Patty Loveless
Encyclopedia
Patty Loveless is an American
country music
singer.
Since her emergence on the country music scene in late 1986 with her first (self-titled) album, Loveless has been one of the most popular female singers of the Neotraditional country
movement, although she has also recorded albums in the Country pop
and Bluegrass
genres.
Loveless was born in Pikeville, Kentucky
, and was raised in Elkhorn City, Kentucky
and Louisville, Kentucky
and rose to stardom thanks to her blend of honky tonk and country-rock
, not to mention a plaintive, emotional ballad style. Her late-1980s records were generally quite popular, earning her comparisons to Patsy Cline
, but most critics agreed that she truly came into her own as an artist in the early 1990s.
To date, Loveless has charted more than forty singles on the Billboard
Hot Country Songs
charts, including five Number Ones. In addition, she has recorded fourteen studio albums (not counting compilations); in the United States, four of these albums have been certified platinum, while two have been certified gold.
She is the 65th member of the Grand Ole Opry
.
Loveless is also a distant cousin of Loretta Lynn
and Crystal Gayle
. She has been married twice, first to Terry Lovelace (1976–1986), from whom her professional name "Loveless" is derived, and to Emory Gordy, Jr.
(1989–present), who is also her producer.
on 4 January 1957. Although born in Pikeville, the family lived in Elkhorn City, Kentucky
where her father was a coal miner.
Patty Ramey's interest in music started when she was a young child. In 1969, when she was twelve, the Ramey family moved to Louisville, Kentucky
in search of medical care for John Ramey, who was afflicted with "Black Lung Disease" (Coalworker's pneumoconiosis
).
Her older sister, Dottie Ramey, was an aspiring country singer, and would perform frequently at small clubs in Eastern Kentucky, with her brother Roger Ramey, known as the "Swinging Rameys". Traveling with Dottie and Roger to Fort Knox
in 1969, and hearing her sister perform on stage, Patty Ramey decided that she would like to become a performer as well.
When her sister Dottie married in 1969 and quit performing, Roger Ramey convinced Patty to perform onstage for the first time at a small country jamboree in Hodgenville,Ky. The forum consisted of foldout chairs in a small auditorium and was called the "Lincoln Jamboree". She was terrified at first, but with her brother performed several songs, however she loved the applause she received for her performance, and after the show she was paid five dollars, the first money she ever earned.
Patty Ramey joined her brother Roger and started singing together at several clubs in Louisville Kentucky, under the name "Singin' Swingin' Rameys". Loveless and her brother would perform in various clubs in the Louisville area. A local radio announcer, Danny King with a country radio station in Louisville was a supporter of the Ramey kids. Whenever there was an opportunity for them to appear on stage, he would call up the Rameys and try to get them a booking.
in 1971. Having grown up listening to the music of the Grand Ole Opry
both in Pikeville, and then in Louisville, Roger had moved to Nashville in 1970 and became a producer with The Porter Wagoner Show.
When they arrived in Nashville, Roger went to Porter Wagoner
's office without an appointment and managed to introduce his sister to Wagoner. Roger was able to convince Wagoner to listen to his sister sing, and she performed a song she wrote for their father, John, called "Sounds of Loneliness". To both Roger and Patty's surprise, Wagoner thumped his hand on his desk and said he was going to help her out. Wagoner introduced them to his singing partner at the time, Dolly Parton
, and encouraged her to go back home and finish school, although he did invite her to travel with him and Dolly Parton on weekends during the summer.
In 1973 Bill Anderson, Connie Smith
, the Wilburn Brothers, and Jean Shepard
were scheduled to appear in a touring Grand Ole Opry
show in Louisville Gardens. However, Jean Shepard was caught in a flood, and she wasn't able to make it in. Danny King, sensing an opportunity, gave the Rameys a call. Loveless and her brother Roger appeared in the show for about fifteen minutes on stage.
The Wilburn Brothers listened to Patty Ramey and after her performance asked her if she had ever sung professionally. She explained that she had worked with Porter Wagoner some and had traveled with him and Dolly Parton on weekends and during the summers. Doyle Wilburn asked if she wanted to come to Nashville and work with their band to replace their female singer, to which Patty Ramey agreed. Between 1973 and 1975 Patty Ramey traveled with the Wilburns on weekends and during the summers when school was out. Loveless's parents insisted that the Wilburns watch over her while on the road.
Doyle Wilburn was slowly grooming Ramey to replace Loretta Lynn
as his lead female singer, he also held a music publishing contract on her with Sure-Fire music, his songwriting agency, as Wilburn realized that she was also a very talented songwriter. In addition, during the summer when the group wasn't on the road, Doyle Wilburn had Patty Ramey work at his various enterprises in Nashville, having her wait on tables in one of his restaurants and clerking at his Music Mart USA record store.
After graduation from High School in Louisville, Kentucky
, in 1975 Patty Ramey became a full-time member of the Wilburn Brother's band as their lead female singer. About this time she met the Wilburn's new drummer, Terry Lovelace. Lovelace came from a small town in western North Carolina
, Kings Mountain
, and shared many things in common with Loveless. At first Patty kept her friendship and her growing relationship with Lovelace a secret from the Wilburns, however eventually Dolyle Wilburn learned about it and asked Patty to break it off. However, Ramey being the rebellious teenager instead quit the Wilburns and left with her boyfriend for western North Carolina. In early 1976, she married Terry Lovelace and began performing with him in a pickup-band based in Kings Mountain.
and Bonnie Raitt
tunes, with the occasional country song. (After her marriage, she adopted the professional name Patty Loveless, as not to draw any connection to porn actress Linda Lovelace
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:AaTqfNpGIwMJ:www.allfansites.com/actresses/Patty%2520Loveless/index.html+%22patty+loveless%22+%22linda+lovelace%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us.)
During this time of her life she also was distant from her family, as she had married without their consent. According to Loveless, "...I think my father thought I had lost my mind. This music is going to just ruin your life... it ruined your life... But it was a music that I learned from again... You wouldn't believe the people that would come to this club. They would get off from work, and they wouldn't go home. They'd come to this club and have a few beers, or ... dance.... I learned a lot about people and life in those places. I mean there was all walks of life... people who had hit the very bottom. And myself, there was times I felt myself becoming one of those people too. There was some hard times for us both, my ex-husband and I. And I think at the time, it caused us to be torn apart, and we lost respect for each other. And it got to the point that we didn't know each other..." A low point of her life was in August 1979, when her father, whom she idolized, died in Louisville while Loveless was in North Carolina.
The years in North Carolina were not successful for her, as the police started busting the clubs she would perform in and shut them down. When she wasn't performing she was working as a waitress at her mother-in-law's restaurant. By 1984, she was singing in a club and was singing country music for a change of the rock she would normally perform. There was a new generation of artists in Nashville, singers like Ricky Skaggs
and Emmylou Harris
who were changing the traditions of country music.
