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Lynn Anderson
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Lynn Anderson (born Lynn Rene Anderson, September 26, 1947) is an American country music singer and horse racer, best known for her Grammy Award-winning country crossover hit single, "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden."
Lynn Anderson was one of the most popular female country singers of the 1970s, helped by her regular exposure on national television. She has scored eight #1s, 18 Top Tens and over 50 Top 40 hits.
Anderson debuted in 1966, having her first major hit with "Ride, Ride, Ride." After a series of Top 10 hit singles on the Country charts during the later half of the 1960s, Anderson went on to sign with Columbia Records in 1970.
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Encyclopedia
Lynn Anderson (born Lynn Rene Anderson, September 26, 1947) is an American country music singer and horse racer, best known for her Grammy Award-winning country crossover hit single, "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden."
Lynn Anderson was one of the most popular female country singers of the 1970s, helped by her regular exposure on national television. She has scored eight #1s, 18 Top Tens and over 50 Top 40 hits.
Anderson debuted in 1966, having her first major hit with "Ride, Ride, Ride." After a series of Top 10 hit singles on the Country charts during the later half of the 1960s, Anderson went on to sign with Columbia Records in 1970. Under Columbia, she had her most successful string of hits. Her signature song, "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden", was one of the most successful crossover Pop hits, peaking within the Top 5 on the Billboard Pop Chart, and was later ranked at #83 by CMT's special of the CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music.
Outside of music, Anderson has won 31 championships in horse racing.
Anderson also raises horses at her home in New Mexico.
Early life
Anderson was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota but was raised in Fair Oaks, California. She is the daughter of country music songwriters Casey and Liz Anderson.
She took an interest in singing at the age of 6, but had first success in horse shows in and around California, where she won a total of 700 trophies,
which included the "California Horse Show Queen" title in 1966. Into her teens, she performed regularly on a local television program, Country Caravan.
In the mid-60s, she worked as a secretary at country radio station, KROY in Sacramento, California, when one of her mother's compositions, "All My Friends (Are Gonna Be Strangers)" was recorded and became a #10 Country hit by Merle Haggard in 1965, which helped her mother sign as a Country music recording artist for RCA Records the same year.
While accompanying her mother to Nashville, Anderson participated in an informal sing-along at a local Nashville hotel room with Country singers, Merle Haggard and Freddie Hart. One of the people present at the sing-along, Slim Williamson was the owner of the local label Chart Records. Williamson, who recognized Lynn's talents, invited her to record for his label, beginning in 1966.
Music career
1966 – 1969: Country music success
In 1966, Lynn released her debut single, "For Better or for Worse," a duet with Jerry Lane that did not chart. She released her first charted single with "Ride, Ride, Ride," her third single off the Chart label, which peaked within the Country Top 40.
She had her major hit single the following year from the, Ride, Ride, Ride LP with, "If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away)", which peaked at #5 on the Billboard Country Chart. This was followed by another Top 5 hit, "Promises, Promises,"
from an album of the same name, which also spawned a second Top 10 hit in 1968, "No Another Time." She also released a Top 25 duet hit with her mother, "Mother May I" also that year. Liz Anderson also achieved success as a Country artist around the same time, acquiring two Top 10 hits in her career, "Mama Spank" (1966) and a duet with Bobby Bare and Norma Jean titled, "The Game of Triangles" (1967).
In 1967, she secured a place on the popular television show, The Lawrence Welk Show.
Anderson became the show's first featured Country singer, and would tour with the Welk Road Show during the same time. Working on the show helped her acquire a larger audience and would later help her place singles on the Pop charts. As her popularity grew by 1969, she was forced to leave the show, in favor of sporadic guest appearances.
In 1968, Anderson married songwriter and producer, Glenn Sutton, who would later produce her records and write some of her singles in the 70s. Their marriage would last for approximately nine years.
In 1969, Anderson released her biggest hit single under the Chart label, "That's a No No,"
which peaked at #2 on the Billboard Country Chart. She left the label in 1969 and signed with Columbia Records in 1970.
However, Chart records would continue to release singles up until the end of 1971, including five Top 20 hits, some of which were cover versions of previous hit singles by other artists; "He'd Still Love Me, "I've Been Everywhere," "Rocky Top," "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," and "I'm Alright."
1970 – 1980: Pop crossover
After signing with Columbia in 1970, she released the Joe South-penned, "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden," which became a major crossover Pop hit in 1970 and early 1971.
