Kenny Rogers was an American singer and songwriter. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted more than 120 hit singles across various genres, topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His fame and career spanned multiple genres: jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country. He remade his career and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of all time.
Deborah Anne Boone is an American singer, author, and actress. She is best known for her 1977 hit, "You Light Up My Life", which spent ten weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and led to her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist the following year. Boone later focused her music career on country music, resulting in the 1980 No. 1 country hit "Are You on the Road to Lovin' Me Again". In the 1980s, she recorded Christian music which garnered her four top 10 Contemporary Christian albums as well as two more Grammys. Throughout her career, Boone has appeared in several musical theater productions and has co-authored many children's books with her husband Gabriel Ferrer.
William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell was an American country and honky-tonk singer-songwriter.
Robert Joseph Bare Sr. is an American country singer and songwriter, best known for the songs "Marie Laveau", "Detroit City" and "500 Miles Away from Home". He is the father of Bobby Bare Jr., also a musician.
Mickey Leroy Gilley was an American country music singer and musician. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 1980s, bringing him further success on not just the country charts, but the pop charts as well.
Ellen Muriel Deason, known professionally as Kitty Wells, was an American pioneering female country music singer. She broke down a barrier for women in country music with her 1952 hit recording "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", which also made her the first female country singer to top the U.S. country charts and turned her into the first female country superstar. “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” would also be her first of several pop crossover hits. Wells is the only artist to be awarded top female vocalist awards for 14 consecutive years. Her chart-topping hits continued until the mid-1960s, paving the way for and inspiring a long list of female country singers who came to prominence in the 1960s.
Larry Wayne Gatlin is an American country and Southern gospel singer-songwriter. As part of the Gatlin Brothers trio that included his younger brothers Steve and Rudy, he achieved considerable success within the country music genre, performing on 33 top 40 country singles, a total inclusive of his recordings as a solo artist and with the group.
Dottie West was an American country singer and songwriter. She also had several credits as an actress. A distinguished figure in the country genre, West was among several people who helped to elevate the platform of female country artists. She was also known for mentoring up-and-coming artists and being the first woman to win a country music accolade from the Grammy Awards.
Rhonda Lea Vincent is an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1981.
Thelma Louise Mandrell is an American country music singer. She is the younger sister of fellow country singer Barbara Mandrell, and older sister of actress Irlene Mandrell. Louise had a successful singing career in country music from the 1970s, with a string of hits during the 1980s.
David Frizzell is an American country music singer. He is the younger brother of country musician, Lefty Frizzell. His career started in the late 1950s, but his biggest success came in the 1980s.
William Marvin Walker was an American country music singer and guitarist best known for his 1962 hit, "Charlie's Shoes". Nicknamed The Tall Texan, Walker had more than 30 charting records during a nearly 60-year career, and was a longtime member of the Grand Ole Opry.
"A Lesson in Leavin'", also titled as "Lesson in Leavin"', is a song written by Randy Goodrum and Brent Maher. It was originally recorded in 1979 by American country music singer, Dottie West, for her Special Delivery album.
"Every Time Two Fools Collide" is a song written by Jan Dyer and Jeff Tweel and recorded by American country music artists Kenny Rogers and Dottie West. It was released in January 1978 as the first single and title track from the album Every Time Two Fools Collide. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart that spring, and established Rogers and West as a popular male-female duo pairing in country music.
"José Cuervo" is a song written and originally recorded by Cindy Jordan in 1981. It was released as a single by American country music artist Shelly West in February 1983 to commercial success.
"Husbands and Wives" is a song written and first recorded by American country music singer Roger Miller. Miller's original, from his album Words and Music, was released in February 1966 and was a crossover hit for him, reaching Top Ten on the U.S. country and Adult Contemporary charts, as well as Top 40 on the pop charts. Since the release of Miller's original, the song has been covered by several other artists, including The Everly Brothers, Ringo Starr, Neil Diamond, a duet between David Frizzell and Shelly West, Jules Shear, and Brooks & Dunn, whose version was a number-one country hit in 1998.
Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story is a 1995 television biopic about the life of country music singer Dottie West portrayed by Michele Lee. Bill D'Elia directed the film which was shot in Nashville, TN, between July 11 and August 4, 1994. The film first aired on January 22, 1995, on CBS.
"I Just Came to Dance" is a song written by Ken Bell, Terry Skinner and J. L. Wallace, and recorded by American country music artists David Frizzell and Shelly West. It was released in July 1982 as the second single from the album The David Frizzell & Shelly West Album. The song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.
The following list shows the recipients for the Country Music Association Award for Vocal Duo of the Year. The award is based on the musical performance of the duo on solo country single or album release, as well as their overall contribution to country music during the eligibility period. For the purposes of the award, a duo is defined as "as an act composed of two people, both of whom normally perform together and neither of whom is known primarily as an individual performing artist", though this was not always the case.
