Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to today's episode of Red Eye. I'm Jane Williams. On the podcast today, I speak with Michael Mabbitt and Luca Rosenberg Lee, co -directors of Any Other Way, the Jackie Shane story.
Speaker: Jackie Shane was one of Soul and R &B's first black trans performers. She was born in 1940 in Nashville and began her music career as a young teen, initially as a drummer, as well as a vocalist. Her incredible voice took her across North America, but she found a home in Toronto in the 1960s, performing sold out shows almost every night.
Speaker: In 1971, Shane disappeared from the spotlight. While she eventually re -emerged in the 2010s, even earning a 2019 Grammy Award nomination for a reissue of her music, there were still many questions surrounding her life and career.
Speaker: Michael Mabbitt and Luca Rosenberg -Lee's latest documentary, Any Other Way, The Jackie Shane Story, tells the story of Shane's life, largely in her own words. Michael Mabbitt and Luca Rosenberg -Lee join me now. Hello to both of you. Hello. Hello. So how did you find out about Jackie Shane? Let me start with you, Michael.
Speaker: I found out about Jackie Shane when I heard her incredible live album that she recorded in Toronto.
Speaker: in the mid -60s called Jackie Shane Live. And I actually heard a bootleg of that about 12 years ago. And I had never heard of her, never heard the music. And the fact that this was happening in my town, my country, and I was completely unaware, I was just blown away. I mean, it was one of the greatest albums I'd ever heard. It was one of those albums that, you know, she was talking directly to me. It was a very intimate experience. It was a joyful experience.
Speaker: And I just couldn't believe and didn't understand how I had never heard of Jackie before. And all that I knew about her and all that most people know about her was she was a black trans woman that was born in Nashville, came to Toronto and was a bona fide star. And then in 1971, she
Speaker: disappeared and was gone. And there was after hearing that, I started doing a bit of investigating to try to find something about her. And there was just nothing. There was just rumors. And so I was I needed to know who this woman was and what happened to her. So that was the introduction to her was her incredible album. And Luca, how about you?
Speaker: I first heard about her actually from Michael, which I was kind of surprised about when he asked me to work on this film with him. He said, have you heard of Jackie Shane? And I said, no. And as I said, I was surprised because I was, I'm a black trans person myself. And I thought that, you know, I would know about a lot of the black trans history, but much like her nieces who we have in the film who didn't know about her, you know, her own family.
Speaker: Wasn't even aware of what happened or some of them had never even heard of her and I think