According to Loveless, "...I learned so much about what to feel in a song from those years of playing those clubs. I was saddened sometimes because I thought 'I left Nashville, I left all that for this? What happened to me? What is wrong with me?' But I think what was happening was that I was beginning to find... me. Find who I really was. And what kind of person I was inside and out. I still believe to this day it happened the way it was supposed to happen."
Roger Ramey sent the demo tape out to every major label in Nashville, and was met with a solid wall of rejection by them all. After a month of not getting anywhere, out of desperation to help his sister, he decided to take a chance with MCA Nashville
. MCA, being the industry leader at the time was his first choice of labels. Taking a cassette of the five song demo of Loveless, Roger bluffed his way past the receptionist of Tony Brown
, the head of A&R
(Artist & Repertoire – in charge of finding and developing new talent) by pretending to be someone else who was late for an appointment.
As soon as they met, Roger told Brown him he had the "best girl singer to ever come to Nashville". Tony Brown said he'd give Roger 30 seconds to sell him, and he quickly played the tape of Patty singing "I Did". Brown listened to the entire five-song tape, and asked Roger to leave it with him so he could play it for some other execs and get back to him. Roger refused and told Brown that he wanted a commitment that day, and if he didn't want her on MCA, he knew another label that did.
With Roger Ramey waiting in his office, Brown took the tape to Jimmy Bowen
, President of MCA Nashville at the time. Hearing the tape, Bowen wasn't impressed with Loveless, but told Brown to go ahead and sign her, but only to a short-term, singles-only recording contact.
, to help develop Loveless for MCA. Together, they produced a series of songs for Loveless, and all of them were released to radio stations with varying degrees of success. MCA released her first single, "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights" on December 7, 1985, charting on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for 8 weeks, reaching #46 on January 25, 1986.
Loveless' second single, "I Did", was released in April 1986. The song had gone out with releases from four other MCA singers, all of whom had album contracts. Shortly after its release, Roger Bowen asked Loveless to come into his office where he explained to her that he wanted to pull the song from radio because it was succeeding too well. "I have to be fair to the other artists". In return, he would give Loveless an album deal and she could release "I Did" as a single from her first album. This gave birth to the self-titled Patty Loveless
album, being initially released on October 1, 1986 in a promotional form, with a full release on February 21, 1987. Several other singles, "Wicked Ways" and "After All", were released from that album, which again, did not do well on the charts but garnered sufficient airplay that Tony Brown decided to sign Loveless to a long-term recording contract.
It was her second album, If My Heart Had Windows, released on January 25, 1988, was the one that got Loveless noticed in the country music world. "If My Heart Had Windows
" and a Steve Earle
song, "A Little Bit in Love
", both of which reached the country music top 10. Also, in 1988 Loveless was invited to join the Grand Ole Opry
, which put her firmly in Nashville to stay. The critics praised Loveless' first two albums, but they didn't sell all that well. On the road, Loveless was the opening act for the top MCA artists, such as George Jones
, Reba McEntire
and George Strait
, which had people coming early to the shows to hear her sing. However, her concert popularity did not translate into album sales for her label.
For Loveless' third album Honky Tonk Angel, Tony Brown took over as sole producer. Brown used his shrewd commercial instincts by releasing a series of upbeat, up-tempo singles from the album, one after another. With five tracks from the album charting in the Billboard Top Ten Country Singles, including two at #1, it served as the breakthrough album for Loveless. The album itself was Loveless' highest charting at #7 on the Country Albums category. The two #1 singles were "Chains
" and "Timber, I'm Falling In Love
". Loveless also did a cover of the Lone Justice song, "Don't Toss Us Away
", which featured Rodney Crowell
on backing vocals. The song charted at #5. Famed songwriter Kostas
had a major role by writing three of the album's tunes, including "Timber, I'm Falling in Love" and "The Lonely Side of Love
", which peaked at #6.
In February, 1989 Loveless and her producer, Emory Gordy, Jr. secretly married in Gatlinburg, Tennessee
. For a year and a half afterward, they publicly hid the fact that they were married, in large part because Loveless didn't want to hurt her former husband, Terry Lovelace, who still loved his former wife and hoped to rejoin her.
While at MCA, Loveless released two more albums, On Down the Line
in 1990 and Up Against My Heart
in 1991, scoring hits with songs such as "I'm That Kind of Girl
"; "Hurt Me Bad (In a Real Good Way)
", and "Jealous Bone
". She toured endlessly and performed on television frequently.
Although MCA had given her stardom, there was the belief (rightly or wrongly) that the record label did not promote her albums well. Both Loveless and her husband believed that her career was just not taking off the way they believed it would if she had the same level of promotion as Reba McEntire
, Trisha Yearwood
and Wynonna. Changes in her band, also replacing her brother Roger as her manager did not improve matters. The fact remained that the other female singers on MCA were selling millions of records, while Loveless, with a gold record for Honky Tonk Angel, sold less than half of that with her two follow-up albums.
Larry Fitzgerald, her new manager believed a major change was in order. At the end of 1992, Fitzgerald met with Tony Brown to try to get Loveless out of her MCA contract. He worked out an agreement with MCA that Loveless could leave the label, but retained an option to record with other MCA artists on the MCA Label. Quickly, Fitzgerald arranged a meeting with Roy Wunsch, the head of Sony Nashville. Their Epic
label was looking for a "name" female singer and worked out a contract for Loveless to record for Sony under their Epic label.
Despite the voice problem, Loveless had booked a fall 1992 tour. Also she had been invited to appear on a CBS television special about "Women In Country". The day before leaving on the tour she asked her manager to accompany her to her throat doctor's office. In the office, her doctor compared her 1990 results versus what he saw during the exam. Her vocal cords had developed an enlarged blood vessel that looked like a varicose vein. The juxtaposition was dramatic. If not treated, it could end her career and there was no guarantee that surgery could correct the problem.
Although Loveless went ahead and sang in the television special, her manager canceled all of her tour dates for the rest of 1992. On October 21, Loveless had corrective throat surgery. For the next nine weeks, she could not speak or talk. Her husband, in order to communicate with her, attempted to teach Loveless Morse Code
, as well as using pen and paper with yellow Post-It notes. After this her interest in Amateur Radio
developed and she was eventually licensed with the callsign KD4WUJ, although her license currently shows as canceled.
On her 36th birthday, January 4, 1993, Loveless re-entered her professional life by performing at the Grand Ole Opry. She was fully recovered, although her voice was changed by the surgery. It had a deeper, fuller quality which enhanced her career over the following years.
