 About Jackie
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JACKIE PEARSON
BANKSTON Jackie began her professional music career in August of 1980, just a few short months after graduating from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Theory and Composition. In the last 31 years, she hasn't stopped. After playing in pubs, piano bars, restaurants and hotels throughout the mid-South in the early 80's, Jackie landed a job at the prestigious Pat O'Brien's (the world's first and longest lasting two piano club) in New Orleans, Louisiana. Jackie spent 7 years in and out of New Orleans at the dueling gig. In 1990, she was one of three women to recreate that scene at the Rio Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The act played the hotel for 4 months. In 1991, Jackie began her worldwide treks, playing hotel piano bars throughout Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Bahrain and Thailand. In between her Scandinavian treks in 1992-1994 she joined the team at the first franchise of Pat O'Brien's, opened in Cancun, Mexico. Winters in Cancun, summers in Sweden. Hmmmm....not a bad way to live! In the summer of 1996 Jackie joined several other players to start a dueling show at the Panama City Brewery and Cafe in Panama City, Florida and was a member of that successful team until the summer of 1998. Twice more, Jackie entertained in Las Vegas in dueling acts, at the Naughty Ladies Saloon at Arizona Charlie's Hotel and Casino and at Main Street Station. From the fall of 1998 until the fall of 2001, Jackie was busy keeping folks on the river smiling. As an Engine Room Bar entertainer onboard the American Queen, of the famed Delta Queen Steamboat Company, she traveled the rivers of the heartland of America, telling jokes and serenading the passengers up and down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. In 2000, she released her first cd and launched her website, www.jackiebankston.com When hard times befell the riverboats temporarily she embarked on yet another exciting adventure. In January of 2002, Jackie joined the Wind Spirit, a 4-masted sailing schooner of Wind Star Cruise Lines (owned at that time by Holland America Cruise Line), for a 13-week stint as a solo performer. She entertained on cruises from Costa Rica, through the Panama Canal, touching a few countries along the northernmost tip of South America, and on over to the Caribbean to begin her island hopping! After her return to the U.S., she rejoined the dueling circuit, putting in appearances at DJ's Dugout in Omaha, Nebraska, and at Bricktown Keys in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, until she returned to the rivers in January of 2003. Jackie recorded her second cd entitled “It’s Me Again” during 2003 - a live performance onboard the American Queen and filled with her unmistakable style of humor and song. Her “shows” in the Engine Room Bar on the American Queen developed from a concept of having theme nights. She said if she had “theme nights” she didn’t have to decide what song to play next! Jackie took these theme nights and turned them into full-blown shows filled with music and jokes. Her favorites are country night, full of redneck humor, and 70’s night, full of MALE BASHING jokes, and one she likes to call “Alphabet Soup” where the audience gets to request their way through the alphabet! 2004 had Jackie once again rolling on the river and entertaining passengers in the Engine Room Bar aboard the American Queen. She returned to that stage for another season with the Delta Queen Steamboat Company in 2005. Due to Hurricane Katrina and its impact Jackie finished that season performing on the company’s Magnificent Mississippi Queen with a trio in the famed Paddlewheel Lounge. Jackie was the featured entertainment for the Miss. Business Journal’s Woman of the Year luncheon in January of 2005, where she performed and spoke about being a successful businesswoman. She was also a headliner for Senior Citizens’ Day at the Miss. State Fair in October of that same year. In 2006, she decided to discover the Pacific Northwest and spread her wings a little. Her work took her to the Empress of the North, another riverboat. This one traveled the Columbia, Snake and Willamette Rivers through Oregon, Idaho and Washington. The summer season was spent cruising the inside passage of Alaska. This vessel was a part of America West Steamboat Company. However, during 2006 both America West and Delta Queen were purchased by Ambassadors International and joined together to form a new small ship luxury line known as Majestic America Line. 2007 started off with adventure onboard the Empress of the North and the spring found the “Princess of the Piano” back on her throne in the Engine Room Bar aboard the Grand American Queen in the heartland of this great country, traversing the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. With hard times financially, Ambassadors International decided to focus their attention on their other cruise line, Windstar, which they had purchased from Holland America Line in 2007. The riverboats ceased operations in early November of 2008, much to the dismay of many people, including Jackie. However, she was one of the fortunate ones who got to continue working – she joined the Wind Spirit, a 4-masted sailing schooner in the Caribbean just 3 weeks after the American Queen stopped cruising. She worked for Windstar Cruises for 3 years, up until October of 2011. Windstar Cruises afforded Jackie wonderful opportunities for worldwide travel and adventure! Now it’s time to take it easy for a little while and work stateside again while she awaits the return of the Grand American Queen! The American Queen will once again ply the waterways of the USA beginning April 13, 2012. The inaugural cruise will be out of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Check Jackie’s schedule and
calendar here on the website
www.jackiebankston.com
or check out her Facebook page for updated performance information! You
won’t want to miss her, so be sure to check back often for updates! |