- Dottie West
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Dottie West 
Background information Birth name Dorothy Marie Marsh Also known as Miss Country Sunshine Born October 11, 1932 Origin McMinnville, Tennessee, U.S. Died September 4, 1991 (aged 58) Genres Country pop Occupations Singer-songwriter, actress Instruments Vocals, guitar Years active 1959–1991 Labels Starday
Atlantic
RCA
United Artists/Liberty
PermianAssociated acts Jim Reeves, Don Gibson, Jimmy Dean, Kenny Rogers, John Schneider, Shelly West Dottie West (October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and co-recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most influential and groundbreaking female artists. Dottie West's career started in the early 1960s, with her Top 10 hit, "Here Comes My Baby Back Again," which won her the first Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1965. In the 1960s, West was one of the few female country singers working in what was then a male-dominated industry, influencing other female country singers like Lynn Anderson, Crystal Gayle, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, and Tammy Wynette. Throughout the 1960s, West had country hits within the Top 10 and 20.
In the early 1970s, West wrote a popular commercial for the Coca-Cola company, titled "Country Sunshine", which she nearly brought to the top of the charts in 1973. In the late-70s, she teamed up with country-pop superstar, Kenny Rogers for a series of duets, which brought her career in directions it had never gone before, earning Platinum selling albums and No. 1 records for the very first time. Her duet recordings with Rogers, like "Every Time Two Fools Collide," "All I Ever Need Is You," and "What Are We Doin' In Love," eventually became country-music standards. In the mid-1970s, her image and music underwent a major metamorphosis, bringing her to the very peak of her popularity as a solo act, and reaching No. 1 for the very first time on her own in 1980 with "A Lesson in Leavin'".[citation needed]
Contents
Early life
Childhood and teen years
Born Dorothy Marie Marsh outside McMinnville, Tennessee, Dottie was the oldest of 10 children of Hollis and Pelina Marsh.[1] The family soon moved to a bigger, better house, but like many rural families at the time, the family was still so poor they lacked electricity and indoor plumbing and had to make their own soap out of hog grease and lye. To make ends meet, Pelina eventually opened up her own restaurant soon after where Dottie often helped her.
West's childhood was marred by a dysfunctional relationship with her father, an alcoholic who abused her both physically and sexually. The abuse continued until she was 17, when she finally reported him to the local sheriff. She testified against her father in court, and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
After a brief stint living with the sheriff, she moved to McMinnville with her mother and siblings. West also joined her high school band, "The Cookskins," where she sang and played guitar. With the help of her mother's business and a local entrepreneur, West attained a music scholarship to attend college at TTU in Cookeville, Tennessee in 1951. There she met her first husband and father of her four children, a talented steel guitarist named Bill West.[citation needed]
Career discovery
After graduation, West moved with her family to Cleveland, Ohio where she began appearing on the television program Landmark Jamboree as one half of a country pop vocal duo called the "Kay-Dots" alongside partner Kathy Dee. At the same time, West made numerous trips to Nashville in the hopes of landing a recording deal. In 1959, she and Bill auditioned for producer Don Pierce at Starday, and were immediately offered a contract, but although the resulting singles West cut for the label proved unsuccessful, she nonetheless moved to Nashville two years later.
There, she and her husband Bill fell in with a group of aspiring songwriters like Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, Hank Cochran, and Harlan Howard. West often played hostess to these struggling songwriters, offering them a place to stay and eat at her and Bill's residence. In return, they taught West about the structure of songwriting. During this time, she also became close friends with groundbreaking female country singer Patsy Cline and her husband Charlie Dick.[2]
West and Cline met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry and became friends; as a result, Cline would become one of West's biggest career inspirations. As West related to Ellis Nassour in the 1980 book Patsy Cline, the greatest advice Cline ever gave her was, "When you're onstage sing to the audience with all of your heart and mean it. Then cast a spell over them. If you can't do it with feeling, then don't." In those early days in Nashville, West and her family would often not have enough to pay the rent or buy the week's groceries, so Cline would hire her to help with her wardrobe and West's husband Bill to play in her band. Cline even offered to help pay West's rent or buy groceries when she and Bill were struggling to stay in Nashville.
