Juice Newton
Encyclopedia
Judith Kay "Juice" Newton (born February 18, 1952, Lakehurst, New Jersey
) is an American Pop music
and Country
singer, songwriter and guitarist. To date, Newton has received five Grammy Award
nominations in the Pop and Country Best Female Vocalist categories (winning once in 1983), as well as an ACM
Award for Top New Female Artist and two Billboard
Female Album Artist of the Year awards (won consecutively). She has several Gold and Platinum records to her credit, including Juice, Quiet Lies
and her first Greatest Hits album. During the 1980s, Newton charted 14 Top-10 hits across the Billboard Country
, AC
, and Hot 100 charts, with many of the recordings achieving crossover success and six of the songs hitting the #1 position.
in Virginia Beach, Virginia
. In the early 1970s, Newton, Otha Young
and Tom Kealey formed a band that would eventually be called Juice Newton and Silver Spur that was signed to RCA Records
. The group released two RCA albums in 1975 and 1976, and scored only one charting country single with "Love Is a Word." The band signed with Capitol Records
in 1977, but disbanded shortly after releasing one album.
In late 1977, Newton went solo (but remained with Capitol Records), although Silver Spur would remain the name of her backup band until 1982. Later in 1977, "It's a Heartache" became Newton's first solo record and a major hit in Mexico, where it was eventually certified Gold. In 1978, Newton released the song in the United States, and it became the first of her 11 "Hot 100" pop hits. Also in 1978 The Carpenters
' version of the Newton/Young-penned song "Sweet, Sweet Smile
" reached the Top 10 on both the Country and Adult Contemporary charts, and #44 on the Hot 100 chart.
Newton's solo debut album, Well Kept Secret, was released later in 1978. and stands as Newton's most rock-oriented record, to date. Neither the record nor its sole single ("Hey Baby") charted, though Capitol Records proceeded to renew Newton's contract. Capitol's investment in Newton began to pay off in 1979, when Newton had her first Top-40 Country hit with "Let's Keep It That Way" (another one-off single). Later that year, the album Take Heart
featured five modestly charting singles: "Until Tonight"; "Any Way That You Want Me"; "You Fill My Life"; "Lay Back In The Arms of Someone"; and "Sunshine." The latter became Newton's second top-40 single on the country charts in 1980, with "You Fill My Life" reaching #41 and "Until Tonight" reaching #42. Both of Newton's initial solo efforts performed with modest success but failed to have lasting impacts on the album charts.
" (written by Chip Taylor
); "Queen of Hearts
"; and an updated version of "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)
" (the original version appeared on the 1975 Silver Spur debut album), which earned Newton the first of several #1 Country singles. A fourth single, "Ride 'Em Cowboy," was lifted from Juice in 1984 to support Newton's first Greatest Hits album and reached the Top 40 of the Country chart.
Juice sold more than a million copies in the United States
and went Triple-Platinum (300,000 copies) in Canada
. "Angel of the Morning" and "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)
" each reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, where Newton would chart regularly for the next several years. In 1982, Newton received two Grammy nominations for Best Female Vocalist: one for "Angel of the Morning" in the Pop category, and another for "Queen of Hearts" in Country.
These two singles became her biggest sellers in the United States, each earning an RIAA Gold certification. (Note: in 1981 and 1982, when these singles were certified, the RIAA standard for Gold singles was "more than 1 million copies sold"; in 1989, RIAA lowered the standard to 500,000 for Gold single certifications.) The songs were also sizable hits in Australia, Germany, Holland and other countries. While "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)" failed to receive a U.S. certification, the song's popularity propelled album sales from Gold to Platinum, and the recording remained in the Top 40 (of the Hot 100) for 18 weeks.
