Get To The Heart My Story Author:Barbara Mandrell & George Vecsey To her millions of fans around the world, she is beautiful, blond, and talented. A multifaceted performer whose music strikes a chord of truth. A loving wife and mother whose traditional values and tremendous faith touch the heart. That is the real Barbara Mandrell-but not the whole Barbara Mandrell. Here, in the candid, revealing, and often... more » dramatic autobiography, Barbara tells the true story behind her storybook life...and the tragic accident that changed it-and her-forever.
Barbara Mandrell is different now. The spirited entertainer who began performing professionally at age eleven, eho sang for prisoners and presidents, who traveled to Vietnam during the war and faced childbirth without a qualm, was changed by the 1984 car crash that nearly robbed her of her life. For the first time, Barbara shares her memories of that accident, and her long, painful journey back...to a life that has held more joy and success than she could have ever imagined.
At the center of her world is her family. Her parents...proud, hard-working people who made it through the 1930s and who taught Barbara that she could do anything she wanted to do. Her sisters, Louise and Irlene... her staunchest fans and closest allies offstage and on. Her husband, Ken...the Navy pilot she met at fourteen and couldn't wait to marry, her partner in passionate union of best friends that has produced three wonderful children. Together they gave Barbara the support she needed throughout her extraordinary career.
Here is a chronicle of Barbara's remarkable rise to fam: from her debut as a young girl on steel guitar in a Las Vegas show to rising country singer, from top-of-the-charts headliner to television variety star, and finally to her phenomenal crossover success. On tour and backstage, the star performer of "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" and "I Was Country (When Country Wasn't Cool)" shares the thrill of performing with such country legends as Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, and Statler Brothers; and the triumph of being the first to be chosen Enertainer of the Year two years in a row by the Country Music Association.
And then fate placed Barbara Mandrell and two of her children on a highway where a car crossed two lanes of traffic to hit her car head-on. And she became more than a superstar entertainer, anofficer's wife, a loving mother...she became a triumphant survivor. Get to the Heart is her inspiring and unforgettable story.« less