Jan Howard
Jan Howard was an American author, country music singer and songwriter. As a singer, she placed 30 singles on the Billboard country songs chart, was a Grand Ole Opry member and was nominated for several major awards. As a writer, she wrote poems and published an autobiography. She was married to country songwriter Harlan Howard.
Howard was mostly raised in West Plains, Missouri. The family moved to various homes during her childhood. Marrying in her teens, Howard and her husband relocated various times, including Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, and Missouri. She took several part-time jobs to support her growing family, which included three children. Howard divorced her first husband in 1953. She met and married her second husband the same year. Moving to his military base, the couple and her three children lived a suburban lifestyle. In 1955, Howard discovered that he was a bigamist and she resettled with her children in Los Angeles, California.
In 1957, she met and married Harlan Howard. Early in their marriage, he discovered that she could sing. Impressed by her voice, Harlan arranged for her to record demonstration tapes. These tapes were heard by other country artists and led to her first recording contract with Challenge Records. Howard had her first major country hit in 1960 with "The One You Slip Around With". As her husband's songwriting became more successful, Howard's recording career followed suit. She had her biggest success after signing with Decca Records. Howard had major hits with the singles "Evil on Your Mind" and "My Son". She also had several hits after teaming up with Bill Anderson, including the number-one hit "For Loving You". The pair continued recording and touring together until the mid-1970s.
By 1973, two of Howard's children had died and she divorced Harlan Howard. In a depressive state, she nearly gave up her career. Upon the encouragement of other performers, she released several more albums and singles into the 1980s. At the same time, she began devoting time to other interests including writing. In 1987, Howard published her best-selling autobiography entitled Sunshine and Shadow. She also started writing poems and short stories, and remained active in other ways, including regular appearances on the Grand Ole Opry. She also worked with United States military veterans through various programs. She donated to charities and spoke at fundraisers.
Early life
1929–1945: Childhood and teenage years
Lula Grace Johnson was born in West Plains, Missouri, the daughter of Linnie and Rolla Johnson. She was the eighth of 11 children, including two siblings who died before the age of two. Her mother was a nurse's assistant who took take care of elderly people at the family house. Her father was a brick mason who received employment assistance from the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. The family moved frequently in her childhood in order for her father to sustain employment. They lived in various midwest communities including Kansas City, Birch Tree, and Oklahoma City. The family briefly returned to West Plains when Lula was eight. Upon her return, she was raped by a family friend. "My body was violated and my mind was damaged in a way I wasn't to know the full extent of for years to come," she wrote in her 1987 autobiography. The abuse was kept secret from her family in the years to come.Because the family moved frequently, Lula attended school sporadically during her childhood. Most of the buildings were one-room schoolhouses that were converted into churches on Sundays. At times, truancy officers would come by the Johnson home, forcing Lula to return to school. Lula's mother separated from her father in 1943, returning the children to West Plains. To help support the family, Lula worked as a dishwasher in a local cafe. Because the cafe owner could not afford to pay her, he gave Howard's family food for weekly meals. She then took a job at a drugstore at age 16. In 1945, she married Mearle Wood and subsequently dropped out of high school. Wood enrolled in the military after their marriage and the couple resettled Waynesville, Missouri. In their first home together, they shared a house with another military couple. She briefly returned to her parents' house after discovering Wood was engaging in an affair. However, when Wood was restationed in Little Rock, Arkansas, Howard reunited with him in his new location.
1946–1957: Early adulthood
Lula gave birth to three sons between the late 1940s and early 1950s. The young family continued to move as Wood took on various jobs and attempted to start university coursework as a teacher. One of their first residences was at a college campus in Pittsburg, Kansas. After Wood was informed of a better university to study teaching, he moved the family to Greeley, Colorado. Lula claimed that Wood refused to hold a job and with three small children, the family had little money to survive on, which resulted in Lula asking Wood's parents for money. In addition, the family's rented trailer caught on fire in the middle of the night. Lula and her children then returned to Missouri following the fire while her husband stayed at the university. Wood then dropped out of college but found a job as a public school teacher in the rural farm community of Dora, Missouri. The family then rented a three-home house with limited amenities. However, after Lula's youngest son developed pneumonia, they moved to a home closer to Dora's downtown neighborhood.Wood then brought his wife and children to Cairo, Illinois where he planned to work in a canning factory. After Lula discovered the dilapidated conditions in Cairo, she and her children left. Wood then moved his family to Sunflower, Kansas where he taught in a public high school. Wood was then fired after engaging in an affair with another teacher. After getting a new job repairing railroad tracks, Wood moved the family to Verdonia, Kansas. Yet, Wood was often missing from home and spent most of his income. Lula and her children then abandoned the apartment after the landlord threatened eviction. When the car Lula was driving ran out of fuel, Lula pulled over into a residential home where an elderly couple took her and her children in for several weeks. After asking for money, the family returned back to her parents home. Lula and her husband briefly reunited in West Plains after he obtained a new teaching position. However, Wood quit his job and when he decided to move again, Lula refused. According to Lula, Wood was angered by her refusal, and held a butcher knife to throat in response. His actions were interrupted when a friend knocked on the front door of their home. Lula and her three sons fled to her family's Oklahoma home the same day. Lula and Wood divorced in 1953.
