The Poppy Family

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"Poppy Family" redirects here. For the plants known as the Poppy family, see Papaveraceae.

The Poppy Family
Origin	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genre(s)	Psychedelic pop
Years active	1968–1973
Label(s)	London Records

The Poppy Family was a late 1960s-early 1970s Canadian pop musical group based in Vancouver, British Columbia. A product of the "hippie generation,"^{[citation needed]} they brought a cleaner cut image, capitalizing on the vocal talents and good looks of Susan Jacks. Some have described the group as Canada's equivalent of The Carpenters in that both groups featured a female vocalist and specialized in catchy but ultimately melancholy middle-of-the-road pop tunes (although, unlike the Carpenters, which were a brother-sister duo, the Poppy Family was fronted by a husband-wife team). They were likened to the Cowsills as well.

Managed and produced by Susan's husband Terry Jacks (vocals/guitar), with Craig McCaw (guitar) and Satwan Singh (drums), the group recorded two albums, from which came their best known songs "Which Way You Goin' Billy?" (No. 1 in Canada and No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard charts) and the Top 30 tear-jerker "That's Where I Went Wrong" (both 1970). "Which Way You Goin' Billy" was originally titled "Which Way You Goin' Buddy?" and written for a male singer but Susan's love of the song prompted Terry to rewrite the song for a female singer.^{[citation needed]} The name "Billy" was chosen because of one of Susan's brothers. Both singles were also major Top 10 hits on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (at the time labeled Easy Listening) chart. The Poppy Family continued to place songs on the U.S. and Canadian charts through 1973, including "Where Evil Grows" (a top hit on influential Detroit / Windsor, Ontario Top 40 station CKLW - which frequently played all of their recordings - and a Top 40 pop hit on the Billboard chart), "I Was Wondering", and "Good Friends?".

At their career peak, Terry and Susan performed "Which Way You Goin' Billy?" on Bobby Darin's 1970 television variety special, The Darin Invasion. The special also featured a young Linda Ronstadt performing "Long Long Time". They also appeared on numerous other variety shows including "Rollin' On The River", the "Bobby Vinton Show" and "The George Kirby Special".

The "Which Way You Goin' Billy?" single earned the group a combined total of four 1970 Gold Leaf (Juno) Awards, including best performance and best-produced single. The Juno Award is Canada's equivalent of the Grammy Award. The single version of "Which Way You Goin' Billy" was a certified Gold 45 (for sales of more than 1 million US copies) and went on to sell a total of more than 2½ million worldwide.

The Poppy Family disbanded in 1973. Susan and Terry ended their five and a half year marriage the same year after recording their solo albums Seasons in the Sun and I Thought of You Again. Terry scored an international No. 1 hit with "Seasons in the Sun". The song earned him four Juno awards and sold 11½ million copies worldwide (a record at the time) - while Susan also released two solo albums and had a series of Juno nominated hits in Canada including "Anna Marie", "All the Tea in China", and "Tall Dark Stranger". She scored only modest hits in the U.S. with "You're a Part of Me" and "Tall Dark Stranger".