. The album was released in April and was promoted strongly and heavily by Epic. Loveless' #1 single "Blame It On Your Heart
" firmly put her back into the spotlight. The release of Only What I Feel gave Loveless two CMA nominations for Single of the Year and Video of the Year for "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye
". Some critics said that this album with Epic was her personal best.
In 1994, Loveless contributed the song "When I Reach the Place I’m Going" to the AIDS
benefit album Red Hot + Country
produced by the Red Hot Organization
.
Perhaps her crowning achievement was that album's follow-up, When Fallen Angels Fly
. It won the Country Music Association
's Album of the Year award and gave her four Top 10 singles. She followed it up with The Trouble with the Truth
in 1996 which gave her Female Vocalist of the Year awards from both the Academy of Country Music
and the Country Music Association
.
Although she continued to record for Epic throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, her commercial momentum slowed down, as neotraditionalist artists like Loveless were eclipsed on country radio by flashier, trendier young performers like Shania Twain
and Faith Hill
; none of the singles released from her 1997 album Long Stretch of Lonesome
or 2000's Strong Heart
reached the top ten. (The albums themselves continued to do well, however, with Long Stretch reaching # 9, and Strong Heart peaking at #13 on the country albums charts.)
In an effort to control her own destiny, rather than be controlled by country radio, Loveless made an abrupt move away from commercial, country/pop and made a stone-cold bluegrass
album in 2001. Mountain Soul
was released to numerous critical accolades and sold decently despite a lack of radio support. She used the same bluegrass approach on a Christmas album, Bluegrass & White Snow: A Mountain Christmas
, in 2002. On Your Way Home
, a return to more commercial oriented country, was released in 2003 to critical acclaim. Though she has not scored a top-forty country single since "On Your Way Home" reached # 29 in 2004, Loveless' albums still do well, usually charting in the country albums top forty, despite the fact that she no longer has the support of mainstream country radio or a major label.
In 2005 she released Dreamin' My Dreams. While critical reception was good, it did not fare well commercially. The album debuted and peaked at number 29 on Billboard's country album chart while no song from the album made the singles chart. This was the last album Loveless recorded for Epic Records before the label closed its Nashville division in 2005 and released Loveless from her recording contract.
on his Face the Promise
album, also collaborating with Solomon Burke
on his Nashville album and performing a duet, "Out Of My Mind", with Vince Gill
on his album These Days
. This was their first recorded duet since "My Kind of Woman, My Kind of Man", which they recorded in 1998.
She took a two-year sabbatical from touring in 2006 and 2007 to heal from the loss of her mother & mother-in-law and enjoy home life with husband Emory Gordy, Jr.
, though she & Gordy performed several times at the Grand Ole Opry and did a couple of guest appearances at other shows.
Returning to the studio in 2008, Loveless appeared on a track on George Strait
's Troubadour
album, as well as a track on Jimmy Wayne
's Do You Believe Me Now
. Later in 2008, Loveless signed a recording contract with Saguaro Road Records., and recorded a Tribute album
, Sleepless Nights
, which was released on September 9. Sleepless Nights received a Grammy Award
nomination for Best Country Album
.
Patty's second recording for Saguaro Road, Mountain Soul II
, was released on September 29, 2009. Mountain Soul was originally released in 2001 by Epic.
Loveless resumed touring in September 2008, and continued touring through 2010, though breaking from touring in 2011.
Loveless was also a judge for the 6th annual Independent Music Awards
to support independent artists' careers.
Loveless was inducted into The Kentucky Music Hall of Fame on April 7, 2011.
American Music Awards
Country Music Association
Grand Ole Opry
Georgia Music Hall of Fame
Grammy Awards
Kentucky Music Hall of Fame
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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...
singer.
Since her emergence on the country music scene in late 1986 with her first (self-titled) album, Loveless has been one of the most popular female singers of the Neotraditional country
Neotraditional country
Neotraditional country, also known as "new traditional" country, is a country music style that emphasizes the instrumental background and a 'traditional' country vocal style. Neotraditional country artists often dress in the fashions of the country music scene of the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s...
movement, although she has also recorded albums in the 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...
and Bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
genres.
Loveless was born in Pikeville, Kentucky
Pikeville, Kentucky
Pikeville is a city in Pike County, Kentucky. The population was 6,903 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Pike County.-History:On March 25, 1822, the county's government officials decided to build a new county seat named Liberty, one and one-half mile below the mouth of the Russell Fork...
, and was raised in Elkhorn City, Kentucky
Elkhorn City, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,060 people, 437 households, and 295 families residing in the city. The population density was 525.5 people per square mile . There were 506 housing units at an average density of 250.8 per square mile...
and Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
and rose to stardom thanks to her blend of honky tonk and country-rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
, not to mention a plaintive, emotional ballad style. Her late-1980s records were generally quite popular, earning her comparisons to 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...
, but most critics agreed that she truly came into her own as an artist in the early 1990s.
To date, Loveless has charted more than forty singles on the 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...
Hot Country Songs
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...
charts, including five Number Ones. In addition, she has recorded fourteen studio albums (not counting compilations); in the United States, four of these albums have been certified platinum, while two have been certified gold.
She is the 65th 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...
.
Loveless is also a distant cousin of 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...
and 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...
. She has been married twice, first to Terry Lovelace (1976–1986), from whom her professional name "Loveless" is derived, and to Emory Gordy, Jr.
Emory Gordy, Jr.
Emory Gordy, Jr., born December 25, 1944, in Atlanta, Georgia, is an American musician and music producer. Since 1989, he has been married to country music artist Patty Loveless. Gordy was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1992...
(1989–present), who is also her producer.
Early years
Patty Lee Ramey was born the sixth of seven children to John and Naomie Ramey outside of Pikeville, KentuckyPikeville, Kentucky
Pikeville is a city in Pike County, Kentucky. The population was 6,903 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Pike County.-History:On March 25, 1822, the county's government officials decided to build a new county seat named Liberty, one and one-half mile below the mouth of the Russell Fork...
on 4 January 1957. Although born in Pikeville, the family lived in Elkhorn City, Kentucky
Elkhorn City, Kentucky
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,060 people, 437 households, and 295 families residing in the city. The population density was 525.5 people per square mile . There were 506 housing units at an average density of 250.8 per square mile...
where her father was a coal miner.
Patty Ramey's interest in music started when she was a young child. In 1969, when she was twelve, the Ramey family moved to Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
in search of medical care for John Ramey, who was afflicted with "Black Lung Disease" (Coalworker's pneumoconiosis
Coalworker's pneumoconiosis
Coal workers' pneumoconiosis , colloquially referred to as black lung disease, is caused by long exposure to coal dust. It is a common affliction of coal miners and others who work with coal, similar to both silicosis from inhaling silica dust, and to the long-term effects of tobacco smoking...
