Pupils from Burnaby South Senior High School who followed music tuned in to CFUN 1410 AM, which advertised its "Request Line".

The song "Seasons in the Sun" was originally intended for the Beach Boys, with Jacks serving as producer for the recording.

[3] The song was based on Rod McKuen's 1965 re-write of "Le moribond", originally by Belgian singer Jacques Brel from 1962.

For his version, Jacks made some modifications to the lyrics, which combined with McKuen's changes resulted in a work that bears little resemblance to Brel's original in tone, substance, and poetry.

[citation needed] Jacks later released "If You Go Away" (another McKuen adaptation of a Jacques Brel song, titled "Ne Me Quitte Pas"), which reached #8 in the UK and #24 in Germany, and a cover of Kevin Johnson's "Rock 'N' Roll (I Gave You the Best Years of My Life)", both of which had more success in Canada but also made the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S.

He wrote and recorded a number of other songs, and went on to produce for many artists, including "Crazy Talk"[7] and "There's Something I Like About That"[8] for Chilliwack, from their album Riding High.

[citation needed] He produced the Vancouver top 10 hit "Country Boy Named Willy" for Spring on London Records (#38 Canada), and Valdy's original version of "Rock and Roll Song" (b/w sometime "Sunday Morning").

Jacks also went on to produce a number of other artists in the 1980s and 1990s, including DOA, who recorded a punk rock version of "Where Evil Grows".

Jacks has worked in documentary film and video, producing several shorts on environmental themes including The Faceless Ones, The Tragedy of Clearcutting, The Southern Chilcotin Mountains and The Warmth of Love (The Four Seasons of Sophie Thomas) with cinematographer Ian Hinkle.

[18] Jacks filed suit against the British Columbia Environment Ministry in 1988 for granting a pollution permit to Howe Sound Pulp and Paper.

[21] Jacks was termed "instrumental" in the efforts to pass two federal laws that limited logging on the coast and constrained fish-canning by non-Canadian fishermen.