By Clarice Burger
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, “Delta Dawn“, in 1972 at the age of 13. During her career Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature into adulthood without losing her audience; she had a streak of top-10 and top-40 hits. She has had several successful albums, several Country Music Association award nominations, and hit songs including 1973’s “What’s Your Mama’s Name?” and “Blood Red and Goin’ Down“, 1975’s “Lizzie and the Rainman“, 1988’s “Strong Enough to Bend“, and 1992’s “Two Sparrows in a Hurricane“. Tucker’s 2019 album While I’m Livin’ won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album, and “Bring My Flowers Now” from that same album won Tucker a shared songwriting Grammy for Best Country Song.
Tucker’s latest album is a 2023 critically acclaimed collaboration with Brandi Carlile called Sweet Western Sound. Tucker was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on October 22, 2023.
Tanya Denise Tucker was born in Seminole, Texas, the youngest of three children born to Alma Juanita (née Cunningham; 1927–2012) and Jesse Melvin “Beau” Tucker (1927–2006). Prior to managing Tanya’s career, Beau was a heavy equipment operator, so the family moved often as he sought better work. Her early childhood was spent primarily in Willcox, Arizona, where the only radio station in town, KHIL, played country music. The Tuckers attended concerts of country stars such as Ernest Tubb and Mel Tillis, and Tanya’s sister LaCosta was praised in the family for her vocal abilities. At the age of eight, Tanya told her father that she also wanted to be a country singer when she grew up.
When the Tuckers moved to St. George, Utah, Juanita took Tanya to audition for the film Jeremiah Johnson. Tanya did not win the bigger role for which she tried out, but she was hired, as was her horse, as a bit player. About this time, she also received one of her first musical breaks, when her father drove the family to Phoenix for the Arizona State Fair, on the chance that the featured performer, country singer Judy Lynn, could use Tanya in her show. Tanya sang for the fair’s entertainment managers, and she was engaged to sing at the fair itself.
Tucker made her debut with Mel Tillis, who was so impressed by her talent that he invited her onstage to perform. In 1969, the family moved to Henderson, Nevada, where Tucker regularly performed. Eventually, she recorded a demonstration tape that gained the attention of songwriter Dolores Fuller, who sent it to producer Billy Sherrill, the head of artists and repertoire at CBS Records. Sherrill was impressed with the demo tape and signed the teenage vocalist to Columbia Records.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Henry Cavendish (chemist) –
- Benjamin West (painter) –
- The Viscount Monck (first Governor General of Canada 1867 – 1868.) –
- Cassie Chadwick (con artist, also known as Elizabeth Bigley, Emily Heathcliff, and Lydia DeVere) –
- Helen Hayes (actress) –
- Claude Simon (author) –
- Thelonious Monk (jazz pianist) –
- Ed Wood (filmmaker) –
- James Clavell (author) –
- Ben Vereen (actor) –
- David Lee Roth (singer) –
- Tanya Tucker (country music singer) –
- Jodi Benson (singer, voice of Ariel in The Little Mermaid) –
- Brett Favre (football player) –
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. (race car driver) –
- Mya (singer) –
Died
- Cassie Chadwick (con artist) –
- Yul Brynner (actor) –
- Orson Welles (actor & director) –
- Joseph Cates (director & producer) –
- Ken Caminiti (baseball player) –
- Christopher Reeve (actor) –
- Alex Karras (football player & actor) –
Events
- The United States Naval Academy (then named the Naval School) is founded in Annapolis, Maryland. –
- Tobacco heir Griswold Lorillard shocked his contemporaries by showing up to the autumn ball in a tailless dinner jacket, thus making the Tuxedo known –
- Sir Robert Borden became the 8th prime minister of Canada –
- In Washington, D.C., President Woodrow Wilson pushed the button that relayed the signal to blow up the center of the Gamboa Dike that was keeping Atlantic waters from Pacific waters in the Panama Canal –
- The American opera Porgy and Bess opened on Broadway –
- The movie Lassie Come Home premiered –
- The Red Baron first appeared in Peanuts comic strip –
- The Supremes appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show –
- London Bridge dedicated, Lake Havasu City, Arizona –
- Soyuz 25 mission scrapped after docking troubles –
- President Jimmy Carter signed a bill authorizing the minting of the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin –
- Asteroid Cruithne (quasi-satellite of Earth) discovered –
- The New England Patriots set an NFL record for consecutive victories with their 19th straight win –
- An unidentified boom was heard in parts of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Maine around 11:30 am. In some areas, shaking was also felt. An earthquake or military plane sonic boom were ruled out as possible causes. –
Weather
- Washington, D.C., had its earliest measurable snow of the 20th century –
- Worcester, Massachusetts, was blanketed with 7.5 inches of snow. –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
