Liz Anderson

United States • 1927-01-13 – 2011-10-31

Biography

Elizabeth Jane Anderson (née Haaby; January 13, 1927 – October 31, 2011) was an American country music singer-songwriter who was one in a wave of new-generation female vocalists in the genre during the 1960s to write and record her own songs on a regular basis. Writing in The New York Times, Bill Friskics-Warren noted, "Like her contemporary Loretta Lynn, Ms. Anderson gave voice to female survivors; inhabiting their struggles in a soprano at times alluring, at times sassy." Anderson received two Grammy Award nominations in 1967, one for "Best Female Country Vocal Performance" for her self-penned, top-five hit "Mama Spank", and the other for "Best Country Vocal Group" for the top-five hit "The Game of Triangles", with Bobby Bare and Norma Jean. As a songwriter, she scored 26 top-50 hits in the 1960s, more than any other female songwriter that decade in the country music industry. Anderson also wrote many of the early hits for her daughter, Lynn Anderson, whose recording career began less than a year after her mother's. She wrote several hits for other notable artists, including Merle Haggard. Haggard had his first top-10 and number-one hits, respectively, with "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers" and "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive", both penned by Anderson. He named his band "The Strangers", after the hit "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers".

Bio from Wikipedia