Jean Shepard
Encyclopedia
Ollie Imogene Shepard better known as Jean Shepard, is an American
honky tonk
singer-songwriter
who was a pioneer for women in country music
. Shepard released a total of 73 singles to the Hot Country Songs chart, one of which reached the #1 spot. She recorded a total of 24 studio albums between 1956 and 1981, and has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry
for more than 50 years.
After Kitty Wells
' 1952 breakthrough, Shepard quickly followed, and a national television gig and the Opry helped make her a star when few female country singers had enduring success. Her first hit, "A Dear John Letter
", a 1953 duet with Ferlin Husky
, was the first post-World War II record by a woman country artist to sell more than a million copies.
, but was raised in Visalia, California
near Bakersfield. As a teenager, she played bass in the Melody Ranch Girls, an all-female band formed in 1948. Hank Thompson discovered Shepard a few years later. With Thompson's help, Shepard signed with Capitol Records
in 1952, following the success of Kitty Wells' "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
" Shepard cut four songs at her first session with popular band players Jimmy Bryant
, Speedy West
, Cliffie Stone
and Billy Strange
. She recorded her first single for the label in 1952, "Crying Steel Guitar Waltz", but it failed to chart.
, with "A Dear John Letter". It was a No. 1 smash, and also became a major crossover pop hit, peaking at No. 4 four on the Billboard pop chart
. The song struck a chord a with audiences as it was a half-spoken duet about a soldier in the Korean War
. The duo's follow-up, "Forgive Me John", was another crossover hit, peaking in the Top 10 on the country chart and the top 25 on the pop chart. Because at 20 she was still a minor, Shepard's parents signed her rights to Husky so she could tour.
In 1955, Shepard joined ABC-TV
's nationally-telecast Ozark Jubilee
for several years, and recorded her first studio album, Songs of a Love Affair
, written by Shepard. She also her first solo top ten single, "A Satisfied Mind", that same year, backed by the No. 13 hit, "Take Possession". "A Satisfied Mind" peaked at No. 4 four on the Billboard country chart
. Shepard had another top five hit the same year with "Beautiful Lies". Its flip side, "I Thought of You", peaked in the country top ten. Her streak of hit singles led to an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry
in 1958 as one of its few female stars; Kitty Wells and Minnie Pearl
were the only others.
Because she was a honky tonk
singer when the Nashville sound
was popular, Shepard had just two charting country singles between 1956 and 1963. She had two charting singles in 1958 and 1959, however, with "I Want to Go Where No One Knows Me" and "Have Heart Will Love"; and was also named Cash Box
s Top Female Artist of 1959.
In 1960, Shepard married fellow Opry star Hawkshaw Hawkins
, who she had met on Ozark Jubilee. He died three years later in the plane crash that killed Patsy Cline
and Cowboy Copas
. She later married country music musician and singer Benny Birchfield and they remain married.
titled, "I'll Take the Dog", which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard country chart. This was followed by two solo hit singles the same year: the top ten hit, "If the Teardrops Were Silver" and the top 15 hit, "Many Happy Hangovers to You".
In 1967, Shepard had two top 20 hits with the title track of Heart, We Did All We Could and the single "Your Forevers Don't Last Very Long". The following year she had only one Top 40 hit, but continued to release albums, which included 1968's A Real Good Woman. In 1969, Shepard's LP, Seven Lonely Days, produced the hit single of the same name that reached the top 20. With the release of 1969's "Then He Touched Me", Shepard had a top ten hit; followed by three hits in 1970, including the top 15 hit, "Another Lonely Night". Shepard had one more Top 40 hit with Capitol, 1971's "With His Hand in Mine", and shortly afterward her singles began to drop out of the Top 40.