).
Her older sister, Dottie Ramey, was an aspiring country singer, and would perform frequently at small clubs in Eastern Kentucky, with her brother Roger Ramey, known as the "Swinging Rameys". Traveling with Dottie and Roger to Fort Knox
Fort Knox
Fort Knox is a United States Army post in Kentucky south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. The base covers parts of Bullitt, Hardin, and Meade counties. It currently holds the Army Human Resources Center of Excellence to include the Army Human Resources Command, United States Army Cadet...
in 1969, and hearing her sister perform on stage, Patty Ramey decided that she would like to become a performer as well.
When her sister Dottie married in 1969 and quit performing, Roger Ramey convinced Patty to perform onstage for the first time at a small country jamboree in Hodgenville,Ky. The forum consisted of foldout chairs in a small auditorium and was called the "Lincoln Jamboree". She was terrified at first, but with her brother performed several songs, however she loved the applause she received for her performance, and after the show she was paid five dollars, the first money she ever earned.
Patty Ramey joined her brother Roger and started singing together at several clubs in Louisville Kentucky, under the name "Singin' Swingin' Rameys". Loveless and her brother would perform in various clubs in the Louisville area. A local radio announcer, Danny King with a country radio station in Louisville was a supporter of the Ramey kids. Whenever there was an opportunity for them to appear on stage, he would call up the Rameys and try to get them a booking.
Teenager in Nashville
It was her brother Roger who initially took Patty Ramey to Nashville, TennesseeNashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
in 1971. Having grown up listening to the music 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...
both in Pikeville, and then in Louisville, Roger had moved to Nashville in 1970 and became a producer with The Porter Wagoner Show.
When they arrived in Nashville, Roger went to Porter Wagoner
Porter Wagoner
Porter Wayne Wagoner was a popular American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour. He introduced the young Dolly Parton near the beginning of her career on his long-running television show, and they were a well-known duet throughout the late 1960s and...
's office without an appointment and managed to introduce his sister to Wagoner. Roger was able to convince Wagoner to listen to his sister sing, and she performed a song she wrote for their father, John, called "Sounds of Loneliness". To both Roger and Patty's surprise, Wagoner thumped his hand on his desk and said he was going to help her out. Wagoner introduced them to his singing partner at the time, 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 encouraged her to go back home and finish school, although he did invite her to travel with him and Dolly Parton on weekends during the summer.
In 1973 Bill Anderson, 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...
, the Wilburn Brothers, and Jean Shepard
Jean Shepard
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...
were scheduled to appear in a touring 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...
show in Louisville Gardens. However, Jean Shepard was caught in a flood, and she wasn't able to make it in. Danny King, sensing an opportunity, gave the Rameys a call. Loveless and her brother Roger appeared in the show for about fifteen minutes on stage.
The Wilburn Brothers listened to Patty Ramey and after her performance asked her if she had ever sung professionally. She explained that she had worked with Porter Wagoner some and had traveled with him and Dolly Parton on weekends and during the summers. Doyle Wilburn asked if she wanted to come to Nashville and work with their band to replace their female singer, to which Patty Ramey agreed. Between 1973 and 1975 Patty Ramey traveled with the Wilburns on weekends and during the summers when school was out. Loveless's parents insisted that the Wilburns watch over her while on the road.
Doyle Wilburn was slowly grooming Ramey to replace 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...
as his lead female singer, he also held a music publishing contract on her with Sure-Fire music, his songwriting agency, as Wilburn realized that she was also a very talented songwriter. In addition, during the summer when the group wasn't on the road, Doyle Wilburn had Patty Ramey work at his various enterprises in Nashville, having her wait on tables in one of his restaurants and clerking at his Music Mart USA record store.
After graduation from High School in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, in 1975 Patty Ramey became a full-time member of the Wilburn Brother's band as their lead female singer. About this time she met the Wilburn's new drummer, Terry Lovelace. Lovelace came from a small town in western North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, Kings Mountain
Kings Mountain, North Carolina
Kings Mountain is a small suburban city of Gastonia and Charlotte in Cleveland and Gaston counties, North Carolina, United States. The population was 9,693 at the 2000 census....
, and shared many things in common with Loveless. At first Patty kept her friendship and her growing relationship with Lovelace a secret from the Wilburns, however eventually Dolyle Wilburn learned about it and asked Patty to break it off. However, Ramey being the rebellious teenager instead quit the Wilburns and left with her boyfriend for western North Carolina. In early 1976, she married Terry Lovelace and began performing with him in a pickup-band based in Kings Mountain.
North Carolina years
In North Carolina, Patty and her husband Terry played in a circuit of small bars and concert halls. She sang covers of late 70s rock songs, along with Linda RonstadtLinda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
and Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
tunes, with the occasional country song. (After her marriage, she adopted the professional name Patty Loveless, as not to draw any connection to porn actress Linda Lovelace
Linda Lovelace
Linda Susan Boreman , better known by her stage name Linda Lovelace, was an American pornographic actress who was famous for her performance of deep throat fellatio in the enormously successful 1972 hardcore porn film Deep Throat...
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:AaTqfNpGIwMJ:www.allfansites.com/actresses/Patty%2520Loveless/index.html+%22patty+loveless%22+%22linda+lovelace%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us.)
During this time of her life she also was distant from her family, as she had married without their consent. According to Loveless, "...I think my father thought I had lost my mind. This music is going to just ruin your life... it ruined your life... But it was a music that I learned from again... You wouldn't believe the people that would come to this club. They would get off from work, and they wouldn't go home. They'd come to this club and have a few beers, or ... dance.... I learned a lot about people and life in those places. I mean there was all walks of life... people who had hit the very bottom. And myself, there was times I felt myself becoming one of those people too. There was some hard times for us both, my ex-husband and I. And I think at the time, it caused us to be torn apart, and we lost respect for each other. And it got to the point that we didn't know each other..." A low point of her life was in August 1979, when her father, whom she idolized, died in Louisville while Loveless was in North Carolina.
The years in North Carolina were not successful for her, as the police started busting the clubs she would perform in and shut them down. When she wasn't performing she was working as a waitress at her mother-in-law's restaurant. By 1984, she was singing in a club and was singing country music for a change of the rock she would normally perform. There was a new generation of artists in Nashville, singers like Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs
Rickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...
and 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...
who were changing the traditions of country music.
According to Loveless, "...I learned so much about what to feel in a song from those years of playing those clubs. I was saddened sometimes because I thought 'I left Nashville, I left all that for this? What happened to me? What is wrong with me?' But I think what was happening was that I was beginning to find... me. Find who I really was. And what kind of person I was inside and out. I still believe to this day it happened the way it was supposed to happen."
