Dottie West Discography

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  A Legend in My Time/The Sound of Country Music
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  Dottie West - RCA Country Legends
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  Dottie West Unsorted
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  The Essential Dottie West

Dottie West (born October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991) was an American country music singer, and was one of Country music`s most influential and groundbreaking female artists. Dottie West`s career started in the early-60s, with her Top 10 hit, "Here Comes My Baby Back Again", which won her the first Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1965. In the 1960s, West was one of the few female Country singers working in what was then a male-dominated industry, influencing other female Country singers to come to fame around that time, like Lynn Anderson, Crystal Gayle, Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, and Tammy Wynette. Throughout the 60s, West had major Country hits within the Top 10 and 20.

In the early 1970s, West wrote a popular commercial for the Coca-Cola company, titled "Country Sunshine", which she nearly brought to the top of the charts in 1973. In the late-70s, she teamed up with Country-Pop superstar, Kenny Rogers for a series of duets, which brought her career in directions it had never gone before, earning Platinum selling albums and No. 1 records for the very first time. Her duet records with Rogers have now become Country music standards, like "Every Time Two Fools Collide", "All I Ever Need Is You", and "What Are We Doin` In Love". In the early-80s, West`s image and music underwent a major metamorphosis, bringing West to the very peak of her popularity as a solo act, and even reaching No. 1 for the very first time on her own in 1980 with, "A Lesson in Leavin`".

Born Dorothy Marie Marsh outside McMinnville, Tennessee, she was the oldest of 10 children of Hollis and Pelina Marsh.[1][2] The family soon moved to a bigger, better house. The family at the time was so poor, they made their own soap out of hog grease and lye. Like many rural families at the time, they also lacked electricity and indoor plumbing. Pelina eventually opened up her own restaurant.

West`s childhood was marred by a dysfunctional relationship with her father, an alcoholic who abused her both physically and sexually. The abuse continued until she was 17, when she finally reported him to the local sheriff. She testified against her father in court, and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison. After a brief stint living with the sheriff, she moved to McMinnville with her mother and siblings.[3] West also joined her high school band, "The Cookskins", where she sang and played guitar. With the help of her mother`s business and a local entrepreneur, West attained a scholarship to attend college at Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee in 1951. She majored in music. Her cousins were Tim and Danny West.

After graduation, the Wests and their two children moved to Cleveland, Ohio; there, Dottie began appearing on the television program Landmark Jamboree as one half of a country pop vocal duo called the "Kay-Dots" alongside partner Kathy Dee. At the same time, West made numerous trips to Nashville in the hopes of landing a recording deal; in 1959, she and Bill auditioned for Starday`s Don Pierce and were immediately offered a contract. Although the resulting singles West cut for the label proved unsuccessful, she nonetheless moved to Nashville in 1961. There, she and her husband fell in with a group of aspiring songwriters like Willie Nelson, Roger Miller, Hank Cochran, and Harlan Howard; they also became close friends with Patsy Cline and her husband Charlie Dick. [4]

Patsy Cline would become one