney disease continued to affect her intermittently for the remainder of her life, and she awaited a second transplant at the time of her death in Surrey, British Columbia, on April 25, 2022, at age 73.
International attention arrived via the 1969 single “Which Way You Goin’ Billy?,” which secured four Juno Awards. Averse to live work, Terry Jacks reduced the Poppy Family the next year by releasing Singh and McCaw. Performing still under the Poppy Family name, Susan and her husband charted with “Where Evil Grows” and “That’s Where I Went Wrong.” An additional guitarist joined for the live appearances they were urged to undertake and for studio sessions. By 1973 both Susan and Terry Jacks had launched solo careers. That year she issued a self-titled album produced by her husband; the record yielded “I Want You to Love Me” and “I Thought of You Again,” the latter written by Terry Jacks and nominated for a Juno. She also dissolved the marriage that year, assembled a backing group she called Cheese, and toured. The singles “Tall Dark Stranger,” “Anna Marie,” and “All the Tea in China” earned her another Juno nomination.
In 1975 Jacks completed her follow-up album Dreams, yet Ray Pettinger—her husband’s former partner at Goldfish Records—blocked its release after acquiring Terry Jacks’ stake and renaming the imprint Casino Records. Jacks sued Pettinger for diverting her resources to fund the purchase; although she prevailed, the victory cost her the Dreams album and several years of career momentum. Returning in 1980, she recorded the album Ghosts for CBS, again with Terry Jacks producing. Two years later she released Forever under producer Tom Lavin.
By 1983 Jacks had wed Ted Dushinski of the Canadian Football League and secured a fresh contract in Nashville, the city to which she moved that year. The album Tall Dark Stranger appeared the following year and received yet another Juno nomination. Several years later the new label collapsed. For roughly half a decade she focused on songwriting instead of performing, holding a managerial post at a music-publishing firm before advancing to vice-president at a consulting company.
In 2004 Jacks and Dushinski left Nashville to resettle in Canada following his lung-cancer diagnosis. He died in October 2005; shortly afterward Jacks herself received a kidney-failure diagnosis. A transplant took place in 2010, with her brother serving as donor. When she resumed performing in 2011, she frequently appeared at benefits promoting organ donation. Kidney disease continued to affect her intermittently for the remainder of her life, and she awaited a second transplant at the time of her death in Surrey, British Columbia, on April 25, 2022, at age 73.
Albums
