- Kathy Mattea
Infobox musical artist
Name = Kathy Mattea
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Kathleen Alice Mattea
Born = birth date and age|1959|6|21
South Charleston,West Virginia ,United States
Origin =Cross Lanes, West Virginia ,USA
Instrument =Vocals Guitar
Genre = Country
Occupation =Singer-songwriter
Years_active = 1983-present
Label = Mercury Nashville
MCA
Narada
Associated_acts = Tim O'Brien
URL = [http://www.mattea.com mattea.com]Kathleen Alice "Kathy" Mattea (born June 21, 1959 in
Cross Lanes, West Virginia ) is an American femalecountry music and bluegrass performer who often brings celtic sounds to her music. Active since 1983 as a singer, she has recorded seventeen albums and has charted more than thirty singles on the "Billboard"Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. This total includes the Number One hits "Goin' Gone", "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses", "Come from the Heart" and "Burnin' Old Memories", as well as twelve additional Top Ten singles.Life & career
Mattea was born in South Charleston,
West Virginia because it had the nearest hospital to her parents' home in Cross Lanes, where she grew up, graduating from nearby Nitro High School. She discovered her love of singing at Girl Scout camp. In 1976, while attendingWest Virginia University , she joined the bluegrass band Pennsboro, and two years later dropped out of school to move toNashville . She worked as a tour guide at theCountry Music Hall of Fame , did backup vocal work forBobby Goldsboro , and sang demos for several Nashville songwriters and publishers including Nashville songwriter/producerByron Hill who brought her to the attention of Frank Jones (then head ofMercury Records ), who signed her to her first record deal in 1983.Mattea is 25% Scottish and 25% Italian on her father's side and of Welsh blood on her mother's side.Fact|date=July 2008 Mattea's third album, 1986's folky "Walk the Way the Wind Blows", proved to be her breakthrough both critically and commercially. Her cover of
Nanci Griffith 's "Love at the Five and Dime" was her first major hit, reaching #3 (and in addition, earned Griffith notice as a songwriter), and the album produced three other top ten songs: "Walk the Way the Wind Blows" (#10), "You're the Power"(#5), and "Train of Memories" (#6). "Love at the Five and Dime" also drew attention because well-known country singer Don Williams sang harmony vocals on the track.Further hit songs include her first #1, "Goin' Gone"; the truck-driving song "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" (1988); "Come From the Heart" and "Burnin' Old Memories" (both #1 hits in 1989); "She Came From Fort Worth" (1990); "Lonesome Standard Time" (1992); "Walking Away a Winner" (1994); "Nobody's Gonna Rain on Our Parade" (1994); "Maybe She's Human" (1994); and "455 Rocket" (1997). "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" in late May 1988, became the first single by a solo female to spend multiple weeks at No. 1 on the
Billboard country singles chart sinceDolly Parton 's "You're the Only One " in August 1979; both singles were on top of that chart for two weeks.The heartrending "Where've You Been," which Mattea's husband Jon Vezner co-wrote with singer/songwriter Don Henry, reached #10 on the country chart and won her a 1990 Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal. Mattea is a repeat winner of the County Music Associations Female Vocalist of the Year, which she won on the success of "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" and "Where've You Been."
Mattea won another Grammy in 1993 for her gospel-oriented Christmas album, "Good News". Her first single from the album, "
Mary, Did You Know? ," went on to be covered byKenny Rogers withWynonna Judd , as well asReba McEntire .Mattea subsequently moved to MCA Nashville [ [http://music.aol.com/album/the-innocent-years/428102 The Innocent Years at AOL.com] ] and, in 2000, released the
ballad -heavy "The Innocent Years", a heartfelt tribute to her ailing father. Wanting to explore her taste for Celtic folk, Mattea hopped labels to Narada, for whom she debuted in 2002 with the eclectic "Roses".With her
social activism and her taste for songs with introspective lyrics, it has been often said that Mattea owes as much to the traditions offolk music as mainstream country.Her 2008 release, "Coal", combined her social activism with songs about coal-mining. It debuted at #64 on the country albums chart.
Though her recent work has failed to make the country charts, Mattea continued to enjoy a strong following throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s; her albums are critically well-received, and she continues to tour and perform. She continues to have strong support from a very active
fan club , whose members refer to themselves as Matteaheads.ocial activism
In 1991, Mattea took part in "Voices That Care", a multi-artist project that featured other top names in music for a one-off single to raise money for the allied troops in the
Gulf War . The project includedGarth Brooks ,Kenny Rogers andRandy Travis .She has also been heavily involved in
HIV /AIDS -related charities, beginning in the early 1990s, and is often credited with leading the country music community, commonly regarded as the last segment of the entertainment industry to address the AIDS epidemic, to finally do so.She performed with
Mary Chapin Carpenter onVH1 's very first "Save The Music" concert, which also starredBette Midler .Mattea currently travels the country presenting
Al Gore 's "An Inconvenient Truth " and speaking to crowds about the importance of fightingglobal warming and the environmental and physical devastation of coal mining.Discography
Further reading
*Millard, Bob. (1998). "Kathy Mattea". In "The Encyclopedia of Country Music". Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 329-330.
References
External links
* [http://www.mattea.com Kathy Mattea's Official Website]
*
* [http://www.myspace.com/kathymattea Kathy Mattea's Myspace Page]
* [http://www.exclaim.ca/musicreviews/generalreview.aspx?csid1=125&csid2=852&fid1=33197 Kathy Mattea at exclaim 2008]
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