On This Day in Country Music

1921: American bluegrass-based country music entertainer Wilma Lee Cooper is born in Valley Head, West Virginia. Wilma Lee partnered with Stoney Cooper in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s for tremendous success, scoring seven hit records between 1956-1961, and four top ten hits on the Billboard charts, including “Big Midnight Special” and “There’s a Big Wheel.” Wilma Lee Cooper died Sept 13, 2011 at the age of 90.

1962: Country superstar Garth Brooks is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Brooks would later become the biggest selling artist of the 90’s with over 60 million sales. According to the RIAA he is the second best-selling solo albums artist in the United States of all time behind Elvis Presley (overall is third to the Beatles and Elvis Presley) with 128 million units sold.

Also in 1962: Patsy Cline (pictured) makes her debut on Pet Milk Grand Ole Opry as she performs her 1961 Top 10 hit “Crazy” as well as her 1962 hit “She’s Got You”. Many people don’t know that “Crazy” was penned by singer/songwriter Willie Nelson, who would also go on to achieve major success in his own right.

1971: Dolly Parton rocks the country nation as “Joshua” rockets to #1 on the country chart. “Joshua” would be Parton’s first of many singles to reach #1 on the US country charts.

1989: Randy Travis sits at #1 on the US country album chart with his third album Old 8 x 10, which featured the three #1 country singles: “Honky Tonk Moon”, “Deeper Than the Holler”, “Is It Still Over” The album later earned Travis three American Music Awards for Favorite Country Male Artist, Favorite Country Album, and Favorite Country Single (“Deeper Than the Holler”).

1995: Shania Twain releases her second studio album “The Woman in Me”, which went onto become her biggest-selling recording at the time of its release, selling 4 million copies by the end of the year.