Wanda Jackson was born Wanda Lavonne Jackson on 20 October 1937 in Maud, Oklahoma, the daughter of a musician father who played guitar and fiddle and who taught his daughter to play guitar and to sing, and she grew up in a world where country music, gospel, and, increasingly, rock and roll all reached the radio, and where a girl who could sing and play guitar could, if she was determined enough, make a career in a business that was, in the 1950s, almost entirely male. She became, in time, known as the Queen of Rockabilly, a title that was not a marketing slogan but a description of a fact: she was the first major female rockabilly singer, the first woman to sing rock and roll with the same energy, the same growl, and the same attitude as the men, and she did so at a time when women in country music were expected to sing sweetly, dress modestly, and stay in their place. Jackson did none of those things, or, rather, she did them on her own terms, and she became, in the process, a pioneer for every woman who has sung rock music since.
Jackson’s childhood was, in many ways, typical of a country musician’s childhood in Oklahoma in the 1930s and 1940s. Her family moved to Bakersfield, California, when she was young, and then back to Oklahoma City, where her father, who had played in bands, encouraged her musical ambitions and taught her guitar. She learned to play, to sing, and to perform, first at home, then at school, and then on local radio, where she had her own show as a teenager. She was, by all accounts, a confident, talented young performer, with a strong voice, a rhythmic guitar style, and a stage presence that, even as a teenager, commanded attention. She was discovered, in the mid-1950s, by Hank Thompson, a major country star, who heard her on the radio, invited her to sing with his band, the Brazos Valley Boys, and helped her to get a recording contract with Decca Records. Thompson, who was a traditional country singer, was, at first, sceptical of rock and roll, but he recognised Jackson’s talent, and he gave her a start that, in the country music world of the time, was invaluable.
Elvis, Rockabilly, and “Let’s Have a Party”
Jackson’s introduction to rock and roll came, famously, through Elvis Presley. In 1955 and 1956, Jackson toured with Presley, who was then a young, rising star, on package tours through the South and the Midwest, and she watched, night after night, as Presley, with his guitar, his hip movements, and his shouting, singing style, brought audiences — especially young, female audiences — to a frenzy. Jackson, who had grown up singing country music, was, by her own later account, fascinated by Presley’s energy and by the freedom of rock and roll, and she asked Presley to teach her to sing rockabilly, to show her how to phrase a rock song, how to growl, how to shout, and how to make a song sound, in her words, “mean”. Presley, who was generous with younger performers and who admired Jackson’s talent, encouraged her, and, according to Jackson’s later accounts, gave her a ring and, for a time, a romantic relationship developed between them, although both later downplayed its seriousness. What is not in doubt is that Presley encouraged Jackson to sing rock and roll, and that Jackson, who had the voice and the attitude to do so, took his advice and ran with it.
The result was a series of records, for Capitol Records, beginning in the late 1950s, that established Jackson as the Queen of Rockabilly. She recorded rockabilly numbers such as “Fujiyama Mama” in 1957, a song that became a hit in Japan, where it was, for a time, more popular than in the United States, and “Let’s Have a Party”, recorded in 1958 and released as a single in 1960, which became her most famous rockabilly record, reaching the pop top forty and becoming, in time, a classic of the genre. “Let’s Have a Party”, written by Jessie Mae Robinson, was, in Jackson’s hands, a perfect rockabilly record: fast, loud, with a driving beat, a shouting vocal, and a sense of fun that made it impossible to sit still while listening to it. Jackson sang it with a growl, a hiccup, and a confidence that, in a female singer of the time, was startling, and that, in retrospect, was revolutionary. She was not singing rock and roll as a novelty, or as a woman imitating a man; she was singing it as herself, with a voice that was, at the same time, feminine and tough, sweet and mean, and that combination became her trademark.
Jackson’s rockabilly records were not, at the time, major commercial successes in the United States, in part because the market for female rock singers was, in the late 1950s, still small, and in part because Jackson herself, who was also recording country music, was marketed, at different times, as a country singer and as a rock singer, without a clear strategy for either. But they were, musically, ahead of their time, and they have become, since their rediscovery in the 1970s and 1980s by rockabilly revivalists, classics of the genre. “Let’s Have a Party”, “Fujiyama Mama”, “Mean Mean Man”, “Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad”, and other Jackson rockabilly records are now regarded as among the best rockabilly records ever made, by a man or a woman, and they are cited, by later female rock singers, as a major influence. Jackson, who was, in the 1950s, a pioneer without a large audience, became, in the 1980s and beyond, a hero to a generation of women who wanted to sing rock music loudly, confidently, and on their own terms.
Country Stardom, Gospel, and the Long Wait
Jackson’s career, after her rockabilly period, took a different direction, and it is important to tell that part of her story as well, because it shows both her versatility and the constraints she faced. In the 1960s, Jackson became a successful country singer, recording for Capitol and scoring country hits such as “Right or Wrong” in 1961, “In the Middle of a Heartache” in 1961, and “Tears Will Be the Chaser for Your Wine” in 1966, songs that showed a different side of her voice: warm, controlled, and, in the country tradition, emotionally direct. She toured, she appeared on television, including on the “Ozark Jubilee” and other country programmes, and she became, in the country world, a respected star, known for her professionalism, her humour, and her ability to sing both country and rockabilly with equal conviction. She was, in short, a successful country singer, and she remained one through the 1960s and into the 1970s, even as her rockabilly records were, for a time, forgotten by the mainstream.