In the spring of 1982 Newton released her fourth solo album, Quiet Lies, which sold 900,000 copies in the United States. The album went platinum in Canada (100,000 copies). From Quiet Lies came the Top 10 Pop and Adult Contemporary hit "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me
" (which garnered her another Pop Female Vocalist Grammy nomination). "Break It to Me Gently
" was the second single and hit #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, #2 on the Billboard Country chart, and #11 on the Hot 100. The recording, a contemporary remake of a Brenda Lee
hit from the '60s, won Newton her first Grammy Award
for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, beating out contemporaries Dolly Parton
, Rosanne Cash
, Emmylou Harris
and Sylvia
. The album's third and final single, "Heart of the Night," reached #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart in early 1983 and climbed to #25 on the Hot 100. The album also garnered Newton an award from Australia as the "Top International Country Artist" for the continent. In 1982, Newton toured with country band Alabama
on the "Salem Spirit" double-headliner tour. (Various acts opened for Newton and Alabama.)
The direction for Newton's sixth and final Capitol album, 1983's Dirty Looks, was decidedly more rock-oriented and experimental than her usual blending of folk, pop and country styles. The album spawned a moderate-sized hit with "Tell Her No" (Hot 100 #27/AC #14) and the title track, a rock-edged number that charted low in the Hot 100. The single "Stranger at My Door" had a brief run on the country charts. The album was a moderate success, selling more than 300,000 copies in the United States and going Gold in Canada (50,000 copies). (The song "Dirty Looks" was written by Dave Robbins and Van Stephenson, who would later become part of the Country group Blackhawk in the 1990s. The pair also wrote Newton's 1984 country single "Restless Heart.")
According to a 1984 front-page article in Billboard magazine, changes at Capitol led Newton to return to RCA. The 1984 album "Can't Wait All Night" continued with a rock-oriented sound. The launch single "A Little Love" and the title track (which was written for Newton by Bryan Adams
) became Newton's final charting pop singles to date, reaching #44 and #66, respectively; while "Restless Heart" made #57 on the country chart. "A Little Love" became Newton's seventh and final Top-10 hit on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, reaching the #7 spot. (Newton's final double-header "Salem Spirit" tour with Alabama took place during this time, with Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers as the opening act.)
", "Hurt
," and "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)" (with Eddie Rabbitt
). (Note: The duet was released to the public before the pop version "Friends and Lovers
" by Gloria Loring
and Carl Anderson
; the pop version was released to radio and stores two weeks after Newton and Rabbitt's version first appeared, even though it was recorded first. Newton's version was originally available only on a special edition of the Old Flame album and on the Eddie Rabbitt album Rabbitt Traxx.) The "Old Flame" album produced hit singles for more than sixteen months, with the final release being "What Can I Do with My Heart" (written by Otha Young
), which reached the Top 10 in early 1987.
She returned to the Top 10 in 1988 with "Tell Me True" from her 1987 album Emotion. The album's lead single, the progressive-country tune "First Time Caller," stalled at #24. Her final album of the decade, Ain't Gonna Cry (1989), was not promoted by the label and did not chart. But it did spawn her final Top-40 country hit to date, "When Love Comes Around the Bend," which RCA refused to release as a single to stores because Newton's contract had not been renewed.
After being dropped by the RCA label in 1989 (along with several other country-based artists, including Dolly Parton
and Kenny Rogers
), Newton took time to focus on her family life with then-husband Tom Goodspeed, daughter Jessica and son Tyler in San Diego, California. Newton took a hiatus from recording albums, touring sporadically until the returning to the music scene in late 1990s when she released the albums "The Trouble with Angels" and "American Girl".
tribute album, which also included songs by Pat Benatar
and Donna Summer
.
In 1995, Newton recorded a double-album of pop duets (which was slated to be sold via infomercial), but the project was riddled with legal issues, resulting in a low-impact, "accidental" release of the "Platinum & Gold" series of duets in the early 2000s (the CD set was released without Newton's permission). Subsequently, bootleg CDs including most of the duets turned up on U.S. store shelves as "Gold & Platinum, Volumes 7 and 8". Those CDs also contain 1995 solo versions of three of Newton's pop hits ("Angel of the Morning", "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me" and "Queen of Hearts"). Newton's duet partners included Willie Nelson
, Melissa Manchester
, the Pointer Sisters
and Frankie Valli
. In 1998, Newton released "The Trouble with Angels," a collection of seven re-recorded hits and three new songs, including the single "When I Get Over You." The 1998 effort was quickly followed by American Girl in 1999, which was Newton's first album of all-new material since 1989 and featured the single "They Never Made It to Memphis." The collection featured tracks written by Otha Young, Freddie Mercury
, Nanci Griffith
, Tom Petty
and Newton herself.
