Jeannie C. Riley

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Jeannie C. Riley (1973)

Jeannie C. Riley (* 19th October 1945 as Jeanne Carolyn Stephenson in Stamford , Texas ) is an American country singer . Her biggest success was the song Harper Valley PTA from 1968.

biography

Beginnings

Riley grew up in Anson . After graduating from school, she moved to Nashville with her newlywed husband Mickey Riley in 1964 to pursue a career as a singer. At first she worked as a secretary in a music publisher. She soon had the opportunity to produce some demos and record a first single.

Harper Valley PTA

Jeannie C. Riley - Harper Valley PTA

In 1968 the well-known producer Shelby Singleton took on Harper Valley PTA with her for his newly founded Plantation label . The song was written by Tom T. Hall and dealt with the hypocritical goings-on in a small town. The single sold six million times. Riley became the first woman to top both country singles and pop singles with the same song . Riley received a Grammy Award in 1969 for the song . A subsequently produced album of the same name was also gilded and reached number 1 on the country charts and number 12 on the LP charts. All songs have people on the subject mentioned in the theme song.

Later career

In August 1968 Jeannie C. Riley moved to Singleton Sound Studios (SSS) in Nashville, a production and record company founded by Singleton, which Plantation Records belonged to. She stayed with Plantation Records until 1971, where she had some minor hits with Country Girl , Oh, Singer and Good Enough to Be Your Wife .

In 1970 she divorced her husband, but remarried a few years later. In the mid-1970s she changed her style and started singing Christian songs and gospels . In 1977 her autobiography From Harper Valley to the Mountain Top was published . A German translation was published in 1982 under the title Christsein hat seine Preis .

Albums

  • 1968 - Sock and Soul
  • 1968 - Harper Valley PTA
  • 1968 - Yearbooks and Yesterdays
  • 1969 - Things Go Better with Love
  • 1970 - Country Girl
  • 1970 - The Generation Gap
  • 1971 - The Girl Most Likely
  • 1972 - Give Myself a Party
  • 1973 - Down to Earth
  • 1979 - Wings to Fly
  • 1981 - From Harper Valley to the Mountain Top
  • 1991 - Here's Jeannie C.
  • 1995 - Praise Him

Individual evidence

  1. US catalog number: Plantation 3
  2. For more information on the title see: Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 246; see also: Roland, Tom: The Billboard Book Of Number One Country Hits . New York City / New York: Billboard Books; London: Guinness Publishing Ltd., 1991, pp. 12f
  3. The sales figures are not documented. After White, Adam: The Billboard Book Of Gold And Platinum Records . 2nd revised edition, London: Omnibus Press, 1990, p. 195, the single has only been awarded a gold record.
  4. The song reached number 30 in the German singles charts, cf. Ehnert, Günter (Ed.): Hit balance sheet. German chart singles 1956-1980 . Hamburg: Taurus Press, 1990, p. 171; in Great Britain the song reached number 12, cf. Fowler, Anne / Fowler, Pete: Chart Log of British Top 30 Singles 1967-1977 . In: Gillett, Charlie / Frith, Simon (eds.): Rock File 5 . Frogmore, St. Albans: Granada Publishing Ltd., 1978, p. 292
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top LPs 1945-1972 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1973, p. 656

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