03 August,2015 07:56 AM IST | | PTI
Country singer Lynn Anderson, who bagged a Grammy for her 1970 classic song Rose Garden, has passed away. She was 67
Los Angeles: Country singer Lynn Anderson, who bagged a Grammy for her 1970 classic song "Rose Garden", has passed away. She was 67.
Anderson died Thursday night of a heart attack at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, US, reported USA Today. She had been hospitalised for pneumonia following a trip to Italy.
The singer is survived by her father, three children Lisa Sutton, Melissa Hempel and Gray Stream¿four grandchildren and her partner Mentor Williams. Funeral services will be held at Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home & Memorial Park, details of which will be announced shortly.
Born in Grand Forks and raised in California, Anderson came from a musical family, Her parents Casey and Liz Anderson were both songwriters; the latter penned the Merle Haggard hits "My Friends Are Gonna Be" from album "Strangers" and "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive".
Anderson's debut single, a duet with Jerry Lane called "For Better or for Worse", was released in 1966, when she was just 19 years old. It failed to chart. Later that year, however, her single Ride, Ride, Ride, cracked the country charts, and its successor, "If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away)".
She wed producer-songwriter Glenn Sutton in 1968. He produced several of her hit songs¿and wrote some too, including "You're My Man" and "Keep Me in Mind". The couple
divorced in 1977. In October 1970, she released what later became her signature song, and one of country music's classics.
The lilting "(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden", penned by Joe South, became a worldwide hit with its immediately recognisable intro and catchy lyrics. The recording netted Anderson a Best Female Country Vocal Performance Grammy Award, and in 1971, the Country Music Association named her Female Vocalist of the Year.
Over the last four decades, "Rose Garden" has been covered numerous times by a wide variety of artists including K D Lang, Martina McBride, Suicide Machines and Southern Culture on the Skids.
Anderson had multiple arrests for driving under the influence, in recent years. Following her September 2014 arrest in Nashville, she apologised to her fans in a statement and affirmed that she was committed to her recovery. In June of 2015, she released the inspirational gospel album Bridges.
