1. Jean Shepard became part of the Association of Country Entertainers in the 1970s, which advocated for traditional country music.
68 Facts About Jean Shepard
1. 2.
Jean Shepard continued touring and became popular in Europe, especially in the UK.
3.
Jean Shepard continued sporadically recording as well, releasing her last studio album in 2000.
4.
Jean Shepard was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2011 and continued performing through 2015.
5.
Ollie Imogene Jean Shepard was born in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma on November 21,1933.
6.
Jean Shepard was one of ten children born to Hoit A Shepard and Allie Mae Isaac Shepard.
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Jean Shepard's parents were sharecroppers who raised cotton, sugarcane and peanuts.
8.
Jean Shepard's father worked additional jobs, including sewing burlap sacks at the Paul's Valley Alfalfa Mill.
9.
In Hugo, the Jean Shepard family lived in a four-room house with little furniture while Hoit Jean Shepard received a government loan to sharecrop with another farmer.
10.
In Visalia, Jean Shepard skipped the third grade at Lynnwood Elementary School.
11.
Jean Shepard recalled being teased in her teen years for being an "Okie" who liked country music.
12.
Jean Shepard played the upright bass and sang lead vocals in the group.
13.
Jean Shepard's parents pawned their home's furniture to buy the instrument.
14.
Jean Shepard began playing alongside the Melody Ranch Girls every weekend during her high school years.
15.
Jean Shepard recalled being so tired after gigs that her teachers would let her sleep during school hours.
16.
Jean Shepard offered her a contract, which had to be approved by a court judge because she was only 18 years old.
17.
On September 30,1952, Jean Shepard made her first Capitol recordings in Hollywood, California.
18.
In May 1953, the song was recorded with Jean Shepard singing and Husky performing a spoken recitation.
19.
Husky and Jean Shepard disbanded their duet act the same year.
20.
Jean Shepard briefly located to Beaumont, Texas to work with manager Neva Starnes.
21.
Jean Shepard's success led to her induction into the cast of the Grand Ole Opry.
22.
Jean Shepard's fame prompted Capitol to issue her first studio album, Songs of a Love Affair, in May 1956.
23.
At the Opry, Jean Shepard developed a romantic relationship with Hawkshaw Hawkins and the two later married.
24.
Jean Shepard was eight months pregnant and had a toddler at the time of Hawkins' death.
25.
Jean Shepard returned to the Opry stage several months after the crash.
26.
Jean Shepard returned to the recording studio in August 1963.
27.
In 1968, Jean Shepard wed musician Benny Birchfield and started working with new record producers.
28.
Jean Shepard disliked how Herston often came into scheduled sessions drinking and wanted a change in collaborators.
29.
Jean Shepard chose Larry Butler, a songwriter and aspiring record producer.
30.
In February 1973, Jean Shepard signed with United Artists Records and was given a large amount of money upfront to sign with the label.
31.
Jean Shepard's first United Artists single was 1973's "Slippin' Away".
32.
Jean Shepard's restored commercial success at age 40 was due in part to Butler's new production that featured upbeat tempos and hand-clapping background effects.
33.
Jean Shepard's final United Artists album was Mercy, Ain't Love Good which reached the US country top 40 in 1976.
34.
Jean Shepard claimed United Artists "could not keep the wheel rolling", and she attempted to work with a new producer, George Richey.
35.
Jean Shepard then signed with the Scorpion label, which released her final charting single, "The Real Thing", in 1978.
36.
Jean Shepard remained with Scorpion through 1979, and she signed a contract the same year with a new booking agency called Atlas Artist Bureau, Inc.
37.
Jean Shepard's music grew particularly popular in Europe, specifically in the United Kingdom where she performed frequently.
38.
In 1981, Jean Shepard was among several Grand Ole Opry members to record a studio album under the title Stars of the Grand Ole Opry.
39.
Jean Shepard often raised veteran's funds by playing shows, which sometimes were shut down by the Veteran's Administration because she did not receive permission to sponsor soldiers.
40.
Jean Shepard continued advocating for traditional country music as well, criticizing James Brown's 1988 Grand Ole Opry performance.
41.
Jean Shepard started appearing in filmed performances titled Country's Family Reunion during the 1990s.
42.
In 2000, the Ernest Tubb Record Shop issued a new studio album by Jean Shepard called The Tennessee Waltz.
43.
Jean Shepard served as a spokesperson for the Springer Mountain Farms chicken company in the 2000s.
44.
Jean Shepard stated that Freddie had a tendency to become violent and threatened her life on multiple occasions.
45.
Jean Shepard met Hawkshaw Hawkins following her joining the Grand Ole Opry Cast in 1955.
46.
Jean Shepard gave birth to the couple's first child, Don Robin, in 1961.
47.
Jean Shepard was named for the couple's friends, Don Gibson and Marty Robbins.
48.
Hawkins and Jean Shepard lived on a three-acre home in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, that included a horse stable.
49.
At the time, Jean Shepard was eight months pregnant with the couple's second child.
50.
Jean Shepard experienced dizziness and sharp pain before going to sleep that night, which she later associated with the timing of the plane crash.
51.
Jean Shepard's doctor had to sedate her so she could rest, and a highway patrol officer was stationed at her home.
52.
Jean Shepard gave birth to Donald Frank Hawkins II one month after her husband's death.
53.
Shortly after her husband's death, Jean Shepard sold his quarter horses.
54.
Summers and Jean Shepard began a romantic relationship shortly afterward and the pair married in 1966.
55.
When Summers appeared at one of her concerts drunk, Jean Shepard decided to end their marriage.
56.
Jean Shepard gave birth to the couple's only child together, Corey, on December 23,1969.
57.
Jean Shepard was later diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and became increasingly debilitated by the illness.
58.
Jean Shepard entered hospice care in September 2016 and died on September 25 in Gallatin, Tennessee due from complications of Parkinson's and heart disease.
59.
Jean Shepard's vocals have been described by music writers as having a raw and assertive sound that paired well with honky tonk music.
60.
Jean Shepard's yodeling was featured in the final section of her 1964 single "Second Fiddle " Shepard credited Jimmie Rodgers records with teaching her how to yodel.
61.
Jean Shepard was solely identified with the country genre throughout her career, specifically with traditional country.
62.
Jean Shepard's recordings were often categorized into the honky tonk sub-genre, which pointed to themes of infidelity, alcohol, romance and relationships ending.
63.
Chris Skinker of The Melody Ranch Girl box set noted that, by 1961, "the Nashville Sound was starting to creep into Jean Shepard's recordings", pointing to the "ethereal, echoey sound" of the guitar and the harmony vocals on specific songs.
64.
Music writers, historians and journalists have noted that Jean Shepard was among country music's first commercially successful female artists.
65.
Some writers have said Jean Shepard did not get the credit she deserved.
66.
In 2010, Jean Shepard was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, her home state.
67.
In 2011, Jean Shepard was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame along with Bobby Braddock and Reba McEntire.
68.
Jean Shepard believed for many years the Country Hall of Fame ignored her early efforts.