Country singer Holly Dunn has passed away in a hospice facility in Albuquerque, NM at the age of 59. She had been diagnosed with a rare form of ovarian cancer earlier this year.
Dunn began her professional career while in high school in a band called the Freedom Folk Singers. While at Abilene Christian University, she performed with their group The Hilltoppers and, after graduation, moved to Nashville where her brother, Chris Waters, was a songwriter.
Dunn started her country career singing demos and as a songwriter including scoring a top ten hit with Louise Mandrell’s I’m Not Through Loving You which she co-wrote with her brother.
In 1985, Dunn signed with MTM Records where she released three minor charting songs before breaking through in mid-1986 with Daddy’s Hands (#7 Country). Through the end of the decade, Holly had a total of eight top ten country hits including two number ones:
Daddy’s Hands (1986 / #7)
Love Someone Like Me (1987 / #2)
Only When I Love (1987 / #4)
Strangers Again (1988 / #7)
That’s What Your Love Does to Me (1988 / #5)
Are You Ever Gonna Love Me (1989 / #1)
There Goes My Heart Again (1989 / #4)
You Really Had Me Going (1990 / #1)
Dunn also reached the top ten in 1987 as a guest on Michael Martin Murphey’s A Face in the Crowd (#4).
During the 90’s, Holly continued to release new material but none broke out like her 80’s output and she started to branch out into other areas. In 1995, she became the co-host on the morning show at WWWW in Detroit, MI and, in 2001 and 2002, hosted Opry Backstage at The Nashville Network.
In 2003, Dunn announced she was leaving music to become a full time artist, releasing a final, gospel-based, album, Full Circle that same year.
Dunn won the CMA’s Horizon Award in 1987 and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1989.
