Tanya Tucker
Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958)[2] 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.[3] 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.[4]
Tanya Tucker
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.[5]
Early life[edit]
She was born in Seminole, Texas,[2] 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,[2] 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.[2] Tanya did not win the bigger role for which she tried out, but she was hired, as was her horse, as a bit player.[2] 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,[3] the head of artists and repertoire at CBS Records. Sherrill was impressed with the demo tape and signed the teenage vocalist to Columbia Records.[3]
The Return of Tanya Tucker[edit]
Decades after Tucker slipped from the spotlight, musician Brandi Carlile collaborated with her on an album, as well as a documentary based on Tucker's life.
The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile was released in New York and Los Angeles on October 21, 2022, and nationwide on November 4. It was accompanied by the track "Ready As I'll Never Be".[27]
Other works[edit]
Tucker appeared as a celebrity judge on Dance Fever in 1979.
She published a 1997 autobiography, Nickel Dreams: My Life.[28]
She starred in her own reality show, Tuckerville, on TLC in 2005. It ran for two seasons for 18 episodes.[29] The show covers an in-depth visit with Tucker in her home with her family.
Tucker continues to perform for the military doing benefits with newer country acts such as Eric Agnew and Cole Deggs & the Lonesome.
In 2019, she launched her own brand of tequila called Cosa Salvaje.[30][31]
Personal life[edit]
Tucker had a relationship with Glen Campbell in the early 1980s.[32] She also dated Merle Haggard, Andy Gibb, and Don Johnson.
She later had a relationship with actor Ben Reed, with whom she had daughter Presley Tanita (born July 5, 1989) and son Beau "Grayson" (born October 2, 1991).[33]
Tucker has had an on-again, off-again relationship with Jerry Laseter, a Nashville musician. They were engaged in 1997 and again in 1999. Just days before their 1999 wedding, Tucker canceled the ceremony when she discovered she was pregnant with her third child, Laseter's daughter Layla LaCosta (born June 25, 1999),[34] saying she did not want to walk down the aisle pregnant in her wedding dress. Laseter was co-producer of Tucker's albums in 2002 (Tanya), 2005 (Live at Billy Bob's Texas), and 2009 (My Turn).
Tucker's brother is Don (deceased) and her sister is country singer La Costa.
In 2022, Tucker sold her Brentwood, Tennessee home (purchased three years earlier for $1,510,000)[35] for $2,275,000.[36]
