Singer's private life

matches angel image

By Amy Longsdorf

Allentown Morning Call

With a life more compelling than

most soap operas and a career

filled with professional achieve-

ments, it should come as no sur-

prise that Barbara Mandrell is cur-

rently at work on an autobiography.

The book, to be published by Ban-

tam and tentatively titled "Never

Say Never," is occupying a lot of

Mandrell's time these days.

"I thought all along I would write

it completely by myself," she said

during a recent telephone interview.

"But right now is an incredibly

busy time. I may have to hire a co-

writer so I'll have somebody to kick

me and say 'Hey, you haven't writ-

ten anything in a week.'"

With a recently released LP,

"Sure Feels Good." on the Bill-

board magazine charts, a tour to

support the LP under way, an en-

gagement in Las Vegas coming up,

and work on several TV projects to

be completed this month and next,

Mandrell is not exaggerating when

she claims to be busy. Her latest

LP, her first for her new label Capi-

tol, has yielded three successful sin-

gles   so   far:   "Child   Support,"

"Angels Love Bad Men" and the

title track.

"I received a lot of marvelous

songs for the album, but I was flat-

tered and honored that Waylon Jen-

nings and Roger Murrah wrote

'Angels Love Bad Men' for me,"

Mandrell said.

"I mentioned to WayIon that a lot

of people think of Barbara Mandrell

as an angel and Waylon Jennings as

a bad man so I said. 'Would you do

a guest appearance?' I was really

pleased that he wanted to sing with

me on the song."

Though image and reality rarely

coincide in the show business world.

Mandrell's case may be one of the

exceptions. In conversation, she is

warm and friendly. How did the

blonde-haired, blue-eyed Mandrell

get to be so nice? For one thing, she

spent her childhood years happily

and productively.

Born Dec. 25 in Houston. Texas,

into a musical family, Mandrell was

proficient on the steel guitar, saxo-

phone and accordion before she

turned 13. When she was 11, her fa-

ther, a music store owner, asked

her to demonstrate the steel guitar

at a music trade show in Chicago.

Barbara Mandrell

Her playing so impressed conven-

tion guests Chet Arkins and Joe

Maphis, that Maphis asked Man-

drell to join his traveling road

show. At Las Vegas' Showboat

Hotel, the child prodigy began her

career as an entertainer.

Following her work with the

Maphis show was a short concert

tour with Johnny Cash, June Car-

ter, George Jones and Patsy Cline.

"I had just turned 13 and Patsy

Cline put me under her wing," Man-

drell said. "We each had separate

rooms in the hotel and she said to

me. 'Oh no, you'll stay with me.'

"We went shopping one day and

she had her hair done and hated it.

I don't know how to put this modest-

ly, but I have always been good

with hair. So I said, 'Miss Cline, I

can comb it for you,' and I guess

just to be nice she allowed me to.

Well, she loved it; so everyday I

combed her hair for her before the

show. It was only 12 days on the

road. but I treasure those memo-

ries."

After her stint on the road, she

and her parents formed their own

band -- The Mandrells, which in the

years to come would tour the

United States, Asia and Europe.

One of the musicians the Mandrells

hired to join their band was drum-

mer Ken Dudney. In 1967, after sev-

eral years of an off-again, on-again

relationship, Mandrell and Dudney

married.

When her husband joined the Air

Force and was sent overseas in the

late 1960s Mandrell decided to re-

tire from show business. One night,

though, when she and her parents

were visiting the Grand Ole Opry,

Barbara remembers turning to her

father and saying, "I wasn't cut out

to be in the audience." Thus Barba-

ra Mandrell, the entertainer, was

born again,

Soon after her decision to return

to music, she signed with CBS Re-

cords and cut her first record, a

cover version of Otis Redding's

powerful soul classic, "I've Been

Loving You Too Long."

In the years to come, Mandrell

would have much more to be proud

of. Her husky, mellow voice lent it-

self to torchy material and she had

hits with numerous rhythm and

blues flavored songs:   "Midnight

Oil," "Married But Not To Each

Other" and "Woman To Woman"

among others. In 1979, after the

crossover success of "Sleeping Sin-

gle In A Double Bed," Mandrell re-

ceived the Country Music Associa-

tion's "Female Vocalist Of The

Year Award."

It was also in 1979 that TV

producer Marty Kroft suggested to

Mandrell that she consider the idea

of starring in a weekly variety se-

ries for NBC-TV. "Barbara Man-

drell and the Mandrell Sisters"

helped expose the talented family to

a wider audience. After two years,

though, Mandrell began to feel the

strain the show was putting on her

voice. Following doctor's orders,

she retired the series.