Return to Nashville
In April 1985, Loveless felt her marriage to Terry Lovelace was ending (they eventually divorced amicably in 1986). She contacted her brother Roger to help her get back to Nashville. After being in the rock 'n' roll scene for so long she felt completely out of the country-music loop but wanted to sing country music again. Roger Ramey helped his sister cut a five-song demo tape, one of them being a rough cut of her self-penned song "I Did", which Loveless first wrote as a teenager, then later included on her first album. Roger Ramey then began to spread the word around about her talent. She and her brother disagreed about including "I Did" on the demo tape. Loveless didn't believe the song was good enough, but Roger argued that it would be what got her a contract. Once the demo was finished, Roger started trying to get her a recording contract with a major label in Nashville.Roger Ramey sent the demo tape out to every major label in Nashville, and was met with a solid wall of rejection by them all. After a month of not getting anywhere, out of desperation to help his sister, he decided to take a chance with MCA Nashville
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
. MCA, being the industry leader at the time was his first choice of labels. Taking a cassette of the five song demo of Loveless, Roger bluffed his way past the receptionist of Tony Brown
Tony Brown (record producer)
Tony Brown is an American country music record producer.He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina.Brown played piano for Elvis Presley. He toured with the TCB Band for much of Presley's final two years and was a part of the 1976 "Jungle Room" recording sessions at Graceland...
, the head of A&R
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
(Artist & Repertoire – in charge of finding and developing new talent) by pretending to be someone else who was late for an appointment.
As soon as they met, Roger told Brown him he had the "best girl singer to ever come to Nashville". Tony Brown said he'd give Roger 30 seconds to sell him, and he quickly played the tape of Patty singing "I Did". Brown listened to the entire five-song tape, and asked Roger to leave it with him so he could play it for some other execs and get back to him. Roger refused and told Brown that he wanted a commitment that day, and if he didn't want her on MCA, he knew another label that did.
With Roger Ramey waiting in his office, Brown took the tape to Jimmy Bowen
Jimmy Bowen
Jimmy Bowen is an American record producer and former pop music performer.Bowen was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico. He began as a teenage recording star in 1957 with "I'm Stickin' With You," originally the flip side of the hit record "Party Doll" by Buddy Knox, but ultimately a Top 20 recording...
, President of MCA Nashville at the time. Hearing the tape, Bowen wasn't impressed with Loveless, but told Brown to go ahead and sign her, but only to a short-term, singles-only recording contact.
MCA years (1985–1992)
Tony Brown brought in one of his top producers, Emory Gordy, Jr.Emory Gordy, Jr.
Emory Gordy, Jr., born December 25, 1944, in Atlanta, Georgia, is an American musician and music producer. Since 1989, he has been married to country music artist Patty Loveless. Gordy was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1992...
, to help develop Loveless for MCA. Together, they produced a series of songs for Loveless, and all of them were released to radio stations with varying degrees of success. MCA released her first single, "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights" on December 7, 1985, charting on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for 8 weeks, reaching #46 on January 25, 1986.
Loveless' second single, "I Did", was released in April 1986. The song had gone out with releases from four other MCA singers, all of whom had album contracts. Shortly after its release, Roger Bowen asked Loveless to come into his office where he explained to her that he wanted to pull the song from radio because it was succeeding too well. "I have to be fair to the other artists". In return, he would give Loveless an album deal and she could release "I Did" as a single from her first album. This gave birth to the self-titled Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless (album)
Patty Loveless is the self-titled debut album from country music artist Patty Loveless. It was released in 1986. Among its tracks were Billboard Top Country Singles minor hits, "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights," "I Did," "After All," and "Wicked Ways." The album peaked at #35 on the Top Country Albums...
album, being initially released on October 1, 1986 in a promotional form, with a full release on February 21, 1987. Several other singles, "Wicked Ways" and "After All", were released from that album, which again, did not do well on the charts but garnered sufficient airplay that Tony Brown decided to sign Loveless to a long-term recording contract.
It was her second album, If My Heart Had Windows, released on January 25, 1988, was the one that got Loveless noticed in the country music world. "If My Heart Had Windows
If My Heart Had Windows (George Jones song)
"If My Heart Had Windows" is the title of a country song written by Dallas Frazier and recorded by George Jones in 1967 on his album of the same name...
" and a Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
song, "A Little Bit in Love
A Little Bit in Love
"A Little Bit in Love" is a single release by Patty Loveless, recorded at MCA/Nashville in the fall of 1987. It was included on her second album with MCA Records, If My Heart Had Windows, with the single being released in June 1988. It was the third single released from the album.-Background:"A...
", both of which reached the country music top 10. Also, in 1988 Loveless was invited 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...
, which put her firmly in Nashville to stay. The critics praised Loveless' first two albums, but they didn't sell all that well. On the road, Loveless was the opening act for the top MCA artists, such as George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
, Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...
and George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
, which had people coming early to the shows to hear her sing. However, her concert popularity did not translate into album sales for her label.
For Loveless' third album Honky Tonk Angel, Tony Brown took over as sole producer. Brown used his shrewd commercial instincts by releasing a series of upbeat, up-tempo singles from the album, one after another. With five tracks from the album charting in the Billboard Top Ten Country Singles, including two at #1, it served as the breakthrough album for Loveless. The album itself was Loveless' highest charting at #7 on the Country Albums category. The two #1 singles were "Chains
Chains (Patty Loveless song)
"Chains" is a single release by Patty Loveless, recorded at MCA/Nashville in the spring of 1988. It was included on her third album with MCA Records, Honky Tonk Angel, with the single being released in December 1989. It was the fifth single released from the album.-Background:"Chains" was Loveless'...
" and "Timber, I'm Falling In Love
Timber, I'm Falling In Love
Timber, I'm Falling In Love is a single release by Patty Loveless, recorded in the spring of 1988. It was included on her third album with MCA Records, Honky Tonk Angel, with the single being released in May 1989. It was the third single released from the album.-Background:"Timber, I'm Falling In...
". Loveless also did a cover of the Lone Justice song, "Don't Toss Us Away
Don't Toss Us Away
"Don't Toss Us Away" is a song written by Bryan MacLean and recorded by country rock band Lone Justice in 1985 on their self-titled debut album. In 1988, the song was recorded by country singer Patty Loveless, who released the song as the second single from her 1988 album, Honky Tonk Angel, in...
", which featured Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell is a Grammy Award-winning musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music....
on backing vocals. The song charted at #5. Famed songwriter Kostas
Kostas
Kostas Lazarides is a Greek-born American country music songwriter, known professionally as Kostas. He has written for several country music artists, including Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, and Travis Tritt, and has won eleven awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated...
had a major role by writing three of the album's tunes, including "Timber, I'm Falling in Love" and "The Lonely Side of Love
The Lonely Side of Love
"The Lonely Side of Love" is a single released by Patty Loveless, recorded at MCA/Nashville in the spring of 1988. It was included on her third album with MCA Records, Honky Tonk Angel, with the single being released in September 1989...