When Cline got into a car accident in June 1961, West was one of the first people to arrive on the scene, picking out a piece of glass from Cline's hair. Shortly before her death, Cline gave West her scrapbook, filled with clippings and photos from over the course of her career. (West later gave the scrapbook to Cline's daughter, Julie.) On March 5, 1963, Cline died in a plane crash along with Cowboy Copas Hawkshaw Hawkins and her pilot and manager Randy Hughes on her way home from a benefit in Kansas City, at Memorial Hall, a benefit West also attended. West begged Cline to leave with her and Bill in the car, but Cline, anxious to get back home to her children, opted to fly home instead.
In 1963, Jim Reeves recorded a selection of West's authorship and composition, "Is This Me," which became a #3 hit that year. As a result, Reeves helped West secure a recording contract with RCA Records the same year.
Country music career
1963 – 1975: Country success
West earned her first Top 40 hit in 1963 with "Let Me Off at the Corner," followed a year later by the Top Ten duet with Jim Reeves "Love Is No Excuse". Also in 1964, she auditioned for producer Chet Atkins, the architect of the Nashville sound, who agreed to produce her composition "Here Comes My Baby". The single made Dottie the first female country artist to win a Grammy Award (Best Female Country Vocal Performance), leading to an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry.[3] "Here Comes My Baby" reached #10 on Billboard Magazine's Country charts in 1964.
After releasing the Here Comes My Baby LP in 1965, Dottie and producer Chet Atkins reunited the following year for Suffer Time, which generated her biggest hit yet in "Would You Hold It Against Me." In 1967, the West/Atkins pairing issued three separate albums: With All My Heart and Soul (featuring the #8 smash "Paper Mansions"), Dottie West Sings Sacred Ballads, and I'll Help You Forget Her.
During the same period, she also appeared in a pair of films, Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar and There's a Still on the Hill.[1] Dottie continued to have success as a solo artist during the late 1960s with such songs as "What's Come Over My Baby," and "Country Girl" which garnered her an offer to write a commercial based on it for Coca-Cola in 1970. The soft drink company liked the result so much that it signed her to a lifetime contract as a jingle writer.[citation needed]
After the 1968 LP Country Girl, West teamed with Don Gibson for a record of duets, Dottie and Don, featuring the number two hit "Rings of Gold" released in 1969. The album was her last with Atkins, and she followed it in 1970 with two releases, Forever Yours and Country Boy and Country Girl, a collection of pairings with Jimmy Dean. Around the time of Have You Heard Dottie West, released in 1971, she left her husband Bill and, in 1972, married drummer Bryan Metcalf, who was 12 years her junior.[4] Due possibly in part to her recent stratospheric success with duets, her solo career suffered between 1969 and 1972. Most of her singles released at the time had failed even to peak in the Top 40, and her album sales were declining.
In 1973 West provided Coca-Cola with another ad, featuring a song called "Country Sunshine." The popularity of the commercial prompted her to release the song as a single, and it became one of her biggest hits, reaching #2 on the country charts and #49 on the Pop charts. The ad itself also netted a Clio Award for commercial of the year and she became the first country artist ever to win that particular honor.[citation needed] "Country Sunshine" proved to be a solid comeback as she was nominated for two Grammys for the song, Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance a year later.
After the release of House of Love in 1974, West notched a number of Top 40 hits including the Top 10 "Last Time I Saw Him," [5] "House of Love," and "Lay Back Lover." Before signing with United Artists Records in 1976, her final album under RCA, Carolina Cousins, was released in 1975.
1976 to 1985: Country-pop
In the late '70s, West's image underwent a huge metamorphosis; the woman who had once performed outfitted in conservative gingham dresses, and had originally refused to record Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through the Night" because it was "too sexy," began appearing in spandex-sequined Bob Mackie designs. (She had relented in late 1970 and recorded "Help Me Make It Through The Night" on the album Careless Hands, which was released in 1971.) As the sexual revolution peaked, so did West's career.[1] Under United Artists, West material changed from traditional country to up-tempo and slow-tempo Adult Contemporary-styled music. In 1977, West released her first album under United Artists, When It's Just You and Me. The title track peaked at #19 on the country charts.
