Shelby Lynne (born Shelby Lynn Moorer, October 22, 1968) is an American singer and
songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
and the older sister of singer-songwriter
Allison Moorer
Allison Moorer (born June 21, 1972) is an American singer/songwriter. She signed with MCA Nashville in 1997 and made her debut on the U.S. Billboard Country Chart with the release of her debut single, “A Soft Place To Fall,” which she co-wr ...
. The success of her
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...
album ''
I Am Shelby Lynne'' (1999) led to her winning the
Grammy Award for Best New Artist
The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...
, despite it being her sixth studio album. She released a
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop music, p ...
tribute album called ''
Just a Little Lovin''' in 2008. Since then she has started her own independent record label, called Everso Records, and released three albums: ''
Tears, Lies and Alibis'', ''Merry Christmas'', and ''Revelation Road''. Lynne is also known for her distinctive
contralto
A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type.
The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...
voice.
Early life
Shelby Lynne was born in
Quantico, Virginia
Quantico ( or ; formerly Potomac) is a town in Prince William County, Virginia, United States. The population was 480 at the 2010 census. Quantico is approximately 35 miles southwest of Washington, DC, bordered by the Potomac River to the east a ...
and raised in
Jackson, Alabama
Jackson is a city in Clarke County, Alabama, United States. The population was 5,557 at the 2020 census. It was one of three wet settlements in an otherwise-dry county.
Geography
Jackson is located along the western border of Clarke County at ...
, then Mobile, where she attended
Theodore High School
Theodore High School is a four-year senior high school located in Theodore, Alabama, United States. The school operates in the Mobile County Public School System. There are roughly 1,700 students and 100-110 staff members at the school.
It serve ...
. Music was an important part of the Moorer family. Her father was a local bandleader and her mother a harmony-singing teacher; as children, she and her younger sister
Allison
Allison may refer to:
People
* Allison (given name)
* Allison (surname) (includes a list of people with this name)
* Eugene Allison Smith (1922-1980), American politician and farmer
Companies
* Allison Engine Company, American aircraft engine ...
— later a country recording artist in her own right — sometimes joined their parents on-stage to sing along. However, Lynne's father was a violent alcoholic who abused his wife. In 1985, her mother fled with the two girls to
Mobile
Mobile may refer to:
Places
* Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city
* Mobile County, Alabama
* Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S.
* Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Mobile ( ...
. Her father soon discovered their whereabouts. In 1986, when Lynne was 17 and her younger sister,
Allison
Allison may refer to:
People
* Allison (given name)
* Allison (surname) (includes a list of people with this name)
* Eugene Allison Smith (1922-1980), American politician and farmer
Companies
* Allison Engine Company, American aircraft engine ...
, was 14, he fatally shot her mother in the family's driveway. He then turned the gun on himself while his daughters were in the house.
Career
Early years
Lynne appeared on
TNN's country music show ''
Nashville Now
''Nashville Now'' was an American talk show that focused on country music performers in the style of ''The Tonight Show''. The show aired live on weeknights on TNN from 1983–1993. The host was Nashville TV/radio personality Ralph Emery. The sho ...
'' in 1987. She soon landed a recording contract with
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America
Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...
. Her first recording for Epic was a duet with
George Jones
George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...
, "If I Could Bottle This Up", which became a top-50 hit in 1988. Epic teamed Lynne with producer
Billy Sherrill
Billy Norris Sherrill (November 5, 1936 – August 4, 2015) was an American record producer, songwriter, and arranger best known for his association with country artists, notably Tammy Wynette and George Jones. Sherrill and business partner Gle ...
for her 1989 debut album ''
Sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects.
Terminology
Al ...
''. The follow-up, 1990's ''
Tough All Over'', took more of a mainstream country direction, and 1991's ''
Soft Talk'' found Lynne moving into slick
country pop
Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...
.
