Jackie Shane, transgender soul singer of the 1960s, dies at age 78

By Kristin M. Hall | The Washington Post

Jackie Shane, a black transgender soul singer from the southern United States, who moved to Toronto in the 1960s and has packed her nightclubs for years with an electrifying performance, was found dead in Nashville. She was 78 years old.

The label Numero Group, which produced a Grammy nominated Ms. Shane album, confirmed it, confirmed the death, but the cause was not immediately available.

Ms. Shane became a musical mystery after suddenly disappearing in 1971, but her legacy has survived among music historians and vinyl record collectors. After retiring, she lived in anonymity for decades. She was a loner who did not leave her house.

A documentary by the Canadian Broadcasting Company on Ms. Shane has sparked renewed interest in the singer. Douglas Mcgowan of Numero Group l found a few years ago by phone in Nashville, where she was born. She agreed to work with the label on a new version of all her singles and live recordings, entitled "Any Other Way", released in 2017.

The music journalist Rob Bowman interviewed him by phone for hours to write the project's cover notes, detailing his black and transgender youth in the southern part of the country, during his travels in Canada. as well as in his recording and performance career.

The album was nominated for Best Album at this year's Grammy Awards, but was lost by "Voices of Mississippi: Artists and Musicians Documented by William Ferris".

Born May 15, 1940, and growing up in the glorious days of the small but influential R & B scene in Nashville, Ms. Shane was confident in herself and had a musical tendency since childhood. At the age of 13, she considered herself a woman in a man's body, and her mother supported her unconditionally, according to Bowman's notes.

"Even at school, I've never had a problem," Ms. Shane told The Associated Press last year. "People have accepted me."

She played drums and became a regular player in Nashville R & B and gospel record labels. She went on tour with artists like Jackie Wilson. She had known Little Richard since she was a teenager, and later in the 1960s, met Jimi Hendrix, who spent his time playing on Jefferson Street in Nashville.

She started playing in Boston, Montreal and possibly Toronto, a city that, although mostly white at the time, still had a nascent R & B music scene. She played with Frank Motley, who was known to play two trumpets at a time. Black and white audiences invaded the clubs to see Shane's performance.