July 24: Country music singer-songwriter and actress Pam Tillis is 55-years-old today.

-----

Pamela Yvonne "Pam" Tillis was born in Plant City, Florida and grew up in Nashville. She is the daughter of country music singer Mel Tillis, and made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry at age 8, singing "Tom Dooley." She also began taking piano lessons at this age, and taught herself how to play guitar by age 12.

At 16, she was injured in a car accident and had to undergo several years of surgery, including facial reconstruction. Following surgery, Tillis enrolled at the University of Tennessee, where she performed in two different groups: a jug band called called the High Country Swing Band, and a folk duo with Ashley Cleveland.

She dropped out of college in 1976 to work at her father's publishing company, writing the song "The Other Side of the Morning" for Barbara Fairchild. The song charted at number 72 on Hot Country Songs in 1978. Tillis then moved to California and founded a band called Freelight, which played jazz and rock.

After returning to Nashville in 1979, she had her songs recorded by Gloria Gaynor and Chaka Khan.
while performing in the Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tillis was signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1981, for which she released nine singles and one album, Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey.

In 1991, she had signed to Arista Nashville, entering Top 40 on Hot Country Songs for the first time with "Don't Tell Me What to Do,” the first of five singles from her album Put Yourself in My Place. Tillis recorded five more albums for Arista Nashville between then and 2001, plus a greatest hits album and 22 more singles. Her only number 1 hit on the country charts was 1995's "Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life),” although 12 other singles made Top 10 on that chart.

In 2002, Pam was signed by Sony Music Entertainment / Epic Records roots subsidiary Lucky Dog and debuted It's All Relative: Tillis Sings Tillis, a collection of her father's material that finally found her embracing his legacy on her own terms.

In 2007, Tillis launched her own Record label, Stellar Cat Records. Her first album, RhineStoned, was released in April 2007. The Two singles released from RhineStoned were "Band in the Window" and "The Hard Way" both sent to country radio in 2007.

Her second album on Stellar Cat Records Just in Time for Christmas, was released on November 13, 2007.

In 2012, Pam Tillis will release "Recollection,” a 14 track album that features new versions of her past hits on Arista.

-----

Pam's albums Homeward Looking Angel, Sweetheart's Dance and Greatest Hits are all certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), while Put Yourself in My Place and 1995's All of This Love are certified gold.

Besides her own work, Tillis co-wrote and sang on the 1990 Warner Bros. single "Tomorrow's World,” written in honor of Earth Day, and Dolly Parton's 1992 single "Romeo.”

 She has won two major awards: a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals in 1999 for the multi-artist collaboration "Same Old Train,” and the 1994 Country Music Association award for Best Female Vocalist.

 -----

For more about Pam, visit her Website at -

http://www.pamtillis.com/

####