Barbara Mandrell

Mandrell was born in Houston, Texas, on Christmas Day, 1948. She is the eldest child born to parents Mary Ellen (née McGill; born 1931) and Irby Matthew Mandrell (October 11, 1924 – March 5, 2009). The family later moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, where her father was a police officer and her mother was a music teacher. Mandrell's younger sisters Louise and Irlene, were born there. While in Corpus Christi, Mandrell got acquainted with music. She sang and played music regularly at home. She also recalled having a natural ear for hearing music. "I remember once I was at my cousins' home in Falfurrias. We were playing outside—and I'm talking this is when I'm a little girl—and we were singing, of all things, 'I've Been Working on the Railroad.' All of a sudden I started to hear harmony. I began to sing it, and I just thought, 'This is the neatest thing in the world,'" she told Texas Monthly. When she was six years old, the family moved to Oceanside, California. Irby Mandrell opened his own music store. In her elementary school years, she learned to play saxophone while a part of the school band. During the same period, she started taking lessons on the steel guitar from her father's friend Norman Hamlet. After a year of practice on the instrument, Irby Mandrell took his daughter to a music trade show in Chicago, Illinois. At the program, she performed on the steel guitar. She was heard by country performer Joe Maphis who would help launch Mandrell's early career as a musician. ==Music career==

1960–1968: Late childhood and teenage years as a steel guitarist In 1960, Joe Maphis brought eleven-year-old Mandrell onto his country music show in Las Vegas, Nevada. As part of Maphis's act, she performed the steel guitar. In 1962, she toured country music shows with artists Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline. During the tour, 13-year old Mandrell shared hotel rooms with Cline since she was underage. She also performed steel guitar for Red Foley, Little Jimmy Dickens and Tex Ritter. She participated in the marching band, chorus and student council. She eventually graduated from high school in 1967. Shortly after high school graduation, Mandrell married Ken Dudney and chose to retire from performing to become a full-time housewife. It was a cover of the Otis Redding original. In 1971, Mandrell's debut studio album was released through Columbia, also titled Treat Him Right. The disc included her charting singles between 1969 and 1971, along with covers of songs by Ivory Joe Hunter, Joe South and others. Her early success garnered Mandrell the Top New Female Vocalist award from the Academy of Country Music in 1970 and a membership to the Grand Ole Opry in 1972. In 1971, Mandrell's single "Tonight My Baby's Coming Home" was her first to peak in the top ten of the Billboard country songs chart. Their duets made the charts several more times between 1970 and 1974, including "I Love You, I Love You" (1973), which climbed into the Billboard top ten as well. Some critics found that Mandrell's Columbia material lacked individuality and at times seemed closer resemble that of other Columbia artists. "Sometimes, it seems as if Sherrill isn't quite sure what to do with Mandrell. He keeps her away from anything that could be construed as a good fit for Tammy Wynette, and when the country does turn toward the straight-ahead, it's still soft; Merle Haggard's 'Today I Started Loving You Again' doesn't carry resignation in Barbara's hands, only reassurance," Stephen Thomas Erlewine commented on one of her early LP's. In 1973, Columbia issued what was considered Mandrell's breakthrough record, called "The Midnight Oil". The song told the story of a wife having an affair and lying to her husband about the situation. The single became her second solo top ten hit, reaching number seven on the Billboard country chart and number five on the RPM country chart. In 1974, she reached the top 20 on the country chart with "This Time I Almost Made It", These recordings appeared on her sixth and seventh studio albums, which were also issued in 1977. Mandrell reached her commercial zenith in the late 1970s with songs about infidelity and cheating. Both tracks appeared on Mandrell's top ten Billboard country album Moods (1978). Her 1979 album Just for the Record was also a top ten Billboard LP. Between 1980 and 1982, she and her siblings co-hosted the NBC television series Barbara Mandrell & the Mandrell Sisters. which charted the Billboard country albums top five The disc included a track about staying close to country roots called "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool". Released as a single, it was her fourth number one song on the Billboard country chart. The project brought Mandrell her first Grammy awards. She also collaborated on several duets with Lee Greenwood in 1984. The duets were issued on their 1984 studio album Meant for Each Other, which featured the top five country single "To Me". Meanwhile, writers Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann described her early 1980s singles as "powerful heartache songs" whose themes centered around "enduring financial hardship" and "proud-to-be country anthem[s]". On September 11, 1984, Mandrell and her two oldest children were in Tennessee heading home from shopping when another driver crossed the center line and hit them head on. Mandrell suffered a broken femur, shattered ankle, injured knee and a concussion that left temporary brain damage. The driver of the other vehicle died. Mandrell's children survived with minor injuries. The crash caused Mandrell to endure numerous surgeries on her femur and ankle. This led to prolonged pain and depression. She eventually returned to the recording studio in May 1985, which resulted in the 1985 top ten country single "There's No Love in Tennessee". It appeared on Mandrell's Greatest Hits compilation, which was also issued in 1985. She returned to the stage for the first time in 1986 at the Los Angeles Universal Amphitheatre, with Dolly Parton serving as her opening act. Her next studio album Get to the Heart (1985) spawned the top ten Billboard songs "Fast Lanes and Country Roads" and "Angel in Your Arms". It spawned the top ten country song "No One Mends a Broken Heart Like You". The disc reached number 24 on the Billboard country albums survey. It also spawned the top 20 single "My Train of Thought" (1989) and the charting song "Mirror, Mirror". Both songs were her final singles to chart in the United States. and No Nonsense (distributed through Liberty). For the latter album, Mandrell signed a commercial deal with the No Nonsense panty hose brand. Her final Capitol–Liberty project was issued in 1991 called ''Key's in the Mailbox''. Mandrell's Capitol recordings found positive reviews from critics. Mary. A Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann found the songs to showcase "strong female lyrics", while Bill Carpenter said her 1991 album exemplified "Heartful soul and contemporary country." Mandrell continued making live performance appearances on network television. She also remained a popular act on the Grand Ole Opry, including their televised portion of the program. Mandrell also continued recording and releasing new material. In 1994, the New York label Direct Records released two albums of her music. The studio album projects were marketed exclusively through television and appeared on networks such as TNN. That year, the label issued Acoustic Attitude, which was an album of re-recordings. The label also issued an album of new material that year titled It Works for Me. The album was reissued on Razor & Tie in 1997, which Mandrell temporarily signed a contract with that year. Also in 1997, Mandrell announced her retirement from touring, recording and performing. In an interview with Billboard, Mandrell explained that she chose to retire so she could focus on a full–time acting career. She gave her final musical performance in October 1997 at the Grand Ole Opry house. Her final concert was aired on network television. Titled Barbara Mandrell and the Do-Rites: The Last Dance, premiered on TNN in late 1997. ==Acting career==