In 1977, she was recording the song "Every Time Two Fools Collide" when, according to legend, Kenny Rogers suddenly entered the studio and began singing along. Released as a duet, the single hit number one, West's first; the duo's 1979 "All I Ever Need Is You" and 1981 "What Are We Doin' in Love" topped the charts as well, and a 1979 duets album titled Classics also proved successful.[5] The duo proved popular enough to be booked in some of the biggest venues in the United States and other countries. In 1978 and 1979 they won the Country Music Association's "Vocal Duo of the Year" award, one of West's few major awards.
During the 1980s, West continued to generate solo hits, most notably "A Lesson in Leavin'." Her popularity as a featured performer on the Grand Ole Opry endured as well. "A Lesson in Leavin'" was West's first #1 solo hit. It also peaked at #73 on the pop charts. A week before "A Lesson in Leavin'" reached the No. 1 spot, it was part of a historic Top 5 in country music, when all women held the Top 5 spots. The album that included this song, Special Delivery, included two other Top 15 Country hits from 1980, "You Pick Me Up (And Put Me Down)" and "Leavin's for Unbelievers". In 1981, West had a pair of back-to-back #1 hits, "Are You Happy Baby" and "What Are We Doin' in Love" with Kenny Rogers. "What Are We Doin' in Love" was West's only Top 40 hit on the pop charts, reaching #14, becoming a major crossover hit in mid-1981. Her 1981 album Wild West was one of her biggest sellers.
As the 1980s progressed, West's popularity began to slip.[1] However, she did introduce herself to younger audiences as she lent her voice to Melissa Raccoon in the film The Raccoons and the Lost Star in 1983, a precursor to the later series produced by Kevin Gillis, The Raccoons.[6] West's 1982 album High Time spawned her last Top 20 hit, "It's High Time," which reached #16. The album's other single, "You're Not Easy to Forget," only peaked at #26. West's next two albums under Liberty Records, Full Circle and New Horizons, were both commercial failures. West's last Top 40 hit was 1983's "Tulsa Ballroom." In 1984, West departed from her label and switched to the independent label Permian.
In 1981, West's daughter Shelly also made a career in country music; she is best known for her hit duet with David Frizzell, "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma," which hit No. 1 that year. As a solo artist, Shelly notched her own No. 1 in 1983 entitled "Jose Cuervo." During the early and mid '80s, Shelly notched several more hits, including Top 10 solo hits "Flight 309 to Tennessee" and "Another Motel Memory." After getting married in the late 1980s, Shelly left the music business. In 1980, Dottie West filed for divorce against Byron Metcalf, citing his drinking and infidelity.
In 1982, she was asked to play the lead role in the stage production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. That summer, she toured for four weeks in the stage production, performing across the country. She also had her own float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade that year. She also posed for a revealing photo in the men's magazine Oui. In 1983, she married her soundman, Al Winters, 22 years her junior. In 1984, she appeared in the play Bring it on Home. In 1986, she made her screen debut in the science fiction film The Aurora Encounter. In 1984, West released her final studio album, Just Dottie. This album was not very successful; all three of the singles that it contained failed to chart in the Top 40. Her last chart hit, "We Know Better Now", reached only number 53 in 1985.[1]
Personal problems
1989 – 1990: Financial problems
Although she remained a popular touring act, West's financial problems mounted, and in 1990, after divorcing Winters, she declared bankruptcy, culminating in the foreclosure of her Nashville mansion.[4] West and Winters filed for divorce in 1990, and he sued her for $7,500. By this time, extravagant spending and a string of bad investments by her investors had left her nearly broke. In March, her Los Angeles manager sued her for $130,000. Her former manager sued her for $110,295. Her bank foreclosed her mansion outside of Nashville, and sent West an eviction notice on August 1, 1990. At this time, West owed the IRS $1.3 million dollars and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; she later switched to Chapter 7, which allowed her to liquidate her assets. West's fan-club president, Sandy Orwig, told TNN in a 1995 interview that West told her that the "IRS would show at her door anytime of the day or night, taking her possessions. They even separated took apart her award plaques, throwing half in one box and the other in another."
