Kathleen Alice Mattea (born June 21, 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including four that reached No. 1: "Goin' Gone", "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses", "Come from the Heart", and "Burnin' Old Memories", plus 12 more that charted within the top ten. She has released 14 studio albums, two Christmas albums, and one greatest hits album. Most of her material was recorded for Universal Music Group Nashville's Mercury Records Nashville 8division between 1984 and 2000, with later albums being issued on Narada Productions, her own Captain Potato label, and Sugar Hill Records. Among her albums, she has received five gold certifications and one platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She has collaborated with Dolly Parton, Michael McDonald, Tim O'Brien, and her husband, Jon Vezner. Mattea is also a two-time Grammy Award winner: in 1990 for "Where've You Been", and in 1993 for her Christmas album Good News. Her style is defined by traditional country, bluegrass, folk, and Celtic music influences.
Early life
Mattea was born in South Charleston, West Virginia. She and her two brothers grew up in nearby Cross Lanes. Their father worked in a chemical plant and her mother was a homemaker. During her childhood, Mattea's mother would have her perform informal piano recitals for family and friends. She also sang in her parents' church as a child, and in high school she performed at school shows and family gatherings. Mattea also began playing guitar in her teen years after discovering folk music. In addition to folk, Mattea also took and interest in bluegrass, which she would later say "formed [her] roots" as an artist. In 1976, while attending West Virginia University, she joined a bluegrass band. After a songwriter friend graduated and chose to pursue a career in Nashville, Tennessee, Mattea decided to drop out of school and go with him. Her friend soon left Nashville in hopes of pursuing medical school, but Mattea chose to stay behind. She worked as a tour guide at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and then as a secretary and a waitress, to support herself while working as a demo singer. Songwriter, publisher, and record producer Byron Hill discovered her and helped her sign to Mercury Records in 1983.
Career
1984–1986: First two albums
Mattea's self-titled debut album came out in 1984, with Hill and Rick Peoples as the album's producers. Mattea later noted that "there were no budgets" when she was recording the album, as she was unable to afford a $75 makeup session, and the front cover featured her wearing a jacket which she had purchased at Kmart. In addition, Mattea was given advice from image consultants on her musical persona. According to Mattea, she did not have an "artistic vision" at the time, which accounted for a lack of artistic identity.
Four of its singles made the Hot Country Songs charts, starting with "Street Talk", which charted at number 25. Mattea had originally recorded a demo of the song with the intent of having Terri Gibbs record it, but Mattea kept it for herself when Gibbs declined the song. Followup "Someone Is Falling in Love" (written by Pebe Sebert) made it to number 26 on the same chart, while "You've Got a Soft Place to Fall" and "That's Easy for You to Say" fell short of the top 40. Other notable cuts on the album included "God Ain't No Stained Glass Window", which was released as a 12" promotional single for the Christmas season; a cover version of Barry Manilow's 1981 hit "Somewhere Down the Road"; and "(Back to the) Heartbreak Kid", which later became a Top 10 hit on the country charts for Restless Heart in late 1985 to early 1986. Allmusic reviewer William Ruhlmann wrote of the album that it was "a fairly representative sampling of Nashville formula country writing", while praising the "feisty" nature of "Street Talk" and Mattea's vocals on "Heartbreak Kid". People reviewer Ralph Novak compared Mattea's voice favorably to Anne Murray and said that "Mattea may not have the most revolutionary sound around, but her material is especially good."