About Shelby Lynne
Shelby Lynne is an American singer and songwriter and the older sister of singer-songwriter Allison Moorer. The success of her pop rock album I Am Shelby Lynne led to her winning the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, despite it being her sixth studio album. She released a Dusty Springfield tribute album called Just a Little Lovin' in 2008. Since then she has started her own independent record label, called Everso Records, and released six albums: Tears, Lies and Alibis; Merry Christmas; Revelation Road; Thanks; I Can't Imagine; and Shelby Lynne. Lynne is also known for her distinctive contralto voice.
Shelby Lynne was born in Quantico, Virginia, and raised in Jackson, Alabama, then Mobile, where she attended Theodore High School. Music was an important part of the Moorer family. Her father was a local bandleader and her mother a harmony-singing teacher; as children, she and her younger sister Allison — later a country recording artist in her own right — sometimes joined their parents on-stage to sing along. However, Lynne's father was a violent alcoholic who abused his wife. In 1985, her mother fled with the two girls to Mobile. Her father soon discovered their whereabouts. In 1986, when Lynne was 17 and her sister was 14, he fatally shot her mother in the family's driveway. He then turned the gun on himself while his daughters were in the house.
Lynne appeared on TNN's country music show Nashville Now in 1987. She soon landed a recording contract with Epic Records. Her first recording for Epic was a duet with George Jones, "If I Could Bottle This Up", which became a top-50 hit in 1988. Epic teamed Lynne with producer Billy Sherrill for her 1989 debut album Sunrise. The follow-up, 1990's Tough All Over, took more of a mainstream country direction, and 1991's Soft Talk found Lynne moving into slick country pop.
Lynne placed several songs on the country charts during this period, but none managed to break into the top 20. Critics generally regarded her as a promising talent, and she won the Academy of Country Music Award for Top New Female Vocalist in 1991, beating the other two nominees Carlene Carter and Matraca Berg.
However, she was tiring of the lack of control she was afforded over her image and musical direction. She split from Epic and signed with the smaller Morgan Creek label, debuting with 1993's Temptation, an exercise in Bob Wills-style Western swing and big band jazz. The label folded not long after, and she moved on to Magnatone for 1995's Restless, which marked a return to contemporary-style country. Afterward, Lynne disappeared from recording for several years. One notable project that she assisted on was Vince Gill's 1996 High Lonesome Sound album, where she provided background, harmony vocals on the song "You And You Alone". Vince Gill and Shelby Lynne performed the song at the 1997 CMA awards show.
In 1998, Lynne moved to Palm Springs, California. For her next record, she worked with producer and songwriter Bill Bottrell. The result was the confessional and eclectic pop rock and blues-influenced album I Am Shelby Lynne. "That album came from the most vulnerable, desperate place," she recalled years later. "I think about it every day." Island Def Jam released the album in the U.K. during the fall of 1999 and then in the U.S. the following year, to wide critical acclaim. At the 43rd Grammy Awards, held on February 21, 2001, she won the award for Best New Artist. "Thirteen years and six albums to get here," said Lynne during her acceptance speech. One of the songs, "Dreamsome", also appeared on the soundtrack of the film Bridget Jones's Diary.
Her 2001 follow-up album Love, Shelby was produced by Glen Ballard and featured a slicker, more pop-influenced sound. The album received mixed reviews.
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