Many of us grow up listening to country music, which is also known as country and western, and hillbilly music. It is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern United States in the early 1920s. It takes its roots from genres such as American folk music and blues.
Dottie West (born Dorothy Marie Marsh; October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and fellow recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most influential and groundbreaking female artists. Dottie West's career started in the 1960s, with her Top 10 hit, "Here Comes My Baby Back Again", which won her a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1965, the first female in Country Music to receive a Grammy. In 2018, West was posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
On August 30, 1991, West was scheduled to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. Shortly after leaving her apartment at Nashville's Wessex Towers, West's car, a Chrysler New Yorker which Kenny Rogers had given to her following the loss of her possessions at the IRS auction, stalled in front of the old Belle Meade theater on Harding Road. West's 81-year-old neighbor, George Thackston, spotted her on the side of the road and offered to drive her to the Opry for her scheduled appearance. Frantic about getting to the Opry on time, West had urged Thackston to speed. On September 4, 1991, during her third operation after being involved in an auto accident, West died on the operating table at 9:43 a.m., at the age of 58.
West's funeral was held at Christ Church on Old Hickory Boulevard with 600 friends and family attendees. West's hometown of McMinnville, TN, dedicated Highway 56 to her memory, naming it the Dottie West Memorial Highway. She is buried in the Mount View Cemetery McMinnville, TN.