Jackie DeShannon

A version of "When You Walk in the Room" by Pam Tillis in 1994 topped the country charts. His body was initially unclaimed and donated to the University of California, Los Angeles medical school, but when the Disney Corporation found out about this it purchased the corpse and paid for burial. The songs "Breakaway" recorded by Tracey Ullman in 1983 and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" recorded by Annie Lennox and Al Green in 1988 also became huge hits. Sadly, he had disappeared from the public eye at the time of his death as a charity patient at the Virgil Convalescent Hospital in Hollywood, California. It earned DeShannon the 1982 Grammy Award for Song of the Year. Edwards was broke in his later years, living in a home for indigent actors, often spending his days hanging around the Walt Disney Studios to be available any time he could get voice work and being taken to lunch by animators who he told stories of his days in Vaudeville. In 1975 with Donna Weiss, she composed "Queen of the Rodeo" and "Bette Davis Eyes" for her album New Arrangement. The song "Bette Davis Eyes" later became a worldwide Number 1 single for singer Kim Carnes in 1981. In the 1950s and early 1960s he made a number of appearances on the Mickey Mouse Club television show, in addition to reprising his Jiminy Cricket voice for various Disney shorts.

While DeShannon hasn't produced any further Top Ten singles of her own, her songs have been covered by other artists who have in turn converted them into hits. For the 1949 season, Edwards starred in The Cliff Edwards Show, a three day a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings) television show on the CBS television network. In 1973 she was invited by Van Morrison to sing on his Hard Nose the Highway album. In 1941 he voiced the crow in Disney's Dumbo. 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 successes of previous releases. Edwards voice was also featured in two other films that year; he voiced the dying Confederate soldier in Gone With the Wind, and most famously the character Jiminy Cricket in the Disney Studios cartoon feature Pinocchio. The single "Love Will Find a Way" off the same album was also a moderate hit. In 1939 Edwards played the character "Edicott" in the screwball comedy film His Girl Friday.

DeShannon continued writing and recording but it wasn't until 1968 when she scored her next biggest smash single and album, both entitled Put a Little Love in Your Heart. However with the start of the Great Depression Edwards' popularity faded as public taste shifted to sweeter style crooners like Bing Crosby, Russ Columbo, and Rudy Vallee. She appeared in the 1967 film C'mon Let's Live a Little with Bobby Vee, as a folk singer. Edwards would continue having network radio shows off and on through 1946. In late 1965, DeShannon recorded Bacharach and David's "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and it provided her first Number 1 hit and regular appearances on television shows and club tours. In 1932 Cliff Edwards got his first national radio show on CBS. 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 Bramblett. He declared bankruptcy four times during the 1930s and early 1940s.

When Jimmy Page recorded his first solo single for Fontana Records, DeShannon sang vocals on "Keep Moving", the B-side of "She Just Satisfies". Most of his salaries went to alimony for multiple former wives and paying other debts. DeShannon also appeared on the television show Ready Steady Go!. Edwards was careless the money he got in the boom years of the 1920s, and while he continued working in the Great Depression he would never again enjoy his former prosperity. Both Page and DeShannon also wrote material for singer Marianne Faithfull including her Top Ten UK and US hit "Come and Stay with Me". He would make a total of 33 films for MGM through 1933. Staying briefly in England in 1965, DeShannon formed a songwriting partnership with Jimmy Page, which resulted in hit singles "Dream Boy" and "Don't Turn Your Back on Me". After performing in some short films, Edwards was one of the stars in the feature Hollywood Revue of 1929, doing some comic bits and singing some numbers, including giving the film debut of his hit "Singin' in the Rain".

Her music at this stage was heavily influenced by the American West Coast sounds and folk music. In 1929 Cliff Edwards was playing at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, California, where he caught the attention of movie producer/director Irving Thalberg who had Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer hire Edwards to appear in early sound movies. DeShannon also wrote "Don' Doubt Yourself Babe" for The Byrds debut album. Millions of ukes were sold in the decade, and Tin Pan Alley publishers added ukulele chords to standard sheet music. 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. More than any other performer, Edwards was responsible for the pop culture popularity of the ukulele in the 1920s. She also co-starred and sang with Bobby Vinton in the teen surf movie Surf Party. He became one of the most popular singers of the decade, during which he also appeared in several Broadway shows.

