Thread by @CraigBaird

It is #PrideMonth and this is the story of Jackie Shane, a pioneering transgender performer in Canada!

Jackie Shane was born in Nashville on May 15, 1940. In the 1950s, she began to perform in make-up with long hair. In 1959, she moved to Ontario by joining a carnival.

🧵1/5

In 1960, she started to perform at the Esquire Show Bar in Montreal & became the lead vocalist for Frank Motley & his Motley Crew.
Writing about her performances, media always called her a man wearing women's clothing.
She continued to find success in music.

🧵2/5

She released Money (That's What I Want) in 1962, followed by Any Other Way, which was a hit nationally for her and the band.
She continued to perform in the 1960s but less so after 1970. She turned down an offer to join George Clinton's Funkadelic as well.

🧵3/5

She kept in touch with Frank Motley into the 1990s but media incorrectly reported she had been stabbed to death, or died by suicide, at various points that decade.
By the 2010s, interest in her music began to grow with a documentary by CBC Radio's Inside The Music.

🧵4/5

Jackie Shane Live was re-issued in 2011 & in 2015 was nominated for a Polaris Music Prize.
In 2019, she gave an interview to CBC's Q program. She died in her sleep soon after on Feb. 21, 2019.
In 2022, a heritage Minute was released about her life

🧵5/5