Jackie DeShannon - What The World Needs Now

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Jackie DeShannon (born Sharon Lee Myers on August 21, 1944 in Hazel, Kentucky[1]), is an American singer-songwriter with a string of hit song credits from the 1960s onwards. She was one of the first female singer-songwriters of the rock 'n' roll period.

Sharon Myers adopted the name Jackie DeShannon, believed to be the name of an Irish ancestor. Executives at Liberty Records thought the name Sharon Myers would not help sell records. In a Fresh Air interview (June 14, 2010)[2] , Jackie said that in discussion with the executives she chose "Jackie" as a cross gender name, since as she had a low voice she could be heard as either male or female, and as a male she was more attractive and more likely to sell to the mostly females who bought records at that time. When she found the initial name Jackie Dee was too similar to Brenda Lee, Sandra Dee, et al, she changed it to Jackie Dee Shannon which people heard as DeShannon and so it finally became DeShannon.

Moving to New York, DeShannon co-wrote with Randy Newman, producing such songs as "She Don't Understand Him" and "Did He Call Today Mama?", as well as writing "You Have No Choice" for Delaney Bramlett. In March 1965, DeShannon recorded Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "What the World Needs Now Is Love," which led to club tours and regular appearances on television and went to #7 on the U.S. charts and #1 in Canada. (DeShannon's recording of the song was subsequently used in the 1969 film Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice.) She appeared in the 1967 film C'mon Let's Live a Little, with Bobby Vee, as a folk singer.

DeShannon continued writing and recording but it was not until 1969 that she scored her next biggest smash single and album, both entitled "Put a Little Love in Your Heart". The single sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[4] The single "Love Will Find A Way" from the same album was also a moderate hit. Switching to Atlantic Records in 1970 and moving to Los Angeles, DeShannon recorded the critically acclaimed albums Jackie and Your Baby Is A Lady, but they failed to produce the same commercial success as previous releases. In 1973, she was invited by Van Morrison to sing on his Hard Nose the Highway album.

"Put A Little Love In Your Heart" was performed as the closing number at the Music for UNICEF Concert, broadcast worldwide from the United Nations General Assembly in 1979.