LIZ ANDERSON HAS PASSED AWAY

COUNTRY MUSIC SUFFERS A GREAT LOSS
LEGENDARY SONGWRITER-LIZ ANDERSON
HAS PASSED AWAY
Liz Anderson - The Cowgirl WayLynn Anderson’s mother, Liz Anderson, passed away October 31, 2011, at the age of 80, from complications of heart and lung disease.  Liz & her husband Casey are a great part of the Nashville Songwriters community.  Liz and Casey wrote Strangers & Lonesome Fugitive that were giant hits for Merle Haggard.
Please keep Lynn, Casey and family in your thoughts and prayers at this time of sadness and loss of their loved one.
MAY HER SOUL REST IN THE LOVING ARMS OF OUR BLESSED LORD.
FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS ARE NOT COMPLETED AT THIS TIME.
Born Elizabeth Jane Haaby in Roseau, Minnesota. Anderson played the family mandolin as a child and also sang in the local church. At age 13, the family moved west to Grand Forks, North Dakota. At the age of 16, Liz was married to Casey Anderson and then had her daughter Lynn a year later. She studied at the Redwood City Business College in Redwood City, California, and worked as asecretary
Early career
In 1957, the family moved to Sacramento, California. The limited popularity at the time of country music in California led Anderson to start writing songs. Casey was a member of the Sherrif‘s Posse, which was going to take part in the National centennial Pony Express Celebration. Casey convinced his wife to write a song in honor of the Pony Express. The song was named the official song.[1]
Anderson began publishing her songs and made friends within the burgeoning country music community in Bakersfield during the early 1960s. Some of the first hits from her pen were “Be Quiet Mind” by Del Reeves and “Pick of the Week”, which was recorded byRoy Drusky in 1964. In 1965, Merle Haggard recorded her song “All My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers”. She won a BMI award for the song. Anderson published over 260 songs during her career and earned five BMI awards. Many major country artists of the 1960s recorded at least one of her songs on their albums, including Charley PrideTammy WynetteErnest TubbLoretta LynnGeorge JonesSkeeter DavisWaylon JenningsKitty WellsConnie Smith and Bill Anderson.
Anderson demo vocals were noticed by RCA producer Chet Atkins who signed her to RCA in 1965. Anderson’s two initial singles fared well and her third, “Game of Triangles”, with Bobby Bare and Norma Jean became a Top 5 hit. In April 1967, Anderson again had a Top 5 Country hit, “Mama Spank”. Among Anderson’s most popular recordings were “Go Now Pay Later” (1966), “The Wife of the Party” (1967), “Tiny Tears” (1967), “Thanks A Lot For Tryin’ Anyway” (1968) (one of her few hits written by someone else), and “Husband Hunting” (1970).
Around this same time her only child, daughter Lynn, was rising as a country singer. Anderson wrote a number of her daughter’s early hits, including her 1967 debut single “Ride, Ride, Ride”, as well as her first big hit, the Top 5 “If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away)” (also in 1967). Liz and Lynn had a Top 25 duet with “Mother May I” in 1968, and appeared together on a Mother’s Day episode of theLawrence Welk Show that May. Lynn Anderson would later have her biggest success in the 1970s, becoming one of Country Music’s most successful female vocalist.
Later career
Liz Anderson’s own chart success began to fade from view by the start of the 1970s. In 1971, she moved to Epic Records and released the four charting singles which went no higher than the Country Top 60. One of those singles was a cover version of “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again“. Anderson semi-retired from the industry in 1974 and has since made only a handful of recordings.
Anderson continued to write, however, and one of her songs was a top 40 country success for Faron Young in 1977. In 1979, Lorrie Morgan had one of her first charted songs with an Anderson composition, “Tell Me I’m Only Dreaming”.
In the mid 1990s, Anderson started her own record company, Showboat Records. The Cowgirl Way was her first album in over a decade. In 2006, daughter Lynn Anderson released an album for the label entitled Cowgirl, composed entirely of songs penned by her mother.

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