The song was originally intended not to be recorded at all, but Anderson persuaded her husband to record because she liked the song. It wasn't until Columbia record executive at the time, Clive Davis, heard the song, it was released as a single.
The single peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Chart and also peaked at #3 on the Billboard Pop Chart, and became the biggest hit of her career.
The album, Rose Garden was released in 1971, and was also successful, receiving a "Gold" certification by the RIAA, and in 1986 eventually sold one million copies and was certified "Platinum."
Because of the song's success, Anderson won the Academy of Country Music's "Top Female Vocalist" award and the Country Music Association's "Female Vocalist of the Year" award in 1970 and 1971. In addition, she also won her first and only Grammy award
winning Best Female Country Vocal Performance for the song in 1971.
Anderson could not repeat her success on the Pop charts,
because she was not able to acquire another Top 40 hit single, although she had her biggest success on the Country charts during this time. She had two #1 hit singles on the Billboard Country Chart in 1971 with "You're My Man" and "How Can I Unlove You",
both of which also peaked at #63 on the Billboard Pop Chart. Anderson's Country singles would continue to chart outside the Top 40 on the Billboard Pop Chart up until 1974.
In 1972, Anderson had three Top 5 hits, beginning with a cover version of the 50s Pop hit, "Cry," and followed by "Listen to a Country Song" and "Fool Me,"
both of which were released on the Listen to a Country Song album. "Cry" peaked at #3 on the Billboard magazine country chart and also at #16 on the Adult Contemporary chart. In 1973, Anderson's had a fourth #1 hit with "Keep Me in Mind," and an album of the same was also released. This was followed by a second 1973 studio album titled, Top of the World, whose title track was a Top 5 Country hit, and was also a #1 Pop hit for The Carpenters the same year. The second single spawned from the album, "Sing About Love," also peaked at #3. In 1974, "What a Man My Man is" was Anderson's fifth and final #1 hit. In 1974, she also won the American Music Awards' "Favorite Female Country Artist" award.
In the mid and late 70s, Anderson made frequent guest appearances on a series of television specials, talk shows, and variety shows. She had a starring role in an episode of Starsky & Hutch, as Sue Ann Granger, made several appearances on The Tonight Show, and three Bob Hope television specials. She also hosted her own television special in 1977, with guest star, Tina Turner.
In 1994 she made a cameo appearance on the film, XXX's and OOO's and a Dean Martin Christmas show in 1981.
Following her final #1 hit in 1974, Anderson's success slowed down during the later half of the 70s.
However, she continued making regular appearances on the Country charts every year for the rest of the decade, but as much success as she had before.
She continued having major hit singles in the Top 20, acquiring two from her I've Never Loved Anyone More album in 1975 with "He Turns it into Love Again" and the title track, which both were Top 15 hits. She had one Top 20 hit with "All the King's Horses" in 1976 from an album of the same name. She had another major hit in 1977 with "Wrap Your Love All Around Your Man," due to its promotion on the television show, Starsky & Hutch. In 1979, she had her first Top 10 hit since 1974 with "Isn't It Always Love"
from her Outlaw is Just a State of Mind album, which also produced the Top 20 hit "I Love How You Love Me" and the Top 40 hit "Sea of Heartbreak." In 1980, she recorded her final album for Columbia, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, which released two Top 30 Country hits. Anderson didn't record for three years following her separation from Columbia.
1983 – 1989: Commercial resurgence
After three years away, Anderson signed with Permian Records label in 1983, and had a Top 10 with "You're Welcome to Tonight," a duet with country singer, Gary Morris
At Permian, she recorded one studio album titled, Back, her first studio album since 1980. It's first single, "You Can't Lose What You Never Had" peaked outside the Country Top 40, but the second single, "What I've Learned from Loving You" was a Top 20 hit. The third single was "You're Welcome to Tonight" with Morris. She then left Permian in 1984. In 1986, she recorded a duet with Ed Bruce for his album, Night Things titled "Fools for Each Other," which peaked outside the Country Top 40.
In 1984, she recorded a single for MCA Records, and then in 1986, she signed with Mercury Records, which produced one album, What She Does Best, and five singles that were minor hits on the Billboard Country Chart in the late 1980s.
She had two Top 40 hit singles from the label with "Read Between the Lines" and a cover version of The Drifters' "Under the Boardwalk," which was a Top 25 Country hit in 1988. In 1989, Anderson released her last charting single to date with "How Many Hearts," which peaked at #69.
1990 – Present: Present music career
In 1992, she recorded a new studio album, titled Cowboy's Sweetheart, released off of Laselight Records.
