Patty Loveless
Patty Loveless is an American country music singer. She began performing in her teenaged years before signing her first recording contract with MCA Records' Nashville division in 1985. While her first few releases were unsuccessful, she broke through by decade's end with a cover of George Jones's "If My Heart Had Windows". Loveless issued five albums on MCA before moving to Epic Records in 1993, where she released nine more albums. Four of her albumsHonky Tonk Angel, Only What I Feel, When Fallen Angels Fly, and The Trouble with the Truthare certified platinum in the United States. Loveless has charted 44 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including five which reached number one: "Timber, I'm Falling in Love", "Chains", "Blame It on Your Heart", "You Can Feel Bad", and "Lonely Too Long".
Loveless's music is defined by a mix of sounds, including neotraditional country, country pop, and bluegrass music, with her singing voice garnering favorable comparisons to Loretta Lynn and Emmylou Harris. Recurring songwriters whose work she has recorded include Matraca Berg, Kostas, Jim Lauderdale, and Steve Earle. She has collaborated with Vince Gill, George Jones, and Dwight Yoakam, among others. Nearly all of her albums were produced by her husband, Emory Gordy Jr. Although she largely retired from performing in 2009, Loveless has sporadically contributed to other artists' works in subsequent years. She has won five awards from the Country Music Association, two from the Academy of Country Music, and two Grammy Awards.
Loveless was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on October 22, 2023.
Early life
Patty Loveless was born Patricia Lee Ramey on January 4, 1957, in Pikeville, Kentucky, to Naomi and John Ramey. She is the sixth of seven children. Through her patriline, Loveless is a distant cousin of country singers Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle. She was raised in nearby Elkhorn City, Kentucky, where her father worked in a coal mine. He contracted black lung disease as a result of the job, forcing the family to move to Louisville, Kentucky, to facilitate his medical treatments. John Ramey died of the disease in 1979.By the time she was 11, she began playing guitar and writing songs with her brother Roger, which led to the two of them performing together at local events. The two were discovered at one such show by the Wilburn Brothers. The duo did not consider her mature enough for a musical career at the time and encouraged her to keep performing. After she graduated from Fairdale High School, she began touring with the Wilburn Brothers as a vocalist in their touring band. In 1973 she married the band's drummer, Terry Lovelace, the same year and moved with him to Charlotte, North Carolina. At this point, she altered the spelling of her name to Patty Loveless, a variant of her married name.
Loveless spent much of the late 1970s playing rock cover songs at various venues in the Midwestern United States. By the mid-1980s, she moved back to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career as a country artist. At the time, Loveless said she was inspired by the rise of neotraditional country in the mid-1980s through such acts as Dwight Yoakam, The Judds, and Randy Travis. In Nashville, she sang demo recordings for other artists and signed a songwriting contract with Acuff-Rose Music in 1985. Loveless recorded five of her own songs on a demo tape, which her brother Roger sent to MCA Records' Nashville division. Tony Brown helped sign Loveless to the label in July 1985.
Career
1985–1990: Early years
Loveless began recording music for MCA with production assistance from both Brown and Emory Gordy Jr., a producer whom Roger had befriended. Prior to working with Loveless, Gordy was a member of Emmylou Harris's backing band, the Hot Band. MCA Nashville released Loveless's debut single in late 1985 titled "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights". This was followed by "Wicked Ways", "I Did", and "After All". All four singles peaked outside the top 40 on the American Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Because of their failures, MCA executives initially did not want to release an album. However, Loveless noted that "I Did" was highly popular among fans and concertgoers despite its low chart showing and successfully convinced label executives to allow the release of a full album.That album, the self-titled Patty Loveless, was released in 1986. Gordy and Brown produced the project and were among the contributing musicians, as were guitarists Reggie Young and Richard Bennett. Contributing songwriters included Guy Clark, Jo-El Sonnier, and Karen Staley. Loveless had written "I Did" at age 17 after undergoing a breakup, and it is the only single in her career that she wrote. She had originally recorded "After All" as a demo for songwriters Jimbeau Hinson and Harry Stinson, who had intended for the song to be recorded by Reba McEntire. When McEntire chose not to record the song, the two songwriters allowed Loveless to keep it. Loveless supported her debut album by touring with George Jones, which led to the two singing "Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms" together in concerts. An uncredited review in Cashbox of "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights" called it "a boot-tapper that shows off her strong voice and rhythmic phrasing." The same magazine published a favorable review of "I Did", which stated that the song "really does seem to come from the heart" and had a "classic sound". During the same period, she also divorced first husband, Terry Lovelace.
