Donna Fargo

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Donna Fargo

Background information
Birth name Yvonne Vaughan
Also known as Donna Fargo
Born November 10, 1945
Origin Mount Airy, North Carolina
Genre(s) country music/pop music
Occupation(s) singer, songwriter
Instrument(s) Vocals, Guitar
Years active 1972-Present
Associated
acts		 Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Tanya Tucker, Jeanne Pruett, Lynn Anderson
Website Donna Fargo Official Fan Club

Donna Fargo, (born Yvonne Vaughan on November 10, 1945 in Mount Airy, North Carolina), is a Country Music singer and songwriter. She is best known by pop fans for her 1972 Country/Pop crossover hits "The Happiest Girl In the Whole USA" and "Funny Face," but country music lovers realize that she's accomplished much more than that in music. Fargo has had six #1 songs on the country charts. She has placed nine songs in the country top five, 15 in the top ten, 17 in the top 15, and 19 songs in the top 20. In all, she has charted 23 songs on the country charts. (Donna Fargo's singles discography can be found later in this article).

Contents

[edit] First career

Donna Fargo was born in Mount Airy, North Carolina in 1945. Mount Airy was an area of North Carolina that was well-known for its traditional mountain music.[citation needed] As a child, she sang quite a bit, but instead of pursuing a career in music, she went into teaching in Los Angeles, becoming a high school English teacher. While in California, she met Stan Silver, who became her manager when Fargo was performing in California clubs and first seeking a career in music. At this point, Fargo was still teaching. Fargo and Silver eventually married.[citation needed]

In the 1960s, Fargo recorded for a couple of small labels, Ramco Records and Challenge Records, but achieved no national notice, although the Academy of Country Music named her Most Promising Female Vocalist in 1969. Fargo won this honor despite being considered a regional artist.

[edit] The Success of "The Happiest Girl In the Whole USA"

The songs that Fargo recorded for these labels, such as "Who's Been Sleeping On My Side of the Bed" and "Daddy", were promising, but were not premonitions of what was about to happen. In 1971, she wrote and recorded the song "The Happiest Girl In the Whole USA". In 1972, the single was picked up by Dot Records and released. It quickly became a #1 Country hit, went to #11 on the Pop charts and #7 on the Adult Contemporary charts. The song made Fargo a household name. The single sold over a million copies. In 1972, she won a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and the Country Music Association "Single of the Year" award for the record.

The Academy of Country Music awarded her as well, as she won four trophies, including Top Female Vocalist, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Single of the Year.

[edit] The Height of Her Career

Fargo's follow-up song, "Funny Face", proved to be another Country/Pop crossover hit. Her subsequent records were popular in the country field and often made the pop charts, as well. Her other hits included "You Were Always There", "Superman", "You Can't Be a Beacon If Your Light Don't Shine", "Little Girl Gone", "It Do Feel Good" and "Don't Be Angry". Fargo ultimately became the fifth most successful female country artist of the 1970s, according to Billboard, behind Loretta Lynn, Dottie West, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, and Lynn Anderson.[citation needed]

The Best of Donna Fargo CD
The Best of Donna Fargo CD

Fargo signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1976 and continued her streak of hits with such songs as "That Was Yesterday"(her last #1 in 1977), "Mocking Bird Hill"(1977), "Shame On Me"(1977), "Do I Love You(Yes In Every Way)"(1978), "Another Goodbye"(1978), and "Somebody Special"(1979).

Fargo became the third country female vocalist to have her own television show (following Kitty Wells in 1968 and Dolly Parton in 1976), when The Donna Fargo Show debuted in 1978. The series was produced by the Osmond Brothers, and lasted one season.

Fargo was still regularly hitting the country top ten up to 1979, but her chart success slackened in the 1980s.

[edit] Illness

In 1978, Fargo announced that she had multiple sclerosis, yet vowed to fight it and continue on with her career. Although seldom discussing health issues in interviews, the disease appears to have been in remission for many years[citation needed], and Fargo has long been a source of inspiration for others similarly afflicted.

[edit] The 1980s and Beyond

She continued to record and perform. In 1981, she recorded a Gospel album called Brotherly Love for MCA Records. The following year she signed with RCA Records and was later on Cleveland International Records. In the late 1980s, she joined Mercury Records, where she enjoyed her highest visibility in several years. She recorded an album, "Winners", that charted for many months and spawned two top 40 country hits in 1987 with "Me And You" and a duet, "Members Only" with Billy Joe Royal.

In 1991, she recorded the song "Soldier Boy", which was in reference to the Gulf War in the Middle East.

Donna Fargo has only been occasionally active in the music business since the early 1990s, but since that period has established a successful line of greeting cards and has written several collections of poetry and inspirational prose.[citation needed]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Hit Singles

[edit] Selected Albums

Year Single Album U.S. Country U.S. Pop U.S. A.C.
1972 "The Happiest Girl In the Whole USA" The Happiest Girl In the Whole USA #1 #11 #7
1972 "Funny Face" The Happiest Girl In the Whole USA #1 #5 #5
1973 "Superman" My Second Album #1 #41 -
1973 "You Were Always There" My Second Album #1 #93 -
1973 "Little Girl Gone" All About a Feeling #2 #57 -
1974 "I'll Try a Little Bit Harder" All About a Feeling #6 - -
1974 "U.S. of A." Miss Donna #9 #86 -
1974 "You Can't Be a Beacon (If Your Light Don't Shine)" Miss Donna #1 #57 -
1975 "It Do Feel Good" Miss Donna #7 #98 -
1975 "Hello Little Bluebird" Whatever I Say Means I Love You #14 - -
1975 "Whatever I Say (Means I Love You)" Whatever I Say Means I Love You #38 - -
1976 "What Will the New Year Bring?" Whatever I Say Means I Love You #58 - -
1976 "You're Not Charlie Brown" Whatever I Say Means I Love You #60 - -
1976 "Mr. Doodles" On The Move #20 - -
1976 "I Loved You All The Way" On The Move #15 - -
1977 "Don't Be Angry" The Best #3 - -
1977 "Mocking Bird Hill" Fargo Country #9 - -
1977 "That Was Yesterday" Fargo Country #1 - -
1977 "Shame On Me" Shame On Me #8 - -
1978 "Do I Love You (Yes In Every Way)" Shame On Me #2 - -
1978 "Ragamuffin Man" Shame On Me #19 - -
1978 "Another Goodbye" Dark-Eyed Lady #10 - -
1979 "Daddy" Just For You #14 - -
1979 "Somebody Special" Dark-Eyed Lady #6 - -
1980 "Land of Cotton" Fargo #63 - -
1980 "Seeing Is Believing" Fargo #55 - -
1987 "Me And You" Winners #29 - -
1987 "Members Only" (with Billy Joe Royal) Winners #23 - -
Year Album U.S. Country
1972 The Happiest Girl In the Whole USA #1
1973 My Second Album #1
1973 All About a Feeling #5
1974 Miss Donna #4
1975 Whatever I Say Means I Love You #25
1976 On the Move #31
1977 The Best #9
1977 Fargo Country #11
1977 Shame On Me #18
1978 Dark-Eyed Lady #20
1979 Just For You -
1980 Fargo -
1981 Brotherly Love -
1986 Winners -
1997 The Best of Donna Fargo -
2002 20th Century Masters -

[edit] Awards

[edit] Grammy Awards

[edit] Sources

[edit] External links

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