The extremely talented, prolific and versatile Jackie DeShannon was one of the first successful female singer/songwriters to hit the rock and pop music scene back in the '60s. DeShannon has done music in such diverse genres as folk, orchestral pop, gospel, country, and rock 'n' roll. Jackie was born Sharon Lee Myers on August 21, 1941, in Hazel, Kentucky to Sandra Jean and James Erwin Myers. Her father was a barber in Batavia, Illinois, where she attended high school for two years. By age six, DeShannon was singing country music on the radio and, at age eleven, she was hosting her own radio show. In 1957, Jackie recorded a rollicking tribute to her musical idol, 'Buddy Holly' . Jackie was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 17, 2010.
After the song "Bette Davis Eyes" became a hit single, Bette Davis wrote letters to singer Kim Carnes and songwriters Donna Weiss and DeShannon and asked how did they know so much about her. One of the reasons Davis loved the Grammy-winning song is that her granddaughter heard it and thought her grandmother was "cool" for having a hit song written about her.
The Byrds recorded Jackies song "Dont Doubt Yourself, Babe" for their debut album "Mr. Tambourine Man".
