Jeannie C. Riley

Jeannie C. Riley
Riley at the Civic Center, Lansing, Michigan on February 4, 1973
Background information
Birth name	Jeanne Carolyn Stephenson
Born	(1945-10-19) October 19, 1945 (age 71) Stamford, Texas, United States
Origin	Anson, Texas, United States
Genres	Country music, gospel
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1967–present
Labels	Little Darlin Records Plantation Records Capitol Records MGM Records Mercury Records Warner Bros. Records MCA Records
Associated acts	Connie Smith, Dottie West, Jeannie Seely, Loretta Lynn

Jeannie C. Riley (born Jeanne Carolyn Stephenson, October 19, 1945) is an American country music and gospel singer. She is best known for her 1968 country and pop hit "Harper Valley PTA" (written by Tom T. Hall), which missed (by one week) becoming the Billboard Country and Pop number one hit at the same time. In subsequent years, she had moderate chart success with country music, but never again duplicated the success of "Harper Valley PTA". She became a born-again Christian and began recording gospel music during the late 1970s.

Riley was born in 1945 in Stamford, Texas. As a teenager, she married Mickey Riley and gave birth to a daughter, Kim Michelle Riley on January 11, 1966. Later, they moved to Nashville, Tennessee after receiving a letter from Weldon Myrick, who heard a demo tape of Jeannie's and believed she could be successful. In Nashville, Riley worked as a secretary for Passkey Music while recording demos on the side.

Riley's career was stagnant until former Mercury Records producer Shelby Singleton received a demo tape of Riley's voice. Singleton was starting and succeeding with his own label, Plantation Records, at the time. He worked with Riley in the recording of the Tom T. Hall demo song that Singleton saw potential in, "Harper Valley PTA." The record quickly became one of the best-known country music songs of all time.