Juice Newton

Judy Kay Newton (born on February 18, 1952) is an award-winning American country singer-songwriter who achieved massive success during the early 80s with a handful of crossover hits. Originally from Lakehurst, New Jersey, Newton relocated to sunny California after graduating from high school and soon met longtime musical partner Otha Young, with whom she performed in local cafés and bars before forming the folk-rock outfit Juice Newton & Silver Spur with Tom Kealey in the early 70s. After releasing three country rock albums between 1975 and 1977, the band called it quits and Newton embarked on a fruitful solo career. Despite its poor commercial performance, Well Kept Secret (1978), her studio debut, paved the way for Take Heart (1979), which managed to land five singles on the Billboard Country Singles chart. Newton finally had her breakthrough moment with Juice (1981), a triple-platinum country pop blockbuster that spawned the Number 1 singles “Angel of the Morning” and “The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Known),” both of which topped Billboard’s Adult Contemporary charts. Preceded by the hit singles “Love's Been A Little Hard on Me,” “Break It To Me Gently,” and “Heart of The Night,” Quiet Lies (1982) met a similar fate to its predecessor, peaking at Number 7 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and earning Newton a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Following the tepid success of the more pop-oriented Dirty Looks (1983) and Can't Wait All Night (1984), Newton went back straight to the top with “You Make Me Want to Make You Mine,” the lead single off of Old Flame (1985), which reached Number 1 on Billboard’s Country chart. The poor commercial performance of Emotion (1987) and Ain't Gonna Cry (1989) motivated a nine-year recording hiatus, which she broke with The Trouble with Angels (1998) and American Girl (1999), Newton’s first collection of original material in a decade. She released The Gift of Christmas (2007) and Duets: Friends & Memories (2010), featuring collaborations with Willie Nelson, Frankie Valli, and Glen Campbell.