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Wanda Jackson

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Wanda Jackson was born in Maud, Oklahoma, in 1937 and grew up in Oklahoma City. Her father taught her to play the guitar, and as a teenager she got her own radio show. The country singer Hank Thompson heard her and in 1954 helped her get a contract with Decca. Her first hit was the duet You Can't Have My Love. In 1955 she toured with Elvis Presley, who encouraged her to sing rock 'n' roll. In 1956 she signed with Capitol, where the producer Ken Nelson allowed her the freedom to record both country and rockabilly.

Music and breakthrough

At Capitol she made rock songs such as Fujiyama Mama, Mean Mean Man and Baby Loves Him, often with country on one side of the single and rockabilly on the other. Critics call those records sexually daring and almost wild. Fujiyama Mama reached number one in Japan in 1958, and Let's Have a Party made the American Hot 100 in 1960. Her nickname became the Queen of Rockabilly. In the 1960s she leaned more towards country and also recorded German-language records, of which Santo Domingo topped the charts in Austria in 1965.

Influence

After 1971 gospel was at the centre of her career. From 1984 she returned to rock 'n' roll, among other things through Rosie Flores in 1995 and the 2003 album Heart Trouble. In 2009 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With Jack White she made The Party Ain't Over in 2011. In 2019 she bade farewell to performing. Jackson was one of the first women to have a career in rock 'n' roll and showed that a girl with a guitar could match the boys.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Let's Have a Party and notice her raw, screaming voice over the boogie piano and the guitar. Can you hear how she fires up the party herself?

Discography

Studio albums

See also

Categories: Artists