Jeannie Seely
| Jeannie Seely | |
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Jeannie Seely in 2013
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Marilyn Jeanne Seely |
| Also known as | Miss Country Soul |
| Born | July 6, 1940 |
| Origin | Titusville, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Genres | Country, Nashville Sound, bluegrass |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, actress |
| Years active | 1966–present |
| Labels |
Monument Decca MCA Records Columbia Records |
| Associated acts | Jack Greene, Jan Howard, Dottie West, Connie Smith, Skeeter Davis, Dolly Parton |
| Website | www |
Marilyn Jeanne "Jeannie" Seely (born July 6, 1940) is an American country music singer and Grand Ole Opry star. She is best known for her 1966 Grammy award-winning country hit "Don't Touch Me", which peaked at No. 1 on the Record World and Cash Box country singles charts, and at No. 2 on Billboard.
Seely has produced numerous country hits, from the 1960s into the mid-1970s, including duets with Jack Greene like 1969's "I Wish I Didn't Have to Miss You". Seely has befriended many singers, musicians and songwriters in the country music field, including Jan Howard and Dottie West.
Seely was born in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in 1940. She was the youngest of four children. Growing up, Seely, along with her siblings and parents, lived in a two-story farmhouse, which still exists today in her hometown. Her musical influences partially came from her parents, Leo and Irene. Leo played the banjo on the weekends and also called local square dances. Seely's mother Irene sang with her daughter every Saturday morning while they baked bread together. She started listening to the weekly broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry at age 11. By the time she was 16, Seely appeared on television station WICU in Erie, Pennsylvania. While in high school, she was an honors student and was also a cheerleader. After she graduated high school in 1958, Seely worked in her hometown's bank. She also did night courses at America's Institute of Banking. At age 21, Seely packed up everything she owned and moved to California. She first started working at a Beverly Hills bank, but left after a year and worked for half the money as a secretary at Liberty and Imperial Records in Hollywood, California.
Seely also at this time started working for Four Star Records (a record company Patsy Cline once recorded for), where she began her career as a songwriter. The R&B artist Irma Thomas recorded one of her songs called "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is", that became a bigpop hit for her. Seely also appeared as a regular act on the program Hollywood Jamboree with Glen Campbell, who was a rising country music star at the time. Finally, Seely got a recording contract of her own from Challenge Records. Songwriter Hank Cochran was impressed with Seely's talents and thought she should move to Nashville to pursue a career in country music, but Seely didn't think she was ready yet. Upon the encouragement of country singer Dottie West (who also recorded one of her songs), she finally took Cochran's advice in 1965 and moved to Nashville.
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