Every Road Leads Back to You (which consists of live material and a bonus EP of four studio recordings of original songs) was released in 2002 with an accompanying DVD. And American Girl Vol. II, which was originally sold exclusively at cdbaby.com and at Newton's live shows, was released in 2003 and reissued in 2006 and again in 2011 by Brookside Records.
In 2005, Juice Newton appeared on the TV show "Hit Me Baby One More Time
" on which she performed a folk-rock rendition of Ashlee Simpson
's "Pieces Of Me" and a truncated version of "Queen of Hearts"; online voters selected Newton's performance as their favorite of the five acts that appeared on the episode. In the mid-2000s, Newton also contributed tracks to the albums "An All-Star Tribute To Cher
" ("Reason to Believe") and "An All-Star Tribute to Shania Twain
" ("Come On Over").
On November 15, 2007, Newton released The Gift of Christmas, her first Christmas album. The 12-song album includes a new version of Newton's "Christmas Needs Love to Be Christmas" and the classic "Mary's Boy Child," as well as a special Christmas version of "For Believers", an Otha Young
-penned song first recorded in 1983 for the Dirty Looks album.
On August 6, 2009, Newton's longtime musical partner Otha Young
died of cancer. The pair worked together for 37 years.
On October 26, 2010, Juice Newton's "Duets: Friends & Memories" CD was released by Fuel 2000. The Adult Contemporary album contains duets performed with Willie Nelson
, Melissa Manchester
, Frankie Valli
and others. One single ("Funny How Time Slips Away") has been released. In addition to the domestic album, an import edition was released November 30, 2010.
On July 26, 2011, Fuel 2000 released "Juice Newton: The Ultimate Hits Collection," which includes Newton's own version of the Carpenters' 1978 hit "Sweet Sweet Smile."
Lakehurst, New Jersey
Lakehurst is a Borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 2,654.Lakehurst was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 7, 1921, from portions of Manchester Township, based on the results of a...
) is an American Pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and Country
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...
singer, songwriter and guitarist. To date, Newton has received five 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...
nominations in the Pop and Country Best Female Vocalist categories (winning once in 1983), as well as an ACM
Academy of Country Music
The Academy of Country Music was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Whereas the Country Music Association, founded in 1958, was based in Nashville, the Academy sought to promote country music in the western states. Among those involved in the...
Award for Top New Female Artist and two Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Female Album Artist of the Year awards (won consecutively). She has several Gold and Platinum records to her credit, including Juice, Quiet Lies
Quiet Lies
Quiet Lies is a 1982 album by American pop-country star Juice Newton. It reached #20 on the Billboard pop chart and includes three major hits, "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me", "Break It to Me Gently" and "Heart of the Night." Quiet Lies sold more than 900,000 copies in the U.S...
and her first Greatest Hits album. During the 1980s, Newton charted 14 Top-10 hits across the Billboard Country
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...
, AC
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...
, and Hot 100 charts, with many of the recordings achieving crossover success and six of the songs hitting the #1 position.
Early career
Newton graduated from First Colonial High SchoolFirst Colonial High School
First Colonial High School is a high school in Virginia Beach, Virginia. First Colonial opened in 1966 by splitting students out of the former Virginia Beach High School. Virginia Beach High then became Virginia Beach Middle School. James C. Mounie was the first principal of the new high school...
in Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Virginia Beach is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay...
. In the early 1970s, Newton, Otha Young
Otha Young
Otha Young was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and the longtime musical partner of Grammy-Award winning country-pop artist Juice Newton....
and Tom Kealey formed a band that would eventually be called Juice Newton and Silver Spur that was signed to 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 group released two RCA albums in 1975 and 1976, and scored only one charting country single with "Love Is a Word." The band 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 1977, but disbanded shortly after releasing one album.
