BC singer-songwriter Susan Jacks, lead vocalist of psych pop group the Poppy Family, has died. She was 73.
Jacks passed away on Monday (April 25) while awaiting a second kidney transplant at a Surrey hospital [via The Globe and Mail]. According to her older brother Rick Pesklevits, she had received her first kidney donation in 2010 from their brother Billy — the namesake of the Poppy Family's 1969 breakout hit "Which Way You Goin' Billy" — but had been placed on a waitlist for a new kidney due to recent infection-related complications.
Born Susan Pesklevits in Saskatoon to a family of eight, the musician met Terry Jacks while performing on CBC TV show Music Hop. The pair married in 1967 ahead of forming the Poppy Family with guitarist Craig McCaw in 1968. The title track of the group's debut album Which Way You Goin' Billy became an international smash, selling three million records worldwide and hitting No. 1 in Canada and No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. "Which Way You Goin' Billy" also earned two awards at the inaugural 1970 Juno Awards (then called the Gold Leaf Awards).
Their sophomore follow-up, 1971's Poppy Seeds, was the Poppy Family's last album. It included hits like "Where Evil Grows," which was used in the 2020 film Sonic the Hedgehog — chosen by Jim Carrey, who played the movie's villain Dr. Robotnik, because he remembered the song from childhood.
Burton Cummings paid tribute to the late Jacks on social media following news of her death. "I met Susan on my first trip to Vancouver way back in the Sixties. She made some great recordings," he wrote, adding that his favourite track was "Beyond the Clouds." The musician remembered his contemporary as "charming, warm and down-to-earth": "Her health had been failing in the last years and she has finally succumbed to physical problems. Her recordings will live forever."
Jacks is survived by a son, as well as a sister, five brothers and two half-brothers.
See Cummings' tribute below.
Jacks passed away on Monday (April 25) while awaiting a second kidney transplant at a Surrey hospital [via The Globe and Mail]. According to her older brother Rick Pesklevits, she had received her first kidney donation in 2010 from their brother Billy — the namesake of the Poppy Family's 1969 breakout hit "Which Way You Goin' Billy" — but had been placed on a waitlist for a new kidney due to recent infection-related complications.
Born Susan Pesklevits in Saskatoon to a family of eight, the musician met Terry Jacks while performing on CBC TV show Music Hop. The pair married in 1967 ahead of forming the Poppy Family with guitarist Craig McCaw in 1968. The title track of the group's debut album Which Way You Goin' Billy became an international smash, selling three million records worldwide and hitting No. 1 in Canada and No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. "Which Way You Goin' Billy" also earned two awards at the inaugural 1970 Juno Awards (then called the Gold Leaf Awards).
Their sophomore follow-up, 1971's Poppy Seeds, was the Poppy Family's last album. It included hits like "Where Evil Grows," which was used in the 2020 film Sonic the Hedgehog — chosen by Jim Carrey, who played the movie's villain Dr. Robotnik, because he remembered the song from childhood.
Burton Cummings paid tribute to the late Jacks on social media following news of her death. "I met Susan on my first trip to Vancouver way back in the Sixties. She made some great recordings," he wrote, adding that his favourite track was "Beyond the Clouds." The musician remembered his contemporary as "charming, warm and down-to-earth": "Her health had been failing in the last years and she has finally succumbed to physical problems. Her recordings will live forever."
Jacks is survived by a son, as well as a sister, five brothers and two half-brothers.
See Cummings' tribute below.
