Billie Jo Spears

Country singer Billie Jo Spears’s first record, "Too Old For Toys, Too Young For Boys," earned her $4,200 at the age of 15, but she did not record regularly until she signed with United Artists Recordsa few years later in 1964. She had a string of hits before (and after) scoring a transatlantic smash with "Blanket On The Ground." Her blues-soaked cover version of"‘Heartbreak Hotel" was cancelled in 1977 because she did not want to exploit Elvis Presley’s death. Her career slowed down in the '80s, but, despite undergoing triple bypass surgery, Spears made a welcome return to recording and performing in the mid-'90s.