In late 1977, Newton went solo (but remained with Capitol Records), although Silver Spur would remain the name of her backup band until 1982. Later in 1977, "It's a Heartache" became Newton's first solo record and a major hit in Mexico, where it was eventually certified Gold. In 1978, Newton released the song in the United States, and it became the first of her 11 "Hot 100" pop hits. Also in 1978 The Carpenters
The Carpenters
Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of sister Karen and brother Richard Carpenter. The Carpenters were the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and...
' version of the Newton/Young-penned song "Sweet, Sweet Smile
Sweet, Sweet Smile
"Sweet, Sweet Smile" is a C&W song composed by Otha Young and Juice Newton introduced by the Carpenters on their 1977 album Passage. The track features drummer Ronnie Tutt who regularly backed Elvis Presley....
" reached the Top 10 on both the Country and Adult Contemporary charts, and #44 on the Hot 100 chart.
Newton's solo debut album, Well Kept Secret, was released later in 1978. and stands as Newton's most rock-oriented record, to date. Neither the record nor its sole single ("Hey Baby") charted, though Capitol Records proceeded to renew Newton's contract. Capitol's investment in Newton began to pay off in 1979, when Newton had her first Top-40 Country hit with "Let's Keep It That Way" (another one-off single). Later that year, the album Take Heart
Take Heart
Take Heart is a 1979 album by Juice Newton on Capitol Records. The album contains five charting country hits, including Newton's top-40 version of '"Sunshine".- Track listing :#"Sunshine" #"Keep Holding On"...
featured five modestly charting singles: "Until Tonight"; "Any Way That You Want Me"; "You Fill My Life"; "Lay Back In The Arms of Someone"; and "Sunshine." The latter became Newton's second top-40 single on the country charts in 1980, with "You Fill My Life" reaching #41 and "Until Tonight" reaching #42. Both of Newton's initial solo efforts performed with modest success but failed to have lasting impacts on the album charts.
Early 1980s pop music success
In 1981, Newton's third solo album, simply titled Juice, was released. It spawned three consecutive Top-10 pop hits: "Angel of the MorningAngel of the Morning
"Angel of the Morning" is a popular song that has been recorded numerous times, and has been a charting hit single for several artists including Juice Newton, Merrilee Rush, Nina Simone, P.P...
" (written by Chip Taylor
Chip Taylor
James Wesley Voight , better known by his stage name as Chip Taylor, is an American songwriter, who is noted for writing the songs "Angel of the Morning" and "Wild Thing." He is the brother of actor Jon Voight and geologist Barry Voight...
); "Queen of Hearts
Queen of Hearts (song)
"Queen of Hearts" is the title of a country-pop song written by Hank DeVito, who was the pedal steel guitarist in Emmylou Harris' backing group The Hot Band in the early '80s....
"; and an updated version of "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)
The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)
"The Sweetest Thing " is a country-pop song written by Otha Young . Young was the long-time musical partner of Juice Newton and wrote the song for her in the mid-1970s.-History:...
" (the original version appeared on the 1975 Silver Spur debut album), which earned Newton the first of several #1 Country singles. A fourth single, "Ride 'Em Cowboy," was lifted from Juice in 1984 to support Newton's first Greatest Hits album and reached the Top 40 of the Country chart.
Juice sold more than a million copies in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and went Triple-Platinum (300,000 copies) in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. "Angel of the Morning" and "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)
The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)
"The Sweetest Thing " is a country-pop song written by Otha Young . Young was the long-time musical partner of Juice Newton and wrote the song for her in the mid-1970s.-History:...
" each reached #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, where Newton would chart regularly for the next several years. In 1982, Newton received two Grammy nominations for Best Female Vocalist: one for "Angel of the Morning" in the Pop category, and another for "Queen of Hearts" in Country.
