Juice Newton

Juice Newton (born Judith Kay Newton; February 18, 1952) is an American pop and country singer, songwriter, and musician. Newton has received five Grammy Award nominations in the Pop and Country Best Female Vocalist categories – winning once in 1983 – as well as an ACM Award for Top New Female Artist and two consecutive Billboard Female Album Artist of the Year awards. Newton's other awards include a People's Choice Award for "Best Female Vocalist" and the Australian Music Media's "Number One International Country Artist".

Newton has several Gold and Platinum records to her credit, including Juice, Quiet Lies and her first Greatest Hits album. During the 1980s, she charted 14 top 10 hits across the Billboard Country, AC, and Hot 100 charts, with many of the recordings achieving crossover success and six of the songs hitting the No. 1 position.

Newton was born in Lakehurst, New Jersey. She is the daughter of a Navy officer. Her mother encouraged her interest in music, giving her a guitar for her 13th birthday.

After graduating from First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, she attended Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California. During this time, she performed folk music in some local coffeehouses. She then formed a folk-rock band with guitarist and songwriter Otha Young and toured bars in Northern California with her band.

In the early 1970s, Newton, Otha Young and Tom Kealey formed a band that would eventually be called Juice Newton & Silver Spur, which was signed to RCA Records. The group released two albums for RCA, in 1975 and 1976, but scored only one charting country single with "Love Is a Word". The band was dropped by RCA, then joined Capitol Records in 1977. The band broke up shortly after releasing just one more album.

In late 1977, Newton went solo, continuing to record for Capitol, and until 1982 Silver Spur remained the name of her backing band. Newton also sang backing vocals for three tracks on Bob Welch's platinum solo debut album, including his hit "Ebony Eyes".

Near the end of 1977, "It's a Heartache" became Newton's first solo record and a major hit in Mexico, where it was eventually certified Gold, and in 1978, she released it in the United States. “It’s a Heartache” became the first of what would eventually be her 11 "Hot 100" pop hits. Also in 1978, The Carpenters' version of the Newton/Young-penned song "Sweet, Sweet Smile" reached the Top 10 on both the Country and Adult Contemporary charts, and No. 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In 1978, Newton legally changed her name from "Judy Kay Newton" to "Juice Newton" ("Juice" having long been her nickname).

Newton's solo debut album, Well Kept Secret, was released later in 1978. Neither Well Kept Secret nor its sole single, "Hey Baby", charted, but Capitol Records did renew Newton's contract. In 1979 Capitol's investment in Newton began to pay off as Newton had her first Top-40 Country hit with "Let's Keep It That Way" (another one-off single). Later that year, the album Take Heart featured five modestly charting singles: "Until Tonight", "Any Way That You Want Me", "You Fill My Life", "Lay Back in the Arms of Someone", and "Sunshine". In 1980, "Sunshine" became Newton's second top-40 country chart single, "You Fill My Life" reached No. 41, and "Until Tonight" was No. 42. Both of Newton's initial solo efforts performed with modest success but failed to have lasting impacts on the album charts.