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Ava Barber (born June 28, 1954, Knoxville, Tennessee) is an American country music singer and performer. She is best remembered for performing on The Lawrence Welk Show throughout much of the 1970s and early '80s.

She is also known for being a country singer, her best-known hit was the song, "Bucket to the South", which peaked at #13 on the Hot Country Songs list in 1978. She has done many reunion specials on the PBS network for The Lawrence Welk Show over the past number of years.

Early life and rise to fame

Ava Barber was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. She grew up singing in her oldest brother's rock & roll band. Barber soon began listening to country music from listening to her father turning on the radio to a country music station every morning. Soon, every Saturday night, Barber would got to the radio station's "WNOX" auditorium, where the music show was performed. When she was 10 years old, Barber began singing professionally. By the time she was 14 she joined a country music television show, located in Knoxville. She soon began performing around the Knoxville area, and even recorded records for some local labels. Her mother was an avid fan of the popular television show at the time, The Lawrence Welk Show, and suggested that her daughter should write to him, because he always helped out young acts. Barber wrote to Welk in 1973, and he responded suggesting that if she ever was on the West Coast, she should perform on the show. Around this same time, she married her husband Roger Sullivan.

Soon her husband made the call to the Lawrence Welk offices. Welk was actually in the office that day and suggested that they should meet him at a golf tournament. They met on the golf course, and in a small tent off the golf course Barber auditioned for his show, and she was soon on the show by February 1974.

The Lawrence Welk Show and success as a country singer

Soon, Barber was hired as a regular on The Lawrence Welk Show, and found herself performing on his television series on the West Coast. At the same time, Barber was trying to get her country music career off the ground. Chart success didn't come initially, but she released her first charting single in 1977 with the song, "Waitin' At the End of Your Run", a truck-driving song. The song was only moderately successful, though, reaching only #70 on the country singles charts that year. Barber's 1978 release, "Bucket to the South", turned into a big country hit, peaking at #13 on the Hot Country Songs list in 1978, and reached #12 in Canada. Being a country singer brought her instant fame, and she soon appeared on many of its television shows, like Nashville Now, Crook & Chase, and made two appearances on the Grand Ole Opry as well.

Barber's success on the country charts lingered off after the success of "Bucket to the South". She never even had another Top 40 country hit. One song did come close though called "You're Gonna Love Love", which missed the Top 40, peaking at #44. She was soon off the country charts, until 1981, when she made a comeback with the single "I Think I Could Love You Better Than She Did". When The Lawrence Welk show came to an end in 1982, Barber and her husband Roger moved back to Knoxville, Tennessee. They then bought their own bus and formed their own band, Sweet Apple, and toured the United States and Canada, singing and performing.

Career in the '90s and life today

In 1990, Barber and her husband, decided to go into business with Dick Dale, and lease their own theater located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Up until 1996, they operated the theater and performed there as well. Between 1997 and 2000, Barber worked at the Welk Theatre in Branson, Missouri. Since 2000, she has toured with members of the Lawrence Welk Show, and also does dates on her own. She does reunion specials with previous members of the show on the PBS network also. She also is starring in a new show in Branson called The Grand Ladies of Country Music.

Discography

Singles

External links

• Ava Barber Official Website