These two singles became her biggest sellers in the United States, each earning an RIAA Gold certification. (Note: in 1981 and 1982, when these singles were certified, the RIAA standard for Gold singles was "more than 1 million copies sold"; in 1989, RIAA lowered the standard to 500,000 for Gold single certifications.) The songs were also sizable hits in Australia, Germany, Holland and other countries. While "The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known)" failed to receive a U.S. certification, the song's popularity propelled album sales from Gold to Platinum, and the recording remained in the Top 40 (of the Hot 100) for 18 weeks.
In the spring of 1982 Newton released her fourth solo album, Quiet Lies, which sold 900,000 copies in the United States. The album went platinum in Canada (100,000 copies). From Quiet Lies came the Top 10 Pop and Adult Contemporary hit "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me
Love's Been A Little Bit Hard On Me
"Love's Been A Little Bit Hard On Me" is a 1982 song recorded by country-pop singer Juice Newton. It was a #7 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 during the summer of that year. It also charted at #4 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and #30 on the Billboard Country chart. The recording garnered...
" (which garnered her another Pop Female Vocalist Grammy nomination). "Break It to Me Gently
Break It to Me Gently
"Break It to Me Gently" is a pop song written by blues musician Joe Seneca with lyrics by Diane Lampert. Both Brenda Lee and Juice Newton met with considerable success with their versions of the song....
" was the second single and hit #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, #2 on the Billboard Country chart, and #11 on the Hot 100. The recording, a contemporary remake of a Brenda Lee
Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley , known as Brenda Lee, is an American performer who sang rockabilly, pop and country music, and had 37 US chart hits during the 1960s, a number surpassed only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Connie Francis...
hit from the '60s, won Newton her first 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...
for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, beating out contemporaries 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...
, Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....
, 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...
and Sylvia
Sylvia (singer)
Sylvia Jane Kirby is an American country music and country pop singer and songwriter. More commonly known by the singular name Sylvia, she enjoyed crossover music success with the song "Nobody" in 1982....
. The album's third and final single, "Heart of the Night," reached #4 on the Adult Contemporary chart in early 1983 and climbed to #25 on the Hot 100. The album also garnered Newton an award from Australia as the "Top International Country Artist" for the continent. In 1982, Newton toured with country band Alabama
Alabama (band)
Alabama is a country music and southern rock band from Fort Payne, Alabama, United States. The band was founded in 1969 by Randy Owen and his cousin Teddy Gentry , soon joined by Jeff Cook...
on the "Salem Spirit" double-headliner tour. (Various acts opened for Newton and Alabama.)
The direction for Newton's sixth and final Capitol album, 1983's Dirty Looks, was decidedly more rock-oriented and experimental than her usual blending of folk, pop and country styles. The album spawned a moderate-sized hit with "Tell Her No" (Hot 100 #27/AC #14) and the title track, a rock-edged number that charted low in the Hot 100. The single "Stranger at My Door" had a brief run on the country charts. The album was a moderate success, selling more than 300,000 copies in the United States and going Gold in Canada (50,000 copies). (The song "Dirty Looks" was written by Dave Robbins and Van Stephenson, who would later become part of the Country group Blackhawk in the 1990s. The pair also wrote Newton's 1984 country single "Restless Heart.")
According to a 1984 front-page article in Billboard magazine, changes at Capitol led Newton to return to RCA. The 1984 album "Can't Wait All Night" continued with a rock-oriented sound. The launch single "A Little Love" and the title track (which was written for Newton by Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...
) became Newton's final charting pop singles to date, reaching #44 and #66, respectively; while "Restless Heart" made #57 on the country chart. "A Little Love" became Newton's seventh and final Top-10 hit on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, reaching the #7 spot. (Newton's final double-header "Salem Spirit" tour with Alabama took place during this time, with Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers as the opening act.)
From pop to country
In 1985, Newton's waning popularity was revitalized with the release of the Old Flame album, which reached #12 on the Billboard chart and featured six Top-10 country hits, including the #1s "You Make Me Want to Make You MineYou Make Me Want to Make You Mine
"You Make Me Want to Make You Mine" is a 1985 single written by Dave Loggins and recorded by country-pop artist Juice Newton. "You Make Me Want to Make You Mine" was Juice Newton's second #1 hit on the U.S. Country chart as a solo artist. The single stayed at #1 for one week and spent a total of...
