Ollie Imogene "Jean" Shepard
Nov 21, 1933 - Sept 25, 2016 (aged 82)
Trailblazer Jean Shepard, a Country Music Hall of Fame member &
member of the Grand Ole Opry for more than 60 years dies at the age of 82.
Pure honky-tonk voice and consistently vibrant recordings with their tales
of romantic entanglements made her one of the most important country artists of the last half of the
Twentieth century
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| Montage Tribute: CLICK to ENLARGE |
(25
Sept 2015)
Opry
Matriarch Jean Shepard Passes at 82
Honky-tonk
siren, independent-female country pioneer, Grand Ole Opry matriarch and Country
Music Hall of Fame inductee Jean Shepard
has passed away at age 82.
She
entered hospice and reportedly died of complications from Parkinson’s Disease on Sunday, Sept 25, 2016.
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| Jean Shepard & Benny Birchfield (Husband) Hall Of Fame Medallion Ceremony in 2011 |
Jean Shepard is the 4th Country Music Hall Of Famer to pass away in 2016. Sonny James, Merle Haggard and Bonnie Brown are the others
Among
her 45 charted country titles over three decades are such enduring favorites as
“A
Dear John Letter,” “A Satisfied Mind,” “Second
Fiddle” and “Slippin’ Away.”
Her
fiery, outspoken manner made her one of the most memorable country
personalities of her era.
Born
Ollie Imogene Shepard on Nov. 21, 1933, she was the fifth of 10 children born
to an Oklahoma sharecropper. The family moved to California during the Dust
Bowl Migration. Desperately poor during the Great Depression, her parents
hocked their furniture to buy her an upright bass so that she could pursue a
career in music.
Shepard
joined The Melody Ranch Girls all-female band while still in school. At age 15,
she was singing every weekend in the towns around Bakersfield, CA. Honky-tonk
superstar Hank Thompson discovered her and brought her to Capitol Records.
Beginning
at age 21, she scored a string of hits on her own, including “A
Satisfied Mind” (1955), “Beautiful Lies” (1955) and “I
Want to Go Where No One Knows Me” (1958).
Her
1954 LP SONGS OF A LOVE AFFAIR was
country music’s first female “concept” album.
Shepard’s
1955 hit “I Thought of You” was later the song that launched the career
of her fellow Hall of Fame member Connie Smith. Jean Shepard joined The Ozark
Jubilee in Missouri, then became a breakthrough female solo singer on the Grand Ole Opry.
She
became a member on her birthday, Nov. 21, 1955.
She
was named Cash Box Magazine’s Top Female Country Singer of 1959.
During
her early career, she was chaperoned by Husky and then by Hawkshaw Hawkins, whom she married in 1960. After Hawkins died in
the 1963 plane crash that also killed her friend Patsy Cline, Shepard was left
to fend for herself in a male-dominated industry....
Read More
Read More
She
was the single mother of two sons, battling for her rights.
She
said she developed her feisty, sassy personality as a result.
Her
hits of the 1960s included the yodeling standout “Second Fiddle” (1964),
the peppy “Many Happy Hangovers to You” (1966), her Ray Pillow divorce
duet “I’ll Take the Dog” (1966) and the classic “If Teardrops Were Silver”
(1966; >> Video).
Other
memorable singles during this era included “Heart We Did All That We Could”
(1967), “Your Forevers Don’t Last Very Long” (1967) and the standard “Seven
Lonely Days” (1969).
In the
1970s, she continued to score with such hits as her Grammy Award nominated “Then
He Touched Me” (1970), plus “A Woman’s Hand” (1970) and “Another Lonely Night” (1971).
Shepard
moved from Capitol to United Artists Records and reignited her chart fortunes
with the Bill Anderson songs “Slippin’ Away” (1973), “At
the Time” (1974), “Poor Sweet Baby” (1974) and the
evergreen “The Tip of My Fingers” (1975). ..Read More at
Yesteryear
In Nashville - Jean Shepard Published on Nov 27, 2015 Archie Campbell
interviews Jean Shepard TNN 1983
Jean
Shepard - Seven Lonely Days Published on Jan 9, 2016
Jean Shepard - Above and Beyond:
Jean Shepard - The Tips Of My Fingers Published on Sep 12, 2012
“She’s one of those people who opened doors,”
Opry announcer and WSM DJ Eddie Stubbs
said in late 2015. “There were some she
had to push open and some others she had to kick her way through.”
“The Opry family is truly saddened by the
news of Jean’s passing,” Grand Ole Opry general manager Pete Fisher said. “Although
we will miss Jean’s presence on the Opry stage, she has left us the wonderful
gift of her music which will be remembered for generations to come.”