1978–1983: Early roles and television variety series Mandrell began gaining regular exposure on national television programs. Her television credits from this period included appearances on The Tonight Show, American Bandstand and Bob Hope entertainment specials. Among the highlights was an appearance on a 1979 episode of The Rockford Files and co-hosting the 1979 Academy of Country Music Awards. In late 1979 she played Emmy in the holiday program Skinflint: A Christmas Carol alongside several other country artists of the era. The special was a southern American take on the original story of the same name. Fred Guida gave the program a negative review in his book A Christmas Carol and Its Adaptations: "Unfortunately, Skinflint fails to live up to its interesting premise, and the result is one of the lamest Carol variations to date." Mandrell was given multiple offers from the NBC network to host her own syndicated show. However, she routinely turned it down. One day, NBC producer Marty Krofft was shown a wallet-sized photograph of Mandrell and her sisters playing different musical instruments. This prompted Krofft to contact Mandrell about offering her a program that she could co–host with her sisters. From his encouragement, she eventually agreed to host a show on his network. In 1980, she was signed by NBC to host a national television variety series. Titled Barbara Mandrell & the Mandrell Sisters, the show was hosted by Mandrell along with her two sisters Irlene and Louise. Mandrell learned choreography for the show and was routinely featured playing multiple musical instruments. In addition, the Mandrell sisters performed a series of comedy sketches. In their book The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, authors Tim Brooks and Earle F. Marsh noted that Barbara often portrayed the "serious, pushy sister" while Irlene was portrayed as the "sexy, vain one". Mandrell often had to push back against NBC executives who insisted that the show feature hay barrels and other features of traditional country-western shows. "They expect you to be barefoot and ignorant," Mandrell commented in 2003. During its peak, it was estimated that the show attracted roughly 40 million viewers per week. (center) and Brooke Shields (left) for a military engagement (1987).|alt=Comedian Bob Hope in the center. Singer Barbara Mandrell is kissing his left cheek, while actress Brooke Shields is stroking his right cheek. Despite the NBC show's success, the constant workload (along with a focus on her music career) caused Mandrell to suffer from burnout. She often had to take extra naps on her tour bus parked next to the television studio. She also had to take Cortisone shots before show tapings so that her vocal chords had less strain. She was urged to quit the show by physicians who warned that she would ultimately suffer from permanent vocal damage. Joe Brown of The Washington Post called the film, "an overheated title for what amounts to a lukewarm drama about a natural phenomenon and its effect on a small town." He concluded by commenting on Mandrell's acting performance: "As an actress, Mandrell is likable and natural, but she has little to do here but walk around looking concerned when she's not getting into tepid clinches with [Tom] Wopat". Following her 1984 car crash, a television special of Mandrell's was aired on CBS titled Barbara Mandrell–Something Special. She also made appearances on talk shows and network programs during the late 1980s and early 1990s. She also was featured in several television commercials for food products. In the early 1990s, she portrayed a character on the television show Empty Nest. In 1994, Mandrell played a villain guest role in an episode of ABC's The Commish. The Baltimore Sun described her as playing "a less sympathetic role than usual" in their description of the episode. During the mid-1990s, Mandrell also played roles on the shows Touched by an Angel, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and Baywatch. In 1997, Mandrell gave up her music career to focus on acting full-time. She signed with the Creative Artists Agency, which helped her acquire more television roles. She appeared as a recurring character in the soap opera Sunset Beach. Among Mandrell's final acting credits was 2000's made-for-television film Stolen from the Heart. ==Artistry==