In the early 1970s, Shepard moved to United Artists Records
. Her first single for the label in 1973, the Bill Anderson-penned “Slippin' Away
,” was her biggest solo hit since the fifties. The single peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard country chart and also charted on the Billboard pop chart, peaking outside the Top 40. With the success of the single, an LP of the same name was released the same year and peaked at No. 15 on the Top Country Albums chart. Shepard's hits continued throughout the 1970s, though as the decade wore on she hit the Top 40 less frequently. She had three top 20 hits in 1974, beginning with the No. 13 smash "At the Time", and "I'll Do Anything it Takes (To Stay With You)". In 1975, Shepard recorded an album of songs written by Bill Anderson titled, Poor Sweet Baby (And Ten More Bill Anderson Songs). Both singles from the album were top 20 hits on the Billboard country chart between 1974 and 1975, and were also her last Top 40 singles.
She created controversy when she served as president of the Association of Country Entertainers, formed in response to Olivia Newton-John
’s CMA
Female Vocalist of the Year win in 1974. The organization was intended to keep country music "pure" and criticized the pop influences at the time.
In 1975 and 1976, Shepard recorded two albums, I'm a Believer and Mercy/Ain't Love Good, before leaving the label in 1976. In response, United Artists released a Greatest Hits compilation. Between 1977 and 1978, she recorded for the smaller GRT label, which produced minor hit singles on the Billboard country chart. She had her last charting record in 1978 under the label with "The Real Thing".
She continued to perform at the Grand Ole Opry and tour, particularly in the UK, where she had a strong fan base.
Her work has also been reissued by Bear Family Records. Although in her seventies, Shepard continues to regularly tour and perform. Her touring show, "The Jean Shepard Show," has toured the U.S. and she performs at the Grand Ole Opry regularly.
In 2005, Shepard celebrated 50 years as a member of the Opry and is the longest-living female member of the Opry to date. In 2011, Shepard was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
honky tonk
Honky tonk
A honky-tonk is a type of bar that provides musical entertainment to its patrons...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
who was a pioneer for women in country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
. Shepard released a total of 73 singles to the Hot Country Songs chart, one of which reached the #1 spot. She recorded a total of 24 studio albums between 1956 and 1981, and has been a member of 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...
for more than 50 years.
After Kitty Wells
Kitty Wells
Ellen Muriel Deason , known professionally as Kitty Wells, is an American country music singer. Her 1952 hit recording, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", made her the first female country singer to top the U.S. country charts, and turned her into the first female country star...
' 1952 breakthrough, Shepard quickly followed, and a national television gig and the Opry helped make her a star when few female country singers had enduring success. Her first hit, "A Dear John Letter
A Dear John Letter
"A Dear John Letter", or "Dear John" is the name of a popular country music song. It was popularized by Ferlin Husky and Jean Shepard, and was a crossover country-pop hit in 1953....
", a 1953 duet with Ferlin Husky
Ferlin Husky
Ferlin Eugene Husky was an early American country music singer who was equally adept at the genres of traditional honky honk, ballads, spoken recitations, and rockabilly pop tunes...
, was the first post-World War II record by a woman country artist to sell more than a million copies.
Biography
Jean Shepard was born November 21, 1933 in Pauls Valley, OklahomaPauls Valley, Oklahoma
Pauls Valley is a city in Garvin County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 6,256 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Garvin County.-History:...
, but was raised in Visalia, California
Visalia, California
Visalia is a Central California city situated in the heart of California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley, approximately southeast of San Francisco and north of Los Angeles...
near Bakersfield. As a teenager, she played bass in the Melody Ranch Girls, an all-female band formed in 1948. Hank Thompson discovered Shepard a few years later. With Thompson's help, Shepard signed with Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
in 1952, following the success of Kitty Wells' "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" is a 1952 country song written by J. D. "Jay" Miller, and originally recorded by Kitty Wells. It was an answer song to the Hank Thompson hit "The Wild Side of Life."...
" Shepard cut four songs at her first session with popular band players Jimmy Bryant
Jimmy Bryant
Jimmy Bryant was a prominent American session guitarist. He was billed as "The Fastest Guitar in the Country".-Biography:Ivy J. Bryant, Jr. was born in Moultrie, Georgia, the oldest of 12 children...
