Born in 1940 in Nashville, Jackie Shane is widely regarded as a pioneering trans artist in the genres of soul and R&B. While Shane started out performing locally in the United States, her career flourished after moving to Canada in 1959, where she became a fixture of the Toronto music scene, often performing at the city’s Saphire Tavern. (Her first hit was a cover of “Any Other Way” by American singer William Bell, which reached #2 on Toronto radio.)

Shane made occasional returns to the U.S., most notably to perform on Nashville’s WLAC-TV show Night Train, where she performed “Walking the Dog” by Rufus Thomas in 1965. (Shane was also invited to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show around this time; however, she declined, as the Ed Sullivan booking would have required her to present as male.)

Shane’s career faded after 1970; she moved to Los Angeles to care for her aging mother, who passed away around 1996, and turned down an offer to join George Clinton’s band Funkadelic. Bootlegs and live recordings were occasionally released without her involvement. For many years, it was unknown whether Shane was still alive or had passed away in the late 1990s; after CBC Radio aired the documentary I Got Mine about Shane’s life and career in 2010, she was subsequently located as living in Nashville.

In 2017, reissue label Numero Group released Any Other Way, a compilation of Shane’s music, and the first compilation with which she was personally involved. Any Other Way was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Historical Album category. The renewed attention led to Shane’s first interviews since the end of her performing career.

Shane passed away in her sleep at her home in Nashville in 2019. In 2022, Shane was chosen as the subject of a Canadian Heritage Minute short film. Earlier this year, a plaque honouring Shane was unveiled during Toronto Pride weekend on June 23, 2023, at the site of the former Saphire Tavern at Victoria and Richmond.