Get your own Free Home Page
The press has called her "a bundle of talent," "a glamorous, sexy star," and "a totally together lady." She calls herself "a hopeless ham and an occasional show-off." But no matter what descriptions surface, there's one that will always fit Barbara Mandrell...she is a winner!
A show business veteran of over 30 years, Mandrell continues to come out on top. Her list of awards keeps growing. Mandrell is the first artist ever to win the Country Music Association's coveted "Entertainer of the Year" Award for two consecutive years (1980 and 1981); the CMA also twice voted her "Female Vocalist of the Year", in 1979 and 1981; she has received nine People's Choice Awards, including six consecutive honors as "Favorite Female Country Music Vocalist" (1980-1986), and she has been given nine trophies from the Music City News' fan-voted country awards, including the Living Legend Award presented to performers who have been in the business 25 years or more. She has also received the Tex Ritter Award presented by the prestigious International Fan Club Organization (IFCO).
On the heels of her enormously successful weekly television show, "Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters," US magazine named Mandrell "Favorite Variety Star of the Year" and in 1983, she won her first Grammy award for "Best Inspirational Performance", in recognition of her gospel-flavored LP, "He Set My Life To Music", which features family members and friends in the industry. In her career, she has amassed some 60 major awards. Mandrell has even become the subject of an entire museum in Nashville called "Barbara Mandrell Country." It is an intimate look into her family life and award winning career, with each display and video planned and arranged personally by Barbara. She released her autobiography, "Get To The Heart: My Story", on September 10, 1990 and within four days, it made the New York Times Bestseller List and remained there for six months. The book is an intensely personal and in-depth view of what was the very private life of Barbara Mandrell. Co-written with George Vecsey and published by Bantam Books, Barbara's story was released in paperback September 9, 1991.
Mandrell was born December 25, 1948 in Houston, Texas. Both Barbara and her mother were not expected to live through the experience but the first Mandrell miracle occurred on that day and both mother and daughter not only survived but thrived. Barbara was only 7 months old when she began to walk. She was born into a musical family, whom moved to California when Barbara was seven. She was greatly influenced in her early years by her parents, Irby and Mary Mandrell. An avid musician and music teacher, Mary taught her curious daughter how to pick out notes on her accordion. Barbara was soon playing complicated peices like "Gospel Boogie", and even learned to read music before she could read the English language. Performing came as naturally to her as her musical ability. As a pre-schooler, she made her first public appearance with her accordion in her uncle's church, playing the only gospel song she knew. The excited five year old thought it was so much fun that she played through a second time. Irby owned a music store and he made sure that Barbara had her pick of the best instruments. She chose to study the pedal steel and saxophone. At the age of 10, Barbara played on her first TV and radio show in Bakersfield California with host Cousin Herb Henson. When she was just 11, her father took Barbara from their home in California to a music trade show in Chicago, where she demonstrated various musical instruments. Convention guests, including Chet Atkins and "Uncle" Joe Maphis, were impressed by the talented little girl, and Barbara was invited to join the "Joe Maphis Show" at the Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas. By now she had mastered not only her mother's accordion and the steel guitar, but the saxophone as well. The Joe Maphis musicianship/showmanship proved to be the single greatest influence in Barbara's performing career. Barbara soon became a regular on "Town Hall Party", a local television show based in Los Angeles. This was followed by her network debut on Red Foley's ABC-TV show "Five Star Jubilee" and a concert tour with the Johnny Cash Show, featuring Patsy Cline, George Jones and June Carter. After Barbara's stint on the road, the family formed "The Mandrell's", an act that grouped Barbara, Irby and Mary. During their time together musically, the family band toured the West Coast and 18 foreign countries including Japan, the Philippines, Viet Nam and Thailand, entertaining the military community and various civic groups. The Mandrell's also hired Ken Dudney, a drummer, to join their act. He eventually traded in his drumsticks for another "tour of duty", this time with the United States Navy. Shortly after he received his wings as a navy pilot in 1967, Ken and Barbara were married. Ken was sent overseas, and Barbara decided to retire from show business and become a housewife. However her retirement was short. One night when she and her father were visiting the Grand Ole Opry, Barbara whispered in Irby's ear, "Daddy, I wasn't cut out to be in the audience." Barbara Mandrell the entertainer was born all over again.
