Queen of Rockabilly Jackson is chosen for Hall of Fame

By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer
Published: 1/10/2009 2:23 AM
Last Modified: 1/10/2009 2:27 AM


Native Oklahoman Wanda Jackson will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Jeremy Charles for the Tulsa World

Maud native Wanda Jackson, also known as the Queen of Rockabilly and the First Lady of Rock, confirmed Friday that she will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

As first reported on tulsaworld.com, Jackson also said she will perform at the May 4 ceremony in Cleveland, Ohio. She will be the first female Oklahoman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"This is the big one," she told the Tulsa World on Friday in a telephone interview from her Oklahoma City home. "It's turning out to be more exciting than I thought it would be.

"The main reason I wanted this is because the people I love have worked so hard to make this happen. I may get the award, but my husband and fans and people who have done so much for me all these years deserve all the credit."

Jackson is widely credited with being the first woman to record a rock 'n' roll song, with "Let's Have a Party" in 1958. She also dated a young Elvis Presley, who convinced her to cross over from country to rock and rockabilly music. She still performs all over the world, and her "biggest fans" include music icons such as Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello and Lemmy Kilmister of heavy metal act Motorhead.

Other nominees for induction
to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame include Jeff Beck, Chic, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Metallica, Run-DMC, The Stooges and War. Five will likely be inducted.

Jackson's husband and manager, Wendell Goodman, said the Hall of Fame will make an official announcement with the full list of inductees early next week.

Of her husband, Jackson said, "Today, I have two reasons to celebrate. Wendell went into the emergency room last week with internal bleeding. We almost lost him," she said softly. "It was a tough week."

She even did something she rarely does: She canceled a tour gig.

"But now he's home, and he's doing great."

In fact, when Goodman got the news of Jackson's impending induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he kept it a secret and planned a party for her.

"We had the family over for the Sooners game," she said. Though her team lost the FedEx BCS National Championship Game, Jackson won something far more romantic.

"He brought in three dozen pink roses, and we broke out some sparkling cider and wine. Then he told me," she said. "Then he said he actually found out yesterday at noon. How he kept that secret the whole day amazes me," she said and laughed.

Jackson was discovered by her country music idol, Hank Thompson, when she was only 15, as she played songs live on Oklahoma City radio station KLPR.

In a November interview with the Tulsa World, she reminisced, "I got a phone call at the station after the show. They said 'A man is on the phone,' so I assumed it was Daddy. I picked up the phone, and it was Hank Thompson," she said, a little breathless. "I nearly fainted."

Soon, she was signed to Decca Records and had a hit single, "You Can't Have My Love," a duet with Thompson's bandleader Billy Gray.

"I was bigger than Elvis for about that long," she said with a snap of her fingers. "But those were the early days."

From there, she soon met — and dated — Elvis Presley, who convinced her that she could possibly change music history with her trademark growls and unique vocal style. Her now-signature song "Let's Have a Party" followed, along with "Fujiama Mama," "I Gotta Know," "Mean Mean Man," "Rock Your Baby," "Funnel of Love" and more.

And, during a period when country and early rockabilly singers wore button-up shirts with pearl snaps, long skirts and cowboy boots, Jackson and her mother bucked tradition by designing spaghetti-strapped dresses with multiple, curve-intensifying rows of undulating fringe.

She still tours the world, singing her hits, and has said she's considering recording another album. In 2006, she recorded and released the tribute to her former boyfriend and muse with her album "I Remember Elvis."

In the 2008 documentary "The Sweet Lady with the Nasty Voice," Bruce Springsteen summed up his fascination with the legendary singer:

"There's an authenticity in the voice that conjures up a world, a very distinctive place and time, that is so specifically American," Springsteen said.

It's an ageless time, one that Jackson embodies, and one that she said she can't imagine ever leaving.

"Me? Retire?" she asked rhetorically back in November. "Never."

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Welp, like Sammy Hagar and John Mellencamp, we have another one who has leaked info, lol.