Dottie West
Encyclopedia
Dottie West 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'".
, Dottie was the oldest of 10 children of Hollis and Pelina Marsh.
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 dysfunction
al 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.
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.
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.
"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
.
"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.
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.
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. 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.
"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
,"
"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.
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.
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. 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. 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
.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
, 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."
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
and Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...
, 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
Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance was first awarded in 1965, to Dottie West. The award has had several minor name changes:*From 1965 to 1967 the award was known as Best Country & Western Vocal Performance - Female...
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
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Rene Anderson is an American country music singer and equestrian known for a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably her Grammy Award-winning, worldwide mega-hit, " Rose Garden." Helped by her regular exposure on national television, Anderson was one of the most...
, Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...
, Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...
, Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
, and Tammy Wynette
Tammy Wynette
Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally as Tammy Wynette , was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of the genre's best-known artists and biggest-selling female vocalists....
. 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
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
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
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
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
Every Time Two Fools Collide (song)
"Every Time Two Fools Collide" is a country music song written by Jan Dyer and Jeff Tweel, and recorded by Kenny Rogers and Dottie West. Released in 1978, the song reached No...
," "All I Ever Need Is You," and "What Are We Doin' In Love
What Are We Doin' In Love
"What Are We Doin' in Love" is a popular duet Countrypolitan song by Dottie West and Kenny Rogers.-Summary:This song had been the first duet hit for Kenny Rogers and Dottie West in over two years and "What Are We Doin' in Love" would be the duo third and final number one on the country chart ....
," 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'".
Childhood and teen years
Born Dorothy Marie Marsh outside McMinnville, TennesseeMcMinnville, Tennessee
McMinnville is the largest city in and the county seat of Warren County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 13,605 at the 2010 census...
, Dottie was the oldest of 10 children of Hollis and Pelina Marsh.
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
Lye
Lye is a corrosive alkaline substance, commonly sodium hydroxide or historically potassium hydroxide . Previously, lye was among the many different alkalis leached from hardwood ashes...
. 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 dysfunction
Dysfunction
Dysfunction can refer to:* Abnormality * Dysfunctional family* Sexual dysfunction* Dysfunction , an album by the rock band Staind...
al relationship with her father, an alcoholic
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
who abused
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
her both physically
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...
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
Tennessee Technological University
Tennessee Technological University, popularly known as Tennessee Tech, is an accredited public university located in Cookeville, Tennessee, US, a city approximately seventy miles east of Nashville. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute , and before that as Dixie College, the...
in Cookeville, Tennessee
Cookeville, Tennessee
Cookeville is a city in Putnam County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 23,923 at the 2000 census. of Cookeville's population was 30,435, and the combined total of those living in Cookeville's in 2010 was 65,014. It is the county seat of Putnam County and home to Tennessee...
in 1951. There she met her first husband and father of her four children, a talented steel guitarist named Bill West.
Career discovery
After graduation, West moved with her family to Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
where she began appearing on the television program Landmark Jamboree as one half of a country pop
Country pop
Country pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and in soft rock, is a subgenre of country music that first emerged in the 1970s. Although the term first referred to country music songs and artists that crossed over to Top 40 radio, country pop acts are now more likely to cross over to...
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
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
, Roger Miller
Roger Miller
Roger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs...
, Hank Cochran
Hank Cochran
Garland Perry "Hank" Cochran was an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting during the 1960s, Cochran was a prolific songwriter in the genre, including major hits by Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Eddy Arnold and others...
, and Harlan Howard
Harlan Howard
Harlan Perry Howard was a prolific American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote a large number of popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists...
. 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
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
and her husband Charlie Dick.
West and Cline met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
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
Cowboy Copas
Lloyd Estel Copas , known by his stage name Cowboy Copas, was an American country music singer popular from the 1940s until his death in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry.-Biography:Copas was born in 1913 in...
Hawkshaw Hawkins
Hawkshaw Hawkins
Harold Franklin Hawkins , better known as Hawkshaw Hawkins, was an American country music singer popular from the 1950s into the early 60s known for his rich, smooth vocals and music drawn from blues, boogie and honky tonk...
and her pilot and manager Randy Hughes on her way home from a benefit in Kansas City
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...
