Susan Jacks, the Canadian singer best known for the ‘60s hit “Which Way You Goin’ Billy,” died Monday in a hospital in Surrey, B.C. following a battle with kidney disease. She was 73.
“She made some great recordings,” Burton Cummings wrote in a Facebook tribute. “My personal favourite song she ever sang was ‘Beyond The Clouds.’ … Her recordings will live forever … she had many that will remain with us forever. She was charming and down to earth.”
Jacks died while awaiting her second kidney transplant. Her first, with a kidney from brother Billy, was in 2010.
Born Susan Pesklevits in Saskatoon, she moved with her large family to Haney, B.C. when she was just nine years old. She started performing on stage and television as a teenager and became part of a trio called Eternal Triangle.
She then formed The Poppy Family with husband Terry Jacks and made it to No. 2 on the U.S. singles chart in 1969 with “Which Way You Goin’ Billy” as well as hits like like “That’s Where I Went Wrong” and “Where Evil Grows.”
Jacks focused on a solo career following the end of her marriage in 1973 after six years. She released five studio albums between 1973 and 1982 and earned several JUNO nominations. Singles like “You Don’t Know What Love Is” and “I Thought Of You Again” were Top 10 hits in Canada in the early ‘70s.
Jacks married CFL player Ted Dushinski in 1980 and the couple welcomed son Thad. The family relocated to Nashville, where Jacks worked as a songwriter. She returned to Canada in 2004. (Dushinski died of cancer in 2005.)
Jacks is survived by her son as well as five brothers, a sister and two half-brothers.
The photo of Susan Jacks used on this post has been colourized.