Paul Hardcastle

He has also recorded several acclaimed synth-jazz albums under the name Jazzmasters, which are played heavily on smooth jazz radio. In 1996, Jacks produced the CD "A Good Thing Lost 1968-1973" that was a collection of The Poppy Family songs. After 1986 he started to specialise in TV soundtracks. and lending his name to United Kingdom organizations such as The Woodland Trust. He enjoyed several further hits in the UK, including "Don't Waste My Time" (with vocals by Carol Kenyon) and "The Wizard", the theme from BBC TV's Top of the Pops. He has also involved himself with the environmental movement, focusing on issues such as pollution and environmental health in Canada and the U.S. It was a number one hit in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands and was a significant hit in many other countries. Terry Jacks wrote and recorded a number of other songs plus he went on to become a successful record producer for other Canadian singers, earning a Juno nomination as Producer of the Year.

He achieved some acclaim for his early singles, notably the instrumental Rainforest 1984, but came to greater prominence in 1985 with the groundbreaking 19, a dance record featuring samples from the 1982 television documentary Vietnam: A Requiem, which was about Vietnam veterans suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (and for which Hardcastle was sued by ABC). In the United States, the song went to No.1 on the charts. In the early 1980s he performed in the dance music groups Direct Drive and First Light, before going solo. Released in 1973 on his own record label, the song became the largest-selling single in Canadian history and earned Jacks three Juno Awards. Paul Hardcastle (born December 10, 1958) is a British composer and musician specialising in the synthesiser. When the group chose not to go with it on their album, Jacks decided to do it himself but first set about to rewrite the final verse and to rearrange parts of the chorus. Jacks' marriage also dissolved, although he and his wife 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.

The Poppy Family won for the Juno for best group and immediately followed up with "Poppy Seeds" but it never achieved anything close to that initial success and eventually The Poppy Family split up. The single won a Juno Award while Terry Jacks earned two Junos for best producer of a single and of an album. They eked out a living until 1969 when their band burst onto the national charts with their Terry Jacks produced debut album titled "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. Jacks and Pesklevits soon developed a personal relationship that led to marriage.

For a time the duo performed at small clubs in Vancouver before adding another guitarist and drummer and restyling themselves as the "The Poppy Family.". Jacks composed, arranged, and produced their material while Pesklevits sang lead vocals. 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). Terry Jacks (born March 29, 1944 in Winnipeg) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer and environmentalist.