, 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
Jim Reeves
James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...
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
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
the same year.
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 ReevesJim Reeves
James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...
"Love Is No Excuse". Also in 1964, she auditioned for producer Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
, the architect of the Nashville sound, who agreed to produce her composition "Here Comes My Baby
Here Comes My Baby (Dottie West song)
"Here Comes My Baby" is a popular Grammy-winning country song written and made popular by Dottie West in 1964.-History:"Here Comes My Baby" was the first song to be written and made famous by Dottie West. In 1964, Dottie West was trying to make it big in Nashville. She released a single the...
". The single made Dottie the first female country artist to win a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
(Best Female Country Vocal Performance), leading to an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
.
"Here Comes My Baby" reached #10 on Billboard Magazine's Country charts in 1964.
After releasing the Here Comes My Baby
Here Comes My Baby (album)
Here Comes My Baby is an album by country music singer Dottie West in 1965.This album was Dottie West's first studio album under RCA records. She originally signed with the label a year before, while recording a Top 10 Country hit with Jim Reeves, an a Top 40 single of her own...
LP in 1965, Dottie and producer Chet Atkins reunited the following year for Suffer Time
Suffer Time
Suffer Time is the name of an album by Country Music singer, Dottie West, released in 1966.This album was Dottie West's most successful album in her whole 20-year career of releasing albums. The album peaked all the way at #3 on Billboards "Top Country Albums" list in 1966...
, which generated her biggest hit yet in "Would You Hold It Against Me
Would You Hold It Against Me
"Would You Hold It Against Me" is the name of a popular Country Music song by Country Music singer Dottie West, released in 1966.By 1966, Dottie West's professional career in Country music was only getting started. However, two years before, West achieved her first Top 10 hit with "Here Comes My...
." In 1967, the West/Atkins pairing issued three separate albums: With All My Heart and Soul
With All My Heart and Soul
With All My Heart and Soul is an album by Country music singer, Dottie West, released in 1967.This was one of Dottie West's best-selling albums. The album was produced by RCA Country music producer Chet Atkins, along with a string of other albums West recorded for the record company in the 60s. The...
(featuring the #8 smash "Paper Mansions
Paper Mansions
"Paper Mansions" is the name of a 1967 single and hit by Dottie West. The single was first a 45 RPM."Paper Mansions" was released by Dottie West in 1967 for her new With All My Heart and Soul album , which only featured this single. This song was West's last Top 10 hit of the decade as a solo act...
"), Dottie West Sings Sacred Ballads
Dottie West Sings Sacred Ballads
Dottie West Sings Sacred Ballads is the name of a Christian music album by Dottie West in 1967.This album was West's first Christian/Inspirational music album. The album featured all Christian-music songs, that had been well-known and well-acknowledged. Songs like "How Great Thou Art" and "His Eye...
, and I'll Help You Forget Her
I'll Help You Forget Her
I'll help You Forget Her is the name of a Country music album by Dottie West, released in 1967.This is one of West's more successful albums. The album sold quite well and reached No. 11 on the "Top Country Albums" chart in 1967. The album only spawned one single however, which was "Like a Fool"....
.
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.
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
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
in 1970. The soft drink company liked the result so much that it signed her to a lifetime contract as a jingle writer.
After the 1968 LP Country Girl, West teamed with Don Gibson
Don Gibson
Donald Eugene "Don" Gibson was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson penned such country standards as "Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjoyed a string of country hits from 1957 into the early 1970s.-Biography:Don Gibson was...
for a record of duets, Dottie and Don
Dottie and Don
Dottie and Don is the name of a country music album by Country singers Don Gibson and Dottie West, released in 1969.This album was successful. Two singles from this album were also successful. The most successful was "Rings of Gold", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Country charts in 1969. All...
, featuring the number two hit "Rings of Gold
Rings of Gold
"Rings of Gold" is a single by American country music artists Dottie West and Don Gibson. Released in February 1969, it was the first single from their album Dottie and Don. The song peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It also reached number 1 on the RPM Country Tracks...
" 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
Country Boy and Country Girl
Country Boy and Country Girl is the name of a Country music duet album, with the Country singers, Jimmy Dean and Dottie West.This album was released in 1971, and charted the "Top Country Albums" list at No. 42. The album spawned one single, "Slowly". The single reached the Country Top 30 at No. 29...
