Dottie West queen of Country Sunshine died Wednesday morning, sept.4, of injuries sustained in a one-car crash while enroute to the Grand Ole Opry. The 58-year old singer/songwritter’s death occurred on the operating table at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville while undergoing surgery to repair her damaged liver. An Opry member since 1964, west had been on her way to the WSM broadcast when her borrowed Chrysler New Yorker broke down. Reportedly, George W. Thackston, 81, offered the entertainer a lift to the Opry but apparently lost control of his vehicle while attempting to negotiate the entrance ramp to the opryland area. Police said they suspected speed was the main factor in the crash, witch occurred at 8.11p.m. just minutes before she was slated to step into the spotlight. Official reports indicate Thackston was driving about 55 miles per hour in a 25 miles per hour posted zone. His car left the ramp travelling about 180 feet across a grassy area, striking an embankment, and then hydroplaned about 80 feet in the air before taking a nosedive in the north shoulder of the ramp, according to the police accident

statements. Thackston was given a blood alcohol test following the crash. The results are not expected to b available for a few more weeks, police say. He suffered a dislocated hip, a severed artery and multiple fractures. Dottie West’s injuries had included a ruptured spleen and liver, neck damage, low blood pressure and shock. Her liver injury proved to be the most problematic, prompting three separate surgeries. Six weeks earlier (July 19) the star had suffered a nose injury in a minor accident while she was driving, also enroute to an Opry performance. In recent years the glamorous redhead had been plagued by the FBI for alleged criminal conduct in her bankruptcy case. During summer 1990, West was evicted from her Nashville mansion and had her car repossessed after it was revealed she owed Uncle Sam more than $1.5 million in taxes and numerous creditors close to $1.million more. The singer filed for relief under chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection in August 1990. Later, a court official discovered “concealed" of West’s, witch led to public auction and a federal

investigation of possible fraudulent intent. The vocalist claimed to be a victim of a bogus investment adviser who placed her fortune in shady deals: ‘’ I supposedly had a diamond mine in Russia, according to the record. It was one of nine investments made on my behalf, all of which turned out to be fraudulent.’’ Dottie West was born Dorothy Marie Marsh, Oct. 11, 1932, near McMinnville, Tennessee. The eldest of 10 children, this farmer’s daughter started singing in the southern Baptist Church her family attended. Dottie graduated from high school in McMinnville, then moved on to Cookeville, Tenn. Were she attended Tennessee Tech University majoring in music. In her second year of college, she married Bill West, a steel guitar picker, who was studying to be an electrical engineer. Bill west organised a country band called the Tech Two-By-Fours for which he engaged Dottie as lead vocalist. While at Cookeville, West landed a live broadcast stint on station WHUB. Upon graduation, Bill and Dottie West moved to Cleveland, Ohio, were he worked as an engineer. Her musical desire was as strong ever, however, and she soon passed an audition for a weekend country show, ‘landmark Jamboree’, beamed on WEWS-TV in Cleveland. She and Bill became successful act in arena night spots during their five years in Ohio. In 1959,s he signed her first record pact with starday. Before long the West’s were signed as writers to Tree Music

Publishing in Nashville. Then followed a brief stint with Atlantic Records before West scored with Is This Me?, a hit for Jim Reeves on RCA which peaked at umber three on the country charts early in 1963. In turn, Reeves recommended that Chet Atkins sign West to RCA. As a singer, West’s first Billboard charted single was Let Me Off At The Corner, Nov.30, 1963, which peaked at 29. She fared much better in march 1964 with her second single, love Is No Excuse, a duet with Jim Reeves that became her first Top 10record. It also crossed over into the pop charts. Her second Top 10, co-written with Bill West, was Here Comes My Baby, the milestone cut that garnered her a coveted Grammy Award and helped inspire the Opry management to issue an invitation to join that historic program. Despite that impressive start, Dottie West chalked up only two solo Top 10s during the remainder of the 1960s: Would You Hold It Against Me 91966) and Paper Masions (1967). In 1969, however, teamed with Don Gibson, she enjoyed a near chart-topper on Rings Of Gold. The following year they duplicated their success with a duet, There’s A Story Going Around. In 1969, following 17 years of marriage and four children (Kerry, Morris, Shelly and Dale) she and Bill were divorced. Her career was in a slump when she began a series of Coca-Cola commercials which led to Country Sunshine, a song co-wrote, that catapulted her to number two spot on the Billboard’s country chart in 1973. It also crossed over into the pop chart. That success was followed by the Top 10 single, Last time I Saw him. By now, West had become a Last Vegas attraction where she appeared with Jimmy Dean (and did a duet recording with him on Slowly). In 1973, Dottie raised eyebrows when she wed drummer Byron Metcalf who was a dozen years younger than her. Behind the scenes, West was becoming known for offering

a helping hand to up-and-coming entertainers, notably Jeannie Seely, Larry Gatlin and Steve wariner. Another fan of West’s was Kenny Rogers. He agreed to do a duet with the lady who, by now, had left RCA and was on Rogers’ label United Artists. The result was the smash, Every Time Two fools Collide, which gave Dottie her first number one record. She had a modest success on her first solo UA chart venture, When It’s Just You And Me, a Top 20. West’s paring with Rogers produced two additional chart toppers, All I Ever Need Is You and What Are we doing In Love, plus two top fives: Anyone Who Isn’t Me tonight and Till I Can Make it On My own. This handsome duo was clearly on a roll, winning CMA Duet of the Year in both 1978 and 1979. In addition, West scored her first solo number one with the crossover success, A Lesson In Leaving’, on UA in 1980. Later that year, on Liberty, she released her second solo number one, Are You Happy baby? Clearly, in 1981, Dottie West was at the top. Her private life, however, was a shambles as she divorced Metcalf that same year. Careerwise, she was flying high, commanding engagements in the best arenas and attracting invitations in guest star on such highly-rated shows as Johnny Carson’s ‘Tonight’ and the Dinah!’ (shore) programs. In 1982, she was signed for her first legitimate theater production to star in the touring stage show, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, playing Miss Mona, madam of a bawdy house. Then, on June 18, 1983, she startled her friends and fans by marrying Alan C.

Winter, a sound-and-light man some 20 years her junior. Meanwhile, her daughter Shelly was stealing some of Mom’s thunder via a series of duets with Davis Frizzell, notably You’re The Reason God Made Oklahoma, A Texas State Of mind, Another Honky Tonk Night On Broadway and I Just Came Here To Dance. West was thrilled by her offspring’s success though she herself would never again chart a Top 10 record. Her last success was a Top 20, Together Again, with Kenny Rogers on Liberty in 1984. In that same year she made a move to the independent Permian label were her releases included the single We Know Better Now and the album Just Dottie. The country queen has recorded 43 albums in all. On Billboard, the trade bible, she has charted more than 70 songs, attaining some 25 Top 20 singles, seven of which climbed onto the pop lists. Dottie West leaves a proud legacy. Besides her stage legacy, she guest starred in the feature films Second Fiddle To A Steel guitar and There’s A Still On the Hill, and helped establish a Dottie West Scholarship Fund at her Tennessee Tech alma mater. She toured overseas 10 times and was rapturously welcomed at the Wembley and Peterborough Country Music Festivals in England. On Jan 29, 1990, she divorced Alan Winters. Booker Bobby Roberts teamed mother and daughter for a series of concerts in 1989. Despite Dottie West’s lack of recording success in her late years, she was often in the headlines as a result of her personal; and financial troubles.