Lynne placed several songs on the country charts during this period, but none managed to break into the top 20. Critics generally regarded her as a promising talent, and she won the
ACM's Top New Female Vocalist in 1991, beating the other two nominees
Carlene Carter
Carlene Carter (born Rebecca Carlene Smith; September 26, 1955) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is the daughter of June Carter Cash and her first husband, Carl Smith.
As of 2020, since 1978, Carter has recorded 12 album ...
and
Matraca Berg
Matraca Maria Berg Hanna (; born February 3, 1964, in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She has released five albums: three for RCA Records, one for Rising Tide Records and one for Dualtone Records, and ...
.
However, she was tiring of the lack of control she was afforded over her image and musical direction. She split from Epic and signed with the smaller
Morgan Creek label, debuting with 1993's ''
Temptation
Temptation is a desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment that threatens long-term goals.Webb, J.R. (Sep 2014). Incorporating Spirituality into Psychology of temptation: Conceptualization, measurement, and clinical implications. Sp ...
'', an exercise in
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although S ...
-style
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United States, South among the region's Western music (North America), Western string bands. It is dan ...
and
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...
jazz. The label folded not long after, and she moved on to
Magnatone
Magnatone was a brand of electric guitars and amplifiers produced between 1937 and the mid-1970s. The company was based in California. The brand name was revived in the 2010s by Ted Kornblum.
History
Beginning in the late 1930s, Magna Electroni ...
for 1995's ''
Restless'', which marked a return to contemporary-style country. Afterward, Lynne disappeared from recording for several years. One notable project that she assisted on was Vince Gill's 1996 ''High Lonesome Sound'' album, where she provided background, harmony vocals on the song "
You And You Alone".
Vince Gill and Shelby Lynne performed the song at the 1997 CMA awards show.
Breakthrough
In 1998, Lynne moved to
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...
. For her next record, she worked with producer and songwriter
Bill Bottrell
William A. Bottrell (born October 27, 1952) is an American record producer and songwriter. He has collaborated with Michael Jackson, Madonna, Electric Light Orchestra and Sheryl Crow.
Biography
Between 1967 and 1970, Bottrell attended Cresc ...
. The result was the confessional and eclectic
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...
and
blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
-influenced album ''
I Am Shelby Lynne''. "That album came from the most vulnerable, desperate place," she recalled years later. "I think about it every day."
Island Def Jam released the album in the U.K. during the fall of 1999 and then in the U.S. the following year, to wide critical acclaim. At the
43rd Grammy Awards
The 43rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 2001, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Several artists earned three awards on the night. Steely Dan's haul included Album of the Year for ''Two Against Nature''. U2 too ...
, held on February 21, 2001, she won the award for
Best New Artist
The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...
. "Thirteen years and six albums to get here," said Lynne during her acceptance speech. One of the songs, "Dreamsome", also appeared on the soundtrack of the film ''
Bridget Jones's Diary
''Bridget Jones's Diary'' is a 2001 romantic comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire and written by Richard Curtis, Andrew Davies, and Helen Fielding. A co-production of the United Kingdom, United States and France, it is based on Fielding's 1 ...
''.
Her 2001 follow-up album ''
Love, Shelby'' was produced by
Glen Ballard
Basil Glen Ballard Jr. (born May 1, 1953) is an American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer. He is best known for co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's 1995 album ''Jagged Little Pill'', which won Grammy Awards for Grammy Award fo ...
and featured a slicker, more pop-influenced sound. The album received mixed reviews.
Lynne took a more low-key approach on her next effort. ''
Identity Crisis
In psychology, identity crisis is a stage theory of identity development where it involves resolution of a conflict over the 8 stages of the lifespan.(Schultz, 216) The term was coined by German psychologist Erik Erikson.
The stage of psychosoci ...
'' was self-produced, recorded largely in her home studio and with few additional musicians. Many of the 12 tracks focused on dark themes, but there were also lighter songs such as "One With the Sun" (inspired by a conversation she had with
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...