, Speedy West
Speedy West
Wesley Webb West , better known as Speedy West, was an American pedal steel guitarist and record producer. He frequently played with Jimmy Bryant, both in their own duo and as part of the regular Capitol Records backing band for Tennessee Ernie Ford and many others...
, Cliffie Stone
Cliffie Stone
Cliffie Stone , born Clifford Gilpin Snyder, was an American country singer, musician, record producer, music publisher, and radio and TV personality who was pivotal in the development of California’s thriving country music scene after World War II during a career that lasted six decades...
and Billy Strange
Billy Strange
William E. "Billy" Strange is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor.-Recordings and songwriting:...
. She recorded her first single for the label in 1952, "Crying Steel Guitar Waltz", but it failed to chart.
1953–1956: Breakthrough
Shepard's first chart appearance was 1953's duet with Ferlin HuskyFerlin Husky
Ferlin Eugene Husky was an early American country music singer who was equally adept at the genres of traditional honky honk, ballads, spoken recitations, and rockabilly pop tunes...
, with "A Dear John Letter". It was a No. 1 smash, and also became a major crossover pop hit, peaking at No. 4 four on the Billboard pop chart
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. The song struck a chord a with audiences as it was a half-spoken duet about a soldier in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. The duo's follow-up, "Forgive Me John", was another crossover hit, peaking in the Top 10 on the country chart and the top 25 on the pop chart. Because at 20 she was still a minor, Shepard's parents signed her rights to Husky so she could tour.
In 1955, Shepard joined ABC-TV
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's nationally-telecast Ozark Jubilee
Ozark Jubilee
Ozark Jubilee is the first U.S. network television program to feature country music's top stars, and was the centerpiece of a strategy for Springfield, Missouri to challenge Nashville, Tennessee as America's country music capital...
for several years, and recorded her first studio album, Songs of a Love Affair
Songs of a Love Affair
Songs of a Love Affair is the debut studio album by American country artist Jean Shepard. The album was released in 1956 on Capitol Records and was produced by Ken Nelson...
, written by Shepard. She also her first solo top ten single, "A Satisfied Mind", that same year, backed by the No. 13 hit, "Take Possession". "A Satisfied Mind" peaked at No. 4 four on the Billboard country chart
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
. Shepard had another top five hit the same year with "Beautiful Lies". Its flip side, "I Thought of You", peaked in the country top ten. Her streak of hit singles led 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...
in 1958 as one of its few female stars; Kitty Wells and Minnie Pearl
Minnie Pearl
Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon , known professionally as Minnie Pearl, was an American country comedienne who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.-Early life:Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, in Hickman County, Tennessee,...
were the only others.
Because she was a honky tonk
Honky tonk
A honky-tonk is a type of bar that provides musical entertainment to its patrons...
singer when the Nashville sound
Nashville sound
The Nashville sound originated during the late 1950s as a sub-genre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of honky tonk music which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s...
was popular, Shepard had just two charting country singles between 1956 and 1963. She had two charting singles in 1958 and 1959, however, with "I Want to Go Where No One Knows Me" and "Have Heart Will Love"; and was also named Cash Box
Cash Box magazine
Cashbox magazine was a weekly publication devoted to the music and coin-operated machine industries in the USA which was published from July 1942 to November 16, 1996...
s Top Female Artist of 1959.
In 1960, Shepard married fellow Opry star 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...
, who she had met on Ozark Jubilee. He died three years later in the plane crash that killed 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 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...
. She later married country music musician and singer Benny Birchfield and they remain married.
