1953–1955: Country beginnings Jackson also continued working with Hank Thompson. In 1953, she appeared with him regularly on his local television program and on a similar program for 30 minutes hosted by KLPR. Thompson also recorded Jackson on several demonstration tapes in hopes they would be heard by major record labels. Thompson was also attempting to get his band member Billy Gray a recording contract and had the pair sing several duets. Jackson was supposed to be signed by Thompson's label,
Capitol Records, but was rejected by producer
Ken Nelson. "Girls don't sell records!" he told Thompson. In her book, Jackson recalled hearing Nelson's statement: "I recognize that Ken wasn't being sexist, so much as he was thinking about business. But it still gave me a little nudge to prove him wrong!" Instead, Thompson contacted
Paul Cohen of
Decca Records, who was interested in signing Jackson and Billy Gray. In 1954, while still high school, Jackson signed with the label. In March 1954, the Jackson family traveled to
Hollywood, California, where she recorded her first Decca sessions backed by Thompson's band. She cut several solo sides, along with the Billy Gray duet, "
You Can't Have My Love". Jackson disliked the song, but Thompson convinced her to record it. It was soon released as Jackson's debut single on Decca and became a major hit, climbing to the number-eight spot on the
Billboard Hot Country and Western Sides chart. Upon Decca's encouragement, Jackson and Gray recorded a second duet, titled "If You Don't Somebody Else Will". Released as a single, the song was a commercial failure due to a competing version by
Jimmy & Johnny that reached the charts. "I decided that night that the
Grand Ole Opry scene was not for me," she recounted. In 1955, Jackson graduated from Capitol Hill High School in Oklahoma City and began touring. Jackson's father quit his job to become her full-time manager, and he hired Bob Neal to book her engagements. Jackson's first concert dates included up-and-coming performer
Elvis Presley. Together, the pair worked multiple shows alongside several other country performers in the United States that year. Jackson's father chaperoned her during the shows and drove her from one date to the next. Presley encouraged her to perform
rock and roll music. He played her several
rhythm and blues records and informed her of rock's growing popularity. Jackson also joined the cast of the
Ozark Jubilee in 1955.
1956–1960: Rock and roll years '' advertisement, July 21, 1956 In 1956, Decca Records released Jackson from her contract. With Hank Thompson's help, she secured a new contract with Capitol Records the same year. Meanwhile, Kurt Wolff found that Jackson's rock material was also mixed with traditional country elements, which added to her musical individuality: "Jackson mixed straight country material and hot-to-the-core rockabilly numbers almost right from the beginning...Songs like 'Fujiyama Mama' and 'Mean Mean Man' were hard and fast, giving her plenty of reason to shimmy around in her glamorous fringe dresses". In 1957, Jackson began working under a new booking agent, who arranged several tours in 1957 and 1958. Fellow performers included
Johnny Cash,
Jerry Lee Lewis, and
Carl Perkins. With her new management, Jackson was making more money, sometimes as much as $500 per gig. Meanwhile, her follow-up singles proved unsuccessful in the United States. According to Jackson, Capitol was unsure how to market her. "Capitol was still trying to figure out what to do with me, but they maintained faith that I could have strong potential in the teen market," she recalled in 2017. To promote her material, the label chose to release Jackson's
eponymous debut album in 1958. The record mixed both rock and country selections. Included were her covers of the rock songs "
Money Honey" and "
Long Tall Sally". Also included were the country songs "Heartbreak Ahead" and "
Making Believe". Also in 1958, Jackson saw success overseas with the rock and roll single, "
Fujiyama Mama". The song's success led Jackson to a Japanese tour in 1959. She played venues in major cities including
Tokyo and
Okinawa. Upon her return to America, Jackson played in
Las Vegas with Bob Wills and did additional concerts with her newly formed touring band. At different points, the band lineup included
Roy Clark and black pianist
Big Al Downing. She recalled touring alongside Downing, who was sometimes denied entrance into venues because of his race. In response, Jackson would refuse to work a show unless Downing performed with her. "Look, he's part of our band. If he's not welcome, then none of us are," she once told a club owner. In 1960, Jackson's album cover of "
Let's Have a Party" was discovered by an Iowa
disc jockey, which led to an increased interest in it by radio listeners. Upon the encouragement of Capitol Records, "Let's Have a Party" was issued as a single the same year. By July 1960, the single had reached number 37 on the
Billboard pop music chart, becoming her first American rock and roll hit. It also found commercial success in Australia and the United Kingdom. The success of "Let's Have a Party" led to Jackson to rename her band "The Party Timers" Her third studio album for Capitol, as noted, came along in early 1961, titled ''
There's a Party Goin' On'', which included more rock and roll material. Richie Unterberger of AllMusic described the LP as a "pretty solid and energetic set" despite not having "most of Wanda's best rockabilly sides".