", which peaked at #6.
In February, 1989 Loveless and her producer, Emory Gordy, Jr. secretly married in Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Gatlinburg is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2000 U.S. Census, Gatlinburg had a population of 3,828. The city is a popular vacation resort, as it rests on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park along U.S...
. For a year and a half afterward, they publicly hid the fact that they were married, in large part because Loveless didn't want to hurt her former husband, Terry Lovelace, who still loved his former wife and hoped to rejoin her.
While at MCA, Loveless released two more albums, On Down the Line
On Down the Line
On Down the Line is the fourth album released by country music artist Patty Loveless. Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee during December 1989/January 1990, it was the follow-up to her breakthrough album, Honky Tonk Angel....
in 1990 and Up Against My Heart
Up Against My Heart
Up Against My Heart was the fifth and final album that country music artist Patty Loveless would record for MCA Records.The album produced the singles "Jealous Bone"#13, "Hurt Me Bad "#3 and "Can't Stop Myself from Loving You"#27....
in 1991, scoring hits with songs such as "I'm That Kind of Girl
I'm That Kind of Girl
"I'm That Kind of Girl" is a single release by Patty Loveless, recorded at MCA/Nashville in the spring of 1990. It was included on her fourth album with MCA Records, On Down the Line, with the single being released in January 1991...
"; "Hurt Me Bad (In a Real Good Way)
Hurt Me Bad (In a Real Good Way)
"Hurt Me Bad " is a single release by Patty Loveless, recorded at MCA/Nashville in the late spring/early summer of 1991. It was included on her fifth album with MCA Records, Up Against My Heart, with the single being released in September 1991. It was the first single released from the...
", and "Jealous Bone
Jealous Bone
"Jealous Bone" was a single release by Patty Loveless in 1991. It was included on her fifth album with MCA Records, Up Against My Heart, with the single being released in January 1992. It was the second single released from the album.-Background:...
". She toured endlessly and performed on television frequently.
Although MCA had given her stardom, there was the belief (rightly or wrongly) that the record label did not promote her albums well. Both Loveless and her husband believed that her career was just not taking off the way they believed it would if she had the same level of promotion as Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...
, Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood
Patricia Lynn Yearwood, professionally known as Trisha Yearwood , is an American country music artist. She is best known for her ballads about vulnerable young women from a female perspective that have been described by some music critics as "strong" and "confident."Trisha Yearwood signed with MCA...
and Wynonna. Changes in her band, also replacing her brother Roger as her manager did not improve matters. The fact remained that the other female singers on MCA were selling millions of records, while Loveless, with a gold record for Honky Tonk Angel, sold less than half of that with her two follow-up albums.
Larry Fitzgerald, her new manager believed a major change was in order. At the end of 1992, Fitzgerald met with Tony Brown to try to get Loveless out of her MCA contract. He worked out an agreement with MCA that Loveless could leave the label, but retained an option to record with other MCA artists on the MCA Label. Quickly, Fitzgerald arranged a meeting with Roy Wunsch, the head of Sony Nashville. Their Epic
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
label was looking for a "name" female singer and worked out a contract for Loveless to record for Sony under their Epic label.
Throat surgery and a new voice
With the new recording contract, Loveless headed into the recording studio to record new material for Epic. In the studio, her producer (Gordy) noticed that her voice was not as strong as it had been when she last recorded two years previously. The fact was that beginning as far back as 1990, Loveless felt some pain in her throat when singing, and when she saw a doctor, he noticed a red spot on her vocal cords. By 1992, Loveless was on a regimen of steroid tablets and cortisone to prop up her voice.Despite the voice problem, Loveless had booked a fall 1992 tour. Also she had been invited to appear on a CBS television special about "Women In Country". The day before leaving on the tour she asked her manager to accompany her to her throat doctor's office. In the office, her doctor compared her 1990 results versus what he saw during the exam. Her vocal cords had developed an enlarged blood vessel that looked like a varicose vein. The juxtaposition was dramatic. If not treated, it could end her career and there was no guarantee that surgery could correct the problem.
Although Loveless went ahead and sang in the television special, her manager canceled all of her tour dates for the rest of 1992. On October 21, Loveless had corrective throat surgery. For the next nine weeks, she could not speak or talk. Her husband, in order to communicate with her, attempted to teach Loveless Morse Code
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
, as well as using pen and paper with yellow Post-It notes. After this her interest in Amateur Radio
Amateur radio
Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...
developed and she was eventually licensed with the callsign KD4WUJ, although her license currently shows as canceled.
On her 36th birthday, January 4, 1993, Loveless re-entered her professional life by performing at the Grand Ole Opry. She was fully recovered, although her voice was changed by the surgery. It had a deeper, fuller quality which enhanced her career over the following years.
Epic Records years (1993–2005)
Going back to work in the studio, Loveless and Gordy re-recorded all the material they had worked on the previous fall. The changed voice was stronger than what it was previously and a different Patty Loveless recorded her first album for Epic, Only What I FeelOnly What I Feel
Only What I Feel is the sixth album, and the first since signing with Epic Records in 1992, recorded by country music artist Patty Loveless. It was released in 1993. Four tracks from the album made in into the Billboard top 20 country singles charts, including the #1 "Blame It on Your Heart" and...
. The album was released in April and was promoted strongly and heavily by Epic. Loveless' #1 single "Blame It On Your Heart
Blame It on Your Heart
"Blame It On Your Heart" is a song by Patty Loveless, released as a single in 1993. It was included on her first album with Sony/Epic Records, Only What I Feel, her sixth career album. The single was released in April 1993. It was the first single released from the album...
" firmly put her back into the spotlight. The release of Only What I Feel gave Loveless two CMA nominations for Single of the Year and Video of the Year for "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye
How Can I Help You Say Goodbye
"How Can I Help You Say Goodbye" is a single release by Patty Loveless, recorded at Sony/Epic in the early spring of 1993. It was included on her first album with Epic Records, Only What I Feel, her sixth career album. The single was released in March 1994...
". Some critics said that this album with Epic was her personal best.
In 1994, Loveless contributed the song "When I Reach the Place I’m Going" to the AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
benefit album Red Hot + Country
Red Hot + Country
Red Hot + Country was the follow-up to No Alternative in the Red Hot Series of compilation albums, a series produced to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues...
produced by the Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
.
Perhaps her crowning achievement was that album's follow-up, When Fallen Angels Fly
When Fallen Angels Fly
When Fallen Angels Fly is a studio album released in 1994 by American country music artist Patty Loveless. It reached #8 on the Top Country Albums charts and was certified Platinum for shipments of over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S.! All four of its singles — "I Try to Think About Elvis"#3, "You...
