Jean Shepard

Jean Shepard - American honky tonk singer-songwriter

Person from United States

Genres: country, honky tonk

About Jean Shepard

Ollie Imogene "Jean" Shepard (November 21, 1933 – September 25, 2016), was an American country singer who was considered one of the genre's first significant female artists. Her commercial success ran from the 1950s to the 1970s while also being a member of the Grand Ole Opry for 60 years. Shepard was born in Oklahoma and raised in California alongside her nine siblings. Having a musical upbringing, she formed an all-female country music band named The Melody Ranch Girls. During this period, she was heard by country artist Hank Thompson, who helped her get her first recording contract at age 18 with Capitol Records. Her second single, "A Dear John Letter" with Ferlin Husky, topped the country charts in 1953. In 1955, she had her first solo single top-ten successes with "A Satisfied Mind", "I Thought of You" and "Beautiful Lies". During this period she was among the first female country performers to headline shows and consistently be played on country music radio. In 1963, Shepard's husband Hawkshaw Hawkins was killed in a plane crash. Considering ending her career, Shepard returned and in 1964 had her first top-ten single in nine years with "Second Fiddle (To an Old Guitar)". She had fifteen more top-40 US country singles during the decade, including the top-ten recordings "If Teardrops Were Silver", "I'll Take the Dog" and "Then He Touched Me". With a dip in commercial success, Shepard became frustrated with Capitol's lack of promotion to her material and moved to United Artists Records. In 1973, she had a comeback at age 40 with the top-ten song "Slippin' Away". Four more of her singles reached the US country top 20 during the 1970s. Shepard became part of the Association of Country Entertainers (ACE) in the 1970s, which advocated for traditional country music. Her criticism of the genre's country pop trends ultimately cost Shepard her recording contract from United Artists. Ultimately, the ACE disbanded and Shepard filed for bankruptcy. Shepard continued touring and became popular in Europe, especially in the UK. She continued sporadically recording as well, releasing her last studio album in 2000. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2011 and continued performing through 2015. Her musical legacy influenced the future careers of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette.

Taken from Wikipedia.org