After a car accident in her Corvette and a public auction of her mansion and possessions, she began making plans for a comeback, including an album of duets and autobiography.[7] The album was to feature friends Kenny Rogers, Roger Miller, Tanya Tucker, and Tammy Wynette. However, the album was never made. She recorded her last song in July 1991 called "As For Me," a duet with Norwegian country singer Arne Benoni.
Death and legacy
On August 30, 1991, West was scheduled to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. Shortly after leaving her apartment at Nashville's Wessex Towers, West's car, a Chrysler New Yorker that Kenny Rogers had given her following the loss of her possessions at the IRS auction, stalled in front of the old Belle Meade theater on Harding Road. West's 81-year-old neighbor, George Thackston, spotted her on the side of the road and offered to drive her to the Opry for her scheduled appearance. Frantic about getting to the Opry on time, she had urged the man to speed.
He lost control of his vehicle while exiting at the Opryland exit on Briley Parkway at a speed of 55 miles per hour. The car left the ramp, vaulted in the air and hit the central division. West did not believe she was injured as badly as her neighbor had been and, reportedly didn't seem harmed by officers who responded to the scene. She insisted he be treated first. West, though she thought she was unharmed, suffered severe internal injuries and proved to have suffered both a ruptured spleen and a lacerated liver. Her spleen was removed that Friday and, the following Monday, she underwent two more surgeries to stop her liver from bleeding; these ultimately failed in that effort. Doctors said that West knew the extent of her injuries and even visited with Kenny Rogers shortly before her last operation. On September 4, 1991, during her third operation, West died on the operating table at 9:43 a.m., aged 58.
Her funeral was held at Christ Church on Old Hickory Boulevard. There were 600 friends and family attendees, including Emmylou Harris, Connie Smith, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash and Larry Gatlin. Her friend and fellow artist, Steve Wariner, whom she had helped make it to Nashville as a young man, sang "Amazing Grace". A couple of weeks later, President George H.W. Bush, a longtime fan for whom she had performed at the White House, expressed his condolences at the CMA Awards. Her hometown of McMinnville, Tennessee dedicated Highway 56 to her memory, naming it the Dottie West Memorial Highway.
Family Feud dedicated a week of shows in the fall of 1991 with the stars of the Grand Ole Opry in her memory.
In 1995, actress Michele Lee, with the help of West's daughter Shelly, produced and starred in the made-for-TV biopic Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story that premiered on CBS. Lee starred with Kenny Rogers, wore all of West's original clothes, including her famed Bob Mackie outfits, and even sang West's hits for the movie. It proved to be one of the most successful TV movies in CBS history.[citation needed] That same year, a biography book called Country Sunshine: The Dottie West Story was released, written by Judy Berryhill and Francis Meeker.
In 1999, country music singer Jo Dee Messina covered West's biggest solo hit, "A Lesson in Leavin'" for her album, I'm Alright. The song stayed at No. 2 for seven weeks on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart that year, and was one of the year's biggest songs.
In 2000, West was also honored with the BMI Golden Voice Awards with the "Female Golden Legacy Award." She was the second woman to win this type of BMI award, the first being her friend and mentor Patsy Cline. Today, her hometown of McMinnville, Tennessee holds a "Dottie West Music Festival" each year in October. West was ranked #23 in Country Music Television's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music in 2002.