, a collection of pairings with Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Dean
Jimmy Ray Dean was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. Although he may be best known today as the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand, he became a national television personality starting in 1957, rising to fame for his 1961 country crossover hit "Big Bad...
. 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. 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
Clio
thumb|Clio—detail from [[The Art of Painting|The Allegory of Painting]] by [[Johannes Vermeer]]In Greek mythology, Clio or Kleio, is the muse of history. Like all the muses, she is a daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne...
Award for commercial of the year and she became the first country artist ever to win that particular honor.
"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
Last Time I Saw Him (song)
"Last Time I Saw Him" is the title of a 1973 single release by Diana Ross, being a composition by Michael Masser and lyricist Pam Sawyer: the track was produced by Masser and released in December 1973 at the same time as Ross' Last Time I Saw Him album....
,"
"House of Love," and "Lay Back Lover." Before signing with United Artists Records
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
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 ginghamGingham
Gingham is a medium-weight balanced plain-woven fabric made from dyed cotton or cotton-blend yarn.The name originates from an adjective in the Malay language, genggang , meaning striped. Some sources say that the name came into English via Dutch...
dresses, and had originally refused to record Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
's "Help Me Make It Through the Night
Help Me Make It Through the Night
"Help Me Make It Through the Night" is a country music ballad composed by Kris Kristofferson and released on his 1970 album Kristofferson.Kristofferson said that he got the inspiration for the song from an Esquire magazine interview with Frank Sinatra...
" because it was "too sexy," began appearing in spandex
Spandex
Spandex or elastane is a synthetic fibre known for its exceptional elasticity. It is strong, but less durable than natural Latex, its major non-synthetic competitor. It is a polyurethane-polyurea copolymer that was co-invented in 1959 by chemists C. L. Sandquist and Joseph Shivers at DuPont's...
-sequined Bob Mackie
Bob Mackie
Robert Gordon Mackie is an American fashion designer, best known for his costuming for entertainment icons such as Judy Garland, Cher, Diana Ross, Liza Minnelli, Tina Turner, and Mitzi Gaynor...
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
Sexual revolution
The sexual revolution was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the Western world from the 1960s into the 1980s...
peaked, so did West's career.
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
When It's Just You and Me (album)
When It's Just You and Me is the name of a Country music album by Country singer, Dottie West, released in 1977.This album was Dottie West's first album under her new record label, United Artists, which she joined in 1976, after being dropped from her previous label, RCA records. This was the first...
. The title track peaked at #19 on the country charts.
In 1977, she was recording the song "Every Time Two Fools Collide
Every Time Two Fools Collide (song)
"Every Time Two Fools Collide" is a country music song written by Jan Dyer and Jeff Tweel, and recorded by Kenny Rogers and Dottie West. Released in 1978, the song reached No...
" when, according to legend, Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
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
What Are We Doin' In Love
"What Are We Doin' in Love" is a popular duet Countrypolitan song by Dottie West and Kenny Rogers.-Summary:This song had been the first duet hit for Kenny Rogers and Dottie West in over two years and "What Are We Doin' in Love" would be the duo third and final number one on the country chart ....
" topped the charts as well, and a 1979 duets album titled Classics
Classics (Kenny Rogers & Dottie West)
Classics is the name of a duet album by Kenny Rogers and Dottie West, released in 1979.This album was Kenny Rogers' and Dottie West's second album together. Their previous album, Every Time Two Fools Collide, was a major seller, and made them one of the biggest duet acts Country music has ever...
also proved successful. 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
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
'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
Special Delivery (Dottie West album)
- Personnel :* Randy Goodrum — producer* Brent Maher — producer* Dottie West — lead vocals- Chart positions :AlbumSingles...
, included two other Top 15 Country hits from 1980, "You Pick Me Up (And Put Me Down
You Pick Me Up and Put Me Down
"You Pick Me Up and Put Me Down" is the name of a song recorded by country music Dottie West. Released in October 1979, the song was among a series of records showcasing West's newly adopted pop-oriented style, which became popular with fans during the early 1980s.Prior to the success of songs like...
