Tanya Tucker Is The Real Deal

Tanya Tucker's life is one long country song, so it's fitting that she would wind up one of the more successful female country singers of all time. Tucker's latest album is My Turn, and she told Imus she's been recovering from "a little bit of everything" since she was discovered at the age of 13 by the legendary record producer Billy Sherrill.

"It was happenstance," Tucker said, and explained how her singing helped scored her family a "borrowed" trailer outside of Las Vegas, Nev. "There was a 'for sale' sign out front, so my dad said, 'Well, I'll be right back,' and he told my mother and I to wait in the car."

About 20 minutes later, he waved them in and told his daughter to sing for the woman inside. "I sang, 'Your Cheatin' Heart,'" said Tucker. "And after I got done she said, 'I'm going to Missouri, I'll see you later.' And she just left!"

While watching an old Elvis Presley movie one night in that trailer, Tucker's dad got the idea to call up a woman named Delores Fuller, who wrote some of Elvis's songs.

"We looked her number up and she was listed, so my dad called her and said, 'I've got a 12-year old kid that can really sing,'" Tucker said. "She said, 'There's one man you need to see, and that's Billy Sherrill."

Her first — and arguably biggest — hit was "Delta Dawn," when she was just 13-years old. Sherrill was crazy, but that's why Tucker loved him. "Anybody logical wouldn't have never done it," she said of giving such a young girl a shot.

Tucker still performs "Delta Dawn" in concert, not only because the crowds love it, but because she loves it too. Following that great success, Tucker was on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine at just 15, and then, as Imus put it, she "got off the rails."

"There was a lot of experimenting, lots of friends, and money," she said. Her daughter Presley is 20 years old now, the same age Tucker was when her troubles began. But she's not worried.

"She's a different girl than I was," said Tucker, sounding relieved. Her daughter, a singer, recently won the Malibu Music Festival.

As Imus continued prying into her personal life, Tucker said she's been in and out of love, and that she always tries to remember the good times. She has a wonderful, supportive fan base, and three beautiful children. She is, in sum, in a really good place.

Then Imus brought up their mutual friend Delbert McClinton. They agreed nobody sings better than Delbert, but Imus had just one complaint.

"He's an irritable bastard."

-Julie Kanfer