Topic: Tanya Tucker

Tanya Denise Tucker (pronounced /ˈtænjə ˈtʌkər/; 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 Ten and Top 40 hits. She has produced a long string of successful albums, several nominations for awards from the Country Music Association, and hit songs that includes 1973's "What's Your Mama's Name?" and "Blood Red and Going Down," 1975's "Lizzie and the Rainman," and 1988's "Strong Enough to Bend".

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

Meanwhile, the Tuckers moved again, this time to Saint George, Utah, and there Tanya's mother, Juanita, took her daughter to audition for the film Jeremiah Johnson. Tanya did not win the bigger role she tried out for, but she was hired as a bit player. At about this time she also got one of her first musical breaks, due to the dedication of her father. He drove Tanya and the rest of 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 people, and she went on to sing at the fair itself.