Wanda LaVonne Jackson (born October 20, 1937) is an American singer and songwriter. Since the 1950s, she has recorded and released music in the genres of rock, country and gospel. She was among the first women to have a career in rock and roll, recording a series of 1950s singles that helped give her the nickname "The Queen of Rockabilly". She is also counted among the first female stars in the genre of country music.
Jackson began performing as a child and later had her own radio show in Oklahoma City. She was then discovered by country singer Hank Thompson, who helped her secure a recording contract with Decca Records in 1954. At Decca, Jackson had her first hit single with the country song "You Can't Have My Love". She began touring the following year with Elvis Presley. The two briefly dated and Presley encouraged her to record in the rockabilly style. In 1956, Jackson signed with Capitol Records where she was given full permission to record both country and rockabilly. The label released a string of Jackson's rock singles, including "Fujiyama Mama", "Mean Mean Man" and the top 40 hit "Let's Have a Party".
In the 1960s, Jackson moved back to the country genre and had several charting singles during the decade. This included "Right or Wrong", "In the Middle of a Heartache", "Tears Will Be the Chaser for Your Wine" and "A Woman Lives for Love". In addition, she also recorded several selections for the German language market overseas. In 1965, the German single "Santo Domingo" reached number one on the Austrian pop chart. After re-discovering Christianity in 1971, Jackson made gospel music a priority in her career. She left Capitol Records in 1973 and signed with Word Records to focus more on the gospel circuit. Over the next two decades, she released a series of gospel records.
In 1984, Jackson was sought out by European promoters to tour overseas. The same year, she released her first rock album in two decades and launched a new career in the genre. In the 1990s, her rock records were noticed again by American audiences and she began touring alongside fellow Rockabilly artist Rosie Flores. During this period, she released several commercially acclaimed albums in the rock and roll style, including Heart Trouble (2003) and I Remember Elvis (2006). Following her 2009 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Jackson collaborated with musician Jack White to record the commercially successful The Party Ain't Over. For several years, she kept a busy touring schedule before announcing her retirement from performing in 2019. She released her 32nd and final studio project, Encore, in 2021.
Jackson was the only child of Tom and Nellie Jackson in Maud, Oklahoma. Her father worked multiple jobs, including a gas station attendant and delivery truck driver. He also played music in a local band alongside his brother. Because of limited opportunities in Maud, the family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1941. Jackson often sang alongside her parents at home. Nellie Jackson often had Jackson sing while she was out of sight, to ensure her daughter was accounted for. In Los Angeles, Jackson was introduced to western swing music. She enjoyed hearing music by popular western acts like Bob Wills and Rose Maddox. When she was six years old, her father introduced Jackson to the guitar. She also took guitar lessons and was soon skillful enough to play it alongside her father.
In the mid-1940s, the family relocated to Bakersfield, California, where Tom Jackson took a job as a barber. She also took piano lessons and continued to play the guitar. During this period, she began having trouble with academics. Jackson recalled the experience in her autobiography: "All I wanted to do was sing and play music, and it was impossible for me to sit still." When Jackson was nine, the family moved back to their home state, this time living in Oklahoma City. Her father found employment as a taxi cab driver and her mother worked on an air force base.
In Oklahoma City, Jackson sang in the local Baptist church and engaged in more performance opportunities. She auditioned for the local radio station, KLPR, after being pressured by peers. She was featured on one program, which impressed the station's disc jockey, who encouraged her to audition for a second KLPR contest. Jackson won the second contest at KLPR, which allotted Jackson her own 15-minute radio segment. On the show, Jackson performed a set of country songs and recalled having little understanding of how to host a radio show. "I was flying by the seat of my pants, but it didn't scare me to get out on a limb and try something brand new. I liked it," she explained in her biography.
As a teenager, Jackson attended Capitol Hill High School in Oklahoma City and continued her radio show. She also dated fellow student Leonard Sipes, who would later go by the name Tommy Collins. In 1952, Jackson was heard on the air by country singer and local resident, Hank Thompson. The singer invited Jackson to perform with him at the Trianon Ballroom in Oklahoma City. On Thompson's show, Jackson sang "Blue Yodel No. 6" backed by his band, the Brazos Valley Boys. The performance led to a regular gig singing alongside Merl Lindsay's country band. Jackson was always performing, and at times neglected her social life. "[Wanda] never had time for dates, nothing like that. Just that guitar – that's all she thought about," a high school friend recalled.
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 reached the top-10, climbing to number eight on the US country songs 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.
Instead of touring, Jackson started her senior year in fall 1954 and finished high school. She was part of the school band and acted in the musical Anything Goes. In March 1955, she returned to the recording studio, this time working with Paul Cohen at the Decca studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Jackson also did her first performance on the Grand Ole Opry while in town. For the performance, her mother made a dress fitted with spaghetti straps and a sweetheart neckline. Host Ernest Tubb told her it was unacceptable, so she covered it with a fringe jacket. She later recalled hearing fellow Opry members making negative comments about her while she was onstage. "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.