Barbara Mandrell Biography

Country Musician / Country Singer

Barbara Mandrell came from a musical family, and by her teens was a multi-instrumentalist (including sax, steel guitar, banjo and bass). In the 1970s she began to gain national attention with hits like "Sleeping Single In A Double Bed" and "(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don't Want To Be Right." The Country Music Association chose her as Entertainer of the Year in 1980 and again in 1981, and she and her two sisters, Irlene and Louise, had a hit TV show on NBC from 1981-82. After dominating the country charts for a decade, Mandrell was seriously injured in a 1984 car crash and was out of action for over a year. She told the story of her career and her survival in an autobiography, Get to the Heart: My Story.