Laura Lynch

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Laura Lynch
Background information
Birth name Laura Lynch
Origin United States
Genre(s) Country music
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter, singer
Instrument(s) Singer
Label(s) SonyBMG/Open Wide/Columbia
Associated acts Dixie Chicks

Laura Lynch born on November 18, 1956 (1956-11-18) (age 51) [1]is an American country musician and songwriter, who is best known as a founding member of the all-woman country music band the Dixie Chicks.

[edit] Biography

A self-proclaimed "Cowgirl", acoustic bassist and single mother, Lynch toured and played in Japan as a member of a group known as the Texas Rangers, a play on the name of the famous law enforcement agency. Back home in Texas, Lynch successfully became a founder of the Dixie Chicks, a bluegrass country music band who hailed from the Dallas area, when she was 33 years old. She was the group's bassist, co-lead singer, and occasional songwriter. Robin Lynn Macy, a co-lead singer and guitarist, and sisters Emily and Martie Erwin, who were both multi-instrumentalists, singing backing vocals and harmonizing together. Emily Erwin, the youngest at age 16, played primarily the banjo, but was also adept at the dobro, guitar, upright bass and several other instruments, while her sister Martie had just won third place in the National fiddle championships in 1989, and played mostly the fiddle and the mandolin. All four women collaborated in songwriting.

Commercial success continued to elude the group, however, and in 1995 Lynch was asked to leave and replaced by Natalie Maines. Reasons given for the switch included musical style, vocal personality and strength, and, per The Dallas Morning News, age and image [2]. (Lynch was over a decade older than other members Martie Erwin and Emily Erwin.) With Maines, the Chicks suddenly became a diamond record-level smash success, leading commentators, like Ace Collins, to compare Lynch's fate to that of fired Beatle Pete Best.

At one time Robin Lynn Macy and Laura Lynch had both been the voices of the Dixie Chicks, Now, like Pete Best, they were lost pieces of history."
 
— Ace Collins [3]

At first the band claimed that Laura left on her own accord, but in an interview titled Two Chicks Dumped Me For A Younger Woman Laura said:

It can't really be characterized as a resignation, There are three Dixie Chicks, and I'm only one.

The group's called the Dixie Chicks," she commented. At the time Laura was 37, while Emily was 23 and Martie was 25. "When I was out there on the road having a bad day, it was awfully hard to be a Chick. [but] I have a 14-year-old daughter, and I'm looking forward to spending more time with her."

 
— Laura Lynch in an article titled [2]

By her own description Lynch "cried every day for six months" after the change. She eventually left the music business, married Mac Tull and moved to Weatherford, Texas. Mac Tull later won the Lotto Texas jackpot (pre-cash option)[4],[5]. Unfortunatley, the marriage did not last. Lynch is an enthusiastic advocate for the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame[4].

[edit] References

  1. ^ (accessed 13 October 2007) = Musician Birthdays|format = HTML |publisher = [http://www.courtneysmusicsite.net courtneys music site| accessdate = 2007-09-13 | last= Courtney|quote=Laura Lynch (Dixie Chicks) - Nov. 18 }}
  2. ^ a b Chick Chat fan club (2007). Chick Chat (HTML). dixie-chicks.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
  3. ^ Ace Collins (September 11, 1999). All About the Dixie Chicks. St. Martin's Griffin; 1st ed edition. ISBN 0312247052. 
  4. ^ a b Original Dixie Chicks: The "Pre-Nat" Chicks (HTML). original chicks (2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
  5. ^ Lotto Texas Winners, 08/19/1995 Drawing (HTML). [1] (2007). Retrieved on 2007-10-18.
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