Emmylou Harris Profile

Emmylou Harris Personal Facts:

Name: Emmylou Harris
Birth date: April 2, 1947 Birthplace: Birmingham, Ala. Raised: suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Eyes: brown
Parents: father Walter, a decorated marine pilot who spent 16 months in a Korean POW camp, passed away in 1993; mother Eugenia, a homemaker
Children: daughters Mika Hallie (born March 15, 1970), and Meghann Ahern (born Sept. 9, 1979)
Residence: Nashville
Voice: soprano

Education:

High school: graduated from Garfield High School in Alexandria, Va., in 1965 High school activities: cheerleader, saxophone player in the marching band and class valedictorian. "I was a 16-year-old WASP wanting to quit school and become Woody Guthrie." College: attended University of North Carolina at Greensboro on a drama scholarship, and Boston University

Musical influences:

Emmylou claims Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Buck Owens as influences, but says specifically about Gram Parsons; "I've always tried to celebrate and promote Gram's music, and if I have any kind of influence on anybody, it's because of the influence Gram had on me."

On letting her hair go gray:

"If it encourages other women to say, 'I can do that too,' that's great. We earned those gray hairs!"

Grand Ole Opry:

Inducted in 1992

Awards:

Grammys: 11, including Female Vocalist in 1976, 1979, and 1984. Duo or Group with Vocals 1980, 1987, and 1992. Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1995 and 2000. Best Country Collaboration with vocals in 1998, 1999, and Album of the Year in 2000 for her part of the "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack.
CMA awards: Female Vocalist (1980), Vocal Event (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, 1988)
ACM awards: Album of the Year for Trio (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, 1987)

Gold and Platinum:

Gold albums: Pieces Of The Sky (1975), Elite Hotel (1976), Luxury Liner (1977), Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town (1978), Profile: Best Of Emmylou Harris (1978), Blue Kentucky Girl (1979), Roses In The Snow (1980), Evangeline (1981)
Platinum album: Trio (with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, 1987)

Chart highlights:

First Top 10 single: "If I Could Only Win Your Love" (No. 4, 1975)
Top 10 Country singles: 27
First No. 1 single: "Together Again."

On Country Music:

"I discovered country music relatively late in life. When I really discovered George Jones and The Louvin Brothers, I thought, 'This music is so great.' I felt there must be a lot of other people out there like me who hadn't heard them on the radio and were missing out on this treasure of incredibly stunning, moving, beautiful music."

Discography:

• Pieces of the Sky
• Elite Hotel
• Luxury Liner
• Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town
• Profile
• Blue Kentucky Girl
• Light of the Stable
• Roses in the Snow
• Evangeline
• Cimarron
• Last Date
• White Shoes
• Profile II
• The Ballad of Sally Rose
• Thirteen
• Angel Band
• Trio (with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton)
• Duets
• Bluebird
• Brand New Dance
• At the Ryman
• Cowgirl's Prayer
• Songs of the West
• Wrecking Ball
• Portraits (Box)
• Spyboy
• Trio II (with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton)
• Western Wall: The Tucson Sessions
• Red Dirt Girl
• Stumble Into Grace
• Heartaches and Highways - The Very Best of Emmylou Harris
• All The Roadrunning (with Mark Knopfler)