Dottie West

Dottie West
Dottie West promotional photo from 1977.
Background information
Birth name	Dorothy Marie Marsh
Born	(1932-10-11)October 11, 1932 Smithville, Tennessee, U.S.
Origin	McMinnville, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	September 4, 1991(1991-09-04) (aged 58) Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres	Country, country pop
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instruments	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1959–1991
Labels	Starday, RCA Victor, United Artists/Liberty, Permian
Associated acts	Jim Reeves, Don Gibson, Jimmy Dean, Kenny Rogers, Larry Gatlin, Steve Wariner, Shelly West

Dottie West (born Dorothy Marie Marsh; October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and fellow recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most influential and groundbreaking female artists. Dottie West's career started in the 1960s, with her Top 10 hit, "Here Comes My Baby Back Again", which won her the first Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1965.

In the early 1970s, West wrote a popular commercial for the Coca-Cola company, titled "Country Sunshine", which reached No. 2 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles in 1973. In the late-70s, she teamed up with country pop superstar, Kenny Rogers for a series of duets which took her career to new highs, earning Platinum selling albums and No. 1 records for the very first time. Her duet recordings with Rogers, "Every Time Two Fools Collide", "All I Ever Need Is You", and "What Are We Doin' in Love", became country music standards. In the mid-1970s, her image and music underwent a metamorphosis, bringing her to the very peak of her popularity as a solo act, and reaching #1 on her own for the first time in 1980 with "A Lesson in Leavin'".

Dottie West was born Dorothy Marie Marsh on October 11, 1932, outside McMinnville, Tennessee. She was the first child of ten born to Pelina Artha (née Jones; May 20, 1915 – August 20, 1970) and William Hollis Marsh (August 17, 1908 – April 21, 1967). The family was poor and to make ends meet, Pelina opened up a restaurant, with whose operation Dottie often helped her mother. Dottie's father, Hollis Marsh, was an alcoholic who beat and sexually abused her. The abuse continued until she was 17, when she finally reported him to the local sheriff. She testified against her father in court, and he was sentenced to 40 years in prison, and eventually died there in 1967.