)" and "Leavin's for Unbelievers". In 1981, West had a pair of back-to-back #1 hits, "Are You Happy Baby
Are You Happy Baby
"Are You Happy Baby" is a 1981 single written by Bob Stone and performed by Dottie West. The song became one of West's signature tunes.-About the Song:...
" 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
Wild West (album)
Wild West is the name of a Country album by Dottie West, released in 1981.This was one of Dottie West's best-selling albums as a solo artist. The album reached not only the No. 5 spot on the "Top Country Albums" chart, but also reached No. 126 on the "Billboard 200". The boasted two no...
was one of her biggest sellers.
As the 1980s progressed, West's popularity began to slip. 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
The Raccoons and the Lost Star
The Raccoons and the Lost Star was a precursor TV Special to the animated series The Raccoons and debuted in 1983. It came after the first two Raccoons seasonal specials, which were The Christmas Raccoons in 1980 and The Raccoons on Ice in 1981...
in 1983, a precursor to the later series produced by Kevin Gillis, The Raccoons
The Raccoons
The Raccoons is a Canadian animated television series which was originally broadcast from 1985 to 1991 with four preceding television specials beginning in 1980. The series was created by Kevin Gillis, and produced at Atkinson Film-Arts first-hand from 1984 to 1985, then at Hinton Animation Studios...
.
West's 1982 album High Time
High Time (Dottie West album)
High Times is the name of a Country music album, released in 1982 by Country singer, Dottie West.This album was built around the title track, "It's High Time". The single, was released in early 1982, and reached No. 16 on the Billboard Country music charts, West's last Top 20 hit of her career...
spawned her last Top 20 hit, "It's High Time
It's High Time
"It's High Time" is the name of a Country music song by Dottie West.Although this song wasn't one of her highest-charting singles, it was noteworthy as West's final Top 20 hit on the Country charts...
," 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
Full Circle (Dottie West album)
Full Circle is the name of a country music album released by country singer Dottie West in 1982.Full Circle was one of Dottie West's most unsuccessful albums in her career. Her solo career in country music had been revitalized in 1978 with the help of a string of hit duets with Kenny Rogers. By...
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
Shelly West
Shelly West is an American country music singer. Her mother was the country music star Dottie West, whose career spanned three decades. Shelly West is best known for having hit duets with David Frizzell, and for their #1 hit "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma"...
also made a career in country music; she is best known for her hit duet with David Frizzell
David Frizzell
David Frizzell is an American country music singer. He is the younger brother of country music legend Lefty Frizzell. His career first started in the late 1950s, but his biggest success came in the '80s, 30 years into his career....
, "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma
You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma
"You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" is a 1981 single from the film "Any Which Way You Can" and was performed by David Frizzell and Shelly West. "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" was written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, Larry Collins and Sandy Pinkard would become Shelly West's debut on...
," which hit No. 1 that year. As a solo artist, Shelly notched her own No. 1 in 1983 entitled "Jose Cuervo
Jose Cuervo (song)
"José Cuervo" is the title of a song written and recorded by Cindy Jordan in 1982. It was released as a single by American country artist Shelly West in February 1983 to more commercial success....
." 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
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a musical with a book by Texas author Larry L. King and Peter Masterson and music and lyrics by Carol Hall...
. 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
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, often shortened to Macy's Day Parade, is an annual parade presented by Macy's. The tradition started in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States along with America's Thanksgiving Parade in Detroit, and four years younger than...
that year. She also posed for a revealing photo in the men's magazine Oui
Oui (magazine)
Oui is a men's adult pornographic magazine published in the USA and featuring explicit nude photographs of models, with full page pin-ups, centerfolds, interviews and other articles, and cartoons.- Playboy years :...
. In 1983, she married her soundman, Al Winters, 22 years her junior. In 1984, she appeared in the play Bring it on Home
Bring It on Home
"Bring It On Home" is a song written by American bassist-songwriter Willie Dixon. The first known recording of the song was by Sonny Boy Williamson II in 1963...
. In 1986, she made her screen debut in the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
film The Aurora Encounter
The Aurora Encounter
The Aurora Encounter is a 1986 American science fiction film directed by the Jim McCullough Sr., written by Melody Brooke and Jim McCullough, Jr., and starring Jack Elam, Peter Brown, Carol Bagdasarian and Dottie West....