DeShannon dated Elvis Presley and formed friendships with The Everly Brothers and Ricky Nelson. The following year he was signed to a contract with Pathé Records. During these years it was her songwriting and public profile, rather than her singing, which kept her contracted to Liberty Records. He recorded early examples of jazz scat singing in 1922. She 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. Edwards made his first phonograph records in 1919. English group The Searchers later covered both songs in 1963 for success on the UK charts. Vaudeville headliner Joe Frisco hired Edwards as part of his act, which played at The Palace in New York City, the most prestigious theater in Vaudeville, and then in the Ziegfeld Follies.

In 1962, DeShannon signed with Liberty Records and recorded "Needles and Pins" and "When You Walk in the Room", with both resulting in major American hits. The tune, Edwards, and Carleton made a hit. The partnership produced hits such as "Dum Dum" and "He's the Great Imposter" for Brenda Lee and The Fleetwoods respectively. DeShannon was then commissioned to write the soundtrack for the 1961 film Splendor in the Grass. He made his first big hit in 1918 at the Arsonia Cafe in Chicago, Illinois where he introduced a tune by the club's pianist, Bob Carleton, "Ja Da". Recording under various names such as Sherry Lee, Jackie Dee, and Jackie Shannon, she had little success however her interpretations of country songs, "Buddy" and "Trouble", gained the attention of Eddie Cochran who arranged for her to travel to California and meet singer songwriter Sharon Sheeley, who formed a writing partnership with DeShannon in 1960. Edwards played on Vaudeville circuits. By the age of eleven, DeShannon was already hosting her own radio program. He got the nickname "Ukelele Ike" from a club owner who couldn't remember his name.

The daughter of showbusiness parents, Sandra Jean and James Erwin Myers, DeShannon was introduced to singing country tunes on a local radio show at the age of six. As many places had pianos in bad shape or none at all, Edwards taught himself to play ukulele (then often spelled "ukelele") to serve as his own accompanist (selecting that instrument as it was the cheapest in the music store). Jackie DeShannon was born in Hazel, Kentucky. Louis, Missouri where he entertained as a singer in saloons. Record company executives at Liberty Records thought the name Sharon Myers wouldn't sell records. He left school at age 14 and soon after moved to St. Sharon Myers adopted the name Jackie DeShannon, believed to be an Irish ancestor. Edwards was born in Hannibal, Missouri.

She is one of the first female singer songwriters of the rock 'n' roll period. Clifton A. Jackie DeShannon, real name Sharon Lee Myers, (born August 21, 1944) is an American singer/songwriter with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards. Cliff Edwards (14 June 1895 - 17 July 1971), also known as "Ukelele Ike", was a United States singer and musician who enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, and also did voices for animated cartoons later in his career. The Catcher (1972) (television series). ISBN 0-313-25719-1 Contains a short biography, an extensive discography, and listing of his film, radio, and television appearances. C'mon Let's Live a Little (1967). Kiner, Greenwood Press, New York, 1987.

Intimacy (1966). The Cliff Edwards Discography by Larry F. Surf Party (1964). You Know Me (2000). Come and Get Me: Best of 1958-1980 (2000) (compilation).

The Early Years (1998) (compilation). Trouble with Jackie Dee (1991). The Best of Jackie DeShannon (1991) (compilation). Good as Gold! (1990) (compilation).

What the World Needs Now Is ...: The Definitive Collection (1987) (compilation). Jackie DeShannon (1985) (compilation). Pop Princess (1981) (compilation). Together (1980) (soundtrack).

Quick Touches (1978). You're the Only Dancer (1977). The Very Best of Jackie DeShannon (1975) (compilation). New Arrangement (1975).

Your Baby Is a Lady (1974). Jackie (1972). Songs (1971). To Be Free (1970).

Put a Little Love In Your Heart (1969). Laurel Canyon (1969). Lonely Girl (1968) (compilation). What the World Needs Now Is Love (1968).

Me About You (1968). For You (1967). New Image (1967). Are You Ready for This? (1967).

C'Mon Let's Live a Little (1966) (soundtrack). You Won't Forget Me (1965) (compilation). In the Wind (1965). This Is Jackie DeShannon (1965).

Surf Party (1964) (soundtrack). Don't Turn Your Back On Me (1964). Breakin' It Up On the Beatles Tour (1964). Jackie DeShannon (1963).