Pamela Yvonne Tillis was born on July 24,1957 and is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress.
67 Facts About Pam Tillis
2.
Pam Tillis is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis and ex-wife of songwriter Bob DiPiero.
3.
Pam Tillis recorded five more albums for Arista Nashville between then and 2001, plus a greatest hits album.
4.
Pam Tillis charted twelve top-ten hits on the Billboard country music charts while on Arista, including the number-one "Mi Vida Loca " in 1995.
5.
Pam Tillis has won two major awards: a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals in 1999 for the multi-artist collaboration "Same Old Train", and the 1994 Country Music Association award for Female Vocalist of the Year.
6.
Pamela Yvonne Tillis was born July 24,1957, in Plant City, Florida.
7.
Pam Tillis is the oldest of five children to country singer Mel Tillis and his wife, Doris.
8.
Pam Tillis began taking piano lessons at this age, and taught herself how to play guitar by age 12.
9.
Pam Tillis underwent five years of surgery, including facial reconstruction.
10.
Pam Tillis described her relationship with her father as "strict", and that she often felt "alienated" from him.
11.
Pam Tillis stated that her father disapproved of her musical interests at the time, which included Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles.
12.
Pam Tillis enrolled at the University of Tennessee where she performed in two different groups: a jug band called the High Country Swing Band, and a folk duo with Ashley Cleveland.
13.
Pam Tillis dropped out of college in 1976 and moved to San Francisco, California.
14.
Pam Tillis briefly worked as a backing vocalist in her father's road band, but later quit this role over creative differences.
15.
In 1981, Pam Tillis signed her first recording contract with Elektra Records.
16.
Pam Tillis made her first entry on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in 1984 with "Goodbye Highway", a song she co-wrote with Mary Ann Kennedy and Pam Rose.
17.
Pam Tillis supported herself in this timespan by performing at various nightclubs and in her own local revues.
18.
Pam Tillis supplemented her career by singing advertising jingles for Country Time powdered drink mix, Coca-Cola, and Coors beer.
19.
Pam Tillis was one of the first five acts signed to the label, alongside Alan Jackson, Lee Roy Parnell, Michelle Wright, and Asleep at the Wheel.
20.
Pam Tillis co-wrote Juice Newton's 1989 single "When Love Comes Around the Bend" and Highway 101's 1990 single "Someone Else's Trouble Now".
21.
Pam Tillis made her debut on Arista Nashville in late 1990 with "Don't Tell Me What to Do".
22.
Pam Tillis had originally recorded the song while on Warner, but did not release this version at the time.
23.
Pam Tillis was nominated by the Academy of Country Music for Top Female Vocalist five times between 1991 and 1995.
24.
Pam Tillis co-wrote half of the album's songs including "Cleopatra, Queen of Denial" with her then-husband, songwriter Bob DiPiero.
25.
Pam Tillis contributed to two collaborative singles in 1993: Dolly Parton's "Romeo" and George Jones's "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair".
26.
In early 1994, several of Pam Tillis's archived recordings for Warner were compiled into an album titled Collection.
27.
Pam Tillis intentionally sought more songs by outside writers than on the first two Arista albums, stating that she "wanted to paint a landscape rather than a self-portrait".
28.
Pam Tillis co-produced for the first time, doing so with guitarist and producer Steve Fishell.
29.
The album's next single, "I Was Blown Away", made number 16 before Pam Tillis requested that it be withdrawn as a single, as she thought the title would be insensitive to listeners after the Oklahoma City bombing.
30.
In late 1995, Pam Tillis released All of This Love, her fourth disc for Arista and fifth overall.
31.
Pam Tillis compared her role as producer to that of a film director and noted that all of the musicians involved were supportive.
32.
Pam Tillis considered her role "ironic" because the song "The River and the Highway" contrasts how men and women perceive a relationship.
33.
