Tanya Tucker

Tanya Tucker
Tanya Tucker in 1973
Background information
Birth name	Tanya Denise Tucker
Born	(1958-10-10) October 10, 1958 (age 58) Seminole, Texas, U.S.
Genres	Country, Outlaw country
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, acoustic guitar
Years active	1972–present
Labels	Tuckertime, Liberty, Capitol Nashville, Arista. MCA, Columbia, Saguaro Road
Associated acts	LaCosta Tucker

Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958, in Seminole, Texas) is an American country music artist who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. Over the succeeding decades, Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature into adulthood without losing her audience, and during the course of her career, she notched a streak of top-10 and top-40 hits. She has had several successful albums, several Country Music Association award nominations, and hit songs such as 1973's "What's Your Mama's Name?" and "Blood Red and Goin' Down", 1975's "Lizzie and the Rainman", and 1988's "Strong Enough to Bend".

Tucker was the youngest of four children born to Jesse "Beau" and Juanita Tucker. Her father was a heavy equipment operator, and the family moved often as he sought better work. Tanya's early childhood was spent primarily in Willcox, Arizona, where the only radio station in town played country music. The Tuckers attended concerts of country stars such as Ernest Tubb and Mel Tillis, and Tanya's sister LaCosta was praised in the family for her vocal abilities. At the age of eight, Tanya told her father that she also wanted to be a country singer when she grew up.

When the Tuckers moved to St. George, Utah, Juanita took Tanya to audition for the film Jeremiah Johnson. Tanya did not win the bigger role for which she tried out, but she was hired as a bit player. About this time, she also got one of her first musical breaks, when her father drove the family to Phoenix for the Arizona State Fair, on the chance that the featured performer, country singer Judy Lynn, could use Tanya in her show. Tanya sang for the fair's entertainment managers, and she was engaged to sing at the fair itself.