Ollie Imogene Shepard (born November 21, 1933), better known as Jean Shepard, is an American honky tonk singer-songwriter who was a pioneer for women in country music. She had 44 charted hits between 1953 and 1978 and has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years.
After Kitty Wells' 1952 breakthrough, Shepard quickly followed, and a national television gig and the Opry helped make her a star when few female country singers had en...
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Ollie Imogene Shepard (born November 21, 1933), better known as Jean Shepard, is an American honky tonk singer-songwriter who was a pioneer for women in country music. She had 44 charted hits between 1953 and 1978 and has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years.
After Kitty Wells' 1952 breakthrough, Shepard quickly followed, and a national television gig and the Opry helped make her a star when few female country singers had enduring success. Her first hit, "A Dear John Letter," a 1953 duet with Ferlin Husky, was the first post-World War II record by a woman country artist to sell more than a million copies.
Jean Shepard was born November 21, 1933 in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, but was raised in Visalia, California near Bakersfield. As a teenager, she played bass in the Melody Ranch Girls, an all-female band formed in 1948. Hank Thompson discovered Shepard a few years later. With Thompson's help, Shepard signed with Capitol Records in 1952, following the success of...
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