Billboard rated All of This Love favorably, saying that Pam Tillis "continues to mature as a singer".
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Pam Tillis supported the album by touring with Lorrie Morgan and Carlene Carter.
35.
Unlike her previous albums, Pam Tillis did not co-write any of the songs.
36.
Pam Tillis told The Tennessean at the time of the album's release that she thought her then-recent divorce from Bob DiPiero would make any song she co-wrote "dark and depressing".
37.
Pam Tillis co-produced with guitarist and producer Billy Joe Walker Jr.
38.
Pam Tillis was involved in multiple collaborative efforts after the release of Every Time.
39.
Pam Tillis was one of several artists on the single "Same Old Train" from the 1999 Columbia Records tribute album A Tribute to Tradition.
40.
Also in 1999, Pam Tillis played several concerts with her father.
41.
In 2000, country singer Little Jimmy Dickens invited Pam Tillis to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
42.
Pam Tillis herself cited the song as one that would appeal to single women.
43.
Pam Tillis exited Arista Nashville in early 2002, citing both the expiration of her contract and her dissatisfaction with Arista executives prioritizing songs that had potential radio success over songs she wanted to record.
44.
In June 2003, Pam Tillis was dropped from Lucky Dog following another label re-structuring.
45.
Pam Tillis continued to perform in Branson in 2004 with Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers.
46.
Pam Tillis continued to tour at this point, and compiled both a concert DVD and a Christmas album sold exclusively at her shows.
47.
Pam Tillis did not release another album until 2007, when she founded her own label called Stellar Cat.
48.
Pam Tillis thought that being on her own label allowed her more creative freedom than before, including her decisions to market the album to Americana music formats, and to make a music video for the track "Band in the Window" despite not officially promoting it as a single.
49.
Pam Tillis started a tour in 2008 that included Regina, Saskatchewan dates in January.
50.
Pam Tillis recorded no other albums until 2012's Recollection, which comprised re-recordings of her hit singles from Arista Nashville.
51.
Pam Tillis chose to do this when noticing how "dated" she thought some of her old songs sounded, and relied on her road band to provide instrumentation.
52.
Pam Tillis revived Women in the Round in 2017 with Ashley Cleveland, Tricia Walker, and Karen Staley.
53.
In 2020, Pam Tillis announced that she had been recording a new album.
54.
On February 28,2020, Pam Tillis released the title track of the album, "Looking for a Feeling".
55.
On June 29,2022, Pam Tillis had been nominated for induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside Kirk Franklin, Brad Paisley, and Shania Twain, though Twain ultimately received the honor.
56.
Pam Tillis described her own vocal style as "not the twangiest country singer out there", as she thought her voice contained rhythm and blues and rock phrasings.
57.
Pam Tillis ultimately decided to start co-writing again on Looking for a Feeling because she considered her own writing to be "words out of [her] heart".
58.
Pam Tillis said that her father exposed her to other musical influences besides himself, such as Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn.
59.
Pam Tillis hold several acting roles in television, film, and theater.
60.
Pam Tillis appeared as herself on the American Broadcasting Company musical drama Nashville.
61.
Drag queen RuPaul, a fan of Pam Tillis's, invited her to appear on an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race.
62.
The couple had one son named Ben, with whom Pam Tillis was pregnant when the couple divorced that same year.
63.
Pam Tillis told Closer Weekly in 2019 that she divorced Mason due to his alcoholism and her concerns that she "was not ready" to be in a relationship.
64.
Pam Tillis occasionally toured as a member of her road band Mystic Biscuit.
65.
Pam Tillis began dating musician, photographer, and record producer Matt Spicher in 2001.
66.
Pam Tillis co-wrote Jamie O'Neal's number-one single "When I Think About Angels" along with singles by Clinton Gregory, Tammy Cochran, and Ty Herndon.
67.
Mel Pam Tillis died at age 85 in 2017, after which Sonny began touring as a tribute act to him.