Born Lula Grace Johnson in West Plains, Missouri, this day in 1930. Married at age fifteen, Jan had three sons before she turned twenty. After two divorces, she headed to Los Angeles in 1955 and took on jobs as a waitress and a secretary. A chance meeting with aspiring songwriter Harlan Howard resulted in a Las Vegas wedding just one month later. One evening while Jan was washing dishes, Harlan came in the room unexpectedly and heard her singing for the very first time. Harlan coaxed Jan to make a demo tape of his song Mommy For A Day which went on to become a hit for Kitty Wells. Jan later sang demos for other artists like Tex Ritter, Johnny Bond, Ned Miller, and Buck Owens. She also recorded the original demo of the Patsy Cline classic, I Fall To Pieces. Backed by Wynn Stewarts band, Jan released Harlans Pick Me Up On Your Way Down in 1959. She subsequently recorded several duets with Wynn including Yankee Go Home and Wrong Company. In 1960, Jan scored her first solo Top Ten hit with The One You Slip Around With. That same year, the Howards moved to Nashville and Jan made her first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. In 1960, the Howards (Jan and Harlan married within a few months after they first met) went to Nashville; there, Jan appeared on the Prince Albert Show segment of the Grand Ole Opry. Later that year, the Howards moved to Nashville permanently. In 1962, she charted with I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again and issued an eponymous album. In 1964 Jans career exploded and in 1965, she reached the Top 30 with What Makes a Man Wander? Later that year, Howard joined Bill Andersons touring and television shows. In 1966, she and Anderson scored two hits with In Know Youre Married (But I Love You Still) and Time Out. She then scored a Top Five hit with her solo Evil on Your Mind. Her next hit was Bad Seed, and towards the end of the year, she had her number one hit with For Loving You, a duet with Anderson. Jan not only recorded songs, but wrote them as well. She penned the 1966 Kitty Wells hit Its All Over But The Crying and Bill Andersons 1970 hit Love Is A Sometimes Thing, as well as her own singles Marriage Has Ruined More Good Love Affairs (1971) and The Life Of A Country Singer (1981). Jan and Bill co-wrote Connie Smiths hit I Never Once Stopped Loving You. Together with Jans son Carter, they co-wrote their own 1972 hit Dis-Satisfied. Jans proudest composition is 1968s My Son, a moving recitation that began as a letter to her son in Vietnam. Jans plea for the safe return of her son Jimmy had been released for two weeks when he was killed. Thousands of letters from soldiers and their parents subsequently poured in to Jan. Recent world events have renewed interest in the song, which Jan has performed in response to several requests. Four years after Jimmys death in Vietnam, Jan lost her youngest son David. Jan softened the edges of tragedy with her strong faith in God and her belief that there is a reason for everything. In 1987 Jan released her candid, compelling, and best-selling autobiography titled Sunshine and Shadow. The outline for the book was actually a song called My Story which Jan composed during a low point in her life. Through good and bad Jan has learned to take life one day at a time and roll with the punches, she give her view about living as follows----Never Let Yesterday Use Up Today has been one of Jans mottos for years. You cant change the past, she explains, so learn from it, cherish the good, and go on from there. This is not a rehearsal; this is the show and there are no retakes. In just 14 more days Jan will be celebrating her 42nd anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry!!! Happy Birthday Jan, thank you for all the songs, all the laughter and all the tears---you know every word I said is true, after all Im the......
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 17:57:02 +0000
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