Wilma Burgess born 11 June 1939

Wilma Burgess (born Wilma Charlene Burgess; June 11, 1939 – August 26, 2003) was an American country music singer. She rose to fame in the mid-1960s and charted fifteen singles on the Billboard C&W charts between 1965 and 1975. She enjoyed a clutch of country hits during the latter part of the 1960s before abruptly retiring from the music business. The possessor of a warm and appealing voice, she was an underrated song stylist who was at her best when handling romantic ballads, most notably her soulful rendition of Bob Montgomery's "Misty Blue" (1967).

                               

A native of Orlando, Florida, she had little interest in country music until, as a student in the 1950s, she attended an Eddy Arnold concert and found herself drawn to the emotional honesty of his performance. In 1960 she completed her studies at Stetson

University, in DeLand, Florida, where she had majored in physical education, and travelled to Nashville at the suggestion of a songwriter friend who believed that her vocal talents would help sell his songs to the city's music publishers.

One of these publishers, Charlie Lamb, of Sound Format, was impressed by her voice and introduced her to one of the creators of the famed "Nashville Sound", the producer Owen Bradley. In 1962 she cut a double-sided single, "Confused" / "Something Tells Me", for United Artists, but it made little impact on the charts.

Two years later, Bradley signed her to the Decca label and she recorded a series of minor singles before finally breaking into the Top Ten with a fine version of Ray Griff's "Baby" (1965). She followed this with "Don't Touch Me" (1966) and then made it into the Top Five with "Misty Blue". It became her signature song and was later covered not only by her original inspiration, Eddy Arnold, but also by the soul singer Dorothy Moore who, in 1976, took it into the upper reaches of both the pop and R&B charts.

In 1965 Burgess purchased the Nashville home that had belonged to Patsy Cline; the purchase was made from Cline's widower Charlie Dick. Burgess had attended Cline's 30th birthday party and housewarming at the home six months before Cline's fatal accident. Burgess appeared in the 1966 film The Las Vegas Hillbillys singing "Baby". The film which starred Jayne Mansfield was a B-movie that showcased several top C&W performers. Burgess also purchased Jim Reeves' touring bus "Big Blue" in 1969.

She enjoyed further hits with "Fifteen Days", "Tear Time" (both 1967) and "Parting (Is Such Sweet Sorrow)" (1969), and released five albums for Decca before then signing with Shannon Records. Operated by Jim Reeves' widow, Mary Reeves Davis, the label proved a supportive if not particularly successful musical home for Burgess. She entered the Top Twenty only once more, scoring with "Wake Me Into Love" (1974), a duet with a former member of Jim Reeves' band, Bud Logan. In 1975 Burgess left Shannon signing with RCA Records where her uneventful tenure lasted until 1978.

In 1982 she ended her recording career with the album Could I Have This Dance on 51West a Columbia Records label. Later in the decade Burgess opened the Hitching Post - described as Nashville's first women-only bar - where she regularly performed. Burgess also worked on and off with Mary Reeves running the Jim Reeves Museum in Nashville.

Unable to handle the pressures associated with the music business, Wilma Burgess retired during the mid-Seventies and eventually opened Nashville's first women-only bar. In 1993 she returned briefly to the spotlight when, having bought Patsy Cline's former home, she discovered rare tapes of the singer's early television appearances in her attic.

Burgess was openly a lesbian and preferred to record love songs with no gender-specific references. She did sometimes agree to record songs such as "Ain't Got No Man" on condition that her producer Owen Bradley let her record a song she liked but he didn't.

Wilma Burgess died unexpectedly Monday, August 26, 2003 at 4:05 a.m. at Centennial Medical Centre in Nashville, after suffering a massive heart attack. She was 64, and had been hospitalized for a week for tests, and had seemed to be on the road to recovery

(Edited from Wikipedia &  Paul Wadey @ theIndependent)