Barbara Mandrell

Barbara Ann Mandrell, born on December 25, 1948, in Houston, Texas, was an American country music singer and musician. Raised primarily in California, she came from a musical family and began playing several instruments by her teenage years. Her skills on the steel guitar were noticed early, leading to performances with country music entertainers at age 13. In 1969, she signed her first recording contract with Columbia Records. She was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1972. Her early singles combined country influences with R&B and soul, with notable hits including "Tonight My Baby's Coming Home" (1971) and "The Midnight Oil" (1973). In 1975, she moved to ABC-Dot Records and achieved commercial breakthroughs with country-pop singles like "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" (1978), "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want to Be Right" (1979), "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" (1981), and "One of a Kind Pair of Fools" (1983). She won several major music awards, including the Entertainer of the Year accolade from the Country Music Association in 1980 and 1981. After sustaining serious injuries in a car accident in 1984, she returned to recording in 1985 with top ten country singles like "Fast Lanes and Country Roads" (1985) and "No One Mends a Broken Heart Like You" (1986). She announced her retirement from performing and recording in 1997. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009.