Sandy Posey

Sandy Posey achieved two substantial early successes by straddling girl-group pop and the Nashville Sound, landing major hits with her opening singles “Born a Woman” and “Single Girl,” each reaching number 12 on Billboard in 1966. Her voice carried a high, piercing quality with only the faintest hint of twang, a trait she would later accentuate once “I Take It Back” became her final Top 40 entry in 1967, also peaking at 12 like the earlier releases. Assisted by Billy Sherrill, the producer behind Tammy Wynette, Posey moved into country music during the 1970s and collected a steady run of country-chart singles that continued throughout the decade. Following a period of reduced activity, she reentered the studio in the 2000s, cutting an album for King Records while also revisiting her earlier material for other projects. Those initial hits remained her enduring influence; power popper Nick Lowe, especially, admired them and included covers of both “Born a Woman” and the deeper track “Halfway to Paradise” amid his intense Jesus of Cool period.

Born June 18, 1944, in Jasper, Alabama, though raised in Arkansas, Sandy Posey graduated from a West Memphis high school before launching her career in Memphis. She took a receptionist position at a local recording studio and soon contributed background vocals on sessions. After releasing the 1965 single “Kiss Me Goodnight” under the alias Sandy Carmel on Bell Records, she drew the notice of producer Chips Moman. Impressed by her demo of Martha Sharp’s “Born a Woman,” Moman helped secure her an MGM Records contract.

Moman oversaw the summer 1966 MGM release of “Born a Woman,” which climbed to number 12 by August and earned Posey two 1967 Grammy nominations—one for Best Contemporary (R&R) Solo Vocal Performance and another for Best Vocal Performance, Female. “Single Girl” followed quickly and likewise reached number 12 by January 1967. After “What a Woman in Love Won’t Do” hit 31, she returned to the number-12 spot with “I Take It Back.”

Her chart momentum faded almost as rapidly as it had risen. “Are You Never Coming Home” stalled at 59 in 1967, while “Something I’ll Remember” missed the charts entirely in 1968. By 1971 she had recast herself as a country artist, joining Columbia and collaborating with producer Billy Sherrill to score her first country hit, “Bring Him Safely Home to Me.” Modest country-chart success followed, including “Happy Happy Birthday Baby” at 36 in 1972 and “Don’t” at 39 in 1973. She moved to Monument Records in 1976; “Born to Be with You” reached number 21 in 1978, nearly matched by the 26 peaks of “Love, Love, Love/Chapel of Love” later that year and “Love Is Sometimes Easy” in 1979.

After “Can’t Get Used to Sleeping Without You” climbed only to 88 on the country charts, Posey stepped away from performing. She occasionally sang sessions or toured with her husband, Elvis Presley impersonator Wade Cummings, yet by the mid-1980s she had largely withdrawn from music. Two decades of quiet preceded her 2004 return with a fresh album and several re-recordings of past hits during that period. Strawberry issued the double-disc anthology Born a Woman: Complete MGM Recordings 1966–1968 in 2023. Sandy Posey died July 20, 2024, at age 80.