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Steve
accepting
Dottie's
Golden
Voice
Award
-
2000 |
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Everybody
started
coming down
to the front
and she sort
of
introduced
herself on
stage.
She gave me
a big hug
and she said
she wanted
to sing more
songs with
me."
That night,
Dottie
offered
Steve a spot
in her band
playing bass
and singing
backup.
She would
often use
Steve as a
duet partner
on stage,
singing hits
she had with
Don Gibson,
Jimmy Dean
and Jim
Reeves.
He lived
with Dottie
and Byron
until he
could find a
place of his
own and when
the time
came for
Steve to
move, Dottie
went with
him to help
pick
something
out.
Steve says
he learned a
lot about
the business
(and the
road) from
Dottie.
"She taught
me a lot
about
singing,
entertaining,
and how you
should never
take your
fans for
granted."
Steve worked
for Dottie
for three
years. |
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In 1975, he
joined Bob Luman's band and learned even more
about stagecraft and presentation. Bob recorded four songs Steve had
written. His untimely death in 1978 greatly affected Steve.
In 1976, Chet Atkins signed him to RCA records and started to produce him.
Steve would later join Chet's band and record with him. His debut
release, I'm Already Taken, made the top 70, but he didn't have any
substantial hits until 1980's The Easy Part's Over. Later that
year Your Memory would become his first big hit.
In 1981, Conway Twitty would record I'm Already Taken. Taken
would later become a big hit for Steve when he re-released it in 1999 on the
Two Teardrops CD. Released in 1990, Teardrops made it to
number two and spent 24 weeks on the chart. His next single from the
album would be I'm Already Taken. |
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Throughout the 80's and 90's,
Steve racked up 31 top 10 singles. He would place 10 of those singles
at #1. But it isn't always the #1 song that
is the best or a fan favorite. Holes In The Floor Of Heaven only went to #2 on
Billboard's Country Music Chart, but it is one of the most requested Wariner
songs and one of his favorites. "I've
never had a record that had a reaction that's anything like the one this
song is getting," says Wariner. "I've heard people call in to radio stations
and relate their lives to the story in the song and they start crying. It
reminds me of how amazing the power of a song can be, how much it can touch
somebody. To be part of that is just an awesome feeling." It went on to become the CMA Single of
the Year in 1999.
Over the years, Steve never forgot his friend and mentor. "She was a good friend who went the extra mile for me when I was starting out," he remembers. "And she believed in me at a time when I really needed someone to believe in me. I'll |
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always remember her warmth and kindness." Steve
paid tribute to Dottie at her funeral. People
who were there called Steve's version of Amazing Grace 'chilling'. |
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Steve was
offered $200 to streak in Hot Springs Arkansas at the local
race track in 1974
Steve used to
play bass in his dad's band
Close friends and family call him "stibbs"
Voted one of
"Nashville's 10 Sexiest Men" in 1992 from USA Today
Steve is an adept magician specializing in close-up card
tricks
He has a special trick called "the disappearing bra"
Mentored fellow artist Bryan White
Steve's biggest single was a duet with Anita Cochran called
What If I Said
Is often mentioned with Vince Gill as one of the best
pickers in Nashville
Steve is a gifted painter and sketch artist
He created his own music label, Selectone Records
* Steve
Wariner
* Life's Highway
* It's A Crazy World
* Greatest Hits Volume I
* I Should Be With You
* I Got Dreams
* Laredo
* Christmas Memories
* Greatest Hits Volume II
* I Am Ready
* Drive
* No More Mr. Nice Guy
* Burning The Roadhouse Down
* Two Teardrops
* Faith In You
* The Hits Collection
* Guitar Christmas
* Steal Another Day
*
Holes In The Floor Of Heaven
* Two Teardrops
www.stevewariner.com |
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