Whatever happened to Barbara Mandrell? Why has she largely stayed out of the public eye since
her 1997 retirement? Will she ever re-emerge into the spotlight? Keep watching for the answers.
Twice crowned Entertainer of the Year at the Country Music Awards and winner of two Grammys,
Barbara Mandrell was one of the most successful country artists of the 1970s and '80s.
However, she retired in 1997 at the age of just 48
after a performance at the Grand Ole Opry, and duly retreated from the public eye.
In the years since, she's rarely been in the news or made any public appearances
in relation to her music career, instead gardening, painting, and spending time
with her family and pets, according to CBN. Why would such a successful star
suddenly retire and step away from fame? It seems there are a few different reasons.
In the early '80s, Barbara Mandrell was winning awards left, right, and center
as a wildly successful country crossover star, and had even made the foray into television.
However, she found herself in the middle of a tragedy in 1984,
around the peak of her popularity. On September 11 of that year,
she was involved in a serious car crash in which the driver of the other car
died. Mandrell herself had a leg fracture, a concussion, and other injuries, while two
of her children were also in the car with her and were injured, The New York Times reported.
She spent a year and a half recovering before she was able to return to music,
and since the crash has become a committed advocate for the use of seatbelts. While her
children were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash, the family didn't wear them regularly.
"In my whole life, I never used seat belts."
According to the police report on the incident, the other driver had crossed the centerline of
the road and was found at fault. Yet Mandrell and her husband Ken Dudney experienced backlash from
fans when they sued White's family for $10.3 million in damages, despite, according to UPI,
their lawyer then explaining that they had to sue in order to get money from the insurance company.
Even with that turbulent accident in the mid-'80s, Mandrell was able to revive her career to a point.
Throughout the rest of the decade, she had several songs enter the top ten of the U.S. country chart.
Plus, her 1990 biography "Get to the Heart: My Story" was a smash hit, becoming a New York
Times bestseller for over three months and being made into a successful CBS movie in 1997.
However, that same year, 1997, Mandrell retired after a performance at the Grand Ole Opry.
According to Taste of Country, the reason for her stepping away was a desire to spend
more time with her family, including her high school-aged son. Even selling her instruments,
she's seldom made any appearances since — instead spending time at home with her family. She did
still appear in the TV series "Sunset Beach" in her regular role as Alex Mitchum through 1998.
"I wasn't unhappy. I wasn't bored. Um, none of those negative things."
It doesn't look like we'll see much more from Mandrell in the future.
The 73-year-old has rarely been in the public eye since the turn of the century,
and appears content with a life away from the limelight.
Though Barbara Mandrell may have retired from actively performing and making music,
her musical legacy lives on. In 2009, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Superstars including Reba McEntire and Michael McDonald,
as well as Barbara's sister, Louise, performed tribute songs to her.
Mandrell thanked her father, Irby, for helping catapult her career. Irby died just two months
before the ceremony at the age of 84, according to The Los Angeles Times. Mandrell said,
"Irby Mandrell was my manager as well as my Daddy over my 38-year career.
He taught me, guided me, and directed me. It is his name, Mandrell, that I am blessed to have,
and it's the gracious loving public and fans that made our name known and popular. So tonight I
thank you with my entire being for putting the Mandrell name into the Hall of Fame."
In 2020, producer and DJ Dave Aude, who has worked with stars like Rihanna and Beyoncé,
remixed the first number one country song that Mandrell had back in 1978,
"Sleeping Single in a Double Bed." Mandrell told Rolling Stone she loved the final product, saying,
"Oh my gosh, I was thrilled. The arrangement and the beat really throw down,
and that's what makes me happy."
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