The
precocious “Little Miss Dynamite” first hit the charts before she even became a
teenager, but her biggest hits came in the first half of the 1960s, working
with producer Owen Bradley. Like Roy Orbison, she had the occasional uptempo
hit (her first Top 10 single was “Sweet Nothin’s” in 1960), but there was a
certain aching quality to her voice that showed to best advantage on mournful
ballads. The titles of some of her biggest hits tell the story – “I’m Sorry”
and “I Want to be Wanted” (both of which went to #1), “All Alone Am I”, “Losing
You”, and “Fool #1”. “Break It To Me Gently” (which was also a hit for Juice
Newton 20 years later) is my personal favorite, particularly the superb bridge –
hard to believe how expressively she could interpret this song at the tender
age of 16. Fortunately, the “I’ll never love again” that ends the song didn’t
turn out to be prophetic, as she’s been married 40 years and counting.
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