Susan Jacks

Singer/songwriter Susan Jacks was born as Susan Pesklevits on August 19, 1948 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, one of eight siblings. A striking blonde with a sweet and angelic voice, Susan first started singing at age seven on the radio on Saturday afternoons. Her family moved to British Columbia when she was nine years old. She sang in her school and church choirs and was featured on her own radio show at age thirteen. She made her first professional public appearance at age fourteen for a legion dance in Haney, British Columbia, Canada. At age sixteen, she became a regular on the Canadian musical variety TV show "Music Hop". In 1966, aged 18, she met singer-songwriter and guitarist Terry Jacks. The couple began performing in small clubs as a duo and married in 1967. Susan and Terry eventually formed the rock group The Poppy Family, which scored a massive smash hit in 1970 with the touching ballad "Which Way You Goin', Billy?"; the song not only peaked on the radio at #1 in Canada and #2 in America, but also sold over two million copies worldwide and won four Juno Awards. The follow-up songs "Where Evil Grows," "That's Where I Went Wrong," and "Good Friends?" were all solid Canadian radio hits. The Poppy Family disbanded in 1973 and Susan divorced Terry later that same year, although she kept his last name professionally. She released her debut solo album "I Thought of You Again" in 1973; the haunting titular track was nominated for a Juno Award. Jacks released her second album "Dream" in 1975; the song "Anna-Marie" was nominated for a Juno Award. In 1977, Susan met Canadian football player Ted Dushinski and they married. She took a hiatus from the music business to have a son. She returned to the studio and live performing in 1979. In 1980, she released the album "Ghosts", the hit song "All the Tea in China" was once again nominated for a Juno Award. In 1983, she, Dushinski, and their son Thad moved to Nashville, Tennessee. The song "Tall Dark Stranger" was nominated for yet another Juno Award and Jacksbwon "Best New Female Country Artist" in Oklahoma. She became a staff songwriter for a Nashville publishing company. She went on to manage a publishing company before becoming the executive vice-president and part owner of a telecommunications company in Nashville. Susan and her family moved to Vancouver, Canada in 2004. Ted Dushinski died of cancer at age 61 on October 24, 2005. Susan worked as a consultant for INS Entertainment and as a performance consultant for other artists in the studio. More recently, she co-wrote a song for and made a guest appearance in the 2006 made-for-cable-TV Lifetime feature "Last Chance Cafe." Jacks was inducted into the British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame on June 27, 2010.