In the 1970s, Jackson, who had become a born-again Christian, turned increasingly to gospel music, recording gospel albums and performing in churches and at religious events, a turn that, like Little Richard’s turn to the ministry, reflected a deep personal conviction and a desire to use her voice for a purpose she regarded as higher than commercial success. She continued to perform, but her audience, for a time, was smaller and more specialised, and her rockabilly past, which had once been a source of pride, became, for some of her gospel audiences, a source of embarrassment. Jackson herself, who has spoken frankly about this period, did not disown her rockabilly records, but she did, for a time, sing them less often, and she focused, instead, on gospel and on country. It was not until the rockabilly revival of the 1980s, when young fans in Europe and in the United States rediscovered her Capitol records, that Jackson’s rockabilly career was, in a sense, reborn.
That rediscovery was, for Jackson, a second career, and it was, in many ways, more satisfying than the first, because it came with recognition, with respect, and with an audience that understood what she had done. She began to tour again, in Europe and in the United States, playing rockabilly festivals, recording new albums, including “Heart Trouble” in 2003, produced by John Wooler and featuring guest appearances by Elvis Costello, Dave Alvin, and others, and “The Party Ain’t Over” in 2011, produced by Jack White, which introduced her to a new generation of rock fans. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, in the Early Influence category, an honour that recognised, belatedly, what her contemporaries had known in the 1950s: that she was a pioneer, a woman who had sung rock and roll when few women did, and who had done so with a skill and an attitude that matched any man. She was also inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, and other honours, and she became, in her seventies and eighties, a beloved figure, known as the Queen of Rockabilly, a title she carried with pride and with humour.
The Voice and the Example
Jackson’s voice, which is the reason for her fame, deserves description, because it is not a voice that can be easily categorised. She sang with a strong, clear tone, with a vibrato that was controlled rather than wide, and with a habit of adding a growl, a hiccup, or a shout at the end of a phrase, a habit she learned, in part, from Presley and from the male rockabilly singers she admired, and that she made her own. She could sing a country ballad with warmth and restraint, and she could sing a rockabilly number with a ferocity that surprised listeners who knew her only as a country singer. That range — from country to rockabilly to gospel — was, in itself, remarkable, and it showed a versatility that few singers of her generation possessed. She was not a singer who could do one thing well; she was a singer who could do several things well, and who chose, at different times in her life, to emphasise different parts of her gift.
Her example, for later women in rock, is equally important. Before Jackson, women in rock and roll were, for the most part, either girl-group singers, singing in harmony, or solo singers who sang pop ballads in a sweet, controlled style. Jackson showed that a woman could sing rockabilly, could growl, could shout, could play guitar, and could command a stage with the same energy as a man, without losing her femininity or her identity. Later female rock singers, from Janis Joplin to Chrissie Hynde to Joan Jett to the many women who sing rock today, have all, in different ways, built on Jackson’s example, whether they knew her name or not. Jackson herself, in interviews in her later years, has spoken with pride about that influence, and with a sense of humour about the fact that it took so long for the music world to recognise it. She has also spoken, frankly, about the difficulties she faced as a woman in a male business: the promoters who did not take her seriously, the record companies that did not know how to market her, and the audiences who, in the 1950s, were not always ready for a woman who sang rock and roll loudly.
Jackson retired from performing in 2019, after a career that had lasted more than sixty years, from her teenage radio show in Oklahoma City to her final concerts as the Queen of Rockabilly, and she did so with the affection of fans across the world, with the respect of musicians, and with the knowledge that her work, which had once been overlooked, was now recognised as pioneering. She lived, in her later years, in Oklahoma City, where she had begun, and where she remained, to the end, a proud Oklahoman, a proud musician, and a proud woman who had, in a business that often told women to be quiet, sung loudly, and sung well. To listen to “Let’s Have a Party” today is to hear a record that still sounds fresh, still sounds fun, and still sounds, in Jackson’s voice, like a challenge: a challenge to anyone who thinks that rock and roll belongs to one sex, one style, or one generation. Jackson’s answer, in 1960 and ever since, has been simple: let’s have a party, and let’s let everyone in.
Sources / further reading
- Reference entries on Wanda Jackson (born 1937), Hank Thompson, Capitol Records, “Fujiyama Mama” (1957), “Let’s Have a Party” (recorded 1958, released 1960), and the 1950s tours with Elvis Presley.
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Wanda Jackson, inducted 2009, Early Influence category.
- Accounts of Jackson’s country hits (“Right or Wrong”, 1961), gospel period, rockabilly revival, “Heart Trouble” (2003), and “The Party Ain’t Over” (2011, produced by Jack White).
- Jackson’s retirement announcement, 2019, after a career of more than sixty years.
Image credit: Image: Ana Madeleine Uribe via Pexels, free licence (thematic female singer in orange stage light, not a photograph of Wanda Jackson).
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