#100: Any Other Way by Jackie Shane
City: Toronto, ON
Radio Station: CHUM
Peak Month: April 1963
Peak Position in Toronto ~ #2
Peak Position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Any Other Way”
Lyrics: “Any Other Way”
Jackie Shane was born in 1940 in Nashville, Tennessee. In an obituary, MusicRow reported “She was born male, but identified as female throughout her life.” Jackie Shane later told a reporter “I was a female trapped in a male body.” However, liner notes for Jackie Shane’s albums referred to Shane as “he.” Jackie’s grandmother’s singing around the house had an influence on Shane’s vocal development. Further encouragement from Jackie’s grandmother allowed Shane to display vocal talents as while growing up. By the age of five Jackie Shane was dressing as a girl, and by thirteen Shane told her mother she was a woman in a man’s body. Jackie Shane began a music career as a young teen, demonstrating vocal and rhythmic ability. This was noticed by Louis Lavelle, who recruited Shane and Les Monday to form a musical trio. They performed at a variety of small gigs, including at local fairgrounds and on radio stations. Initially a drummer as well as a vocalist, Shane would play drums standing up while singing. Shane’s drumming talent led to studio session work as a drummer, including on Lillian Offitt’s “Miss You So” in the summer of 1957. Working in Nashville regularly as a stage performer during the late 1950s, Shane also worked in the studio as a drummer on tracks by Larry Williams, Big Maybelle, Gatemouth Brown, Little Willie John, Joe Tex, and other performers.