Tanya Tucker is one of country music's most charismatic and controversial artists. And now a new exhibit - "Tanya Tucker: Strong Enough to Bend" - at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville will literally take visitors inside the singer's life and times.
The exhibit is set to open at the Hall of Fame on Nov. 14. Photos, artifacts and personal items will chronicle Tucker's career. The exhibit will run through May 2015.
Along with Brenda Lee before her, and LeAnn Rimes and Alison Krauss after her, Tucker is one of the few singers who made a significant impact on country music at a very young age. In Tucker's case, she was only 13 years old when her rich husky voice, confidence and grown-up attitude turned her version of "Delta Dawn" into a major hit, reports Radio.com.
Tucker assured her continuing success by releasing six consecutive Top 10 hits, including the No. 1s "What's Your Mama's Name," "Blood Red and Goin' Down," and "Would You Lay With Me (in a Field of Stone)." The narrative songs told daring stories that courted controversy, and Tucker's mature-beyond-her-years vocal style brought out the drama and emotion in each, according to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
The singer courted - and found - controversy in real life. Her sometimes tumultuous personal life has also been the subject of much coverage over the years, from her very public relationship with Glen Campbell - who was 22 years older than her - to her stint in the Betty Ford Center for treatment of substance abuse, reports Taste of Country.
Unlike many teen stars, Tucker maintained strong commercial appeal well into adulthood. She continued to chart throughout the 1980s and '90s with such songs as "Some Kind of Trouble," "Walking Shoes," "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane" (which won the ACM's Video of the Year in 1993) and the song that gave this exhibit its title, "Strong Enough to Bend." In 1994 she performed during the Super Bowl halftime show, and three years later she released her autobiography "Nickel Dreams: My Life," reports radio.com.
Tucker had developed a passion for acting as well. She was the lead in the made-for-TV film "Follow That Car" (1980) and co-starred in the 1981 film "Hard Country," which featured Jan-Michael Vincent, Kim Basinger and Daryl Hannah. She also starred in her own reality TV series, "Tuckerville," which aired on The Learning Channel from 2005-2006 with 31 episodes and featured the artist with her children, according to Biography.com.