", "Hurt
Hurt (Roy Hamilton song)
"Hurt" is a 1954 song by Jamie Crane and Al Jacobs. "Hurt" was originally performed by Roy Hamilton, whose version peaked at number eight on the R&B Best Seller chart and spent a total of seven weeks on the chart. The song is considered to be the signature hit of Timi Yuro, whose version went to...
," and "Both to Each Other (Friends and Lovers)" (with Eddie Rabbitt
Eddie Rabbitt
Edward Thomas "Eddie" Rabbitt was an American singer-songwriter and musician. His career began as a songwriter in the late 1960s, springboarding to a recording career after composing hits such as "Kentucky Rain" for Elvis Presley in 1970 and "Pure Love" for Ronnie Milsap in 1974...
). (Note: The duet was released to the public before the pop version "Friends and Lovers
Friends and Lovers (song)
"Friends and Lovers" is the title of a popular song from 1986. The song was first recorded as a duet by Gloria Loring and Carl Anderson in 1985. That recording remained unreleased until the summer of 1986, when it was released shortly after a version by Juice Newton and Eddie Rabbitt hit country...
" by Gloria Loring
Gloria Loring
Gloria Loring is an American singer and actress.- Career :Loring began her music career at age 14, singing with a folk group known as "Those Four". Gloria Loring released her first album in 1968. It was titled "Gloria Loring, Today" on MGM Records...
and Carl Anderson
Carl Anderson (singer)
Carl Anderson was an American singer, film and theatre actor best known for his portrayal of Judas Iscariot in the Broadway and film versions of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice.-Early life:Born in Lynchburg, Virginia, Anderson was one of 12 children of...
; the pop version was released to radio and stores two weeks after Newton and Rabbitt's version first appeared, even though it was recorded first. Newton's version was originally available only on a special edition of the Old Flame album and on the Eddie Rabbitt album Rabbitt Traxx.) The "Old Flame" album produced hit singles for more than sixteen months, with the final release being "What Can I Do with My Heart" (written by Otha Young
Otha Young
Otha Young was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and the longtime musical partner of Grammy-Award winning country-pop artist Juice Newton....
), which reached the Top 10 in early 1987.
She returned to the Top 10 in 1988 with "Tell Me True" from her 1987 album Emotion. The album's lead single, the progressive-country tune "First Time Caller," stalled at #24. Her final album of the decade, Ain't Gonna Cry (1989), was not promoted by the label and did not chart. But it did spawn her final Top-40 country hit to date, "When Love Comes Around the Bend," which RCA refused to release as a single to stores because Newton's contract had not been renewed.
After being dropped by the RCA label in 1989 (along with several other country-based artists, including 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 Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
), Newton took time to focus on her family life with then-husband Tom Goodspeed, daughter Jessica and son Tyler in San Diego, California. Newton took a hiatus from recording albums, touring sporadically until the returning to the music scene in late 1990s when she released the albums "The Trouble with Angels" and "American Girl".
Highlights: 1990s to today
In 1994, Newton contributed the track "Lovers of One Day" to the Edith PiafÉdith Piaf
Édith Piaf , born Édith Giovanna Gassion, was a French singer and cultural icon who became widely regarded as France's greatest popular singer. Her singing reflected her life, with her specialty being ballads...
tribute album, which also included songs by Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar
Pat Benatar is an American singer and four-time Grammy winner. She had considerable commercial success particularly in the United States...
and Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
.
In 1995, Newton recorded a double-album of pop duets (which was slated to be sold via infomercial), but the project was riddled with legal issues, resulting in a low-impact, "accidental" release of the "Platinum & Gold" series of duets in the early 2000s (the CD set was released without Newton's permission). Subsequently, bootleg CDs including most of the duets turned up on U.S. store shelves as "Gold & Platinum, Volumes 7 and 8". Those CDs also contain 1995 solo versions of three of Newton's pop hits ("Angel of the Morning", "Love's Been a Little Bit Hard on Me" and "Queen of Hearts"). Newton's duet partners included 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...
