Episode 203. Jobriath and Jackie (Pride 2023)

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Today’s Pride 2023 episode focuses on two pathbreaking pop artists from the 1960s and 1970s, who were undervalued or even reviled at the time in which they were active, but whose contribution, importance, and influence on today’s pop music scene is indisputable. In reverse chronological order, Bruce Wayne Campbell (1946–1983), a brilliant if emotionally unstable pianist, composer, and singer, was refashioned by a 1970s entrepreneur/Svengali named Jerry Brandt, into the would-be pop icon Jobriath. Brandt secured Jobriath a lucrative deal with Elektra Records and plastered Jobriath’s face (and body) all over the media, including a huge billboard at Times Square and trumpeted him as “rock’s truest fairy,” (in contrast to pretenders or closeted figures like David Bowie, Marc Almond, and Elton John). The relentless overexposure, coupled with the unapologetic homophobia of the rock music scene, led to a spectacular fall from grace, and Jobriath’s premature death ad the age of 36, one of the earliest victims of the AIDS epidemic. By contast, Jackie Shane (1940–2019) was raised in a loving supportive environment, and announced her true gender to her mother at the age of 13. She went on to become first a fixture on the chitlin circuit, performing alongside such figures as Chubby Checker, Little Richard, and Etta James, finally establishing herself as one of the premier figures on the Toronto music scene in the 1960s. Jackie’s career also had its ups and downs, its near-misses, and was marred by catastrophic associations with various toxic males. As a result, she finally walked away from her massive local celebrity in 1971 and never looked back. But throughout her abbreviated career and beyond, she kept a strong sense of self and never allowed herself to be used or abused. Interest in Jackie surged in 2014 with the release of an elaborate CD retrospective which was subsequently nominated for an Emmy. Jackie was philosophical about this new interest in her work, but was grateful that she had not, as she had previously feared, been forgotten. Both of these artists are generously represented on the episode with musical examples that highlight their historical importance as well as their influence on future generations of queer musical artists that extends to the present day.

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

Reynaldo Hahn, Léopold Dauphin: Le rossignol des lilas. Rachel Yakar, Claude Lavoix [1988]

Rufus Thomas: Walking the Dog. Jackie Shane [live Night Train, WLAC-TV X.64]

The following selections are written and performed by Jobriath (né Bruce Wayne Campbell, AKA Jobriath Salisbury, Jobriath Boone, Cole Berlin) unless otherwise noted.

I’maman [live The Midnight Special 08.III.74, introduced by Gladys Knight]

Take Me I’m Yours [1973]

Galt MacDermot, Jerome Ragni, James Rado: Let the Sun Shine In (Hair). LA Cast of Hair, including Delores Hall, Jennifer Warnes, Gerome Ragni, James Rado, Teda Bracci, Jobriath (all pictured below) [The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, first telecast 24.XI.68]