With a successful career spanning 33 years Dottie West released 41 albums, she has charted more than 70 songs, attaining 5 No.1 singles, 45 reached the top 40, 26 reached the top 20, 15 reached the top 10, and 10 reached the top five. She was nominated for 16 grammy and became the first woman in Country Music to win one. Her song "Here Comes My Baby" has been recorded by 100 artists, providing gold records for Perry Como and Lou Martin. More than several BMI writer's awards. A life-time contract as the "Coca-Cola ambassadoress." A cleo award for one of the dozen Coke commercials she has written. And dozens more achivemnts. Dottie West was born Dorothy Marie Marsh on October 11th 1932 in McMinnville, Tennessee. She was the oldest of 10 brothers and sisters (Dottie, Ozie, Waunell, Kelton, Betty, Barbara, Owen, Edith, Diane and Everett)born to Hollis and Pelina Marsh. Through her childhood Dottie lived through poverty and sexual abuse from the hands of her own farther. Dottie’s mother Pelina said, “She shared the many daily farm chores which were necessary in order to survive on the meagre acreage farmed by the family. Although just a youngster, she handled a man-sized load of work ranging from picking cotton to stripping sorghum cane, not to mention the many back-breaking treks to the spring to wash the family clothes and to keep good supply of drinking and cooking water for a dozen people. Dottie had dreams and theses dreams were to sing on The Grand Ole Opry and to have a mansion on the hill. She later went to Tennessee Tech. It was at to Tennessee Tech she met and fell in love with a man called Bill West. In June 1953 the couple married. They had four children together, Morris, Kerry, Shelly and Dale, who are musical in their own right. After graduation Dottie and Bill moved to Cleveland, Ohio. They landed a job on a Country Music television show called:The Landmark Jamboree. In 1959 Don Pierce signed Dottie to Starday Records. Her first single was “Angel On Paper.” After Opry manager Ott Devine heard the single he invited Dottie to perform on the Grand Ole Opry. It was at the Grand Ole Opry, Dottie met, her singing idol, the late and great Patsy Cline. Dottie and Patsy became very close friends. I’ll never forget one night,” Dottie once recalled, “Patsy would use me a lot on the road, a lot of times just to be nice, so we’d have extra income, and one night we were in her car going down to a big show in Montgomery, Ala when all of a sudden we picked up Wheeling, West VA., on the radio, and what do they say but, ‘Here’s Dottie West to sing I fall To Pieces’! they played that thing with me in that car with Patsy. I liked to have died. It was terrible. I hollered and did everything I could to keep her from hearing it. I’ve always been scared of singing her songs because she sang them just so great.” Saidly the friendship was cut short when Patsy was killed in a plane crash in 1963. Dottie and Bill moved to Nashville in 1961. In 1964, Dottie teamed up with Jim Reeves and they had a hugh hit with "Love Is No Excuse." That same year Dottie would hit the real big time when the Legendary Chet Atkins signed her to RCA Records and released the song “Here Comes My Baby.” The song became a hugh hit and won Dottie a Grammy. Dottie recalled “I received a letter saying that my song had been nominated in five different categories, well, I really didn’t know too much what went on at the presentations. We’d just come in off the road and the invitation was for that night, and I didn’t even know what to wear. I had to call a couple of girls to find out but I didn’t get real dressed up because I wasn’t expecting anything. Well, we went to the dinner, and there sat Skeeter Davis, Connie Smith and the other nominees. I was just sure that ‘Once A Day’ would get it because it had been such a big song, and I was just sitting there, when George Hamilton IV opened the envelope for the girl singer record of the year, and I was just waiting for him to say ‘Connie Smith’, so when he said ‘Dottie West’, I just liked to have died. I shouted out loud, not me. It took me a good while, even to get up out of the chair, and when I got up to the stage I couldn’t think of a thing to say.” She was the first woman in Country Music to win a Grammy. Here Comes My Baby is classified as a ‘Gold Standard’ by RCA Records, which means it will always be available as a single in Records stores. Also that same year she became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Dottie said, “one day, Ott Devine’s secretary Loraine, called and said, “Dottie, Ott wants to talk with you. Don’t mention to anyone that I’ve called, but just come to my office if you can, at nine 0’clock’.” Dottie said, “I went down and as I walked thru the door, there was photographers and I broke down and cried, because I just know that was it. He asked me to keep it a secret for three or four weeks until they made the announcement, and that was one of the biggest breaks and the hardest secrets I ever had to keep.” Many hits followed including “Paper Mansions,” “Last Time I Saw Him,” Country Girl,” “Love Is No Excuse (duet with Jim Reeves),” Rings Of Gold (duet with Don Gibson).” McMinnville established “Dottie West Day” an annual event when the town would honour the person city officials called “Warren County’s brightest star in the singing and recording field.” That big day in 1965 attracted more than 10,000 visitors. Riding in the parade through downtown that afternoon and appearing with the guest of honour in the Country Music show that night at the City’s stadium, were Grand Ole Opry stars Chet Atkins, The Wilburn Brothers, Bobby Lord, Minnie Pearl, Sonny James and Carl Perkins. In 1971 Dottie and Bill divorced and the following year she married her drummer Byron Metcalf who was 12 years younger. Dottie was the first woman in Country Music in 1972 to play the Las Vegas Strip. Elvis Presley who was good friends with Dottie attended her first show. And he returned