Pam Tillis

Mel Tillis, best known for "Coca-Cola Cowboy", has many success through his music life. Like him, Pam, his daughter, Also found her own success in the music industry as well. On her own term. The last thing written is about the most awesome fact to ever get to know about this amazing and beautifully talented lady. any artist we hear these days, that have come from a famous celebrity parent, cheats their way to stardom. To prove it, Miley Cyrus only shot to fame because of her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, before she took her own path. Pam Tillis on the other hand, started from the very bottom and experienced it all as her dad, Mel Tillis, did. I'm proud to allow Pam to be the first 90's female country music artist to write a blog on.

Pam was born on July 24, 1957 (God I feel bad for writing that since it gives her age, but as you can tell in her picture, she looks younger. Yes that is one of her most current picture. Keep reading and maybe it'll explain how she does it.) as Pamela Yvonne "Pam" Tillis. Her music career started in 1981 however, none of her singles entered the Top 40 until her release of, "Don't Tell Me What to Do" in 1991. Ladies and gentleman, if you haven't noticed, that's ten years. This is one proof she deserves to have the biggest respect than any of these other female celebrity that have had it a little bit more easier. Her only #1 hit is, "Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)", released in 1995. Another thing, you know Dolly Parton 1992 hit single, "Romeo"? Pam also co-wrote the song and sang with her as well.

Like other 90's artist, Mrs. Tillis started at a very young age as well. She made her debut singing, "Tom Dooley" at the Grand Ole Opry when she was 8, learned to play the guitar at age 12. Tragedy struck her when she was 16 however, when she was involved in a car accident. Due to this tragic event, Mrs. Tillis had to go through years and years of surgery, including one being a facial reconstruction (now you know the reason behind her youthful look). That didn't stop her tho. She stayed moving forward in life with as much positive vibe as she could use. She dropped out of college (University of Tennessee) in 1976 to work for her dad publishing company. Later moving to California and founded the jazz/rock band, Freelight. THen came back to Nashville as a demo singer and singed in to Warner Bros. Records early in 1980.

As mention earlier, her first 10 years were not that easy on her. Mrs. Tillis debut single, "Every Home Should Have One", was released in 1981, but never charted. A few more release came from the same album, Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey, but none of them did her any good. It was so bad, the album itself never charted either. Did she give up? Nope. She did leave the label to focus on what she needs to do, and ended up looking into contemporary country (good choice). During this time, she became a staff songwriter with Tree Publishing in Nashville. Now the weird part, before she left Warner Bros. Records, she had a few additional releases of singles which weren't on the album. Were they on her next album? Not really. In fact, these five singles were never put on any of her albums. However, out of those five, "Goodbye Highway", released in 1984, became her first single to even chart; peaking at #71. This is probably why she never gave up hope, and that's a good thing.

In 1989, she signed in with Arista Nashville and released "Don't Tell Me What to Do" and BAM! Her success started to kick in. The song (I thought it did go to #1, I was wrong) peaked at # 5 in 1991. Found on her album, Put Yourself in My Place, the album also had a few additional hits such as, "Maybe It Was Memphis" and "One of Those Things". Her title track also became a hit as well. In 1992, "Shake the Sugar Tree" (another song I thought went to #1, was wrong again), and "Let That Pony Run" both joined the Top 5 hits. Both can be found on Homeward Looking Angel album. Mrs. Tillis album release of, Sweetheart's Dance, is her highest charting album peaking in at #6. Also, on this same album, since her debut in 1981 (which is 14 years), Mrs. Tillis received her first #1 hit single with, "Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)" in 1995. To me, it's very possible her other single, "I Was Blown Away" might have been able to be her next #1 hit. However, the single was withdrawn from radio play, by her request and fans, due to the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing incident. So with this, the song only peaked up to #16.

The 90s have been very good to Mrs. Tillis, even tho she never saw any additional #1 hits that she could claim her own. She is still currently performing around, releasing albums, and doing what she loves to do the best, and that is to continue to play real, pure country music. She became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2000, and also, you've ever heard of Kenny Chesney 2000 single, "I Lost It"?  You know the female voice throughout the song, especially in the end? That is Pam Tillis singing. In 2007, Mrs. Tillis started her own record label, Stellar Cat Records, and I believe this quote you're about to read is one of the best statement that sum up what Alan Jackson is also seeming to try to do on his 25th anniversary Bringing Country Music Back tour, and that is to bring Real, Pure Country music back to life. Can it be done? Only time will tell. With that, I bid you farewell until next time.

"What I'm doing is country - but not necessarily the kind that you hear on the airwaves these days... Now I admire a lot of this music; I've sung rock, pop, R&B, and jazz, so I'm hardly a purist. But what I'm hearing now sounds often more like pop than country to me. And I just seriously felt called by that old different drummer to something a little bit more like the country I remember from my formative years, the country music of my youth."

Resource

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pam_Tillis
• http://www.pamtillis.com/about/