Barbara Mandrell

• Genre: Country Pop/Cosmopolitan
• Hometown: Houston
• Barbara Mandrell Website

About

With a string of hit singles and a popular weekly television variety show, Barbara Mandrell is arguably one of the most successful female country singers of the 1970s and '80s. In 1978, she scored her first No. 1 hit with the upbeat country song "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed." The following year, Mandrell scored with "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right." She continued to rack up chart-topping songs in the years to come. In 1980, Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters premiered on NBC. Featuring her sisters Louise and Irlene, musical guests and comedy sketches, the show became a huge hit. In 1984, Mandrell's musical career was put on hold after surviving a head-on car crash that also involved her two children. After a long recovery period, the country starlet wrote her best-selling autobiography "Get to the Heart: My Story." Over the years, Mandrell has won over 75 major awards including CMA Entertainer of the Year (1980 & 1981), AMA Top Female Vocalist (1981), Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance (1983) and nine People"s Choice Awards.

- Jamie Sanchez