File:KOSTAS - songwriter.jpg|150px|thumb|right|Loveless's first number-one single was "Timber, I'm Falling in Love", written by songwriter Kostas.|alt=Songwriter Kostas in an outdoor setting.
Loveless's second MCA album was 1988's If My Heart Had Windows. The lead single was the Curtis Wright composition "You Saved Me". It was followed by her first top-10 hit, a cover of George Jones's 1967 single "If My Heart Had Windows". The third and final single was a cover of Steve Earle's "A Little Bit in Love". By mid-1988, Loveless's rendition had peaked at number two on the Billboard country charts. A review written by Thom Jurek of AllMusic praised these two covers in particular, also stating that her "integrity, down-home sincerity, and utterly stunning voice have helped to create a streak of fine recordings and chart success". Jack Hurst of the Chicago Tribune was mixed toward the album, praising Loveless's voice, but criticizing the production as being more country pop in nature. Coinciding with the album's release, Loveless was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1988. Throughout 1988, Loveless also gained exposure in the United Kingdom by performing at an annual country music festival held at Wembley Arena.
In late 1988, Loveless's third album was released called Honky Tonk Angel. Shortly after the album's release, she and Gordy married. The lead single was "Blue Side of Town", which was co-written by Hank DeVito. This song achieved a top-five peak, as did a cover of Lone Justice's "Don't Toss Us Away". After these came her first number-one single, "Timber, I'm Falling in Love". Brown discovered the song when seeking material for the album. It was written by Greek-American songwriter Kostas, who at the time was not considering a career in country. Due to the success of "Timber, I'm Falling in Love", Kostas went on to write more songs for Loveless and for other country artists. "The Lonely Side of Love" peaked in the country top ten by late 1989. In early 1990, the album's final single "Chains" became her second to top the country chart. MCA promoted the album through CMT, which included a prize drawing where fans could win a trip to see Loveless perform at Billy Bob's Texas, a nightclub in Fort Worth, Texas. In addition, the label gave away autographed posters and signed Loveless to an endorsement deal with Justin Boots. Honky Tonk Angel was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of one million copies. Brian Mansfield described the project as "the album that established Loveless as a major presence". Wendy Dudley of the Calgary Herald praised Loveless's "robust vocals", comparing them favorably to those of Patsy Cline.
1990–1991: Final years with MCA
In 1990 Loveless released her fourth studio album, On Down the Line. She charted within the top five with the album's title track, another composition by Kostas. Next came a cover of Lucinda Williams's "The Night's Too Long", which reached number 20. The disc also spawned "I'm That Kind of Girl" and "Blue Memories", respectively co-written by Matraca Berg and Karen Brooks. Both made their chart appearances in early 1991. On Down the Line achieved a gold certification honoring shipments of 500,000 copies. Alex Henderson wrote of the album on AllMusic, "Unpredictable and consistently inspired, On Down the Line remains one of Loveless's finest albums." Hurst wrote that "Loveless's world-class vocal power has seemed for three albums to be searching for material that could engage her soul, and she appears to have found it in this collection".Loveless ended her tenure on MCA with Up Against My Heart in 1991. Its lead single was the top-five song, "Hurt Me Bad ", co-written by Deborah Allen. Dolly Parton, Mac McAnally, and Vince Gill also sang on several album tracks. The closing track was a cover of Lyle Lovett's "God Will". Follow-up singles, "Jealous Bone" and "Can't Stop Myself from Loving You", were less successful on Billboard. Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly rated the album "A+", comparing the music favorably to Loretta Lynn and Emmylou Harris. The editors of Country Music: The Encyclopedia attributed the commercial failure of Up Against My Heart to the increased success of other women on the MCA label such as Wynonna Judd and Trisha Yearwood. In 1992, Loveless ended her contract with MCA and fired her brother Roger from his position as her manager. Her last MCA release was a Greatest Hits package in 1993. After its release, this compilation was certified gold.