. It 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 Album of the Year award and gave her four Top 10 singles. She followed it up with The Trouble with the Truth
The Trouble with the Truth
The Trouble with the Truth is the eighth album by country music artist Patty Loveless. It peaked at #10 on the Billboard Top Country albums charts, and #86 on the Pop charts...
in 1996 which gave her Female Vocalist of the Year awards from both the Academy of Country Music
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...
and 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...
.
Although she continued to record for Epic throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, her commercial momentum slowed down, as neotraditionalist artists like Loveless were eclipsed on country radio by flashier, trendier young performers like 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...
and Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...
; none of the singles released from her 1997 album Long Stretch of Lonesome
Long Stretch of Lonesome
Long Stretch of Lonesome is an album by Patty Lovelessin 1997. Three singles charted in the top 20 on the Billboard Top Country Songs chart. Highlights are "High on Love,"#20 "To Have You Back Again"#12 and the George Jones-backed "You Don't Seem to Miss Me,"#14 each of which both charted in the...
or 2000's Strong Heart
Strong Heart
Strong Heart is the tenth album of original recordings by Patty Loveless. The album was released on August 29, 2000 in the United States. It first charted on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart on September 16 , and remaining on the charts for 34 weeks until May 19, 2001. The album also...
reached the top ten. (The albums themselves continued to do well, however, with Long Stretch reaching # 9, and Strong Heart peaking at #13 on the country albums charts.)
In an effort to control her own destiny, rather than be controlled by country radio, Loveless made an abrupt move away from commercial, country/pop and made a stone-cold bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
album in 2001. Mountain Soul
Mountain Soul
Mountain Soul is the eleventh album of original recordings by Patty Loveless. The album was recorded between January and March 2001 and was released on June 26 in the United States. It first charted on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart on July 14 , and remaining on the charts for 87 weeks...
was released to numerous critical accolades and sold decently despite a lack of radio support. She used the same bluegrass approach on a Christmas album, Bluegrass & White Snow: A Mountain Christmas
Bluegrass & White Snow: A Mountain Christmas
Bluegrass & White Snow: A Mountain Christmas is the twelfth album of original recordings by country music artist Patty Loveless. The first half of the album comprises covers of well-known traditional Christmas tunes...
, in 2002. On Your Way Home
On Your Way Home
On Your Way Home is the thirteenth album of original recordings by Patty Loveless. Released in 2003 on Epic Records, the album produced only one Top 20 country single: the track "Lovin' All Night", a cover of a Rodney Crowell song from 1990 hit #18...
, a return to more commercial oriented country, was released in 2003 to critical acclaim. Though she has not scored a top-forty country single since "On Your Way Home" reached # 29 in 2004, Loveless' albums still do well, usually charting in the country albums top forty, despite the fact that she no longer has the support of mainstream country radio or a major label.
In 2005 she released Dreamin' My Dreams. While critical reception was good, it did not fare well commercially. The album debuted and peaked at number 29 on Billboard's country album chart while no song from the album made the singles chart. This was the last album Loveless recorded for Epic Records before the label closed its Nashville division in 2005 and released Loveless from her recording contract.
Recent endeavors
After her release from Sony Nashville, in 2006 Loveless sang a duet with Bob SegerBob Seger
Robert Clark "Bob" Seger is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist.As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s...
on his Face the Promise
Face the Promise
Face the Promise is the sixteenth studio album by Bob Seger. This album was originally planned to be released in 2004 and then delayed to 2005. It was finally officially released on September 12, 2006. According to many webpages it took Bob Seger 6 years of work to finish on "Face The Promise." ...
album, also collaborating with Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke
Solomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
on his Nashville album and performing a duet, "Out Of My Mind", with Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...
on his album These Days
These Days (Vince Gill album)
These Days is a 2006 box set by country artist Vince Gill. Consisting of 43 original songs spanning four discs, the album displays the range of Gill’s lyrical and musical styles, ranging from traditional country and bluegrass to jazz and rock...
. This was their first recorded duet since "My Kind of Woman, My Kind of Man", which they recorded in 1998.
She took a two-year sabbatical from touring in 2006 and 2007 to heal from the loss of her mother & mother-in-law and enjoy home life with husband Emory Gordy, Jr.
Emory Gordy, Jr.
Emory Gordy, Jr., born December 25, 1944, in Atlanta, Georgia, is an American musician and music producer. Since 1989, he has been married to country music artist Patty Loveless. Gordy was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1992...
, though she & Gordy performed several times at the Grand Ole Opry and did a couple of guest appearances at other shows.
Returning to the studio in 2008, Loveless appeared on a track on George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
's Troubadour
Troubadour (George Strait album)
Troubadour is the title of the 25th studio album by American country music singer George Strait. It was released on April 1, 2008 on MCA Nashville Records. The album comprises twelve tracks, including two duets...
album, as well as a track on Jimmy Wayne
Jimmy Wayne
Jimmy Wayne Barber is an American country music singer and songwriter. He released his self-titled debut album in 2003 on the DreamWorks Records label. Four singles were released from it, including "Stay Gone" and "I Love You This Much", which both reached Top Ten on the Billboard country charts...
's Do You Believe Me Now
Do You Believe Me Now
Do You Believe Me Now is the second studio album of American country music singer Jimmy Wayne. It was released on August 26, 2008. The album is also Wayne's first album in five years and his debut for Valory Music Group, a subsidiary of Big Machine Records...
. Later in 2008, Loveless signed a recording contract with Saguaro Road Records., and recorded a Tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
, Sleepless Nights
Sleepless Nights (Patty Loveless album)
Sleepless Nights is the fifteenth album by American country music artist Patty Loveless. The album was released on September 9, 2008 . Her first album for the Sagauaro Road Records label, it is also her first studio album since Dreamin' My Dreams in 2005. Sleepless Nights comprises cover versions...
, which was released on September 9. Sleepless Nights received 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...
nomination for Best Country Album
Grammy Award for Best Country Album
The Grammy Award for Best Country Album has been awarded since 1994. The equivalent award, the Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Album was presented in 1965 and 1966...
.
Patty's second recording for Saguaro Road, Mountain Soul II
Mountain Soul II
Mountain Soul II is the sixteenth studio album by American country music singer Patty Loveless. The album was released on September 29, 2009. It is a follow-up to her previous album, Mountain Soul, released in 2001...
, was released on September 29, 2009. Mountain Soul was originally released in 2001 by Epic.
Loveless resumed touring in September 2008, and continued touring through 2010, though breaking from touring in 2011.
Loveless was also a judge for the 6th annual Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....
to support independent artists' careers.
