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Sheree Jeacocke is a Toronto, Ontario singer, songwriter, session vocalist, and pop recording artist whose career moved through Canadian television, commercial studio work, major-label pop, and 1990s dance music. Known professionally as Sheree during her best-known recording period, she brought together a strong lead voice, polished pop instincts, and the versatility of a working studio singer.
Jeacocke first came to wider attention in the early 1980s through television and session work. She appeared in the CBC-TV musical The King of Friday Night and became a familiar voice in Toronto’s professional studio scene, singing backing vocals for artists including Gordon Lightfoot, Rita MacNeil, Glass Tiger, and Kim Mitchell. She also became highly active in commercial music, recording jingles for Canadian broadcast advertising during a period when national campaigns often relied on the country’s top studio vocalists. Her commercial work became an important part of her career, giving her both financial stability and a regular presence in Canadian popular media even outside the record charts.
Her first known single, “Maybe You’ve Gotta Hurt,” appeared in 1982, followed by “You Get To Me” in 1985. That same period led to her debut album, Feel It, released in 1985. The album introduced Jeacocke as a polished Canadian pop-rock vocalist and helped earn her a Juno Award nomination for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year in 1986.
Jeacocke’s breakthrough as a solo artist came after signing with BMG/RCA for her self-titled album Sheree, released in Canada in 1989. The album placed her in a sophisticated late-1980s pop setting, drawing on dance-pop, synth-pop, adult contemporary, and studio R&B elements. It also surrounded her with a strong group of Canadian and international musicians, arrangers, and producers, including Lou Pomanti, Fred Zarr, David Bendeth, Kevan McKenzie, Guido Basso, Vern Dorge, Bashiri Johnson, Fonzi Thornton, Joel Feeney, and others.
The album’s defining single was “Woman’s Work,” written by Sheree Jeacocke, Lou Pomanti, and B.J. Cook. The song became Jeacocke’s biggest hit as a lead artist, reaching the Canadian Top 10 in February 1990, and remains the recording most closely associated with her name.
“Woman’s Work” also travelled beyond its original Canadian release. In 1990, Jeacocke participated in the Japanese film soundtrack Best Guy, performing “Best Guy,” “Woman’s Work,” “Bang On,” and “Where Do We Go From Here?” The soundtrack was released by BMG Victor in Japan, further extending her catalogue outside Canada. The song was later recorded by other artists, including Tina Arena, giving it a second life beyond Jeacocke’s own version.
In 1993, Jeacocke released her third album, Miss My Love, continuing in a polished pop and dance-pop direction. The album produced the singles “Miss My Love” and “Serious,” but it would become her final major-label album. After her BMG period ended, she independently issued the 1995 EP Jeacocke, which included a new version of “Woman’s Work” and a remake of Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff.”
The club response to “Mr. Big Stuff” led Jeacocke further into dance music. During the mid-1990s she recorded under variations of her name and under pseudonyms, including J-Cock and Deeva, and was associated with Eurodance and club-oriented releases including versions of “First Time,” “Come Together,” “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” and “We Will Rock You.” She also worked in connection with Pleasure Beat during this period.
Jeacocke eventually stepped away from the recording industry as a frontline artist, but her career captures several overlapping sides of Canadian pop music in the 1980s and 1990s: the CBC television musical world, the Toronto studio-vocalist circuit, the national jingle industry, major-label pop, Japanese soundtrack licensing, and the dance-club remix culture that followed. Today she is also known professionally as Sheree Cerqua.
