Jean Shepard Biography

Jean Shepard born Ollie Imogene Shepard was an American honky tonk singer-songwriter. She was born November 21, 1933, in Paul’s Valley, Oklahoma. Jean spent most of her formative years in Visalia, CA, near Bakersfield.

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10 Quick Facts About Jean Shepard

1. Name: Jean Shepard
2. Age: Died at 82 years
3. Birthday: November 21
4. Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius
5. Height: Average
6. Nationality: American
7. Occupation: Honky Tonk Singer-Songwriter
8. Marital Status: Married
9. Salary: Under Review
10. Net worth: $18 Million

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Jean Shepard Age and Birthday

She was born November 21, 1933, in Pauls Valley, OK, United States and died on September 25, 2016, in Nashville, TN, United States, at the age of 82.

Jean Shepard Death

She was born November 21, 1933, in Pauls Valley, OK, United States and died on September 25, 2016, in Nashville, TN, United States, at the age of 82.

Jean Shepard Height and Weight

Shepard stood at an average height and had moderate weight.

Jean Shepard Education

Jean who was born as Ollie Imogene Shepard was raised in Visalia, California, near Bakersfield. When Shepard was a teenager, she played bass in the Melody Ranch Girls, an all-female band formed in 1948. Hank Thompson discovered Shepard a few years later. Shepard signed with Capitol Records in 1952 with the help of Thompson.

Following the success of Kitty Wells’ “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”. Shepard cut four songs at her first session with popular band players Jimmy Bryant, Speedy West, Cliffie Stone, and Billy Strange. She recorded her first single for the label in 1952, “Crying Steel Guitar Waltz”, but it failed to chart.

Jean Shepard Husband

Jean was married to Benny Birchfield, a musician, singer and prominent member of Nashville’s music community. In 1960, she married fellow Opry star, Hawkshaw Hawkins, who had come to the Opry the same year she did. She was eight months pregnant with his son when Hawkins died in the 1963 plane crash that also killed Patsy Cline and country star Cowboy Copas.

Jean Shepard Children

She had three sons namely Corey Birchfield, Don Robin Hawkins, and Hawkshaw Hawkins Jr.

Jean Shepard Net Worth

Jean Shepard has an estimated Net Worth of $18 Million as of 2022. This includes her assets, money, and income. Her primary source of income is her career as a singer/songwriter. Through her various sources of income, Jean has been able to accumulate a good fortune but prefers to lead a modest lifestyle. Shepard largely invested in her career for more than six decades.

Jean Shepard Measurements and Facts

Here are some interesting facts and body measurements you should know about Jean.

Jean Shepard Wiki

• Full Names: Ollie Imogene Shepard
• Popular As: Jean Shepard
• Gender: Female
• Occupation / Profession: Musician
• Nationality: American
• Race / Ethnicity: White
• Religion: Not Known
• Sexual Orientation: Straight

Jean Shepard Birthday

• Age / How Old?: 82 years (dead)
• Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius
• Date of Birth: Nov 21, 1933
• Place of Birth: Pauls Valley, OK
• Date of Death: Sept 25, 2016
• Place of Death: Nashville, TN
• Birthday: Nov 21

Jean Shepard Body Measurements

• Body Measurements: Not Known
• Height / How Tall?: Average
• Weight: Moderate
• Eye Color: Dark Brown
• Hair Color: White
• Shoe Size: Not Known
• Dress Size: Not Known
• Breast Size: Not Known
• Waist Size: Not Known
• Hip Size: Not Known

Jean Shepard Family and Relationship

• Father (Dad): Not Known
• Mother: Not Known
• Siblings (Brothers and Sisters): Nine
• Marital Status: Married
• Husband/Spouse: Married to Benny Birchfield (1968 – 2016)
• Ex-Husband / Ex-Spouse: Hawkshaw Hawkins (1960 – 1963)
• Children:  Sons (Don Robin Hawkins, Corey Birchfield, Hawkshaw Hawkins Jr.) Daughter(s) (None)

Jean Shepard Net Worth and Salary

• Net Worth: $18 Million
• Salary: Under Review
• Source of Income: Music

Jean Shepard House and Cars

• Place of living: Dead
• Cars: Car Brand Not Known

Jean Shepard Singer

She was one of ten children, who Jean says, were all musically inclined. Because music was such an important part of her life, it was only natural that in her early teens, she helped form and become the lead singer in an all-girl band called “The Melody Ranch Girls.” She played bass in the Melody Ranch Girls. The all-female band was formed in 1948.