Fashion style: From Gingham to Bob Mackie
When West entered the Nashville music scene in the 1960s, she and many of her female colleagues (Skeeter Davis, Jean Shepherd, June Carter and Loretta Lynn among them) portrayed a “sweetheart” image then popular using gingham, calico and ruffles. However, as the Nashville sound progressed, West, like her friend Patsy Cline, began wearing more contemporary outfits on occasion, yet still remaining true to the “sweetheart” image as well. Other women in Country Music soon followed this trend. To reflect her music and the changes in her personal life in the 1970s and early 1980s, West drastically reinvented herself with plastic surgery and a new wardrobe becoming “Lady Airbrush” and “Little Miss Fireball” virtually overnight, especially during her duet partnership with Kenny Rogers starting in 1978. West broke style boundaries in the Country Music scene when she partnered with Hollywood “Stylist to the Stars” Bob Mackie, who also designed for Cher, Carol Burnett, Tina Turner and Ann Margaret. With Mackie’s custom designs of sequined capes, spandex pants and high heel boots, West became the first and only female Country vocalist to wear his designs, which cost her thousands. “I feel sexy in Bob Mackie clothes” West once said in a television interview, later aired on TNN. “Shopping is such great therapy for me.” West paid homage to friend Patsy Cline on the cover of her 1980 “Wild West” album, wearing her own updated sexy version of Cline’s classic cowgirl style. She thanked Mackie on the album's credits "To the man whose clothes make women look good, Bob Mackie." This new style shocked many in the then conservative Country Music industry, however her style blended naturally into other music industry fashions who were already wearing similar outfits. In April 2010, West's granddaughter, Tess Frizzell (daughter of Shelly West) began auctioning off many of West's stage outfits online VIA Ebay.
In November 2003, CMT television voted West on their special countdown of the 40 Greatest Fashion Statements in Country Music at #32 for her tight spandex outfits from the 1980s. They called her outfit, not without derisiveness, "the weapon of mass reduction."
Discography
For a complete discography of albums recorded by Dottie West, see Dottie West discography.Awards & honors
Year Award Category 1963 BMI Awards Songwriters Award - "Is This Me" (w/ Bill West) 1964 BMI Awards Songwriter's Award - "Here Comes My Baby" (w/ Bill West) 1965 Grammy Awards Best Female Country Vocal Performance - "Here Comes My Baby" 1966 BMI Awards Awards Songwriter's Award - "What's Come Over My Baby" (w/ Bill West) 1973 BMI Awards Songwriter's Award - "Country Sunshine" 1974 Billboard Magazine #1 Female Songwriter in the USA 1974 British Country Music Awards #1 Female Performer 1974 CLIO Awards Excellence In Advertising - Country Sunshine Coca-Cola Commercial 1978 Country Music Association Awards Vocal Duo of the Year - (w/ Kenny Rogers) 1979 Country Music Association Awards Vocal Duo of the Year - (w/ Kenny Rogers) 1979 Music City News Country Awards Duet of the Year - (w/ Kenny Rogers) 2000 BMI Golden Voice Awards Golden Legacy Award 2000 Billboard Magazine's 200 Most Played Artists Ranking - #44 2002 CMT's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music Ranking- #23 Duet partners
Years Associated Duet Partner Best-Known Singles Together Albums Together 1962 Cowboy Copas - - 1964 Jim Reeves "Love is No Excuse" Reeves died before they released an album together 1969–1970 Don Gibson "Rings of Gold", "There's a Story Goin' Around" Dottie and Don 1971 Jimmy Dean "Slowly" Country Boy and Country Girl 1978–1983 Kenny Rogers "Every Time Two Fools Collide", "All I Ever Need Is You", "What Are We Doin' In Love" Every Time Two Fools Collide, Classics 1982 John Schneider "Lover to Lover" Full Circle 1991 Arne Benoni "As For Me" West died before an album was put together References
- ^ a b c d e Dottie West biography at Allmusic
- ^ Dottie Werst biography at Allmusic
- ^ Dottie West biography at Allmusic
- ^ a b Dottie West biography at Allmusic
- ^ a b allmusic ((( Dottie West > Biography )))
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290273/
- ^ Dottie West biography at Allmusic (retrieved February 8, 2008.
Sources
- Oermann, Robert K. (1998). "Dottie West". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 578.
External links
Categories:- 1932 births
- 1991 deaths
- American country singers
- American female singers
- American country singer-songwriters
- Grammy Award winners
- Grand Ole Opry members
- Musicians from Tennessee
- People from Warren County, Tennessee
- Road accident deaths in Tennessee
- Starday Records artists
- RCA Records Nashville artists
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