1961–1971: New languages and return to country music In the early 1960s, old school rock and roll musicians lost favor as the "Big Beat" of the
British Invasion grew in popularity. Feeling pressure from Capitol, Ken Nelson met with Jackson to discuss which genre she should fit. Because she had her greatest commercial success with country music, it was ultimately decided to invest Jackson there. "I wanted to record whatever I wanted to record, but I also understood that Capitol Records had made an investment in me," she recalled in her book. In 1961, Jackson returned with the self-penned track "
Right or Wrong". the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100 and number nine on the
Billboard adult contemporary survey. An album of the
same name followed in 1961 that split country selections on "side A" and rockabilly selections on "side B". Her next single release, "
In the Middle of a Heartache", was also a commercial success. and number 27 on the pop chart. In August 1962, Jackson's fourth studio album was released titled
Wonderful Wanda. The album included "In the Middle of a Heartache", along with the crossover hits "
If I Cried Every Time You Hurt Me" and "
A Little Bitty Tear". Jackson and The Party Timers then toured the southwestern United States for a series of one-night concert engagements. Now newly married, husband Wendell Goodman quit his job with
IBM to become her full-time manager because her singing voice was "very pleasing to the German ear". That year, she flew to
Cologne, Germany where she cut several selections in German. The song became her first number one single in her career, climbing to the top of the
Austrian pop chart and the top five of the
German pop list. In Germany and Austria, Jackson had several more charting songs, including the top ten "Doch dann kam Johnny". In 1965,
Blues in My Heart became her first album to reach the
Billboard country albums chart, peaking at number nine. In 1966, Jackson had her first American commercial success in several years with the top 20 single "
The Box It Came In". It was followed by the number 11 chart hit "
Tears Will Be the Chaser for Your Wine". The album became her third chart entry on the
Billboard country albums list, peaking at number 17. Jackson had eleven more charting
Billboard country singles during the 1960s, including the top 40 songs "A Girl Don't Have to Drink to Have Fun", "Both Sides of the Line", "My Baby Walked Right Out on Me" and "
Two Separate Bar Stools". Her 1969 single, "
My Big Iron Skillet", reached number 20 on the country chart. Jackson's country recordings also received attention from music critics and journalists.
Billboard magazine described a 1965 studio album as both "poetic and tearful". Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann gave the music a mixed review in their 2003 book: "Of Wanda's many country hits between 1961 and 1972, none recaptured her rockabilly zing, although several were self-assertive about women's issues." Meanwhile, Kurt Wolff described her mid-1960s singles as "deeply bitter and vengeful", while also having "genuine honky-tonk emotion". In reviewing a 2006 country compilation album, AllMusic's Thom Jurek found Jackson to be "a solid, original country singer". In 1969, Jackson recorded her first live record in
Phoenix, Arizona titled
Wanda Jackson in Person. Following the album, Capitol Records started replacing Ken Nelson with different producers to record Jackson. This included a two-album stint with producer
George Richey, which ended in creative differences, according to Jackson. Richey and Jackson's recordings led to her next major hit called "
A Woman Lives for Love" (1970). The single reached number 17 on the
Billboard country songs list. becoming her first charting album since 1968. The record was well received by
Billboard magazine, who called it "a beautiful spiritual album". To fulfill her obligations with Capitol, Jackson continued releasing country LP's. In 1972, the company released ''
I Wouldn't Want You Any Other Way'', a ten-track collection of traditional country songs. It included the top 40 country hits "Back Then" and "I Already Know (What I'm Getting for My Birthday)". The disc peaked at number 43 on the
Billboard Country LP's chart. Jackson's signing with Word allowed her to also record with their imprint label
Myrrh Records. In her autobiography, Jackson explained that Word would release her gospel records while Myrrh would release her country records. In 1973, Word issued her second gospel album titled
Country Gospel. The project featured covers of the hymn "
Farther Along" and
Kris Kristofferson's Christian tune "
Why Me, Lord". In 1974, Myrrh released the country record ''
When It's Time to Fall in Love Again. Spawned from the album was the single, "Come on Home (To This Lonely Heart)". Billboard'' described the song as "a beautiful love song" that hinted at her Christian "inner spirits". The single was Jackson's last to chart on the Hot Country Singles survey, peaking at number 98.
