JAN HOWARD
During the '60s, Jan
Howard was one of the hottest female vocalists in country music. Born Lula Grace
Johnson in West Plains, Missouri, she moved to L.A. in 1953 and became involved
with songwriter Harlan Howard, whom she married a month after they first met.
Howard helped her break into country music, sending her demos to various
companies. As a result she began singing demos for Tex Ritter and Johnny Bond.
In 1959, using the pseudonym "Jan Howard," she recorded "Yankee Go Home."
In 1960, the Howards went to Nashville; there, Jan appeared on the Prince Albert
Show segment of the Grand Ole Opry. Later that year, the Howards moved to
Nashville permanently, where Jan's successful duet with Wynn Stewart resulted in
her first solo single, "The One You Slip Around With," which made the Top 15;
her next song, another duet with Stewart, reached the Top 30. In 1962, she
charted with "I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again". Although she didn't do well on
the charts, she continued to tour extensively.
Two years later her career finally caught fire. Her songs of the period
reflected her troubled marriage; in 1965, she reached the Top 30 with "What
Makes a Man Wander?" Later that year, Howard joined Bill Anderson's touring and
television shows. In 1966, she and Anderson scored two hits with "I Know You're
Married (But I Love You Still)" and "Time Out". She then scored a Top Five hit
with her solo "Evil on Your Mind. " Her next hit was "Bad Seed," and towards the
end of the year, she had her only number one hit with "For Loving You," a duet
with Anderson.
In October 1968, Howard lost her oldest son in Vietnam; shortly thereafter, she
released the Top 15 single "My Son." In 1971, Howard became a member of the
Grand Ole Opry; two years later, her youngest son committed suicide. She joined
the Johnny Cash Show and in 1977 had three minor hits, including "To Love A
Rolling Stone." Jan Howard remarried in 1990 and continued to appear on the Opry.