ALBUMS
MANY
HAPPY HANGOVERS Released: May 1966 Label: Capitol #6
HEART,
WE DID ALL THAT WE COULD Released: January 1967 Label: Capitol #6
Noteworthy Songs
1967: ”Heart We Did All We Could” (No.12) 1967
title cut and 2nd single writer Ned Miller
1973:
"Slippin' Away" (written
by singer-songwriter Bill Anderson) (No.4)
Songwriter: Bill Anderson Publisher: Stallion Music, Inc. (BMI)
1975:
"The Tip of My Fingers"
(No.16) Album: Poor Sweet Baby (And Ten More Bill Anderson Songs) writer Bill
Anderson
1974:
"Poor Sweet Baby" (No.14)
1976
*** "Ain't Love Good"
(No.41) Album: Mercy/ Ain't Love Good
"Leavin'
Fever" Intro: 0:06 Total Duration: 2:16 Tempo: Fast Songwriters: Tommy
Cash and Lorrie Morgan Publishers: Tomcat Music (BMI) and Acuff-Rose (BMI)
Jean Shepard - The Melody Ranch Girl Box Set 5-CD
(Bear Family-Rollercoaster)
Audio
CD (1 Jan. 2010)
Number
of Discs: 5
Format:
Box set
Label:
Bear Family-Rollercoaster
Jean
Shepard: The Melody Ranch Girl (5-CD) 5-CD box (LP-size) with 36-page book, 151
tracks. Playing time approx. 375 mns. When Jean Shepard burst onto the country
music scene in 1952, she had few female role models to follow. In the early
1950s, country music was still a largely male-dominated business and some
people actually believed women were incapable of selling large numbers of
country records. With the help of country bandleader and singer Hank Thompson,
Jean landed a recording contract with Capitol Records and managed to change
that opinion.
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| The Melody Ranch Girl Box Set 5-CD CLICK to ENLARGE |
Presented
here are 151 legendary sides that Shepard recorded for Capitol between 1952 and
1964.
The set includes her first number one single A Dear John Letter (featuring Ferlin Husky), Two Hoops And A Holler, A Satisfied Mind, Beautiful Lies and Second Fiddle (To An Old Guitar).
This set features material from Jean's 1955 landmark album 'Songs Of A Love Affair' which is widely acknowledged as the first concept album recorded by a female country artist as well as her 'Got You On My Mind', 'Lonesome Love' and 'Heartaches And Tears' albums. Included in addition is a 36-page book with a newly researched biography by Chris Skinker, a discography and numerous rare photos.
The set includes her first number one single A Dear John Letter (featuring Ferlin Husky), Two Hoops And A Holler, A Satisfied Mind, Beautiful Lies and Second Fiddle (To An Old Guitar).
This set features material from Jean's 1955 landmark album 'Songs Of A Love Affair' which is widely acknowledged as the first concept album recorded by a female country artist as well as her 'Got You On My Mind', 'Lonesome Love' and 'Heartaches And Tears' albums. Included in addition is a 36-page book with a newly researched biography by Chris Skinker, a discography and numerous rare photos.
(5 Aug
2016) Jean Shepard - Country Music:
Pure and Simple 50 Track Best Of 2-CD (Humphead)
OBITUARIES
Jean
Shepard Obituary - Alan Cackett.com
Related Posts
November
6, 2015: Jean Shepard Is Angry Over Today’s Country Music “And I Don’t Care Who
Knows It, I’ll Tell the World.”
“I’m very adamant about how I feel about
country music. And I don’t care who knows it, I’ll tell the world,” Shepard
said. “Country music today is not the country music of yesterday. It’s a lot
more important than that. Candy coated country don’t make it. They candy coat it and try to be something
they ain’t. Well it ain’t gonna work my friend.”
“It’s a good fight for a good cause and I
mean that with all my heart,” Shepard continued. “Today’s country is not country,
and I’m very adamant about that. I’ll
tell anybody who’ll listen, and some of those who don’t want to listen, I’ll
tell them anyway. … Country music today isn’t genuine.”
Shepard
also had some more veiled criticism for the Grand Ole Opry.
“Sixty years ago, I loved what the Grand Ole
Opry stood for,” she told The
Tennessean. “I still love what it
stands for, but not quite so much. Isn’t it terrible being so truthful?”
Her
sons are Don Robin Hawkins, Harold Franklin Hawkins II and Corey Birchfield.
She is
also survived by husband Benny
Birchfield and by several grandchildren and great grandchildren.
A public visitation was set and held at Hendersonville
Funeral Home, located at 353 East Main Street, HENDERSONVILLE, TN on Thursday,
September 29th from 12p to 8p (CT) and Friday, September 30th from 11a to 1p
(CT).
A celebration of life service will follow on Friday
(Sept 30) at 1p (CT). The public is welcome to both the visitation and the
service
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