). The album found a home on Capitol Records and was released in September 2003. The critics gave her high marks; AllMusic's Thom Jurek wrote, "There is no identity crisis here, just the indelible mark of a mature, intense, always engaging artist." ''
Suit Yourself'' (2005) also received praise from critics. However, neither record was commercially successful.
Later career
![Shelby Lynne 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Shelby_Lynne_2014.jpg)
Her album ''
Just a Little Lovin''', released in early 2008 by Lost Highway Records, paid tribute to the late British singer
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, Pop music, p ...
. The producer was
Phil Ramone
Philip Ramone (né Rabinowitz, January 5, 1934March 30, 2013) was a South African-born American recording engineer, record producer, violinist and composer, who in 1958 co-founded A & R Recording, Inc., a recording studio with business par ...
, who had worked with Springfield on "
The Look of Love". ''Just A Little Lovin became the highest charting album of Lynne's career, reaching number 41 on the ''Billboard'' 200. In a review for ''Entertainment Weekly'', Marc Weingarten wrote that the album "is a stark reminder of Lynne's empathetic skill as an interpreter". The sparse production and extremely well recorded nature of the album, combined with its song selection have made this album a favorite audiophile "demo" recording, and as a result the album was reissued on audiophile-grade 200g vinyl as well as
SACD
Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips, Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format.
The SACD format allows mul ...
.
Following a dispute with Lost Highway, Lynne started her own label, called Everso Records. "I plan on taking advantage of my freedom and working hard and putting out a lot of records," she said in an interview. The first release was her album ''
Tears, Lies and Alibis'' (2010). She followed up later that year with the holiday album ''Merry Christmas'', featuring such classics as "Christmas Time Is Here" and "O Holy Night". The third and most recent release is ''Revelation Road'' (2011), on which she played all the instruments.
On August 18, 2017, Lynne released a collaborative record with her sister
Allison Moorer
Allison Moorer (born June 21, 1972) is an American singer/songwriter. She signed with MCA Nashville in 1997 and made her debut on the U.S. Billboard Country Chart with the release of her debut single, “A Soft Place To Fall,” which she co-wr ...
titled ''
Not Dark Yet
"Not Dark Yet" is a song by Bob Dylan, recorded in January 1997 and released in September that year as the seventh track on his album '' Time Out of Mind.'' It was also released as a single on August 25, 1997 and later anthologized on the compila ...
''. Produced by British folk singer
Teddy Thompson
Teddy Thompson (born 19 February 1976) is an English folk and rock musician. He is the son of folk rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson and brother of singer Kamila Thompson. He released his first album in 2000.
Biography
Teddy Thompson ...
, it features covers of songs by
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler.
Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled af ...
,
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
,
Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
and
The Killers
The Killers are an American rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingd ...
as well as an original recording.
Additional projects
Lynne performed the
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
song "Mother" at ''
Come Together: A Night for John Lennon's Words and Music'' in October 2001 and at Theatre Within's 30th annual Lennon tribute in November 2010.
She has worked professionally with her sister, Allison Moorer. On Moorer's live album ''Show'', released in 2003, Lynne performed three duets with her sister. Lynne wrote "She Knows Where She Goes", one of the songs featured on Moorer's 2008 album ''
Mockingbird
Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. ...
''. The two sisters performed five concerts together during what they called the Side by Side tour. The concerts took place from October through December 2010 in San Francisco, New York, Virginia, and Alabama.
In 2002, she sang a duet with
Raul Malo
Raúl Francisco Martínez-Malo Jr. (born August 7, 1965, in Miami, Florida), known professionally as Raúl Malo, is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He is the lead singer of country music band The Mavericks and the ...
on his first solo-album ''Today''. The song is titled "Takes Two To Tango". In 2004, Lynne was featured in a duet version of
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
band
Live
Live may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film
* ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film
*'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD)
Music
*Live (band), American alternative rock band
* List of albums ...