Lula and her children then moved in with her brother near Columbus, Ohio. She then married her brother's friend and US military sergeant Lowell "Smitty" Smith. Smith moved Lula and her children into local military housing and got a job in the "tea room" of the Morehouse Fashion Department Store. Lula then gave birth to the couple's child in 1954 who died shortly after birth due to complications from a cerebral hemorrhage. Smith was then transferred to Warrensburg, Missouri where the couple rented a three bedroom home in a suburban community. In Missouri, Lula became pregnant again but miscarried the child. Shortly after the miscarriage, Smith was transferred to the Panama Canal Zone and informed Lula he would send for her once he was settled. After not nearing from Smith, she received a letter in the mail informing her than Smith's first wife had never actually filed for divorce. Smith then reunited with his wife and his marriage to Lula was annulled in 1955.
Lula decided to make a new start in Gardena, California in 1955. After pawning Smith's wedding ring for $25, Lula and her two children took a bus out to California. She then worked a series of low-wage jobs, writing in her book, "I must have had 30 jobs in days." Despite not being able to "type or take shorthand", Lula obtained a secretarial position. Her friend was dating country artist Wynn Stewart who introduced Lula to his friend and aspiring songwriter Harlan Howard. The couple then married 30 days after their meeting in 1957.
Singing career
1958–1963: Early success
Lula would often sing to herself while attending to domestic duties but was too shy to sing in front of other people. Alone in her kitchen one day, Lula was singing when she was heard by her husband who impressed by her singing skills. "I didn't know you could sing," he told her. He then convinced Lula to record a demonstration record of his newly-composed song "Mommy for a Day". The demo was later heard by Kitty Wells who recorded it and her version made the US country charts in 1958. Howard then brought his wife to Bakersfield, California to record more demo records of his songs. Among them was "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down", a song heard by Charlie Walker whose version also became a US country radio success. Howard also believed that his wife could have her own country music recording career. With his encouragement, Lula and Wynn Stewart recorded a demo of the song "Yankee Go Home". Howard then brought it to Joe Johnson of Challenge Records. Howard told Johnson he could take the song if he signed his wife too. She then officially signed with the Challenge label. The label then changed her name from Lula to "Jan". Under the name "Jan Howard", her own version of "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down" was released as her debut single in 1958.Jan and Wynn Stewart's duet of "Yankee Go Home" was released as a single by Challenge in 1959 and was followed by a second duet single in 1960 titled "Wrong Company". The latter reached the top 30 on the US Billboard country songs chart. Her recent success prompted Joe Johnson to release a solo single by called "The One You Slip Around With". The song rose into the US country top 15 in 1960. Its success brought Jan the "Most Promising Country Female" award from both Billboard and Jukebox Operators magazines. Jan and Stewart then embarked on a three-day tour in Lubbock, Texas and an appearance on the Town Hall Party California television program. With Harlan's songwriting career gaining momentum, the Howard's received royalty checks on a regular basis. The income financed the Howard's move to Nashville, Tennessee in 1960.
Jan was still battling shyness despite having a recording career. She had trouble following a backing band and stage fright caused her to often lose pitch. She also received anonymous phone calls from people who mocked her performance abilities. Jan's fear of her peers resulted in her leaving performances right after doing her slot. This was often the case with her initial Grand Ole Opry performances. After watching Patsy Cline perform on the Opry, Jan was confronted by Cline who thought she was conceited for not communicating with her. After she pushed back, Cline laughed at the incident and the pair became close friends. Jan would record the demo for Cline's "I Fall to Pieces". Although the song was promised to Jan by her husband, it was given to Cline in belief that it would sell more copies than Jan's version would. Because the Howard family owed the IRS $20,000 in back taxes Jan began touring and booking agent Hubert Long organized her tour dates. She then started appearing on package shows alongside June Carter, Skeeter Davis, George Jones, Buck Owens, and Faron Young.
Without her approval, Jan's Challenge recording contract was bought by Capitol Records. Discovering that $5000 would be paid out of her royalties, she went before a court judge who sided with her. However, after having an argument with her husband about the contract, she ultimately "agreed to drop" the legal battle. According to Jan, her first Capitol sessions with an unnamed producer were "a disaster". Frustrated, she contacted Ken Nelson who agreed to produce her in Los Angeles. The Capitol marketing division steered Jan's music towards the pop market, which resulted in her recording several pop covers. From the sessions, Howard's debut studio album was released in 1962 called Sweet and Sentimental. She recorded for Capitol through 1963 yet only had one US country charting single: a cover of "I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again".