On this day (October 11) in 1932, Dottie West was born in Frog Pond, Tennessee. She found success as a songwriter before becoming a hit recording artist. West was the first woman to win a Grammy in a country music category. Later in her career, she wrote several jingles for Coca-Cola. She turned one of the jingles, “Country Sunshine,” into a major country hit. She also recorded several hit duets with Jim Reeves, Don Gibson, and Kenny Rogers.
Dorothy Marie Marsh married guitarist Bill West in 1953, when she was 19. Soon, they relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, and she landed a spot on the local TV show Landmark Jubilee as half of the Kay-Dots with Kathy Dee. By this time, she was going by Dottie West and had her eyes on stardom.
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According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Wests traveled to Nashville every weekend to build relationships in the music industry. In 1959, West inked a deal with Starday Records, but found no real success. Two years later, the couple moved to Nashville. Before long, she signed her second record deal, this time with Atlantic Records. Despite the backing of a major label, she saw no chart success.
Dottie West Catches a Break
Things turned around for West in 1963, when Jim Reeves made her song “Is This Me” a hit. Reeves made Chet Atkins at RCA aware of West, and he signed her. Later that year, she released her first RCA single “Let Me Off at the Corner.” It went to No. 29. She followed that with “Here Comes My Baby” the next year. It peaked at No. 10 and won Best Female Country Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards. It made West the first woman to win an award in one of the newly established country music categories.
West had several more hits throughout the 1960s. She reached the top 10 with “Love Is No Excuse,” a duet with Jim Reeves. She and Don Gibson cracked the top 10 twice. First, they reached No. 2 with “Rings of Gold.” Then, they sent “There’s a Story (Goin’ ‘Round)” to No. 7.
In the late 1970s and early ’80s, West scored several hits with Kenny Rogers, including three chart-toppers–“Every Time Two Fools Collide,” What Are We Doin’ in Love,” and “All I Ever Need Is You.”
Dottie West scored two solo chart-toppers as well. They both came in 1980. First, she hit No. 1 with “A Lesson in Leavin’.” Then, she took “Are You Happy, Baby” to No. 1 later in the year.
“Country Sunshine”
Dottie West released “Country Girl” in 1968. It was a modest hit, peaking at No. 15 on the country chart. It didn’t make huge waves in Nashville. However, the song caught the attention of executives at Coca-Cola. In 1970, they asked her to write a jingle based on “Country Girl.” The result was “Country Sunshine,” one of the most popular jingles of the decade.
The ad campaign was so popular that West chose to record a full-length version of “Country Sunshine” and release it as a single in 1973. It peaked at No. 2, giving West her biggest solo hit at the time. Moreover, it helped renew interest in her music and gave her next few singles a little more momentum.
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