's song "Run Away." This rendition can be found on the band's greatest hits compilation ''
Awake: The Best of Live''. Also in 2004, she sang a duet entitled "Can't Go Back Home", on Tony Joe White's album, ''The Heroines''. In 2007, she performed background vocals on
Marc Cohn
Marc Craig Cohn (; born July 5, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. He won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1992. Cohn is best known for the song "Walking in Memphis" from his eponymous 1991 album, which was a Top 40 h ...
's fourth album, ''
Join the Parade''. She contributed to ''Forever Cool'', a 2007 album from Capitol/EMI featuring contemporary artists in duets with the late
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...
. Alongside
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy is a contemporary swing revival band from Southern California. Their notable singles include "Go Daddy-O", "You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)", and "Mr. Pinstripe Suit". The band played at the Super Bowl XXXIII ha ...
, Lynne performed a duet of one of Martin's best known tunes, "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You".
She also joined the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and, in 2015, the 14th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel, to assist independent musicians' careers.
Lynne has taken on a few acting roles. “She expressed interest about working in film back in the January 1992 issue of ''Modern Screen’s Country Music'' when we spoke for a story I teased on the cover (“Shelby Lynne: Is Hollywood Beckoning?”) after her appearance in Willie Nelson’s ''Another Pair of Aces'' TV-movie with Kris Kristofferson. “It was hardly an acting role,” she said at the time. “I played myself. I didn’t even have any dialogue. Willie’s a crook gone good. Kris is the sheriff and I’m a saloon singer. I sang two songs. One they played while Kris was makin’ love. So, so much for my big acting career!” She portrayed
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...
's mother Carrie in the 2005 film ''
Walk the Line
''Walk the Line'' is a 2005 American biographical musical romantic drama film directed by James Mangold. The screenplay, written by Mangold and Gill Dennis, is based on two autobiographies authored by singer-songwriter Johnny Cash, 1975's '' Man ...
''. She appeared in a 2009 episode of the
Lifetime drama series ''
Army Wives
''Army Wives'' is an American drama television series that followed the lives of four army wives, one army husband, and their families. The series premiered on Lifetime on June 3, 2007, and ran for seven seasons, ending on June 9, 2013. The sh ...
'' as a country singer trying to reunite with her son. She played herself in an episode of the
Starz
Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...
comedy series ''
Head Case
''Head Case'' is an American sitcom starring Alexandra Wentworth as Dr. Elizabeth Goode, a therapist who treats Hollywood stars. Celebrities appear on the show as themselves. The show ran for three seasons, airing on the Starz TV Network, Wednes ...
''.
She was featured in Live From Daryl's House with
Daryl Hall
Daryl Franklin Hohl (born October 11, 1946), known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock, R&B and soul singer and musician, best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Daryl Hall and John Oates (with guitarist and ...
in a "delta blues-meets-Philly soul" throwdown. The show aired on Viacom's
Palladia music channel on December 15, 2012.
Personal life
Lynne was married at age 18 but divorced within a year. Regarding her sexuality, she says “Everybody’s a little gay.”
Discography
Filmography
Awards
*
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
2001:
Best New Artist
The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...
*
Academy of Country Music Awards
The Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the ACM Awards, were first held in 1966, honoring the industry's accomplishments during the previous year. It was the first country music awards program held by a major organization. The academy ...
1990: New Female Vocalist of the Year
References
External links
Official siteShelby Lynne on NPR Music*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynne, Shelby
1968 births
Living people
People from Quantico, Virginia
Grammy Award winners
American contraltos
American women country singers
American country singer-songwriters
People from Clarke County, Alabama
Lost Highway Records artists
Epic Records artists
Curb Records artists
Mercury Records artists
Capitol Records artists
Island Records artists
Singer-songwriters from Virginia
Guitarists from Alabama
Guitarists from Virginia
20th-century American guitarists
Country musicians from Alabama
20th-century American women guitarists
21st-century American women guitarists
21st-century American guitarists
Singer-songwriters from Alabama
Thirty Tigers artists