Where Are They Now

Updated: 12/28/2007

Name: Barbara Mandrell

Born: December 25, 1948 in Houston, Texas

Claim To Fame: She is best-known for her Country Music success. She had a successful career that made her one of the top female country artists of all time.

Family Life: Ken Dudney (28 May 1967 - present) 3 children
Matthew (b. 1970), Jaime Dudney (b. 1976) and Nathaniel (b. 1985)

Sister of Louise Mandrell and Irlene Mandrell

Info: Thanks to a string of hit singles Barbara landed a TV Variety show on NBC. It was with her sisters and further added to make her super-successful in the 80's.

Trivia: While growing up, she was taught the steel guitar and many other instruments, including the accordion, saxophone and banjo. She even played steel guitar for the legendary Patsy Cline. Cline once wrote to a friend in a letter that Mandrell was "a 13 year old blonde doll that plays the steel guitar out of this world! What a show woman!"

Was involved in major automobile accident with two of her children in 1984. It wasn't until her autobiography, Get to the Heart: My Story, was published in 1990 that fans found out how critical Barbara's condition was after her September 11, 1984, automobile accident. Barbara suffered a severe head injury (she was n intensive care for several days), a broken right leg, a broken right ankle, damaged right knee and various cuts and bruises. It took her 18 months to fully recover.

Barbara was the first artist to win the CMA Entertainer Of The Year for two consecutive years.

Her 1990 autobiography Get To The Heart: My Story appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List after only four days, and then remained there for six months.

Where Is She Now: In 1998 Barbara retired from singing/performing to concentrate on an acting career.

In 2002 Barbara had an estate sale, auctioning her beloved 137-acre home (Fontanel), located near Downtown Nashville, for $2.1 million and selling a lot of her personal belongings. She, husband, Ken Dudney, and their third child, Nathaniel, moved from the 27,000-square-foot estate to a 7,000-square-foot one located outside Nashville, Tennessee.

Was presented with a star on the Music City Walk of Fame on November 5, 2007.

She will appear on GAC's tribute to Porter Wagoner on Wednesday, January 2nd.