Terry Jacks recovering from stroke
B.C. industry legend recognized symptoms while canoeing near Sunshine Coast home
B.C. music legend Terry Jacks is recuperating in hospital after suffering a stroke.
Jacks suffered the stroke two weeks ago near his home on the Sunshine Coast.
“He was canoeing with a friend,” said Jamie Anstey of Regenerator Records, which released a Jacks compilation last year.
“They went to get oysters nearby. He noticed his left arm wasn’t working — he was trying to pick up the oysters and they were slipping through his fingers. He said: ‘I think I’m having a stroke; we’ve got to get back.’ ”
An ambulance took him to Sechelt Hospital. He was transferred to Lion’s Gate in North Vancouver, where he had an operation Wednesday.
Anstey visited him in hospital Tuesday, which was Jacks’s 72nd birthday.
“I brought him some tasty food and a little birthday cake,” said Anstey.
“We had a nice visit for about half an hour. He’s very weak.”
After being out of the public eye for a couple of decades, Jacks released the compilation Starfish on the Beach last year.
He has also been working on a Christian music album. But how the stroke will affect his ability to play music remains to be seen.
Jacks had a bout with prostate cancer a few years ago, and also had knee surgery, but he seemed in excellent shape when he visited The Vancouver Sun last year.
“The cancer was a long time ago, and this knee works better than ever,” he said. “I swim a kilometre three times a week and I’m in better shape than I’ve ever been.”
Jacks was born in Winnipeg and moved to Vancouver as a kid. His first brush with fame was with the Poppy Family, a folk-pop quartet featuring his then-wife Susan Jacks.
The Poppy Family’s Which Way You Goin’ Billy was the first million-selling record out of Vancouver. Jacks’s solo hit Seasons in the Sun sold 14 million copies, which makes it one of the most successful singles of all time.