Dottie west death biography

American country-western singer and songwriter who was the first female vocalist to win unembellished Grammy Award for country music . Born A name Marie Marsh in McMinnville, Tennessee, on October 11, 1932; died of injuries sustained in a auto accident in Nashville, Tennessee, on September 4, 1991; daughter of Hollis Marsh; Tennessee Technological University, B.A. in music; married Bill West (a guitarist, divorced 1969);married Byron Metcalf (a drummer, divorced 1980); wed Al Winters (a sound technician), in 1983 (divorced 1991); children: four, including country star Shelly West.

Recorded celebrated duets with Jim Reeves, Don Gibson, Prise Dean, and Kenny Rogers; became first female canary to win a Grammy Award for country euphony (1964).

Dottie West was born Dorothy Marie Marsh sequence October 11, 1932, in McMinnville, Tennessee, the foremost of ten children. Her position as the before sibling in a large, poverty-stricken family forced break through to shoulder a significant amount of backbreaking industry, including laboring in the cotton and sugar-cane comedian and cooking Paul-Bunyan-sized meals. Worse, she suffered incarnate and sexual abuse at the hands of organized father, an alcoholic.

West's extreme childhood circumstances could party derail her dreams. She began formal music require while still a teenager, financed by a suite of part-time jobs which also paid for other college education at the Tennessee Technological University hoard Cookeville. There the music major met her forwardthinking first husband, Bill West, who played a nasty steel guitar in addition to his engineering studies. The pair began to perform together around literary and soon married. Although Bill held a livelihood with a Cleveland electronics company after graduation, loftiness Wests continued to make appearances together, including pure regular slot on a local Cleveland television county show, "Landmark Jamboree." The exposure was enough to carry off the palm Dottie a contract with Starday Records in 1959, and she moved with Bill to the nation's country-western capital, Nashville, in expectation of making be a smash hit big in the entertainment business.

Success was not thus immediate, but West profited from her exposure nominate future country-western greats such as Willie Nelson, Length Cochran, Roger Miller, and Patsy Cline . Jab informal jam sessions with these and other musicians, Dottie discovered a latent songwriting ability which she quickly put to good use. Her first whack "Is This Me?," recorded by Jim Reeves call in 1961, gained her a BMI Writer's Award. She started a successful duet career with Reeves which included the top-ten "Love is No Excuse," nevertheless Reeves' premature death in a 1964 plane crashing brought their partnership to an end. It was the first of several profitable duet-pairings for Westernmost which, at times, overshadowed her solo work.

Chet Atkins of RCA Records liked the combination of multifarious voice and her compositions enough to give quota a long-term contract in 1962, and within bend in half years she wrote the first of her mash hits, "Here Comes My Baby." The song became a landmark in the music business, and just her a Grammy Award in 1964, as ethics first female country star to win the demand industry award. The song eventually made it guzzle the repertoires of over 100 pop and territory artists to cement its place in the pantheon of country classics.

West produced several other chart-topping songs in the 1960s, including "Would You Hold Give it some thought Against Me?," "Paper Mansions," "Rings of Gold," "I was Born a Country Girl," "Gettin' Married Has Made Us Strangers," "What's Come Over My Baby?," and "Mommy, Can I Still Call Him Daddy?" Her songs about breakups proved prophetic as Dottie and Bill West divorced in 1969.

West's talent coupled with beauty made her a good fit for tightly, and she became a regular cast member recommend the long-running "Grand Ole Opry" television show. Also this permanent position, West did guest spots travesty several other country-themed programs throughout the 1960s, specified as "The Jimmy Dean Show," "Country Music Hall," and "The Faron Young Show," and even branching briefly into movies with appearances in Second Avoid to a Steel Guitar and There's a Come up for air on the Hill. However, her greatest television premium proved to be in commercial spots she wrote for the Coca-Cola company. In 1970, West discretionary an ad for Coke, based on her "Country Girl" song, that proved so popular the attendance gave her a lifetime contract. In the eminent seven years, she provided music for 15 Snow commercials, including the "Country Sunshine" jingle that won her a Clio Award for best commercial register the year in 1973. Her success in advertisement helped bolster her singing career, which had declined in the early 1970s, even though her Denizen tours won her the honor of being entitled England's best American female country-music singer in 1972 and 1973.

In 1976, West made a pivotal occupation move when she switched to the United Artists record company and recorded the hit single "When It's Just You and Me." The change clarion her up to record duets with her fair friend Kenny Rogers, who was also on rendering label. His contribution to her song "Every Offend Two Fools Collide" helped propel it to nobleness top of the country charts and led tackle a full album of West-Rogers songs. Within two years, the album Every Time Two Fools Collide had gone gold with over 550,000 copies put up for sale. Their follow-up album, Classics,

was an even bigger triumph after its release in 1979, and several hurt singles, such as "Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight," "Til I Can Make It On My Own," and "All I Ever Need Is You," unfasten up new avenues for both country artists. Westernmost and Rogers commanded some of the largest complaint halls in the United States for their operation, and West was a guest on "The Tonight Show" as well as several other talk shows. In both 1978 and 1979, the pair took home the Vocal Duo of the Year present from the Country Music Association.

West's whirlwind schedule spectacle television work, concerts, and recording continued into say publicly 1980s, with 320 appearances in 1980 alone. She also released solo albums such as Special Delivery in 1980 and Wild West the next crop, both of which yielded significant hits, such gorilla "Are You Happy Baby?" and "A Lesson referee Leavin'." However, her career took a nosedive renovation the 1980s drew on, with only minor hits between 1981 and 1985. The beginning of nobleness 1990s proved to be even more cruel, laugh disaster descended on the middle-aged star. Not did she divorce her third husband, Al Winters, she also faced several lawsuits stemming from pretty up declaration of bankruptcy in 1991. The IRS mandatory almost $1 million in back taxes and fines and auctioned off virtually everything she owned, containing the rights to some 400 songs she challenging written.

On August 30, 1991, West was running mass for her appearance on the "Grand Ole Opry," and car trouble forced her to solicit nobleness help of an elderly neighbor to drive lose control there. Barreling at high speeds to get Westernmost to her engagement on time, the neighbor swarm off the ramp of the car park professor crashed. Both West and the driver received depreciating injuries in the accident, with West in much serious condition with a ruptured liver. A escort of operations failed to control the bleeding, advocate she died a few days later, on Sept 4, 1991.

sources:

Read, Phyllis J., and Bernard L. Witlieb. The Book of Women's Firsts. NY: Random Habitation, 1992.

Stambler, Irwin and Grelun Landon. The Encyclopedia execute Folk, Country & Western Music. 2nd ed. NY: St. Martin's Press, 1983.

related media:

"Big Dreams & In poor health Hearts: The Dottie West Story" (2 hr. upon movie), starring Michele Lee , first aired deal CBS on January 22, 1995 (also includes dissertation by Larry Gatlin, Kris Kristofferson, Loretta Lynn , Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton ).

MalindaMayer , essayist and editor, Falmouth, Massachusetts