Fate took a hand almost immediately. In one of her early performances with The Ranch Girls, Jean appeared with Hank Thompson. He was impressed enough with the talented newcomer to arrange introductions which ultimately would lead to Jean’s recording contract with Capitol Records.

For over 21 years Jean remained under contract to Capitol, selling countless millions of records, including Dear John Letter, Beautiful Lies, Many Happy Hangovers, Seven Lonely Days, Then He Touched Me, Satisfied Mind, and Second Fiddle.

In the early 70″s Jean moved to UA Records where she continued to have #1 records such as Slippin’ Away, Poor Sweet Baby, At The Time, and Tips Of My Fingers.

Jean Shepard 1953–56: Breakthrough

Shepard’s first chart appearance was 1953’s duet with Ferlin Husky, with “A Dear John Letter”. It was a No. 1 smash and also became a major crossover pop hit, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard pop chart. The song struck a chord with audiences as it was a half-spoken duet about a soldier in the Korean War.

The duo’s follow-up, “Forgive Me John”, was another crossover hit, peaking in the Top 10 on the country chart and the top 25 on the pop chart. Because at 20 she was still a minor, Shepard’s parents signed her rights to Husky so she could tour. In 1955, Shepard joined ABC-TV’s nationally telecast Ozark Jubilee for several years and recorded her first studio album, Songs of a Love Affair, written by Shepard.

She also charted her first solo top ten single, “A Satisfied Mind”, that same year, backed by the No. 13 hit, “Take Possession”. “A Satisfied Mind” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard country chart. Shepard had another top-five hit the same year with “Beautiful Lies”. Its flip side, “I Thought of You”, peaked in the country top ten.

Her streak of hit singles led to an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry in 1955 as one of its few female stars; Kitty Wells and Minnie Pearl were the only others. Because she was a honky-tonk singer when the Nashville sound was popular, Shepard had just two charting country singles between 1956 and 1963.

Those two singles, 1958’s “I Want to Go Where No One Knows Me” and 1959’s “Have Heart Will Love”; earned her the title of Cash Box’s Top Female Artist of 1959.

In 1960, Shepard married fellow Opry star Hawkshaw Hawkins, whom she had met on Ozark Jubilee. He died three years later in the same plane crash that killed Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas. Shepard gave birth to their son Hawkshaw Jr. just one month after the crash. She later married country music musician and singer Benny Birchfield; the two remained married until her death. He was injured in a stabbing along with their granddaughter, who died, December 18, 2016, in his home in Tennessee.

Jean Shepard 1964–78: Commercial resurgence

Shepard returned to the top 10 in 1964 with “Second Fiddle (To an Old Guitar)”, which began a string of hits[3] and proved a commercial comeback as well. In 1964 and 1965, she had two Top 40 hits with “A Tear Dropped By” and “Someone’s Gotta Cry”, from the Heart, We Did All That We Could LP released in 1967.

In 1966, Shepard recorded a duet with country singer Ray Pillow titled “I’ll Take the Dog”, which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard country chart. This was followed by two solo hit singles the same year: the top 10 hits “If the Teardrops Were Silver” and the top 15 hits “Many Happy Hangovers to You”.

In 1967, Shepard had two top 20 hits with the title track of Heart, We Did All That We Could and the single “Your Forevers Don’t Last Very Long”. The following year, she had only one Top 40 hit but continued to release albums, which included 1968’s A Real Good Woman. In 1969, Shepard’s LP, Seven Lonely Days, produced the hit single of the same name that reached the top 20.

With the release of 1969’s “Then He Touched Me”, Shepard had a top 10 hit, followed by three hits in 1970, including the top 15 hits “Another Lonely Night”. Shepard had one more Top 40 hit with 1971’s “With His Hand in Mine”.

In the early 1970s, Shepard moved to United Artists Records. Her first single for the label in 1973, the Bill Anderson-penned “Slippin’ Away”, was her biggest solo hit since the 1950s. The single peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard country chart and charted on the Billboard pop chart, peaking outside the Top 40.

Shepard’s hits continued throughout the 1970s, though as the decade wore on she hit the Top 40 less frequently. She had three top 20 hits in 1974, beginning with the No. 13 smash “At the Time” and “I’ll Do Anything it Takes (to Stay with You)”. In 1975, Shepard recorded an album of songs written by Bill Anderson titled Poor Sweet Baby (and Ten More Bill Anderson Songs).

