Billie Jo Spears
January 14, 1937 – December 14, 2011
Billie Joe Spears was a popular American country singer who made her biggest mark during the 1970s. With hits like “Mr. Walker It’s All Over,” “Blanket On The Ground” and “What I’ve Got In Mind,” Spears hit the Top 10 of the country charts five times between 1969 and 1977. Her bluesy voice and slick pop-leaning production helped define the popular “countrypolitan” of the era. As country tastes changed in America during the 1980s, Spears popularity dwindled at home, but she did however, continue to sell records and perform in front of sell-out crowds in the UK, where she was dubbed “The Queen Mother Of Country Music.” In 1993, Spears survived triple bypass surgery but continued to tour and record well into the 2000s. Her most recent album was 2005’s I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry. Billie Jo Spears died of cancer on December 14, 2011. She was 74.
Thanks Craig Rosen at Number 1 Albums for the assist.
What You Should Own
I’m sorry to hear of Ms Spears’ death. I met her back in 1977, when she was over in the UK to perform at the Wembley Country Music Festival and I was Head of Press in the London office of her record company, United Artists. She was lively and outgoing. I remember a bunch of us hung out in some very expensive hotel bar on Park Lane and she drank beaujolais with ice. I knew so little at the time that I assumed this betrayed her country ignorance, learning only later that chilled beaujolais is perfectly OK. Lawdy…
haha Thanks for stopping by and leaving your memories, Michael
Vince
super woman,sauper VOICE,,