Barbara Mandrell

Multi-talented Barbara Mandrell has spent a virtual lifetime in the spotlight.

Born in Houston on Christmas Day 1948 to musical parents Irby and Mary Mandrell, Barbara learned to read music before words. She took up accordion, pedal steel, and saxophone while in elementary school and made her show business debut at age 10 on Cousin Herb Henson’s Bakersfield TV and radio show.

What was supposed to be only a trade show performance turned into an audition for Chet Atkins and “Uncle” Joe Maphis, and Barbara soon joined Maphis performing at the Vegas Showboat. She became a regular on the Los Angeles TV show Town Hall Party and went on to Red Foley’s ABC-TV show Five Star Jubilee.

After touring with Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline, Barbara started performing with her parents as the Mandrells. She married Ken Dudney, a young drummer they hired for the act, and temporarily got out of show business when his career as a Navy pilot sent them both overseas.

But Barbara couldn’t stay out of the spotlight. One night while visiting the Opry, she whispered in her dad’s ear, “Daddy, I wasn’t cut out to be in the audience.”

Nashville club appearances led immediately to Music Row interest and she signed with CBS Records, hitting the charts with the Otis Redding classic “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long.”

In the late ’60s and into the ’70s, she was a consistent hit-maker with country/pop tunes such as “The Midnight Oil,” “Standing Room Only,” “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed,” “Married but Not to Each Other,” “Years” and “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right.” In 1979, she was the Country Music Association’s Female Vocalist of the Year, and for the next two years she and sisters Louise and Irlene starred in the popular TV variety show Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters.

In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Mandrell was one of country music’s dominant artists, becoming the first artist to win the CMA Entertainer of the Year Award two years in a row, in 1980 and 1981.

In September 1984, Barbara and two of her children narrowly escaped death in a serious auto accident. After extensive physical therapy, she made a full recovery and returned to live performance in 1986.

A guest appearance on the TV show The Commish sparked her interest in acting, and she began appearing in television series. She has since concentrated on acting, taking roles on Touched by an Angel, Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, and other series and specials.