Dottie West (Dorothy Marie Marsh)

                      (October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991)

Dottie West is considered one of the genre’s most influential and
groundbreaking female artists. Her career started in the early 1960s,
with her Top 10 hit, "Here Comes My Baby Back Again," which won her 
the first Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in
1965. In the 1960s, West was one of the few female country singers
working in what was then a male-dominated industry, influencing other
female country singers like Lynn Anderson, Crystal Gayle, Barbara
Mandrell, Dolly Parton, and Tammy Wynette. Throughout the 1960s,
West had country hits within the Top 10 and 20.

 
West died as the result of severe internal injuries received in an auto
accident while on her way to a performance at the Grand Ole Opry on
August 30, 1991.

In the early 1970s, West wrote a popular commercial for the Coca-Cola
company, titled "Country Sunshine", which she nearly brought to the
top of the charts in 1973.