Ava Barber
| Ava Barber | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Ava Marlene Barber |
| Born | June 28, 1954 |
| Origin | Knoxville, Tennessee, USA |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Labels | Ranwood Records |
| Associated acts | Ralna English, Mary Lou Metzger, Gail Farrell |
| Website | Ava Barber Official Site |
Ava Barber (born June 28, 1954) is an American country music singer and performer. She is best remembered for having performed on The Lawrence Welk Show throughout much of the 1970s and early 1980s.
She is also known as a recording artist, her best-known hit being the song, "Bucket to the South", which peaked at No. 13 on the Hot Country Songs list in 1978. She has done many reunion specials on PBS for The Lawrence Welk Show over the past number of years.
Ava Marlene Barber was born and reared in Knoxville, Tennessee, named after actress Ava Gardner and singer Marlene Dietrich. While growing up, Barber often played in her brother's band.
Barber soon began listening to country music from listening to her father turning on the radio to a country music station every morning. Soon, every Saturday night, Barber would go to the auditorium of WNOX Radio, where "The Tennessee Barndance" was performed.
She began singing professionally at age 10.
She started performing, and even recorded records for some local labels. Her mother was an avid fan of a popular television show at the time, The Lawrence Welk Show, and suggested that her daughter should write to him.
Barber wrote to Welk in 1973 concering the Lawrence Welk Show, and he responded suggesting that if she was on the West Coast, she should be on the show. About this same time, she married singer and musician Roger Sullivan.
Soon, Barber was hired as a regular on The Lawrence Welk Show, and found herself performing on his television series on the West Coast. At the same time, Barber was trying to get her country music career off the ground. Chart success didn't come initially, but she released her first charting single in 1977 with the song, "Waitin' At the End of Your Run", a truck-driving song. The song was only moderately successful, though, reaching only No. 70 on the country singles charts that year. Barber's 1978 release, "Bucket to the South", turned into a big country hit, peaking at No. 13 on the Hot Country Songs list in 1978, and reached No. 12 in Canada. Being a country singer brought her instant fame, and she soon appeared on many of its television shows, like Nashville Now, Crook & Chase, and made two appearances on the Grand Ole Opry as well.
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