Paulette Carlson

Paulette Carlson
Background information
Birth name	Paulette Tenae Carlson
Born	October 11, 1952 (1952-10-11) (age 59)
Origin	Winsted, Minnesota, USA
Genres	Country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1983–present
Labels	RCA, Capitol, Pandean[1]
Associated acts	Highway 101

Paulette Tenae Carlson (born October 11, 1952, Northfield, Minnesota) is a country singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the 1980s as the founder and lead vocalist for the country band Highway 101. With Highway 101, she charted four #1 hit singles, seven Top 10 hits, a gold album and two back-to-back wins for Vocal Group of the Year from both the ACM and the CMA Awards in 1988 and 1989.

Beginnings

Paulette Carlson began singing in bars in her hometown and built a large local following before heading out to Nashville in 1978. There she found work as a songwriter, working for the Oak Ridge Boys’ Silverline Publishing Company, and singing background vocals for Warner Brothers' recording artist Gail Davies in 1981^[2] and 1982.^[3]

She signed a singles contract with RCA Records and released three singles, "You Gotta Get to My Heart," "I’d Say Yes," and "Can You Fool," (1983 and 1984). Tammy Wynette also recorded a song Carlson had written, "With a Friend Like You (Who Needs a Lover)," which also appeared on the b-side of "You Gotta Get to My Heart."

Highway 101

Main article: Highway 101

Carlson founded Highway 101 in 1987 with session musicians Jack Daniels, "Cactus" Moser and Curtis Stone. The band signed to Warner Bros. Records and recorded three albums with Carlson on lead vocals.^[4] She left the band in 1990 following its Greatest Hits album, and Nikki Nelson succeeded her on lead vocals.^[4]

Solo

She signed with Capitol Nashville and started working on her solo album, Love Goes On (1991). She also took on a more important role, co-writing seven of its ten tracks and co-producing the album with Jimmy Bowen. The first single, "I’ll Start With You" reached #21. Although two more singles were released, "Not With My Heart You Don’t" (#68) and "The Chain Just Broke," both failed to meet her chart status with Highway 101. At the 1992 ACM Awards, Carlson was nominated in the New Female Vocalist category, but lost to Trisha Yearwood.

Christmas Is For You, a traditional Christmas album, was released in 1993 under a small independent label. Carlson got into the spirit and wrote two Christmas songs for the album, "Christmas is for You" and "Mrs. Santa Claus." Both songs were made into music videos.

Reunited with Highway 101

Marking Highway 101’s Tenth Year Anniversary, Carlson reunited with two original members, Curtis Stone and Jack Daniels. They released two albums, Reunited and Latest & Greatest. "Where’d You Get Your Cheatin’ From" and "It Must be Love" were released as singles (1996 and 1997). After a short brief tour, Carlson decided to split from Highway 101 again and retire to concentrate on her family.

Present

In 2004, when her brother Gary, a Vietnam Vet, was in the hospital she was inspired to write a song ("Thank You Vets"). After writing the song, she decided to come out of retirement and record a new album of all new material. It's About Time (2005) was released under Pandean Records and she toured briefly to support the album. She continues to perform, including many events associated with military Veterans.

Discography

Albums

Title	Album details
Love Goes On	Release date: November 19, 1991 Label: Capitol Records
Christmas Is for You	Release date: September 13, 1994 Label: Majestic Records
It's About Time	Release date: June 13, 2006 Label: Pandean Records

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions		Album
		US Country [5]	CAN Country
1983	"You Gotta Get to My Heart (Before You Lay a Hand on Me)"	65	—	Paulette Carlson
1984	"I'd Say Yes"	67	—
	"Can You Fool"	72	—
1991	"I'll Start with You"	21	50	Love Goes On
1992	"Not With My Heart You Don't"	68	84
	"The Chain Just Broke"	—	—
2005	"Thank You Vets"	—	—	It's About Time
2006	"I Knew a Good Thing When I Had it"	—	—
	"That Old Glass Case"	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Music videos

Year	Video	Director
1991	"I'll Start with You"[6]	Steven Goldmann
1992	"The Chain Just Broke"
2006	"That Old Glass Case"

References

1. ^ Carlson's work in Highway 101 was on Warner Bros. Records Nashville.
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ [2]
4. ^ ^{a b} Huey, Steve. "Highway 101 biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p1648. Retrieved 16 September 2010. 
5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 79. ISBN 0-89820-177-2. 
6. ^ Stark, Phyllis (April 13, 1996). "Director Goldmann Breathes New Life Into Country Vids". Billboard. http://books.google.ca/books?id=_gwEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA90&ots=2eQPaAy0fW&dq=%22paulette%20carlson%22%20%22i'll%20start%20with%20you%22%20%22steven%20goldmann%22&pg=PA90#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved November 18, 2011. 

External links

• Official website

Persondata
Name	Carlson, Paulette
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1952-10-11
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death