Chalee Tennison
{{short description|American singer-songwriter}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Chalee Tennison
| image_size =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1969|4|11}}
| origin = United States
| instrument = Vocals
| genre = Country
| occupation =
| years_active = 1999-2006
| label = Asylum, DreamWorks Nashville
}}
Chalee Tennison (born April 11, 1969) is an American country music artist from the state of Texas. She has released three major-label studio albums (two on Asylum Records and one on Dreamworks Records) in addition to charting six singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts. Her highest charting singles, "Just Because She Lives There" and "Go Back", both reached No. 36 on that chart.
Biography
Chalee Tennison was born in Texas and was influenced musically by her brother's collection of 8-track tapes, which included artists such as Tammy Wynette and Tanya Tucker. She sang in church choir with her mother and sister, but did not begin singing professionally until she was 16. She then started a band with her third husband, which performed in Gatesville, Texas. To support herself at the time, she also worked a variety of jobs, including waitress, substitute teacher, and prison security guard.{{cite journal|date=May 14, 1999|title=New artist fact file: Chalee Tennison|journal=Radio & Records|page=68|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1999/RR-1999-05-14.pdf}}
She moved to Nashville, Tennessee and worked as a demo singer. After record producer Jerry Taylor discovered her demos, he helped her sign to Asylum Records in 1999.{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p371146/biography|pure_url=yes}} |title=allmusic ((( Chalee Tennison > Biography ))) |accessdate=2007-08-02 |last=Ankeny |first=Jason |work= Allmusic}} Her first, self-titled album was issued that year, with "Someone Else's Turn to Cry" as the lead single.{{cite magazine|last=Flippo|first=Chet|date=May 1, 1999|title=Tennison's Ready for her 'Turn'|magazine=Billboard|page=33|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bw0EAAAAMBAJ}} Following it were "Handful of Water" and "Just Because She Lives There", which became her first Top 40 entry on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, peaking at No. 36.{{cite book|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|title=Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2012|publisher=Record Research, Inc|date=2012|page=333|isbn=978-0-89820-203-8}} At the time of the album's release, Tennison had been divorced three times, and was a single mother of three children, of which an uncredited review in Radio & Records stated that "Chalee Tennison sounds like she truly understands the songs she sings. maybe it's because she's lived them."{{cite journal|date=June 4, 1999|journal=Radio & Records|page=63|title=Chalee Tennison|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1990s/1999/RR-1999-06-04.pdf}} Tennison told the same publication that "I feel very lucky as a new artist that I got to cut the kind of record I wanted to cut. It's very different, as far as the music itself, but it's all me." She supported the album by touring in 1999 with Alan Jackson.
Her second Asylum album was titled This Woman's Heart. Produced by Jerry Taylor, it included two more chart singles: "Makin' Up with You" and "Go Back", which also charted at No. 36.{{cite magazine|date=August 26, 2000|title=Tennison survives heartache, merger on Asylum|magazine=Billboard|page=36|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZhAEAAAAMBAJ}} A review of "Makin' Up with You" in Billboard praised Tennison's voice but criticized the song's central message of "looking to start a fight and encouraging her man to slam doors because she loves the way he looks when he tries to be tough."{{cite magazine|date=August 26, 2000|title=Reviews|magazine=Billboard|page=22|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/00s/2000/BB-2000-08-26.pdf}} The same publication published a favorable review of "Go Back", calling it " a stirring ballad that updates a long- favored tradition in country music -the trucker song." while also praising Tennison's voice and the song's melody.{{cite magazine|date=November 18, 2000|title=Reviews|magazine=Billboard|page=29|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0BAEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22chalee+tennison%22+%22go+back%22&pg=PA29}}
In 2002, she moved to DreamWorks Records and recorded her Parading in the Rain album on that label.{{cite web |url=http://www.cmt.com/artists/news/1452265/20020212/tennison_chalee.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930061158/http://www.cmt.com/artists/news/1452265/20020212/tennison_chalee.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |title=Chalee Tennison to DreamWorks |accessdate=2007-08-02 |work=CMT.com}} "Lonesome Road", the lead single to the album, charted late in the year, reaching No. 54. Another single titled "Easy Lovin' You", which featured guest vocals from her daughter Tiffany, was issued in April 2003.{{cite journal|date=April 11, 2003|title=Going for Adds|journal=Radio & Records|page=24|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2003/RR-2003-04-11.pdf}}
Discography
=Albums=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |
| style="width:14em;"| Title
! style="width:20em;"| Album details |
|---|
| scope="row"| Chalee Tennison
|
|
| scope="row"| This Woman's Heart
|
|
| scope="row"| Parading in the Rain
|
|
=Singles=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |
| rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2" style="width:16em;"| Single ! colspan="2"| Peak chart ! rowspan="2"| Album |
|---|
| style="font-size:smaller;"
! width="45"| US Country ! width="45"| CAN Country |
| rowspan="2"| 1999
! scope="row"| "Someone Else's Turn to Cry" | 46 | 86 | align="left" rowspan="3"| Chalee Tennison |
| scope="row"| "Handful of Water"
| 64 | — |
| rowspan="2"| 2000
! scope="row"| "Just Because She Lives There" | 36 | 78 |
| scope="row"| "Makin' Up with You"
| 56 | — | align="left" rowspan="2"| This Woman's Heart |
| 2001
! scope="row"| "Go Back" | 36 | — |
| 2002
! scope="row"| "Lonesome Road" | 54 | — | align="left" rowspan="3"| Parading in the Rain |
| rowspan="2"| 2003
! scope="row"| "Easy Lovin' You"{{cite web|url=http://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/2000s/2003/RR-2003-04-11.pdf|title=Country - Going for Adds|work=Radio & Records|date=April 11, 2003}} | — | — |
| scope="row"| "Parading in the Rain"
| — | — |
| colspan="5" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart |
=Guest singles=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |
| Year
! style="width:16em;"| Single ! Artist ! Album |
|---|
| 2006
! scope="row"| "Same Ol' Song and Dance" | align="left"| Leland Martin |
=Music videos=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
! Year ! style="width:22em;"| Video ! Director |
| rowspan="3"| 1999
! scope="row"| "Someone Else's Turn to Cry" | Jim Shea |
| scope="row"| "Handful of Water"
| Mo Fitzgibbon/Robert Walker |
|---|
| scope="row"| "Just Because She Lives There"
| rowspan="2"| Jim Shea |
| 2000
! scope="row"| "Makin' Up with You" |
| 2003
! scope="row"| "Easy Lovin' You" | David Kriegel |
| 2006
! scope="row"| "Same Ol' Song and Dance" (with Leland Martin) | |
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennison, Chalee}}
Category:American women country singers
Category:American country singer-songwriters
Category:Asylum Records artists