Musicianship In addition to singing, Mandrell is also known for playing multiple instruments. In reviewing a concert, The Morning Call explained, "No Mandrell show would be complete without a demonstration of the singer's musical virtuosity. Playing a mean saxophone and banjo during the course of the evening, Mandrell proved herself to be a talented musician." Musical styles Mandrell's musical style embeds country music with country–pop, and gospel. ==Legacy, influence and honors==

Mandrell has been widely considered among country music's most successful artists and all–around entertainers. Reba McEntire, and Carly Pearce. McEntire thanked Mandrell in 2009 and spoke about her influence: "I thank you for the things that you've taught me, not only musically, but spiritually...And I will always treasure our relationship with all my heart." In 2006, several artists re-recorded several of Mandrell's most popular singles in tribute to her career. The project was titled ''She Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool: A Tribute to Barbara Mandrell''. It featured of remakes of her songs performed by contemporary country performers such was Kenny Chesney, Sara Evans and LeAnn Rimes. She was also the first individual to win the accolade in back to back years (1980 and 1981). In 2009, Mandrell was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Mandrell's legacy was further cemented she released her 1990 autobiography called Get to the Heart: My Story (co-written with writer George Vecsey titled). In 1997, the book was turned into a television movie titled Get to the Heart: The Barbara Mandrell Story. She was portrayed in the film by television actress Maureen McCormick. Mandrell briefly made a cameo appearance at the beginning and end of the film. In 2020, American disc jockey and producer Dave Audé partnered with Mandrell to remix her 1978 song "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed". Rolling Stone explained that the song was remixed as "the first step in a new effort to bring Barbara Mandrell's music into the digital age." In July 2022, Mandrell celebrated 50 years as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Several Opry members and country artists performed on the stage to honor Mandrell's legacy. Among the artists who performed that night were Suzy Bogguss, Jeannie Seely and Carrie Underwood. ==Personal life==

Marriage and family life Mandrell has been married to former musician and Navy pilot Ken Dudney since 1967. Dudney was originally hired as the drummer for Mandrell's family band. The pair met when she was 14 and he was 21. Dudney was engaged to another woman at the time. However, he broke off the engagement after having feelings for Mandrell. In 2003, Mandrell commented: "I'd dated him since I was 14 and I just couldn't wait to graduate high school so I could be Mrs. Ken Dudney." Matthew is married to singer Christy Sutherland. In 1988, Mandrell and her family built a log cabin mansion called the Fontanel Mansion. The home consisted of six bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, two kitchens, five fireplaces and a helicopter landing pad. It has been considered to be the largest log cabin home in the world. Mandrell sold the home in 2002 in order to downsize. The home was auctioned. Her daughter Jaime was the human resources manager of the mansion until February 2017. She then began a new career with a company that works to place people with addiction issues into appropriate rehabilitation facilities. Car crash On September 11, 1984, Mandrell and her two children were involved in a head-on car collision near their Nashville home. The driver of the other car in the crash (19-year-old college student Mark White) was killed instantly. The police report stated that White's car had crossed the center line of the road, causing a head-on collision with Mandrell's Jaguar XJ. Mandrell's children suffered only minor injuries and were released from the hospital shortly after their arrival. As a result of Mandrell's head injuries, she had a temporary shift in personality and experienced memory loss. "I would refer to myself in the third person: 'That was her' or 'She did that' or 'You should have asked her. I can't do that'," she told The 700 Club. Mandrell's injuries took over a year to fully recover. In an interview with CMT, she explained that her head injury took about three years to fully recover. She explained that she still suffers from pain in her ankle. After the crash, she campaigned and filmed television commercials that advocated for the use of seat belts in cars. She campaigned for arthritis and organ donation. Mandrell was made honorary chairman of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 1985. Nearly a year later, in accordance with Tennessee state law, Mandrell was required to sue the White family for $10.3 million in damages in order to collect from her own insurance company. == Discography ==

;Studio albums • Treat Him Right (1971) • A Perfect Match (1972) • The Midnight Oil (1973) • This Time I Almost Made It (1974) • This Is Barbara Mandrell (1976) • Midnight Angel (1976) • Lovers, Friends and Strangers (1977) • ''Love's Ups and Downs'' (1977) • Moods (1978) • Just for the Record (1979) • Love Is Fair (1980) • ...In Black & White (1982) • He Set My Life to Music (1982) • Spun Gold (1983) • Clean Cut (1984) • Meant for Each Other (1984) • Christmas at Our House (1984) • Get to the Heart (1985) • Moments (1986) • Sure Feels Good (1987) • ''I'll Be Your Jukebox Tonight'' (1988) • Precious Memories (1989) • Morning Sun (1990) • No Nonsense (1990) • ''Key's in the Mailbox'' (1991) • Acoustic Attitude (1994) • It Works for Me (1994) ==Awards and nominations==

Barbara Mandrell has won many awards for her work as an entertainer. This includes six accolades from the Academy of Country Music, four from the Country Music Association and two from the Grammy Awards. ==Filmography==

• Get to the Heart: My Story (1990) ==References==