Both singles from the album were top 20 hits on the Billboard country chart between 1974 and 1975 and were her last Top 40 singles. Shepard was known in country music as a “staunch traditionalist” and created some controversy when she served as president of the Association of Country Entertainers, formed in response to Olivia Newton-John’s CMA Female Vocalist of the Year win in 1974.

The organization was intended to keep country music “pure” and criticized the pop influences at the time. Shepard defended “pure” country music again nearly 40 years later, criticizing singer and TV personality Blake Shelton for a comment in which he referred to fans of the traditional country as “old farts and jackasses”: “We’ve got a young man in country music who has made some pretty dumb statements lately.

What did he say? That traditional country music is for old farts and jack-you-know-whats? Well, I guess that makes me an old fart. I love country music. I won’t tell you what his name is…but his initials is BS…and he’s full of it!” In 1975 and 1976, Shepard recorded two albums, I’m a Believer and Mercy/Ain’t Love Good and then left the label in 1976. In response, United Artists released a Greatest Hits compilation.

Between 1977 and 1978, she recorded for the smaller GRT label, which produced minor hit singles on the Billboard country chart. She had her last charting record in 1978 under the label with “The Real Thing”.

Jean Shepard 1980–2016: Later years

After leaving GRT at the end of the 1970s, Shepard did not record again until 1981, when she released a final studio album under the label Laserlight titled, Dear John, which included remakes of her hits, including “A Dear John Letter” and “Slippin’ Away”, and also included a new song, “Too Many Rivers”. She continued to perform at the Grand Ole Opry and to tour, both in the US and in the UK, where she had a strong fan base, until 2015. Her work was reissued by Bear Family Records.

In 2005, Shepard celebrated 50 years as a member of the Opry and, at the time of her death, she was the longest-running living member of the Opry. In 2011, Shepard was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame along with songwriter Bobby Braddock and fellow Oklahoma singer Reba McEntire.

In 2014, Shepard’s autobiography, Down Through the Years, was published. On November 21, 2015, Shepard became the first woman to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry for 60 consecutive years—a feat that only one other person has achieved. She retired from the stage that night.

On September 25, 2016, Shepard died of Parkinson’s disease at the age of 82. Shepard would be posthumously featured in Ken Burns’ Country Music in 2019.

Jean Shepard Books

2014 – Down Through the Years

Jean Shepard Cause Of Death

Jean died of Parkinson’s disease.

Jean Shepard Songs

• Dear John Letter
• Slippin’ Away
• Second Fiddle
• Satisfied Mind

• Beautiful Lies
• Then He Touched Me
• I’ll Take The Dog
• Many Happy Hangovers to You

• If Teardrops Were Silver
• Forgive Me, John
• Heart, We Did All That We Could
• Poor Sweet Baby

• I Thought of You
• A Tear Dropped By
• Another Lonely Night
• I’ll Do Anything It Takes

• Hello Old Broken Heart
• Tell Me What I Want to Hear
• Sad Singin’ and Slow Ridin’
• Two Whoops and a Holler

• Act Like a Married Man
• Girls in Disgrace
• Someone’s Gotta Cry
• I Learned It All From You
• Come on Phone
• You’re Calling Me Sweetheart Again
• Blanket on the Ground
• Twice the Lovin’

• A Passing Love Affair
• That’s What Lonesome Is
• Franklin County Moonshine
• Too Many Rivers

Jean Shepard Greatest Hits

1. Down Through The Years

[Lead]
Oooh, down through the years the lords been good to me
(Choir)
Down through the years the lords been good to me (2 times)
[Let me tell you that the Lord] Really been good to me
[Lead]
Oooh, those devils had me bound the Lord been good to me
(Choir)
The devil had me bound the Lord been good to me (2 times)
[Let me tell you that the Lord] Really been good to me
[Lead]
Well I know I got good religion, I didn’t get it in no tree
Shake me, wake me in the midnight hour and I’ll tell you everything I’ve seen
I’m trying to tell you down through the years the lords been good to me
(Choir)
Down through the years the lords been good to me (2 times)
[Let me tell you that the Lord] Really been good to me
[Lead]
Oooh, Fix me Jesus fix me, c’mon and fix me if you please
But if you can’t fix me while I’m standin up, I’ll bow down on my knees
I’m trying to tell you down through the years the lords been good to me (repeat chorus)
[Chorus]
The Lord been good (repeat)

Frequently Asked Questions About Jean Shepard

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