the following night and Elvis even delayed his return to his home an extra day so that he could catch the show a second time. In 1973 she recorded a jingle for Coca-Cola called “Country Sunshine.” When the song was released it became a smash hit, it also crossed over to the POP charts. The song won Dottie a Clio award, again Dottie was the first woman in Country Music to be so honoured and the song became her signature song. In 1974, Billboard Magazine declared Dottie the Number One Female Writer in the United States and the Number One Female Performer in England in 1974. She also won the title of Country Music Artist Of The Year from the British Country Music Association twice in a row. In 1976 Dottie teamed up with Kenny Rogers and had a string of hits with him including “Everytime Two Fools Collide,” “Anyone Who Isn’t Me Tonight,” “What Are We Doing In Love,” "All I Ever Need Is You." The duo toured successfully together. They released two albums together “Everytime Two Fools Collide” and “Classics.” Both albums went gold and then the Classics album went platinum. They also won Vocal Duo Of The Year Award both in 1978 and 1979. The 80s were high times for Dottie West. She was selling millions of records worldwide and selling out concerts and winning awards like no other. Her touring schedule would see as many 300 concerts a year. Dottie soon moved into her mansion on the hill, and what a mansion it was! It had 40 bedrooms, a bowling alley, an elevator and a nursery for her granddaughters. Dottie invented the word Wild West! She was driving around Nashville in flashy cars and her Bob Mackie outfits would cost her $9,000 a costume. In 1983 Dottie married Alan Winters he was 22 years younger. Hit after Hit followed including “A Lesson In Leaving,” “Are You Happy Baby,” Leavins For Unbelievers” “When It’s Just You And Me.” She was appearing on all the top rated television shows such as Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous, Entertainment Tonight, The Love Boat and Nashville Now. She also was the first grandmother to appear in the mens magazine "QUI." She was also starring in movies,on Broadway and hosting TV shows. She was having the time of her life! In 1984 saw the release of her last album “Just Dottie.” In August 1990 Dottie invited Entertainment Tonight to her home to announce she was broke. She was openly crying in front of the cameras of Entertainment Tonight. She owed the IRS $1,3 million and millions of dollars to other creditors. She did not have the money so the IRS took everything she owned and evicted her from her mansion on the hill. Dottie was a strong woman. She told a reporter for the Tennessee; “You Can knock me down…but you better have a big rock to keep me down.” She continued to tour. In 1991 things looked up for Dottie. In July Dottie recorded a duet with Norwegian Country singer, Arne Benoni. The song "As For Me" saidly would be the last song she would record. She was planning a comeback. She was planning to record a new album and started writing her autobiography. On August 30th 1991, Dottie was scheduled to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. Her car given to her by Kenny Rogers wouldn’t start and her 81 year old neighbour, George Thackson helped her get it going. On her way to the Opry, the car stalled in front of the old Belle Mead Theatre on Harding Road, Dottie, wearing her stage costume, flagged down a passing car to ask for a lift to the Opry. A car finally stopped and the driver was her neighbour, George. Trying to make up for lost time, George accelerated the car to 55mph. The car speed limit was for this area was just 25. Whilst turning off at the Briley Parkway exit to Opryland the vehicle left the roadway and travelled along a grassed verge for 10ft before striking an embankment upon striking an embankment to car was propelled 80ft into the air before landing nose down in the north shoulder of the ramp. The accident occurred at 8:11pm, Dottie was to perform at 8:30pm. On this night the curtain would rise without Dottie West. They were taken to the emergency room of Vanderbilt Medical Centre in Nashville. George suffered, leg, back, hip and multiple fractures. Dottie however was in critical condition. Her injuries were, a sliced liver, neck damage, low blood pressure and shock. She received 35 units of blood and had two operations. Just before the third operation, Kenny Rogers visited Dottie and promised her they would record a song together. Dottie died on the operating table at 9:43am, heart failure, she was only 58. Dottie was laid out in Nashville’s Woodlawn Cemetery. Floral arrangements were received from virtually every Country Music star. Dottie was buried in Mount View Cemetery next to her mother in McMinnville. On July 30th 1993 a ceremony was held in McMinnville to dedicate Highway 56 from the McMinnville City Limits to Dekalb County as the Dottie West Memorial Highway. After Dottie’s death for two years McMinnville held a Dottie Wes Fest on her birthday. In 1995 a movie based on Dottie’s life starring Michele Lee as Dottie aired on CBS and became the highest rated movie that CBS has had in a long time. Also that year a book was released called "Country Sunshine: The Dottie West Story." In 2000, Dottie was honored at the BMI Golden Voice Awards with the Female Golden Legacy Award. She was only the second woman to win this award; her idol, Patsy Cline, was the first. Kenny Rogers said “What made Dottie West so unique is that when she sang about pain, she felt that pain, when she sang about love, she felt love, and when she sang about beauty, she felt beauty. While some performers sang words, she sang emotion.” Dottie West brought a ray of “Country Sunshine” to her many fans and she will forever be remembered. One of the world's most beloved personalities had come and gone in less than a lifetime of most of her fans, but she had left an indelible mark on show business history. There would never be another Dottie West.