. In 1984, West released her final studio album, Just Dottie
Just Dottie Again
Just Dottie is the name of the final country music album released by Dottie West in 1984 under Permian Records, after eight years of recording for United Artists Records/Liberty Records....
. 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.
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. 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 AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
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
Eviction
How you doing???? Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, eviction may also be known as unlawful detainer, summary possession, summary dispossess, forcible detainer, ejectment, and repossession, among other terms...
notice on August 1, 1990. At this time, West owed the IRS
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
$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
Public auction
A public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government, or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a government agency with similar authority....
of her mansion and possessions, she began making plans for a comeback, including an album of duets and autobiography.
The album was to feature friends Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
, Roger Miller
Roger Miller
Roger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs...
, Tanya Tucker
Tanya Tucker
Tanya Denise Tucker is a female American country music artist who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13...
, and Tammy Wynette
Tammy Wynette
Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally as Tammy Wynette , was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of the genre's best-known artists and biggest-selling female vocalists....
. However, the album was never made. She recorded her last song in July 1991 called "As For Me," a duet with Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
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 RogersKenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
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
Spleen
The spleen is an organ found in virtually all vertebrate animals with important roles in regard to red blood cells and the immune system. In humans, it is located in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. It removes old red blood cells and holds a reserve of blood in case of hemorrhagic shock...
and a lacerated liver
Liver
The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
. 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
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
, Connie Smith
Connie Smith
Connie Smith is an American country music artist. She began her career in 1963 after winning a local talent contest near Columbus, Ohio, which attracted the attention of country songwriter Bill Anderson...
, Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
and June Carter Cash
June Carter Cash
Valerie June Carter Cash was an American singer, dancer, songwriter, actress, comedienne and author who was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash...
and Larry Gatlin
Larry Gatlin
Larry Wayne Gatlin is an American country music singer/songwriter. He is perhaps best known for teaming up with his brothers Steve and Rudy in the late 1970s, becoming one of country music's most successful acts of the 1970s and 1980s. Gatlin has had a total of 33 Top 40 singles...
. Her friend and fellow artist, Steve Wariner
Steve Wariner
Steven Noel "Steve" Wariner is an American country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has released eighteen studio albums, including six on MCA Records, and three each on RCA Records, Arista Records and Capitol Records...
, whom she had helped make it to Nashville as a young man, sang "Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace
"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn with words written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton , published in 1779. With a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of the sins people commit and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God,...
". A couple of weeks later, President George H.W. Bush, a longtime fan for whom she had performed at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, expressed his condolences at the CMA Awards. Her hometown of McMinnville, Tennessee
McMinnville, Tennessee
McMinnville is the largest city in and the county seat of Warren County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 13,605 at the 2010 census...
dedicated Highway 56 to her memory, naming it the Dottie West Memorial Highway.
Family Feud
Family Feud
Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Two families compete against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people...
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
Michele Lee
Michele Lee is an American singer, dancer, actress, producer, director and frequent game show panelist of the 1970s. She is best-known for her role as Karen Cooper Fairgate MacKenzie on the 1980s prime-time soap opera, Knots Landing...
, 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
Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story
Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story is a 1995 television biopic about the life of country music singer Dottie West portrayed by Michele Lee...
that premiered on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. 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. 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
Jo Dee Messina
Jo Dee Marie Messina , known professionally as Jo Dee Messina, is an American country music artist. She has charted nine Number One singles on the Billboard country music charts. She has been honored by the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music and has been nominated for two...
covered West's biggest solo hit, "A Lesson in Leavin'" for her album, I'm Alright
I'm Alright (Jo Dee Messina album)
I'm Alright is the second studio album released by American country music singer Jo Dee Messina. It was released in 1998. Her highest selling album to date, it has been certified 2× Multi-Platinum for U.S. sales of two million copies...
. 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
McMinnville, Tennessee
McMinnville is the largest city in and the county seat of Warren County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 13,605 at the 2010 census...
holds a "Dottie West Music Festival" each year in October. West was ranked #23 in Country Music Television
Country Music Television
Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
'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 DavisSkeeter Davis
Mary Frances Penick , better known as Skeeter Davis, was an American country music singer best known for crossover pop music songs of the early 1960s. She started out as part of The Davis Sisters as a teenager in the late 1940s, eventually landing on RCA Records. In the late '50s, she became a solo...
