Post by erik on Jun 17, 2023 19:34:02 GMT -5
Arguably country music's original "wild child", Tanya Tucker is in this week's Pop Music Hits Spotlight with the first national hit of her career, made when she was only 13 years old.
DELTA DAWN (Tanya Tucker; CBS; 1972)—Probably the closest thing country music had to a “Wild Child” in its history, Tanya Tucker, born in Seminole, Texas in October 1958, hit the national music stage far earlier than perhaps the laws of any popular American musical genre, let alone Country, might have allowed. Tanya and her family spent her formative years moving around in the Southwest, settling at different times in Willcox, Arizona, and St. George, Utah; her first exposure to show business came in the form of a bit part she had in the Sydney Pollack-directed Western Jeremiah Johnson). She first burst onto the national country music scene in 1972, shortly before the release of Jeremiah Johnson, with a recording of a Southern Gothic country number that, ironically enough, had recently been recorded by Bette Midler, another up-and-coming female music sensation of the time. “Delta Dawn”, written by rockabilly songwriter/musician Larry Collins and noted country music writer Alex Harvey (whose songs “Reuben James” and “Tell It All, Brother” had been recorded by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition), was the then 13 year-old Tanya’s first choice, after having declined “The Happiest Girl In The Whole USA” (which became a big pop/country crossover hit for Donna Fargo in the summer of 1972). Under the aegis of legendary country music producer Billy Sherrill, who had worked with Tammy Wynette, Tanya’s recording of “Delta Dawn” became one of the most sensational, and even controversial, recordings in the genre’s history. It managed to hit #6 on the Billboard Country Singles Chart in June 1972, and crossed over to #72 on the Hot 100 as well. Tanya would have her biggest pop hit in 1975 with the #37 “Lizzie And The Rainman” (also a #1 C&W hit); and although personal and chemical dependence issues would cause her career to start and stall over the next thirty years, she nevertheless managed to finally get inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2023, and win her first Grammy in 2019 (Best Country Album) for While I’m Livin’. Her 2023 release Sweet Western Sound would include, among other things, the California country-rock ballad “Letter To Linda”, a tribute to Linda Ronstadt. “Delta Dawn”, in the meantime, became a massive two-week #1 hit in the fall of 1973 for Australian pop singer Helen Reddy.
DELTA DAWN (Tanya Tucker; CBS; 1972)—Probably the closest thing country music had to a “Wild Child” in its history, Tanya Tucker, born in Seminole, Texas in October 1958, hit the national music stage far earlier than perhaps the laws of any popular American musical genre, let alone Country, might have allowed. Tanya and her family spent her formative years moving around in the Southwest, settling at different times in Willcox, Arizona, and St. George, Utah; her first exposure to show business came in the form of a bit part she had in the Sydney Pollack-directed Western Jeremiah Johnson). She first burst onto the national country music scene in 1972, shortly before the release of Jeremiah Johnson, with a recording of a Southern Gothic country number that, ironically enough, had recently been recorded by Bette Midler, another up-and-coming female music sensation of the time. “Delta Dawn”, written by rockabilly songwriter/musician Larry Collins and noted country music writer Alex Harvey (whose songs “Reuben James” and “Tell It All, Brother” had been recorded by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition), was the then 13 year-old Tanya’s first choice, after having declined “The Happiest Girl In The Whole USA” (which became a big pop/country crossover hit for Donna Fargo in the summer of 1972). Under the aegis of legendary country music producer Billy Sherrill, who had worked with Tammy Wynette, Tanya’s recording of “Delta Dawn” became one of the most sensational, and even controversial, recordings in the genre’s history. It managed to hit #6 on the Billboard Country Singles Chart in June 1972, and crossed over to #72 on the Hot 100 as well. Tanya would have her biggest pop hit in 1975 with the #37 “Lizzie And The Rainman” (also a #1 C&W hit); and although personal and chemical dependence issues would cause her career to start and stall over the next thirty years, she nevertheless managed to finally get inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2023, and win her first Grammy in 2019 (Best Country Album) for While I’m Livin’. Her 2023 release Sweet Western Sound would include, among other things, the California country-rock ballad “Letter To Linda”, a tribute to Linda Ronstadt. “Delta Dawn”, in the meantime, became a massive two-week #1 hit in the fall of 1973 for Australian pop singer Helen Reddy.