 The
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
will explore the career of superstar Tanya Tucker
with the exhibition Tanya Tucker: Strong Enough
to Bend, which opens November 14, 2014, and runs
through May 2015.
Tanya Tucker’s talent blossomed early,
despite being born into poverty in Texas and
raised in ramshackle apartments and trailers in
Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. She began performing
on local shows at age six, and within years was a
regular on a Phoenix TV program. A Las Vegas
agent sent a demo recording to Billy Sherrill,
who quickly signed Tucker to Columbia Records.
She was thirteen years old.
At the time, few child performers had achieved
success in country music. But the singer’s
husky voice and audacious confidence made her
seem more grown-up. She proved as much when she
walked into a Nashville studio, in March 1972,
and announced to Sherrill and the veteran
musicians, “Well, I know my part, boys. Do
you know yours?” She proceeded to belt out
“Delta Dawn” like a seasoned pro, and
by summer the song was a hit.
 Tucker
assured her success by releasing six consecutive
Top Ten hits including the #1s “What’s
Your Mama’s Name,” “Blood Red and
Goin’ Down,” and “Would You Lay
With Me (in a Field of Stone)” in two years,
all produced by Sherrill. The narrative songs
told daring stories that courted controversy, and
Tucker’s mature-beyond-her-years vocal style
brought out the drama and emotion in each.
Two years into her singing career, Tucker
appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine a
rare national media spotlight for a country star
in 1974. To her parents, Beau and Juanita Tucker,
such recognition signified that their teen
daughter had crossover potential that could take
her beyond the country audience.
On October 10, 1974 Tucker’s sixteenth
birthday she signed a $1.4 million contract with
MCA Records, a deal brokered by her ambitious
father. Her seven years on MCA yielded the #1
hits “Lizzie and the Rainman.”
“San Antonio Stroll,” and
“Here’s Some Love.” In 1978, she
recorded the rock-influenced album T.N.T. in Los
Angeles.
In California, Tucker began dating singer Glen
Campbell, twenty-two years her senior; their
fiery, tabloid-filled relationship ended in
acrimony. After a stint with Arista Records,
Tucker signed with Capitol Records and reunited
with producer Jerry Crutchfield, with whom she
had worked at MCA.
Tucker’s 1986 album, Girl Like Me, featured
four Top Ten hits, including the #1 “Just
Another Love.” She enjoyed a long run of
success on Capitol (and sister label Liberty),
with a string of Top Ten hits through 1997,
including three consecutive #1s, “I
Won’t Take Less Than Your Love,”
“If It Don’t Come Easy,” and
“Strong Enough to Bend.”www.CountryMusicHallOfFame.org
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