Make Me Like a Child Again (1976), and
Closer to Jesus (1977) Reflecting on the LP's in her autobiography, Jackson commented that none of them were "particularly memorable" to her. In 1979, her contract with the labels ended. In need of a change, the Jackson family temporarily moved to Texas where she became a stay-at-home mother. Yet, the family was unhappy with the move. In 1980, they relocated to Oklahoma City where they built a house and she continued her entertainment career. The same year, Jackson released a new country disc on the UK-based Deep Sea Music company titled
Good Times. The album spawned one single, a cover of
Melba Montgomery's "
Don't Let the Good Times Fool You". In 1982,
K-tel released a studio album of re-recordings titled ''
Let's Have a Party''. With limited commercial attention to her music, Jackson felt professionally-stuck. "I wasn't even fifty yet, but I felt like I'd been forced into an early retirement as time had passed me by," she recalled in her 2017 book.
1984–2006: Rock and roll revival In the mid-1980s, rockabilly music increased in popularity in Europe, as did rock and roll. Jackson's Capitol rock recordings received interest from European fans and she was soon sought out by overseas promoters. Jackson and her husband saw the opportunity as a message from God. "Wendell and I both realized that God was going to use our testimony in places that needed it", her autobiography explained. In 1984, her husband received a phone call from Swedish businessman, Harry Holmes, who was interested in recording her. Jackson then traveled to Scandinavia to record her first album of rock material in two decades. In 1984, Tab Records released
Rockabilly Fever. The album was later released in the United States as ''Rock 'N' Roll Away Your Blues''. The project featured covers of rockabilly numbers like "
Stupid Cupid" and "
It's Only Make Believe". The album received a three-star rating from Allmusic, while writers Mary Bufwack and Robert Oermann positively described it as "rockabilly fire". in Belgium, 2008. Jackson frequently toured Europe during this period and sang her 1950s rockabilly records. Many of the songs she performed had not been in her regular stage show for years. She recalled having to re-learn the lyrics to songs like "Mean Mean Man" after getting hundreds of requests. As the decade progressed, she found opportunities touring in various European countries, including
Spain,
Switzerland,
Hungary, the
Czech Republic and the
United Kingdom. Continued interest in her rock music led to further album releases, including 1988's ''
Let's Have a Party in Prague. The album was a collaborative studio LP with Czech performer Karel Zich and was released on the Supraphon label. She also continued releasing gospel material, such as Show Me the Way to Calvary (1981) on the Christian World label and Teach Me to Love (1984) on Vine Records. She also issued new collections of country recordings, such as Classy Country'' on Amethyst Records (1988). In the 1990s, Jackson was informed of rockabilly's resurgence in the United States by country artist
Rosie Flores. The two visited at Jackson's home where Flores played several rockabilly records and informed her the growing American fan-base. A friendship developed between the two performers and Jackson later appeared on Flores's album
Rockabilly Filly (1995). Following the album's release, the pair embarked on a five-week North American tour. Jackson was surprised to find that her audience was young and the venues were at times uncomfortable: "It was kind of eye-opening. Even though the rooms were a little frightening, the audiences couldn't have been sweeter," she stated. In the mid 1990s, Jackson also collaborated with
The Alligators for studio releases on the Success and Elap labels: ''
Let's Have a Party (1995) and The Queen of Rock' a 'Billy'' (1997). In 2001, Jackson played at the Rockabilly Festival in
Jackson, Tennessee alongside The Cadillac Angels. In October 2003,
CMH Records released her first American rock album in several decades titled
Heart Trouble. She recalled in her autobiography that the project was originally intended to be a
bluegrass collection. After word spread that Jackson would record an album, several rock musicians contacted the label about joining the production. Musicians that collaborated on the CD included Rosie Flores,
The Cramps and
Elvis Costello. Charlotte Robinson of
PopMatters called the album a "triumphant return" despite the fact that it "uses the same gimmicks as lesser 'comeback' albums." In January 2006,
Goldenlane Records issued Jackson's forty-third studio album, titled
I Remember Elvis. The disc was dedicated to Elvis Presley, who she paid tribute to in the liner notes: "Without the encouragement of Elvis, I may have never recorded rock and roll. So this tribute is just my way of saying thank you to a dear friend." The project received a positive response from Mark Deming of AllMusic, who wrote, "
I Remember Elvis is something short of revelatory, but it is a sincere and loving tribute to an influential artist from someone who learned from him first-hand.