1964–1978: Commercial resurgence
Shepard returned to the top ten in 1964 with "Second Fiddle (To an Old Guitar)", which began a string of hits and proved a commercial comeback as well. In 1964 and 1965, she had two Top 40 hits with "A Tear Dropped By" and "Someone's Gotta Cry", from the Heart, We Did All We Could LP released in 1967. In 1966, Shepard recorded a duet with country singer Ray PillowRay Pillow
Ray Pillow is an American country music singer who has also worked as a music publisher and A&R representative. In his career, he has charted eighteen times on the Billboard country singles charts, with his highest-peaking song being the #9 "I'll Take the Dog," a duet with Jean Shepard...
titled, "I'll Take the Dog", which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard country chart. This was followed by two solo hit singles the same year: the top ten hit, "If the Teardrops Were Silver" and the top 15 hit, "Many Happy Hangovers to You".
In 1967, Shepard had two top 20 hits with the title track of Heart, We Did All We Could and the single "Your Forevers Don't Last Very Long". The following year she had only one Top 40 hit, but continued to release albums, which included 1968's A Real Good Woman. In 1969, Shepard's LP, Seven Lonely Days, produced the hit single of the same name that reached the top 20. With the release of 1969's "Then He Touched Me", Shepard had a top ten hit; followed by three hits in 1970, including the top 15 hit, "Another Lonely Night". Shepard had one more Top 40 hit with Capitol, 1971's "With His Hand in Mine", and shortly afterward her singles began to drop out of the Top 40.
In the early 1970s, Shepard moved to 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:...
. Her first single for the label in 1973, the Bill Anderson-penned “Slippin' Away
Slippin' Away (Jean Shepard song)
"Slippin' Away" is a country music song written by singer-songwriter Bill Anderson, and made famous in 1973 by Jean Shepard.Her first single since signing with United Artists records in 1973, "Slippin' Away" peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart late that summer...
,” was her biggest solo hit since the fifties. The single peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard country chart and also charted on the Billboard pop chart, peaking outside the Top 40. With the success of the single, an LP of the same name was released the same year and peaked at No. 15 on the Top Country Albums chart. Shepard's hits continued throughout the 1970s, though as the decade wore on she hit the Top 40 less frequently. She had three top 20 hits in 1974, beginning with the No. 13 smash "At the Time", and "I'll Do Anything it Takes (To Stay With You)". In 1975, Shepard recorded an album of songs written by Bill Anderson titled, Poor Sweet Baby (And Ten More Bill Anderson Songs). Both singles from the album were top 20 hits on the Billboard country chart between 1974 and 1975, and were also her last Top 40 singles.
She created controversy when she served as president of the Association of Country Entertainers, formed in response to Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
’s CMA
Country Music Association Awards
The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards, or the CMAs, and not to be confused with the ACM Awards, are voted on by business members of the Country Music Association. The first CMA awards were presented at an untelevised ceremony in Nashville's Municipal Auditorium in 1967...
Female Vocalist of the Year win in 1974. The organization was intended to keep country music "pure" and criticized the pop influences at the time.
In 1975 and 1976, Shepard recorded two albums, I'm a Believer and Mercy/Ain't Love Good, before leaving the label in 1976. In response, United Artists released a Greatest Hits compilation. Between 1977 and 1978, she recorded for the smaller GRT label, which produced minor hit singles on the Billboard country chart. She had her last charting record in 1978 under the label with "The Real Thing".
1980–present: Later years
After departing GRT at the end of the 1970s, Shepard did not record again until 1981, when she released a final studio album under the label Laselight titled, Dear John, which included remakes of her hits, including "A Dear John Letter" and "Slippin' Away", but also included a new song, "Too Many Rivers".She continued to perform at the Grand Ole Opry and tour, particularly in the UK, where she had a strong fan base.
Her work has also been reissued by Bear Family Records. Although in her seventies, Shepard continues to regularly tour and perform. Her touring show, "The Jean Shepard Show," has toured the U.S. and she performs at the Grand Ole Opry regularly.
In 2005, Shepard celebrated 50 years as a member of the Opry and is the longest-living female member of the Opry to date. In 2011, Shepard was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.