Jeannie C. Riley

Riley was born in Anson, Texas, United States.[3] As a teenager, she married Mickey Riley and gave birth to a daughter, Kim Michelle Riley, on January 11, 1966.[1] The family moved to Nashville, Tennessee, after receiving a letter from Weldon Myrick, who heard a demo tape of Riley's and believed she could be successful.[1] Riley worked as a secretary for Passkey Music in Nashville while recording demos on the side.[4]

Riley's career was stagnant until former Mercury Records producer Shelby Singleton received a demo tape of Riley's voice.[3] Singleton's fledgling label Plantation Records was starting to enjoy success. Seeing potential in the Tom T. Hall demo song "Harper Valley PTA", Singleton worked with Riley to record it. [4] The record quickly became one of the best-known country music songs of all time. Riley was the first woman to hold the Number 1 spot on the pop and country charts with the same song.[5]

"Harper Valley PTA" was released in 1968 and immediately became a hit. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Songs charts,[2] a feat not repeated by a female artist until Dolly Parton's 1981 hit "9 to 5". The song is about Mrs. Johnson, a widowed woman who confronts members of the PTA after her daughter brings home a note from school critical of her mother's penchant for miniskirts and dating various men. Mrs. Johnson turns the tables on the PTA and exposes its hypocrisy one member at a time, noting that their private behavior is far worse than hers.

Riley became an overnight sensation as the single earned her the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and was named the Country Music Association Single of the Year. Riley also became one of the few country artists ever nominated in the major pop Grammy Award categories of "Best New Artist" and "Record of the Year". The single sold over five and a half million copies worldwide and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. just four weeks after its release. The album of the same name sold over one million units to earn Riley another gold record.[6]

The song's success helped Riley make country music history in 1969 as the first female vocalist to have her own major network variety special, Harper Valley U.S.A., which she hosted with Jerry Reed. The show featured performances by Mel Tillis and the song's writer, Tom T. Hall.[7]

The song spawned a 1978 film and a 1981-82 television series, both titled Harper Valley PTA and starring Barbara Eden as the widow Mrs. Johnson.[3]

During the late 1960s and into the very early 1970s, Riley ranked among the most popular female vocalists in the country music industry. She had five Grammy Award nominations and four Country Music Association nominations, and performed a duet with Loretta Lynn. She had success on the country charts again, but on a lesser scale.

Other hits following "Harper Valley PTA" include "The Girl Most Likely," "There Never Was A Time," "The Rib," "The Back Side of Dallas," "Country Girl," "Oh Singer," and "Good Enough to Be Your Wife."[3]

Riley became known as much for her sex appeal and beauty as for her music, foreshadowing Shania Twain and other contemporary female vocalists by nearly three decades. At a time when many country queens were keeping a wholesome image by wearing gingham dresses, Riley kept in tune with typical late-1960s fashion by donning miniskirts and go-go boots for her stage outfits (somewhat in the character of the protagonist in "PTA").[3] Her mod persona opened doors (and perhaps started a sexual revolution) in country music, as hemlines of other female country artists' stage outfits began rising in the years that followed. But Riley was not comfortable with that image, and she eventually abandoned it for a more traditional wardrobe (floor-length gowns and ankle-length dresses typically worn by other female country artists). In the 1993 CBS documentary, The Woman of Country, she noted that during the "Harper Valley" period, her publicist and manager were largely responsible for creating and playing up her sexy image (matching the character pictured on the "Harper Valley" album cover).

Riley's success brought a number of offers from Hollywood, and she appeared with Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Bette Davis, Tom Jones, Ed Sullivan and others on various television programs.[5]

Riley left Plantation Records for MGM Records in 1972, recording several albums, but only two of her singles from the period, "Good Morning Country Rain" and "Give Myself A Party," cracked the top 30. Later stints at Mercury Records and Warner Bros. Records produced only a couple of charted singles, but she remained in demand as a concert artist well into the 1980s.

Riley became a born-again Christian and began recording gospel music in the mid-1970s.[9] As result of her conversion, she distanced herself from "PTA" for a time due to its content. The song remained part of her live set, however, and she still performs it in her shows. She published her 1980 autobiography, From Harper Valley to the Mountain Top, which told the story of pop-music stardom and later move to gospel music.[3] Riley released a gospel album with the same title in 1981.[3]

Jeannie and Mickey Riley divorced in 1970 at the height of her career.[3] Following her shift from country music to gospel, they remarried in 1975 and settled in Franklin, Tennessee. After the release of her autobiography, From Harper Valley to the Mountaintop, and a gospel album of the same name in 1980, she suffered a bout of depression and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The Rileys divorced again in 1991. Two years later, Mickey moved back in to help Jeannie battle depression—an arrangement that continued until he remarried three years later. Jeannie married Billy Starnes, a childhood friend, in 2012.[10]

Riley sued Big Lots' parent company, Consolidated Stores Corporation, for $250,000 in 2003 after suffering from a fall the previous year. Riley stated that injuries from the fall kept her from performing and resulted in lasting disability.[11]

In 2019, Riley was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame.[17]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jeannie C. Riley.

• Jeannie C. Riley at IMDb
• Jeannie C. Riley at AllMusic
• Donna O’Neil, 15 August 2012 From 'Harper Valley' to happiness: Jeannie C. Riley has a new lease on life and a new-old love Williamson Herald
• Katie Stavinoha Jeannie C. Riley Journeys From Harper Valley to Brenham Roundtop.com