Saturday, August 12, 2000
'Harper Valley' singer finds
strength in faith
By Brien Murphy
Reporter-News Staff Writer
Seven years ago, country singer and Anson
native Jeannie C. Riley dropped out of sight.
“I was bed-ridden with depression for
six years. All I did was eat and go right back to bed. I had no
will to do anything,” said the Grammy-winning singer of the
1968 No. 1 hit “Harper Valley PTA.” “I thought
the depression was going to kill me.”
With the help of family, friends and faith
in God, Riley got the help she needed to fight clinical depression.
Now, Riley is “busy as a hunting dog” with a weekly
radio show called “Inside Nashville Country,” talks
to Christian groups, work on another book, and plans to form a
company to scout, record and promote country music talent.
“If my mother knew it, she’d be
so worried. She thinks I’m not getting enough sleep,”
the 54-year-old Riley said during a telephone interview from Nashville.
“(But) with the strength the Lord has given me, and the interest
to do what I’m doing, I think I’m turning into Superwoman.”
It wasn’t that long ago, however, that
Riley was in danger of being forgotten.
Riley, 54, grew up in Anson, where she’s
visiting briefly today for Johnny Moore Day, an event honoring
her country musician uncle.
She married her high school sweetheart,
Mickey Riley, and then left for Nashville to pursue a career in
country music. After several recordings failed to get much attention,
lightning struck in 1968 when Riley’s recording of “Harper
Valley PTA” was released.
The song by Tom T. Hall about a mother exposing
the self-righteous hypocrites in the local schools set a record
in August 1968 by jumping from No. 81 to No. 7 on the Billboard
singles chart in only one week. By Sept. 21, 1968, “PTA”
was the No. 1 single in the nation — a rare feat for a country
artist. It took the Beatles, and their biggest hit, “Hey,
Jude,” to knock Riley from the top of the charts.
Riley earned a Country Music Association
award for Single of the Year, and a Grammy for Best Vocal Performance
by a Female in 1968. In the late 1970s, the song was the basis
for a TV movie and subsequent series starring Barbara Eden.
Riley never matched the success of her first
hit on the pop charts. In the mid-1970s, she turned to God and
recorded gospel music.
But Riley wasn’t always happy. Traveling
for three decades was lonely. The demands of fame weren’t
all that fun either, she said.
“For six or seven years after ‘Harper
Valley’ came out, if I went to the grocery store, people
followed me like the Pied Piper of Hamelin,” she said. “It
was flattering, but you felt the need to be ‘on’ all
the time. I got so used to wearing stage makeup that before I
went to the grocery store, church, a ballgame, I did my whole
makeup thing.’’
In the early 1990s, things got out of control.
Riley is saving most of the details for
her new book. She says the co-writer of her previous autobiography
wasn’t always accurate.
But Riley did say that in 1992, she met
a woman she calls “my own personal David Koresh and Jim Jones.”
Riley briefly believed the woman, who became her personal manager,
had the power of prophecy after she correctly predicted the death
of a child.
By the time she ridded herself of the woman,
Riley was broke, unemployed, divorced and clinically depressed.
At one point, Riley was receiving disability payments as her weight
ballooned.
“I used to wear size 5’s and 6’s.
I got up to 24’s and 26’s,” she said.
Riley’s family finally intervened a
couple of years ago. Riley was treated for her depression, which
she says was caused by a chemical imbalance in her brain, and
started putting her life back together.
Riley said she’s enjoying being back
in the public eye, and doesn’t want to let any more time
slip away.
“I’ve never been so happy in all
my life. I’ve never had such piece of mind. I trust the Lord
with everything,” Riley said.
Contact entertainment writer Brien Murphy
at 676-6760, or at murphyb@abinews.com.
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