Slant Magazine gave the collection a three-star rating and praised Jackson's vocals while noting that the arrangements lacked distinction from Presley's originals.
2007–2021: Collaborations and retirement Jackson continued a busy touring schedule in the late 2000's. This included several performances in
London, England and a popular gig in
Santa Barbara, California. She also collaborated with Jerry Lee Lewis and
Linda Gail Lewis for performances at the
London Forum during this time. Following her 2009 induction into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Jackson was approached by rock musician
Jack White to record her next album. The pair exchanged song ideas virtually and met for the first time in 2010 to record the album. Jackson did not think she would "see eye to eye" with White, who was used to recording "contemporary rock-style music". It became Jackson's first album to chart the
Billboard 200 all-genre list, peaking at number 58. It also became her first disc to make the
Billboard Top Rock Albums chart, where it climbed to number 17. The record received a three-star rating from Allmusic's
Stephen Thomas Erlewine who argued that White's influence overshadowed Jackson's musical image. Erlewine did praise Jackson's vocals and found several tracks that felt like "they belong to her".
Rolling Stone's Jon Dolan gave the album three and half stars and called the track listing "superb". "Jackson’s not content to just remake the greats: Her slaying of Amy Winehouse's 'You Know I’m No Good' is a master class for her wild-child inheritors", Dolan concluded. In her autobiography Jackson recalled making several television appearances to promote the disc. This included performances on the
Late Show with David Letterman and
Conan. She also recalled taking the stage for the first time in decades at the Grand Ole Opry. Jackson did not think she could record an album better than her 2011 release. She was encouraged to return to the studio and collaborate with singer-songwriter
Justin Townes Earle. In her autobiography, Jackson reflected that her voice was "not in top form" during the album's recording. She blamed a long concert schedule for her vocal quality. In October 2012,
Sugar Hill Records released the project titled
Unfinished Business. It included liner notes written by
Stephen King. The CD peaked at number 61 on the
Billboard Top Country Albums chart in 2012, becoming her first disc in 39 years to reach a peak position there. Mark Deming of AllMusic gave the project a positive response in his review: "
Unfinished Business shows that six decades after her first recordings, that strategy still works, and she can still deliver the goods without a lot of needless fuss." Greg Kot of the
Chicago Tribune found the album was better-suited to Jackson's musical roots compared to previous release, praising her vocal quality and Earle's production. In 2017, Jackson's autobiography titled ''Every Night is Saturday Night: A Country Girl's Journey to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame'' was published. Co-written by Jackson and Scott Bomar, it was published by
BMG Music and featured a foreword by Elvis Costello. According to an interview, Jackson had attempted an autobiography but found the writing "didn't come out well". Working with Bomar made Jackson feel more comfortable with writing a book. The launch was honored by a party, signing and performance at the
Grammy Museum. Jackson played a handful of 2018 shows before announcing her retirement in March 2019. She told
Rolling Stone that a previously undisclosed stroke was partially to blame, along with additional "health and safety concerns". Jackson announced that the project would be her last album.
Encore featured songs co-written by Nashville songwriters like
Will Hoge and
Lori McKenna. It received a positive review from Mark Deming of AllMusic who gave it 3.5 stars: "Clocking in at a very 1950s 25 minutes,
Encore doesn't feel like a major event and it doesn't add a great deal to the Wanda Jackson story, but it's a welcome reminder that the first truly great female rocker is still among us and hasn't surrendered to time," he concluded.
American Songwriter commented that Jackson "sets the standard, and even in her seventh decade of making music, that confidence and control remain readily apparent." ==Artistry==