, Jean Shepherd
Jean Shepherd
Jean Parker Shepherd was an American raconteur, radio and TV personality, writer and actor who was often referred to by the nickname Shep....
, June Carter and Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...
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
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
, 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
Bob Mackie
Robert Gordon Mackie is an American fashion designer, best known for his costuming for entertainment icons such as Judy Garland, Cher, Diana Ross, Liza Minnelli, Tina Turner, and Mitzi Gaynor...
, who also designed for Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
, Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
, Tina Turner
Tina Turner
Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...
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
Patsy Cline
Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
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
CMT
- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...
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
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 Cowboy Copas Lloyd Estel Copas , known by his stage name Cowboy Copas, was an American country music singer popular from the 1940s until his death in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry.-Biography:Copas was born in 1913 in... |
- | - |
| 1964 | Jim Reeves Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound... |
"Love is No Excuse" | Reeves died before they released an album together |
| 1969–1970 | Don Gibson Don Gibson Donald Eugene "Don" Gibson was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson penned such country standards as "Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjoyed a string of country hits from 1957 into the early 1970s.-Biography:Don Gibson was... |
"Rings of Gold", "There's a Story Goin' Around" | Dottie and Don Dottie and Don Dottie and Don is the name of a country music album by Country singers Don Gibson and Dottie West, released in 1969.This album was successful. Two singles from this album were also successful. The most successful was "Rings of Gold", which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Country charts in 1969. All... |
| 1971 | Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean Jimmy Ray Dean was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. Although he may be best known today as the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand, he became a national television personality starting in 1957, rising to fame for his 1961 country crossover hit "Big Bad... |
"Slowly" | Country Boy and Country Girl Country Boy and Country Girl Country Boy and Country Girl is the name of a Country music duet album, with the Country singers, Jimmy Dean and Dottie West.This album was released in 1971, and charted the "Top Country Albums" list at No. 42. The album spawned one single, "Slowly". The single reached the Country Top 30 at No. 29... |
| 1978–1983 | Kenny Rogers Kenny Rogers Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur... |
"Every Time Two Fools Collide Every Time Two Fools Collide Every Time Two Fools Collide is the name of a duet album by country music singers Kenny Rogers and Dottie West.This was the duo's first album together. This was after Kenny Rogers entered the country market a couple of years back with his massive country pop hit "Lucille" in 1975, followed by a... ", "All I Ever Need Is You", "What Are We Doin' In Love What Are We Doin' In Love "What Are We Doin' in Love" is a popular duet Countrypolitan song by Dottie West and Kenny Rogers.-Summary:This song had been the first duet hit for Kenny Rogers and Dottie West in over two years and "What Are We Doin' in Love" would be the duo third and final number one on the country chart .... " |
Every Time Two Fools Collide Every Time Two Fools Collide Every Time Two Fools Collide is the name of a duet album by country music singers Kenny Rogers and Dottie West.This was the duo's first album together. This was after Kenny Rogers entered the country market a couple of years back with his massive country pop hit "Lucille" in 1975, followed by a... , Classics Classics (Kenny Rogers & Dottie West) Classics is the name of a duet album by Kenny Rogers and Dottie West, released in 1979.This album was Kenny Rogers' and Dottie West's second album together. Their previous album, Every Time Two Fools Collide, was a major seller, and made them one of the biggest duet acts Country music has ever... |
| 1982 | John Schneider John Schneider (television actor) John Richard Schneider III is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his portrayal of Bo Duke in the 1980s American television series The Dukes of Hazzard, and as Jonathan Kent on Smallville, a 2001 television adaptation of Superman.Alongside his acting career, Schneider performed as a... |
"Lover to Lover" | Full Circle Full Circle (Dottie West album) Full Circle is the name of a country music album released by country singer Dottie West in 1982.Full Circle was one of Dottie West's most unsuccessful albums in her career. Her solo career in country music had been revitalized in 1978 with the help of a string of hit duets with Kenny Rogers. By... |
| 1991 | Arne Benoni | "As For Me" | West died before an album was put together |
Sources
- Oermann, Robert K. (1998). "Dottie West". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 578.