Anita Bryant
| Anita Bryant | |
|---|---|
Bryant in 1971
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Anita Jane Bryant |
| Born |
March 25, 1940 Barnsdall, Oklahoma, United States |
| Origin | Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, activist |
| Years active | 1956–present |
| Labels | Carlton, Columbia, London, Word |
Anita Jane Bryant (born March 25, 1940) is an American singer, former Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, and former brand ambassador for the Florida Citrus Commission (which marketed orange juice). She scored four Top 40 hits in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Paper Roses", which reached #5 on the charts.
Bryant later became known as an outspoken opponent of gay rights and for her 1977 "Save Our Children" campaign to repeal a local ordinance in Dade County, Florida, that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. This involvement significantly damaged her popularity and career in show business.
Bryant was born in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, the daughter of Lenora A. (Berry) and Warren Bryant. After her parents divorced, her father went into the U.S. Army and her mother went to work, taking her children to live with their grandparents temporarily. When Bryant was two years old, her grandfather taught her to sing "Jesus Loves Me". She was singing at the age of six onstage on local fairgrounds in Oklahoma. She sang occasionally on radio and television and was invited to audition when Arthur Godfrey's talent show came to town.
Bryant became Miss Oklahoma in 1958 and was a second runner-up in the 1959 Miss America beauty pageant at age 19, right after graduating from Tulsa's Will Rogers High School.
In 1960, Bryant married Bob Green (1931–2012), a Miami disc jockey, with whom she eventually raised four children: Robert Jr. (Bobby), Gloria, and twins Billy and Barbara. She divorced him in 1980, drawing criticism of hypocrisy from the Christian right regarding the indissolubility of Christian marriage which Bryant had championed and "the deterioration of the family" against which she had preached. She appeared early in her career on the NBC interview program Here's Hollywood and on the same network's The Ford Show Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.
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