10/09/2026
This LGBTQ+ History Month, we honor Jackie Shane, a Black trans soul singer who lived boldly and openly at a time when the world offered her little room to do so.
Born in Nashville in 1940, Jackie left the Jim Crow South as a young performer and found her stage in Toronto in the 1960s. There she became a star of the city’s rhythm and blues scene, known for her powerful voice, her magnetic presence, and the honesty she brought to every performance. Her 1962 single “Any Other Way” became a hit, and her 1967 live album captured an artist fully in command of who she was.
In the early 1970s, Jackie stepped away from public life, and for decades her story was nearly lost. In 2017, a collection of her recordings brought her music to a new generation and earned a Grammy nomination. She passed in 2019, having lived long enough to see her legacy reclaimed.
Jackie reminds us that trans people have always been here, creating, performing, and shaping culture, even when history failed to record it.
