Sunday, 1 March 2020

Connie Eaton born 1 March 1950

Connie Eaton (March 1, 1950 – September 30, 1999) was a country music singer.

Eaton was a native of Nashville, Tennessee and began her recording career as a teenager in 1968, recording for Chart Records. This record label was owned by Slim Williamson and became famous thanks to Lynn Anderson who had been churning out hits there since 1966. Prior to beginning her recording career, Eaton had been a runner up in a "Miss Nashville" beauty contest

None among Connie’s first four singles managed to dent the national Country charts but she did sufficiently well on a local/regional basis that Williamson gave her with her her first LP titled "I've Got A Life To Live" (Chart CHS-1020) which emerged in Oct 1969. Then came her cover of the Merilee Rush 1968 Pop hit, Angel Of The Morning, which reached # 34 in Feb-March as Chart 5048 b/w One Time Too Many and earned her a nomination for Billboard's Most Promising Female Vocalist Award.

After a follow-up duet with Tony Martin failed, another duet, this time with Dave Peel and doing a cover of Ray Charles' immortal Hit The Road Jack, reached # 44 in May-June 1970  followed by two more 1970 failures before another duet with Peel, a cover of the Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston 1967 hit, It Takes Two, topped out at # 56 in November.  Around this same time her 2nd album was released pairing her with Peel and titled “Hit The Road, Jack” in which they are backed by guitarists Billy Sanford, Wayne Moss and Pete Wade, steel guitarist Lloyd Green, bassist Henry Strzelecki, banjo player Bobby Thompson, pianist Hargus ‘Pig’ Robbins and drummers Buddy Harman and Jerry Carrigan.



                               

In Feb 1971 she then had Sing A Happy Song peak at # 74, followed in Sept-Oct by the # 56 Don't Hang No Halos On Me. While this was charting her 3rd album came out titled “Something Special”. After giving birth to a daughter in 1972 (she had married Slim Williamson's son Cliff). 


She resurfaced in 1975 with Dunhill/ABC where she would have her greatest single hit when Lonely Men, Lonely Women rose to # 23 in the Jan-March stretch of 1975, followed in June by the # 93 If I Knew Enough To Come Out Of The Rain which was her last nationally charting single. In September, ABC released her last LP, the eponymous "Connie Eaton" (ABC 906).

By the end of the 1970s Connie Eaton had left the music scene and sadly, after struggling with manic depression, she passed away on September 30, 1999 following a battle with cancer at age 49. 



Connie Eaton's daughter Cortney Tidwell is a recording artist in her own right.

(Edited from various sources)

1 comment:

boppinbob said...

For Connie Eaton Albums go her:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/DeoG2pCd


Connie Eaton (1975)
Hit The Road Jack (1970)
I've Got Life To Live (1969)
Something Special (1971)

all @320k

Thanks to Champ @ Loadsamusic Forum for active link.