Singer-songwriter Jackie DeShannon is the soulful voice behind two enduring 1960’s anthems -- Burt Bacharach & Hal David's "What The World Needs Now Is Love" and DeShannon's own "Put A Little Love In Your Heart." Beyond those standards is an artist who has created a body of work covering a diverse range of genres including rock, folk, R&B, country, gospel, reggae and jazz. Her songs have been performed by Brenda Lee, The Byrds, Marianne Faithfull, Al Green, Annie Lennox, The Searchers, Pam Tillis, The Carpenters, Kim Carnes, The Temptations, Rick Nelson, Cher, Van Morrison, Ella Fitzgerald, Dolly Parton, Irma Thomas, Bruce Springsteen and dozens more.
Born in Kentucky, Jackie started her career on live radio while in her teens. Her earliest recordings were rooted in rockabilly, such as her Buddy Holly tribute composition, "Buddy." Jackie wrote dozens of songs with Sharon She •
Jackie DeShannon
Singer-songwriter Jackie DeShannon is best known as the soulful voice behind two of the 1960s most enduring, era-defining anthems - Burt Bacharach & Hal David's "What The World Needs Now Is Love" and DeShannon's own "Put A Little Love In Your Heart."
Her songs have been performed by such artists as Al Green, Annie Lennox, Van Morrison, Brenda Lee, The Carpenters, The Temptations, Marianne Faithfull, The Searchers, Ella Fitzgerald and Bruce Springsteen. In the early 1960s, Jackie partnered with Sharon Sheeley on dozens of songs ("Dum Dum," "The Great Imposter," "Breakaway," "You Won't Forget Me").
Collaborations followed with Randy Newman, Jack Nitzsche, Jimmy Page and John Bettis. In 1964, Jackie toured as an opening act for the Beatles. Writing solo, she composed the hits "When You Walk In The Room" and "Come And Stay With Me."
She earned a million-seller in 1969 with "Put A Little Love In Your Heart," written with Randy Myers and Jimmy Holiday. DeShannon won a Grammy for Song of the Year in 1982 for "Bette Davis Eyes" with writing partner Don
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Jackie DeShannon
American singer-songwriter (born 1941)
Musical artist
Jackie DeShannon (born Sharon Lee Myers; August 21, 1941)[4][5] is an American singer-songwriter and radio broadcaster who has had many hit song credits beginning in the 1960s, as both a singer and composer. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock and roll period. She is best known as the singer of "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and "Put a Little Love in Your Heart". She is the writer of "When You Walk in the Room" and "Bette Davis Eyes", which became hits for The Searchers and Kim Carnes, respectively.
Since 2009, DeShannon has been an entertainment broadcast correspondent reporting Beatles band members' news for the radio program Breakfast with the Beatles.[6]
Early life and education
Sharon Lee Myers was born in Hazel south of Murray, Kentucky,[7] the daughter of parents who were farmers and musically inclined, James Erwin Myers and Sandra Jeanne LaMonte. By age six, Sharon was singing country tunes on a local radio sho