Poor girls who sang their way upward
The rise from rags to riches for women and men is an oft-told tale in the entertainment business.
8.
Stage name: Jeanne Pruett
Birth name: Norma Jean Bowman
Born Jan. 30, 1937
in Pell City, Alabama
"Jeanne" was raised near Pell City, Alabama. She and her 11 siblings toiled on a farm which burned up in 1947, bringing the family to hardship.
In the tenth grade, she dropped out of high school and went to work in a telephone company in Anniston, Alabama.
She and a sister would attend dances at a local VFW hall, where she started singing with the VFW's country band and appeared on a local television station.
At the VFW hall she struck up a relationship with guitarist Jack Pruett and they began dating. Jack enlisted in the military shortly after their relationship began. While awaiting his return, Jeanne moved into Jack's sister's home. After Jack returned from the service, the couple married in 1955. Also in 1955, Jack became the touring guitarist for country artist Ray Price.
In 1956, the pair moved to Nashville so that Jack continue performing in Price's band. The couple lived in a trailer park and where their neighbors included Lester Flatt, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Jean Shepard. While still living at the trailer, Jeanne gave birth to the couple's first child. Shortly after the birth, Jack Pruett accepted a job playing guitar in Marty Robbins' road band. After accepting the position, the family moved into a two-story house in Nashville.
She devoted herself to being a mother and housewife during the 1960s after several of her RCA singles flopped. But her big break came with her 1973 Decca release of "Satin Sheets."
Stage name: Jeanne Pruett
Birth name: Norma Jean Bowman
Born Jan. 30, 1937
in Pell City, Alabama
"Jeanne" was raised near Pell City, Alabama. She and her 11 siblings toiled on a farm which burned up in 1947, bringing the family to hardship.
In the tenth grade, she dropped out of high school and went to work in a telephone company in Anniston, Alabama.
She and a sister would attend dances at a local VFW hall, where she started singing with the VFW's country band and appeared on a local television station.
At the VFW hall she struck up a relationship with guitarist Jack Pruett and they began dating. Jack enlisted in the military shortly after their relationship began. While awaiting his return, Jeanne moved into Jack's sister's home. After Jack returned from the service, the couple married in 1955. Also in 1955, Jack became the touring guitarist for country artist Ray Price.
In 1956, the pair moved to Nashville so that Jack continue performing in Price's band. The couple lived in a trailer park and where their neighbors included Lester Flatt, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Jean Shepard. While still living at the trailer, Jeanne gave birth to the couple's first child. Shortly after the birth, Jack Pruett accepted a job playing guitar in Marty Robbins' road band. After accepting the position, the family moved into a two-story house in Nashville.
She devoted herself to being a mother and housewife during the 1960s after several of her RCA singles flopped. But her big break came with her 1973 Decca release of "Satin Sheets."
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