Jeannie C. Riley

IMDB profile

Add to favorites

Edit page

Search at Amazon

Stats

Birth Name: Jeanne Carolyn Stephenson

Age: 78, born 19 October 1945

Country of origin: United States

Partner: Mickey Riley

Lists

14 votes

singer lady, (there ain't no god for dogs) (271 items)
list by onclelapin

Published 9 years, 9 months ago

7 votes

Now This Is What We Call Beauty in Music - Vol. 1 (100 items)
list by Onion Jack

Published 2 years, 5 months ago

View all Jeannie C. Riley lists

Photos

5 votes

3 votes

View all Jeannie C. Riley pictures

Description: Jeannie C. Riley (born Jeanne Carolyn Stephenson, October 19, 1945)[1] is an American country music and gospel singer. She is best known for her 1968 country and pop hit "Harper Valley PTA" (written by Tom T. Hall), which missed (by one week) becoming the Billboard Country and Pop number one hit at the same time.[2] In subsequent years, she had moderate chart success with country music, but never again duplicated the success of "Harper Valley PTA". She became a born-again Christian and began recording gospel music during the late 1970s. Riley was born in 1945 in Stamford, Texas. As a teenager, she married Mi Jeannie C. Riley (born Jeanne Carolyn Stephenson, October 19, 1945)[1] is an American country music and gospel singer. She is best known for her 1968 country and pop hit "Harper Valley PTA" (written by Tom T. Hall), which missed (by one week) becoming the Billboard Country and Pop number one hit at the same time.[2] In subsequent years, she had moderate chart success with country music, but never again duplicated the success of "Harper Valley PTA". She became a born-again Christian and began recording gospel music during the late 1970s.
Riley was born in 1945 in Stamford, Texas. As a teenager, she married Mickey Riley and gave birth to a daughter, Kim Michelle Riley on January 11, 1966.[1] Later, they moved to Nashville, Tennessee after receiving a letter from Weldon Myrick, who heard a demo tape of Jeannie's and believed she could be successful.[1] In Nashville, Riley worked as a secretary for Passkey Music while recording demos on the side.[3]

Riley's career was stagnant until former Mercury Records producer Shelby Singleton received a demo tape of Riley's voice. Singleton was starting and succeeding with his own label, Plantation Records, at the time. He worked with Riley in the recording of the Tom T. Hall demo song that Singleton saw potential in, "Harper Valley PTA."[3] The record quickly became one of the best-known country music songs of all time.
Riley's great success brought a number of offers from Hollywood, and she appeared with Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Bette Davis, Tom Jones, Ed Sullivan and others on various television programs.[6]

Riley left Plantation Records for MGM Records in 1972, recording several albums, but only two of her singles from the period, "Good Morning Country Rain" and "Give Myself A Party," cracked the top 30. Later stints at Mercury Records and Warner Bros. Records produced only a couple of charted singles, but Riley remained highly in demand as a concert artist well into the 1980s.

In the 1970s, she became a Born Again Christian and began recording gospel music.[7] As result of her conversion, she distanced herself from "PTA" for a time, due to its content. However, the song remained part of her live set and she still performs it in her shows. In 1980, she published her autobiography, From Harper Valley to the Mountain Top, which told her story of stardom in pop music to moving more into gospel music. The following year, she released a new gospel album with the same title.
... (more)