-Robert Williston
Gallery
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Media
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Credits
Musicians
Sheree Jeacocke: vocals, backing vocals, vocal arrangements
Michael Dunston: backing vocals on ‘Before We Fall’
Fonzi Thornton: backing vocals on ‘Before We Fall’, ‘Forever You, Forever Me’, ‘Heart Stand Still’, and ‘Big Time Love’; duet vocals on ‘Forever You, Forever Me’
Joel Feeney: backing vocals on ‘Woman’s Work’, ‘Bang On’, ‘Forever You, Forever Me’, and ‘Heart Stand Still’
John Rutledge: backing vocals on ‘Before We Fall’, ‘Woman’s Work’, ‘I Dream About You’, and ‘Big Time Love’
Shawne Jackson: backing vocals on ‘Forever You, Forever Me’
David Blamires: backing vocals on ‘Bang On’ and ‘I Dream About You’
Asher Horowitz: guitar on ‘Before We Fall’, ‘Woman’s Work’, ‘Bang On’, ‘Heart Stand Still’, ‘Exceptional Lovers’, ‘I Dream About You’, and ‘Heartache’
Ira Siegel: guitar on ‘Bang On’, ‘Forever You, Forever Me’, ‘Exceptional Lovers’, ‘Too Much Talk’, and ‘Heartache’
David Bendeth: guitar on ‘Heart Stand Still’
Scott Alexander: bass on ‘Woman’s Work’ and ‘I Dream About You’
Matt Malles: bass on ‘Forever You, Forever Me’
Kevan McKenzie: live drums on ‘Before We Fall’, ‘Woman’s Work’, ‘Bang On’, ‘Forever You, Forever Me’, ‘Heart Stand Still’, ‘Too Much Talk’, and ‘Heartache’; acoustic drums on ‘I Dream About You’; percussion on ‘Heart Stand Still’; cymbal on ‘Exceptional Lovers’; programming on ‘Before We Fall’
Bashiri Johnson: percussion on ‘Bang On’, ‘Forever You, Forever Me’, ‘Too Much Talk’, and ‘Heartache’
Fred Zarr: keyboards on ‘Bang On’, ‘Forever You, Forever Me’, ‘Exceptional Lovers’, ‘Too Much Talk’, and ‘Heartache’; additional keyboards on ‘Woman’s Work’ and ‘Woman’s Work (Dance Mix)’; synthesizer programming on ‘Bang On’, ‘Forever You, Forever Me’, ‘Exceptional Lovers’, ‘Too Much Talk’, and ‘Heartache’
Lou Pomanti: keyboards on ‘Woman’s Work’, ‘Heart Stand Still’, and ‘I Dream About You’; Synclavier programming on ‘Before We Fall’
Steve Skinner: synthesizer programming on ‘Heart Stand Still’ and ‘Big Time Love’
Scott Humphrey: additional programming on ‘Woman’s Work’
Blade: programming on ‘Woman’s Work (Dance Mix)’
Bruce Gregg: horns on ‘Before We Fall’ and ‘Woman’s Work’
Rick Waychesko: horns on ‘Before We Fall’ and ‘Woman’s Work’
Jeff Smith: saxophone solo on ‘Woman’s Work’
Guido Basso: trumpet on ‘Bang On’ and ‘Forever You, Forever Me’; horns on ‘Heartache’
Vern Dorge: saxophone on ‘Too Much Talk’; horns on ‘Heartache’
Songwriting
‘Before We Fall’ written by Lou Pomanti and Sheree Jeacocke
‘Woman’s Work’ written by Lou Pomanti, Sheree Jeacocke, and B.J. Cook
‘Bang On’ songwriter not listed
‘Forever You, Forever Me’ written by Sheree Jeacocke
‘Heart Stand Still’ written by Sheree Jeacocke
‘Exceptional Lovers’ written by Sheree Jeacocke
‘I Dream About You’ written by Lou Pomanti and Sheree Jeacocke
‘Big Time Love’ written by Sheree Jeacocke
‘Too Much Talk’ written by Sheree Jeacocke
‘Heartache’ written by Sheree Jeacocke
‘Woman’s Work (Dance Mix)’ written by Lou Pomanti, Sheree Jeacocke, and B.J. Cook
Production
Produced by Lou Pomanti on ‘Before We Fall’, ‘Woman’s Work’, ‘I Dream About You’, and ‘Woman’s Work (Dance Mix)’
Produced by Fred Zarr on ‘Bang On’, ‘Exceptional Lovers’, ‘Too Much Talk’, and ‘Heartache’
Produced by David Bendeth on ‘Forever You, Forever Me’, ‘Heart Stand Still’, and ‘Big Time Love’
Additional production and remix on ‘Woman’s Work (Dance Mix)’ by The K-Bros
Arranged by Lou Pomanti on ‘Before We Fall’, ‘Woman’s Work’, and ‘I Dream About You’
Arranged by Fred Zarr on ‘Bang On’, ‘Forever You, Forever Me’, and ‘Exceptional Lovers’
Arranged by Joel Feeney and Scott Humphrey on ‘Heart Stand Still’
Arranged by Gerald O’Brien on ‘Exceptional Lovers’, ‘Too Much Talk’, and ‘Heartache’
Arranged by Eric Beale on ‘Big Time Love’
Vocal arrangements by Sheree Jeacocke
Engineered by Don Feinberg, Earl Torno, Jerry Solomon, and Lenny DeRose
Assistant engineered by Bill Esses, Darren Millar, and Matthew Malles
‘Woman’s Work (Dance Mix)’ mixed by Earl Torno
Sequenced by Joe Primeau
Mastered by Howie Weinberg
Management by David J. Platel
Artwork
Design by Martin Soldat
Photography by Dimo Safari
Manufacturing
Made by / fabriqué par Disque Americ, Canada
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