, Melissa Manchester
Melissa Manchester
Melissa Manchester is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Beginning in the 1970s, she has recorded generally in the adult contemporary genre. She has also appeared as an actress on television, in films, and on stage....
, the Pointer Sisters
Pointer Sisters
The Pointer Sisters are an American pop/R&B recording act from Oakland, California that achieved mainstream success during the 1970s and 1980s. Spanning over three decades, their repertoire has included such diverse genres as pop, disco, jazz, bebop, blues, soul, funk, dance, country and rock.The...
and Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli is an American musician, most famous as frontman of The Four Seasons. He is well-known for his unusually powerful falsetto singing voice...
. In 1998, Newton released "The Trouble with Angels," a collection of seven re-recorded hits and three new songs, including the single "When I Get Over You." The 1998 effort was quickly followed by American Girl in 1999, which was Newton's first album of all-new material since 1989 and featured the single "They Never Made It to Memphis." The collection featured tracks written by Otha Young, Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
, Nanci Griffith
Nanci Griffith
Nanci Griffith, is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas.-Biography:...
, Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
and Newton herself.
Every Road Leads Back to You (which consists of live material and a bonus EP of four studio recordings of original songs) was released in 2002 with an accompanying DVD. And American Girl Vol. II, which was originally sold exclusively at cdbaby.com and at Newton's live shows, was released in 2003 and reissued in 2006 and again in 2011 by Brookside Records.
In 2005, Juice Newton appeared on the TV show "Hit Me Baby One More Time
Hit Me Baby One More Time
Hit Me, Baby, One More Time was a 2005 reality show first aired by ITV on British television and later, as a new version, by NBC in the United States; both were presented by Vernon Kay. During each programme, five former pop stars sing their biggest hit along with a cover version of a contemporary...
" on which she performed a folk-rock rendition of Ashlee Simpson
Ashlee Simpson
Ashlee Nicole Simpson is an American singer and actress. In 2004, she rose to prominence with the success of her number-one debut album Autobiography and the reality series, The Ashlee Simpson Show. In October 2005, following a North American concert tour and a film appearance, Simpson released...
's "Pieces Of Me" and a truncated version of "Queen of Hearts"; online voters selected Newton's performance as their favorite of the five acts that appeared on the episode. In the mid-2000s, Newton also contributed tracks to the albums "An All-Star Tribute To 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...
" ("Reason to Believe") and "An All-Star Tribute to Shania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...
" ("Come On Over").
On November 15, 2007, Newton released The Gift of Christmas, her first Christmas album. The 12-song album includes a new version of Newton's "Christmas Needs Love to Be Christmas" and the classic "Mary's Boy Child," as well as a special Christmas version of "For Believers", an Otha Young
Otha Young
Otha Young was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and the longtime musical partner of Grammy-Award winning country-pop artist Juice Newton....
-penned song first recorded in 1983 for the Dirty Looks album.
On August 6, 2009, Newton's longtime musical partner Otha Young
Otha Young
Otha Young was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and the longtime musical partner of Grammy-Award winning country-pop artist Juice Newton....
died of cancer. The pair worked together for 37 years.
On October 26, 2010, Juice Newton's "Duets: Friends & Memories" CD was released by Fuel 2000. The Adult Contemporary album contains duets performed with 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...
, Melissa Manchester
Melissa Manchester
Melissa Manchester is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Beginning in the 1970s, she has recorded generally in the adult contemporary genre. She has also appeared as an actress on television, in films, and on stage....
, Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli is an American musician, most famous as frontman of The Four Seasons. He is well-known for his unusually powerful falsetto singing voice...
and others. One single ("Funny How Time Slips Away") has been released. In addition to the domestic album, an import edition was released November 30, 2010.
On July 26, 2011, Fuel 2000 released "Juice Newton: The Ultimate Hits Collection," which includes Newton's own version of the Carpenters' 1978 hit "Sweet Sweet Smile."