--- THE GRANDMA'S LOGBOOK ---: SUSAN KAY BOGGUSS, COUNTRY MUSIC FROM ILLINOIS

Today, The Grandma is relaxing at home. She has decided to listen to some music and she has chosen Suzzy Bogguss, one of her favourite country singers who was born on a day like today in 1956.

Susan Kay Bogguss (born December 30, 1956) is an American countrymusic singer and songwriter.

She began her career in the 1980s as a solo singer. In the 1990s, six of her songs were Top 10 hits, three albums were certified gold, and one album received a platinum certification. She won Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music and the Horizon Award from the Country Music Association.

Susan Kay Bogguss was born on December 30, 1956, in Aledo, Illinois, the youngest of four born to Barbara and Charles Bogguss. Her grandmothers played piano at theaters. At age 5, she began singing in the Angel Choir of the College Avenue Presbyterian Church in her hometown. With her parents' encouragement, she took lessons in piano and drums, and as a teenager picked up the guitar as well.

In her youth, Bogguss would visit Roy Rogers and Dale Evans at their home in Apple Valley, California, as they attended the same church as her grandparents. She starred in several musicals at Aledo High School, where she was crowned homecoming queen. After graduating in 1975, she enrolled at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, but later transferred to Illinois State University (ISU) in Normal. She graduated from ISU in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in metalsmithing. She would later use these skills to design her own jewelry.

She produced her first independent album for Old Shack Recording: Suzy.

More information: Suzy Bogguss

After moving to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1985, Bogguss began working at the local Tony Roma's restaurant on her first day there. While there, she performed a three-day audition for entertainer Dolly Parton at Silver Dollar City, a theme park which would eventually become Dollywood. The following year, she became the first featured female performer at the park, playing four solo shows at the park's train station and appearing in the Jamboree show.

Suzy appeared on The Texas Connection/Austin City Limits in 1991 then hosted by Jerry Jeff Walker. She joined him to cover Michael Burton's Night Rider's Lament. Both Jerry Jeff and the audience were blown away by her voice and her yodelling.

In 1987, Bogguss released her first three singles for Capitol, a cover of The Ink Spots' 1941 song I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire, Love Will Never Slip Away, and Come as You Were. Two of these singles succeeded in making the lower reaches of the Billboard country music charts.

Her debut studio album for Capitol, Somewhere Between was released in March 1989. Somewhere Between, with its blend of traditional and contemporary styles, drew positive reviews from critics. The album's second single, Cross My Broken Heart, became a top-20 hit on the country music charts. The same year, Bogguss won the award for Top New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music.

For her second album, Moment of Truth, production tasks were taken over by new label-head and Nashville producer Jimmy Bowen, who moved Bogguss's sound in a more polished direction. However, the album's two singles failed to rise beyond the lower reaches of the Billboard charts. A duet she recorded with Lee Greenwood, Hopelessly Yours, went to No. 12 on the country singles chart and received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Vocal Collaboration.

In 1991 Bogguss released her third studio album, the platinum-selling Aces. The LP yielded four hit singles -Someday Soon, Outbound Plane, Aces, and Letting Go, the latter three reaching the country Top Ten.

At the 1992 Country Music Association Awards, Bogguss won the Horizon Award. In September of that year, Bogguss began designing women's leather apparel; the apparel was sold in stores on the West Coast. Her 1992 follow-up, Voices in the Wind, earned Bogguss her second straight gold record. The album's first single, a cover of the 1988 song Drive South by John Hiatt, missed the No. 1 spot but gave Bogguss the highest-charting hit of her career to date. Her streak continued the following year with another gold record, Something Up My Sleeve, giving her two additional Top Five hits in Just Like the Weather and Hey Cinderella. The latter, which she cowrote with Matraca Berg and Gary Harrison, has gone on to become one of Bogguss's signature songs.

In May 1993, Bogguss appeared on the CBS television special The Women of Country.

Eventually, Bogguss became the sole producer of her sixth studio album, Simpatico. The album consisted of duets with long-time friend and guitarist Chet Atkins. The album was released in 1994, and though it was generally well reviewed, its only single, One More for the Road, did not chart. That same year, Bogguss's Greatest Hits album was released and went gold. Later, Bogguss collaborated with Alison Krauss, Kathy Mattea, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash to contribute Teach Your Children to the AIDS benefit compilation album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization.

More information: Facebook-Suzy Bogguss

Upon completing Simpatico, Bogguss temporarily set her music aside to start a family. Bogguss and Crider's first child, Benton Charles Crider, was born on March 17, 1995. She also scaled down her touring dates as a result for three years. In May of that year, Bogguss performed at the White House with Kathy Mattea and Alison Krauss. This event later aired on PBS stations in September as Women of Country Music.

In July 1996, she released her seventh studio album, entitled Give Me Some Wheels. During her break, the climate of country music had changed considerably, with more pop-oriented female singers such as Martina McBride, Faith Hill, and Shania Twain dominating the charts. Bogguss's traditional, straightforward style failed to connect with younger listeners, and the record yielded low sales.

In March 1997, Bogguss performed at the Every Woman's Challenge charity concert, which was held at the Palm Springs Convention Center in California.

Following her departure from Capitol, Bogguss signed with Nashville-based fledgling label Platinum Records, headed by former Capitol executive George Collier. Within three months, she had released her self-titled ninth studio album, Suzy Bogguss. Once again, the album was unsuccessful, with her only single Goodnight making an appearance on the country charts.

During the summer of 2016, Bogguss conducted a celebration via her Suzy Bogguss Music Facebook page, of the 25th anniversary of the release of her Platinum selling Aces Album in 1991. Aces also was her break out album which brought her serious attention on Country Radio and secured her future on Capitol Nashville for several more albums.