Emmylou Harris and Marty Stuart were featured as guest performers on the album.
During the same time, the American Rose Society created a hybrid tea rose and named it "The Lynn Anderson"
She did not record any studio albums for the rest of the decade and became more focused on touring and performing, as well as other various projects outside of music. In 1999, she was inducted into the North American Country Music Association's International Hall of Fame.
In 2000, Governor of Tennessee, Don Sundquist made June 15 "Lynn Anderson Day" throughout the state. Anderson produced a TNN special, "American Country Cowboys," a special that helped handicapped groups also during this time.
In 2002, Anderson was ranked at #29 on CMT's television special of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.
In 2000, she recorded a live album titled, Live at Billy Bob's Texas.
Other live albums of the same name have been done by other Country music artists, including Merle Haggard and Tanya Tucker. In 2004, she recorded her first studio album in 12 years titled, The Bluegrass Sessions, which was a Bluegrass album that consisted of Anderson's major hits from the 60s and 70s re-recorded in a Bluegrass format.
The album was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Bluegrass Album in 2005, along Ricky Skaggs' album Brand New Strings, Ralph Stanley II's Carrying on, as well as a multi-artist album.
In 2005, she performed on the Grand Ole Opry with Country singer, Martina McBride, performing a duet version of "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden."
In June 2007, she performed as part of the CMA's 2007 Music Festival in Nashville. She performed an outdoor concert at the Riverfront Park area, which also included concerts by T. Graham Brown and Jason Michael Carroll.
At the festival, Anderson duetted with songwriter and fiance, Mentor Williams on his composition recorded by Dobie Gray and later Uncle Kracker, "Drift Away".
Equestrian career
Outside of her music career, Anderson has also maintained an equestrian horse racing career since the 1960s. As a horsewoman she has won 16 National Championships, eight World Championships and several celebrity championships. Her most recent championships include: the National Chevy Truck Cutting Horse Champion, 1999; American U.S. Open Invitational Champion, 2000; and the National Cutting Horse Association Champion, 1999.
Anderson continues to raise horses at her home in New Mexico. Throughout her music career, she has posed with racing horses for promotional photographs.
With horses, Anderson has worked with the "Special Riders of Animaland," which is a horseback-riding therapy program for children.
Personal life
Family
Lynn Anderson married Glen Sutton in 1968, but they divorced in 1977. Anderson married her second husband, the Louisiana oilman Harold Stream III. They had two children; William Gray (1979) and Melissa(1981). They divorced in 1982.
Lynn currently lives at Taos, New Mexico with her boyfriend of many years, singer-songwriter Mentor Williams, and during the Christmas holidays of 2006, they announced their engagement. It is not known if their marriage was carried out.
Arrests
On December 2, 2004, Anderson was charged with Driving While Intoxicated in Denton, Texas. A driver who was following Anderson called the police after noticing that her car was weaving in and out of lanes. After failing a field sobriety test, Anderson was arrested and taken to jail. She was later released on bond.
On January 24, 2005, Anderson was arrested after shoplifting from a local food and drug store. Anderson was accused of stealing a Harry Potter DVD. She was also charged for resisting or obstructing an officer after striking a police officer in the arm while being led to a patrol car outside the store. She was arraigned in a Taos, New Mexico, courtroom on January 28 for the charges. On February 1, 2005, Anderson pleaded not guilty to the shoplifting charges. Around this time, she sought treatment for alcoholism at a rehabilitation facility.
On May 3, 2006, Anderson was arrested on a second Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol charge following a minor traffic accident near Espanola, New Mexico. According to the police, Anderson failed a sobriety test and refused to take a breathalyzer test after her car hit the back of another car. No one was injured in the collision. Anderson was later released on bond.
Awards & honors
| Year | Award Program | Award |
|---|
| 1967 | Academy of Country Music Awards | Top Female Vocalist | | 1970 | | 1971 | Grammy Awards | Best Female Country Vocal Performance; "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" | | Country Music Association Awards | Female Vocalist of the Year | | 1974 | American Music Awards | Favorite Female Country Artist | | 1980 | Record World | Artist of the Decade; 1970 – 1980 | | Billboard | | 1999 | American Country Music Association Hall of Fame | Inducted into hall of fame | | 2002 | CMT's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music | Ranking – #29 | | 2007 | Academy of Western Artists | Best Western Song | | Best Western Album; Cowgirl | | Best Western Swing Album; Cowgirl | | Best Female Vocalist |
Discography
External links
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