Within 48 hours of a nightclub appearance near the Grand Old Opry, she received offers for recording contracts from six record companies. In 1969, she signed with CBS Records, and emerged on the record charts with Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long", unveiling a "blue-eyed soul" style that garnered instant radio airplay. She recorded a collection of country hit singles, including her first No.1 hti, the classic "Midnight Oil". Today, that record is regarded as a major breakthrough in female country music because of its drama and startling frankness. In 1975, she switched to ABC Records (purchased by MCA Records in 1978). Her first release on that label, "Standing Room Only", established her as a powerful ballad singer. Another one of her first hits to reach the top of the country charts was the bubbly "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed". Ther record became a cross-over hit on the pop charts--a forecast of the direction many of her recordings would take. As he 70's drew to a close, Mandrell's style gravitated to a country version of rhythm and blues, and she topped the charts with touchy tunes like "Woman to Woman", "Married But Not to Each Other", "Years", and "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want To Be Right)". She recorded 18 hit albums for MCA Records before moving to Capitol Records in 1986 where she released 6 recordings.
By 1979, Mandrell won her first CMA "Female Vocalist of the Year" Award. It was also in that year that television producer Marty Krofft, certain of Mandrell's draw as a multi-faceted star of a television series, convinced both NBC-TV and Mandrell of the potential for a weekly TV show. "Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters" was a success both with critics and fans, exposed Mandrell to a new and broader audience, and introduced her sisters Louise and Irlene to the country. The show had two years (1980-1981, 1981-1982) of sssaying power in the Top-40 ratings and garnered consistent positive reviews. It was finally doctor's orders that forced Mandrell to give up her weekly series. She had been working as much as 16 hours a day and the constant strain on her voice was taking its toll. In 1983, Mandrell performed to Las Vegas audiences in triumph when she introduced her "The Lady Is A Champ" stage extravaganza at the MGM Grand Hotel. She then brought her entire Las Vegas show home to Nashville for three sold-out performances at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, where it was taped for her first HBO cable TV special.
A veteran of hundreds of TV guest appearances, she made the transition to acting on the small screen when she starred in CBS television's "Burning Rage", which aired on September 21, 1984. Her first network variety special aired in January of 1985 and was called appropriately enough "Barbara Mandrell--Something Special", for CBS television.
Mandrell was presented with an Outstanding Mother Award by the National Mother's Day Committee in New York City. She feels her role as wife and mother is as important as her career, and is always available to her husband of 25 plus years, Ken Dudney, children; Matthew (5/8/70), Jaime Nicole (2/23/76) and Nathaniel Mandrell Dudney (9/6/85).
On the evening of September 11, 1984, Barbara had a major brush with death when a young driver's car drifted across the center line of a street in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and crashed head-on with Barbara's car. Bother cars were demolished, and the other driver was killed. Barbara suffered a severe head injury, a broken right leg, broken right ankle, damaged right knee and various cuts and bruises. Her son, Matt and dughter Jaime also suffered injuries. Only minutes before the crash, for some fateful reason, Barbara had suggested that Matt, Jaime and she buckle up. Until that moment, Barbara confesses she had not been a seatbelt user. The accident had brought her skyrocketing career to an abrupt halt. There were months and months of physical pain and mental anguish. Many painful hours were spent in physical therapy. Barbara's head injury was so severe, she has no memory for 2 weeks after the accident. It took well over 2 years for Barbara to recuperate enough to perform again. Barbara debuted her first live performance since the September 1984 accident at the Universal Ampitheatre in Los Angeles on February 28, 1986. Now a confirmed seatbelt advocate, she has completed a national Public Service Announcement available on audio, video and poster, strongly urging the public to "Please, buckle up. You may never get a second chance". It can definitely be said that Barbara's brush with death influenced more people nationwide to start using seatbelts than any other person or campaign.
Blonde, blue-eyed and standing five-feet-two, Barbara Mandrell reflects her strong faith and drive in her positive outlook on life. "If there's a decision to be made," she says, "I simply put it in God's hands...and things just begin to fall into place". Perhaps that outlook helps to explain why Mandrell hands found seatbelts in September 1984.
Get your own Free Home Page