Loveless was inducted into The Kentucky Music Hall of Fame on April 7, 2011.
Discography
- 1986: Patty LovelessPatty Loveless (album)Patty Loveless is the self-titled debut album from country music artist Patty Loveless. It was released in 1986. Among its tracks were Billboard Top Country Singles minor hits, "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights," "I Did," "After All," and "Wicked Ways." The album peaked at #35 on the Top Country Albums...
- 1988: If My Heart Had Windows
- 1988: Honky Tonk Angel
- 1990: On Down the LineOn Down the LineOn Down the Line is the fourth album released by country music artist Patty Loveless. Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee during December 1989/January 1990, it was the follow-up to her breakthrough album, Honky Tonk Angel....
- 1991: Up Against My HeartUp Against My HeartUp Against My Heart was the fifth and final album that country music artist Patty Loveless would record for MCA Records.The album produced the singles "Jealous Bone"#13, "Hurt Me Bad "#3 and "Can't Stop Myself from Loving You"#27....
- 1993: Only What I FeelOnly What I FeelOnly What I Feel is the sixth album, and the first since signing with Epic Records in 1992, recorded by country music artist Patty Loveless. It was released in 1993. Four tracks from the album made in into the Billboard top 20 country singles charts, including the #1 "Blame It on Your Heart" and...
- 1993: Greatest HitsGreatest Hits (Patty Loveless album)Greatest Hits is a compilation of previously released hits by Patty Loveless. The album was released in 1993 shortly after Loveless left MCA for Epic Records and it contains 10 of her 12 top 20 hits on MCA Records. An accompanying VHS tape of music videos was released in conjunction with this album...
- 1994: When Fallen Angels FlyWhen Fallen Angels FlyWhen Fallen Angels Fly is a studio album released in 1994 by American country music artist Patty Loveless. It reached #8 on the Top Country Albums charts and was certified Platinum for shipments of over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S.! All four of its singles — "I Try to Think About Elvis"#3, "You...
- 1996: The Trouble with the TruthThe Trouble with the TruthThe Trouble with the Truth is the eighth album by country music artist Patty Loveless. It peaked at #10 on the Billboard Top Country albums charts, and #86 on the Pop charts...
- 1997: Long Stretch of LonesomeLong Stretch of LonesomeLong Stretch of Lonesome is an album by Patty Lovelessin 1997. Three singles charted in the top 20 on the Billboard Top Country Songs chart. Highlights are "High on Love,"#20 "To Have You Back Again"#12 and the George Jones-backed "You Don't Seem to Miss Me,"#14 each of which both charted in the...
- 1999: Classics
- 2000: Strong HeartStrong HeartStrong Heart is the tenth album of original recordings by Patty Loveless. The album was released on August 29, 2000 in the United States. It first charted on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart on September 16 , and remaining on the charts for 34 weeks until May 19, 2001. The album also...
- 2001: Mountain SoulMountain SoulMountain Soul is the eleventh album of original recordings by Patty Loveless. The album was recorded between January and March 2001 and was released on June 26 in the United States. It first charted on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart on July 14 , and remaining on the charts for 87 weeks...
- 2002: Bluegrass & White Snow: A Mountain ChristmasBluegrass & White Snow: A Mountain ChristmasBluegrass & White Snow: A Mountain Christmas is the twelfth album of original recordings by country music artist Patty Loveless. The first half of the album comprises covers of well-known traditional Christmas tunes...
- 2003: On Your Way HomeOn Your Way HomeOn Your Way Home is the thirteenth album of original recordings by Patty Loveless. Released in 2003 on Epic Records, the album produced only one Top 20 country single: the track "Lovin' All Night", a cover of a Rodney Crowell song from 1990 hit #18...
- 2005: Dreamin' My Dreams
- 2008: Sleepless NightsSleepless Nights (Patty Loveless album)Sleepless Nights is the fifteenth album by American country music artist Patty Loveless. The album was released on September 9, 2008 . Her first album for the Sagauaro Road Records label, it is also her first studio album since Dreamin' My Dreams in 2005. Sleepless Nights comprises cover versions...
- 2007: 16 Biggest Hits
- 2009: Mountain Soul IIMountain Soul IIMountain Soul II is the sixteenth studio album by American country music singer Patty Loveless. The album was released on September 29, 2009. It is a follow-up to her previous album, Mountain Soul, released in 2001...
Awards
Academy of Country MusicAcademy 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...
- 1996 Top Female VocalistAcademy of Country MusicThe 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...
- 1997 Top Female VocalistAcademy of Country MusicThe 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...
American Music Awards
American Music Awards
-Conception:The AMAs were created by Dick Clark in 1973 to compete with the Grammys after the move of that year's show to Nashville, Tennessee led to CBS picking up the Grammy telecasts after its first two in 1971 and 1972 were broadcast on ABC...
- 1989 Favorite New Country ArtistAmerican Music Award for Favorite Country New ArtistThe American Music Award for Favorite Country New Artist is a major music industry award that was created in 1989. However, the award was discontinued after 2003....
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...
- 1995 Album of the YearCountry Music Association AwardsThe 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...
– "When Fallen Angels FlyWhen Fallen Angels FlyWhen Fallen Angels Fly is a studio album released in 1994 by American country music artist Patty Loveless. It reached #8 on the Top Country Albums charts and was certified Platinum for shipments of over 1,000,000 copies in the U.S.! All four of its singles — "I Try to Think About Elvis"#3, "You...
" - 1996 Female Vocalist of the YearCountry Music Association AwardsThe 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...
- 1998 Vocal Event of the YearCountry Music Association AwardsThe 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...
with George JonesGeorge JonesGeorge Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
– "You Don't Seem to Miss MeYou Don't Seem to Miss Me"You Don't Seem to Miss Me" is a single recorded by Patty Loveless featuring backing vocals from George Jones. It was included on her fourth album with Epic Records, Long Stretch of Lonesome, her ninth album overall. The single was released in 1997...
"
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...
- Inducted in 1988
Georgia Music Hall of Fame
Georgia Music Hall of Fame
The Georgia Music Hall of Fame, located in downtown Macon, Georgia, preserves and interprets the state's rich musical heritage through programs of collection, exhibition, education and performance...
- Inducted in 2005
Grammy Awards
- Best Country Collaboration with VocalsGrammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with VocalsThe Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to quality country music collaborations for artists who do not normally perform together...
– "Same Old Train" (1998) - Best Bluegrass AlbumGrammy Award for Best Bluegrass AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works in the bluegrass music genre...
– Mountain Soul II (2011)
Kentucky Music Hall of Fame
- Inducted in 2011 (announced 17 March 2010)
External links
- Patty Loveless at Country Music TelevisionCountry Music TelevisionCountry 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...