This week we welcome, country music stars, Leona Williams and Aaron Tippin!
Leona Williams was destined to become a Country Music Entertainer. She landed her first radio show at the age of 15, simply called "Leona Sings" in Jefferson City, Missouri. That journey would take her all over the world and allow her to sing before thousands and thousands of Country Music fans.
Leona moved to Nashville in the late 1960s from a small town in Missouri called Vienna, and was soon recording for Hickory Records with such hits as "Once More" and "Yes Ma'am, He Found Me In A Honky Tonk". Since then, Leona has traveled worldwide and opened shows for some of country music's top entertainers and made numerous personal appearances at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
Leona later teamed up with Merle Haggard for a top ten duet called "The Bull and the Beaver" and a duet album followed called HEART TO HEART. During this time, she would write some of Merle's biggest hits including "You Take Me For Granted" and "Someday When Things Are Good."
Leona, a Missouri native, was inducted into the Country Music Association of Texas Hall of Fame in 1999. She was also honored with the prestigious George D. Hay Award in 2002 and was also inducted into the Missouri Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2011, Leona was awarded "Entertainer of the Year" by R.O.P.E. (Reunion of Professional Entertainers).
Whether in a recording studio, dance or concert hall or on stage at the Grand Ole Opry, Leona Williams always gives her very best to her fans and her music. She definitely presents a special class to the world of Country Music.
For more information visit her website: LeonaWilliams.com.
Aaron Tippin was part of the commercial explosion of new traditionalist country in the early '90s, making his name with a mixture of macho, rowdy honky tonkers, sentimental ballads, and patriotic working-man's anthems.
He was born in Pensacola, Florida, in 1958 and grew up mostly on a family farm near Greer, South Carolina, where he first started singing to pass the time while doing chores. He started playing guitar at age ten but also inherited a love of flying from his father, who'd worked as a pilot prior to becoming a farmer. Aaron earned his pilot's license at 15 and began flying professionally before the age of 20. He was studying to become a commercial airline pilot when the industry took a major downturn, which convinced him to return to music. He played the local honky tonk circuit and worked on his songwriting while holding a series of blue-collar day jobs. Unfortunately, his marriage broke up, and with nothing to lose, he finally moved to Nashville in 1986. He landed a job as a staff songwriter at the
legendary Acuff-Rose firm, where his compositions were recorded by the likes of Charley Pride, Mark Collie, and David Ball, among others. In 1990, his demo tape landed him a contract with RCA.
Aaron’s debut album, “You've Got to Stand for Something”, was released in 1991; its title cut became a Top Ten smash in the wake of the Persian Gulf War, and Tippin was invited along on Bob Hope's USO tour. His second album, 1992's “Read Between the Lines”, was a million-selling Top Ten smash, producing three Top Ten singles in "I Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way," "My Blue Angel," and his first number one, "There Ain't Nothing Wrong with the Radio." 1993's “The Call of the Wild” underlined his penchant for rabble-rousing anthems like "Honky Tonk Superman," the Top Ten "Working Man's Ph.D.," and the Top 20 title cut. The following year's “Lookin' Back At Myself” was less successful, but 1995's “Tool Box” returned him to the top of the singles charts with "That's as Close as I'll Get to Loving You." He also remarried that same year.
Around 2000 “People Like Us”, became his first album to make the country Top Five, thanks to the