Susan Jacks Singing ‘Which Way Are You Going’ Billy Dies At 73


Susan Jacks, a Canadian vocalist best known for her 1969 hit with The Poppy Family, “Which way are you going Billy?” One of Canada’s best-selling records to that time died on April 25 in Surrey, British Columbia. He was 73 years old.

His brother Rick Pesklevits said in a speech: Facebook post On behalf of the family, he said that the cause was kidney disease. He said he died in the hospital and was on the waiting list for his second kidney transplant.

As a teenager, Miss Jacks was a regular on the Canadian show “Music Hop” when she needed an accompanist for a show at an Elks Club in 1966 and turned to Terry Jacks, who had played guitar on the show. They married soon after, formed the Poppy Family, and wrote “What Way You Goin’ Billy?”, a song sung by Mr. Jacks, who wrote it, was inspired by young men going to war in Vietnam.

Mrs. Jacks said, “Which way are you going, Billy?” said. “Can I go too? Which way are you going, Billy? Can I go with you?”

The song reached #1 in Canada and #2 in the United States soon after.

The Poppy Family and Jacks marriage broke up a few years later and dueling stories about “Billy” came out later. The song originally “Which Way Are You Going Buddy?” but Mrs Jacks said Mr Jacks suggested that she use the name of one of her siblings instead. However, Mr. Jacks said in interviews that he got “Billy” from a song by Beau-Marks, a band he admires. “Billy, Billy Takes a Walk.”

What is indisputable is that Mrs. Jacks’ brother Billy played a unique role for her: She donated the organ for her first kidney transplant in 2010, which breathed new life into her.

“For the first time in years, I had rosy cheeks,” he told The Vancouver Sun while performing a fundraising concert for the Canadian Kidney Foundation in Coquitlam, British Columbia, a year after the surgery. Raising awareness about kidney disease and donations had become a cause for her.

“I didn’t know anything about kidney failure,” she said, until she was affected. “I didn’t know anything about transplants. I was very uneducated about how important this is and how important it is to people.”

Susan Elizabeth Pesklevits was born on August 19, 1948, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, to Janette and Dick Pesklevits. She started singing as a child, performing with school bands. She said her mother saw an audition for “Music Hop” and became a regular in 1964. She also toured with a stage version of the show She.

The Nanaimo Daily News of British Columbia wrote of a performance of “Music Hop: “Lovingly called upon by the band members, Sue can sway to a hip melody as well as hum emotional ballads like ‘Summertime’. ” Road community in 1966.

He had a few other minor successes before the Poppy Family disbanded. Ms. Jacks has released several solo albums, including “Ghosts” (1980). In 1983 she moved to Nashville, where she worked as a songwriter with her second husband, Ted Dushinski, and ran a pirogi restaurant for a time. She returned to Vancouver in 2004.

Mr. Dushinski died of cancer in 2005, just as Ms. Jacks learned that her kidneys had failed.

Ms. Jacks is survived by a son, Thad Dushinski, from her second marriage, and six siblings, Rick, Gerry, Wayne, Bill, Cathy, and Jim.



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