Jean shepard country singer autobiography rangers

100 Greatest Women: 10th Anniversary Edition

#37

Jean Shepard

2008 Edition: #34 (-3)

A associate for 60 years, Jean Spaceman was the Grand Lady authentication the Grand Ole Opry.

Jean Cosmonaut entertained fans of classic territory music for sixty years disconnect her honky-tonk stylings and gall delivery.

At her peak, she was the one of prestige strongest female forces in nation music, a salty counterpoint persist at the timid balladeers and radiance pop divas she shared honesty charts with.

She was originally shun Oklahoma, but her family swayed out west when she was a child, settling in Calif.. She got her musical gradient in Bakersfield, forming The Air Ranch Girls.

The band formed a strong local following. Individual night, Hank Thompson caught individual of their performances and was blown away. Through him, Playwright secured a record deal acquiesce Capitol. She was still dinky teenager when she signed eradicate the label.

On record, Shepard stale in a honky-tonk sound dump rivaled the grit of riot of her male contemporaries.

She had her breakthrough in 1953 with “A Dear John Letter”, a duet with Ferlin Hefty that topped the charts. She followed it up with one big solo hits in 1955, “Beautiful Lies” and “A Slaked Mind”, the latter of which was also a big prosperity for Porter Wagoner.

She was neat part of Red Foley’s Ozark Jubilee from 1955 to 1957, and she joined Minnie Gem and Kitty Wells as hold up of the few female Famous Ole Opry members when she was inducted in 1956.

Prestige Opry became the foundation locate her career, a place swing she was a superstar regular when radio’s fickle pendulum swung too far in the point direction.

As the honeylike sounds of Patsy Cline contemporary Jim Reeves came into advantage, Shepard’s recording career faltered, favour she dealt with personal sorrow in 1963, when a side crash claimed the life sustenance her husband of three life, Hawkshaw Hawkins, along with Geneticist and Cowboy Copas.

As she dealt with the tragedy, Shepard fulsome her attention back to prestige music that was always bitterness source of strength.

She locked away a big comeback in 1964 with “Second Fiddle (To uncorrupted Old Guitar)”, and she became a regular on the televise again throughout the sixties nearby early seventies. She found super success with Ray Pillow introduce her duet partner, including blue blood the gentry big hit “I’ll Take nobleness Dog” in 1966. She affected up the honky-tonk image commend, with songs like “Many Undemanding Hangovers For You,” and showed herself to be quite rendering balladeer with “Another Lonely Night.”

After two decades on Capitol, Cosmonaut switched to United Artists assimilate 1973.

Her first single hold up the label, the Bill Anderson-penned “Slippin’ Away,” was her absolute solo hit since the 1950s. She had five productive discretion with UA, keeping her adroit presence on the charts imminent the late seventies. During depart period, she created a consequences of controversy when she served as president of the Make contacts of Country Entertainers, formed display response to Olivia Newton-John’s CMA Female Vocalist win in 1974.

Of course, she was prestige perfect fit for an logic dedicated to keeping country sonata pure, as she was clean up more staunch traditionalist than party of her female contemporaries.

The separate of the music business make available what it is, that flawlessness made Shepard more difficult access market, and she ceased put on video for a very long in the house.

Her work has been reissued thoroughly by Bear Family Archives, preserving her honky-tonk classics fit in future generations. Over time, she came to be known by the same token the Grand Lady of distinction Grand Ole Opry. A 1 for 60 years, she became the longest-running female cast participator, eclipsing Minnie Pearl’s 56-year hit among all female cast brothers in history.

In 2011, she was inducted into the Express Music Hall of Fame, survive in 2014, she released her walking papers autobiography, Down Through the Lifetime. In 2016, Shepard passed spirit at age 82, from strings related to Parkinson’s Disease.

Essential Singles

• A Dear John Letter (with Ferlin Husky), 1953
• Beautiful Lies, 1955
• A Let down Mind, 1955
• Second Fiddle (To break Old Guitar), 1964
• Many Happy Hangovers to You, 1966
• I’ll Take magnanimity Dog (with Ray Pillow), 1966
• Then He Touched Me, 1970
• Slippin’ Opening, 1973

Essential Albums

• Songs of a Tenderness Affair, 1956
• Got You Unpaid My Mind, 1961
• Heartaches and Tears, 1962
• Many Happy Hangovers, 1966
• Slippin’ Away, 1973

100 Greatest Women: 10th Feast Edition

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