Betty Foley

b. 3 February 1933, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 1990. The daughter of country star Red Foley, her mother died in childbirth and she was raised by her stepmother in Berea, Kentucky. She learned guitar as a child and at 17, she began to appear regularly on the Renfro Valley Barn Dance, a show that her father had helped to create with John Lair around 1937. Her singing gained her a recording contract with Decca Records, and in 1954, she had a number 8 hit with ‘As Far As I’m Concerned’, followed the next year by a Top 3 with ‘A Satisfied Mind’, both being duets with her father. She left theBarn Dance in 1954 and in 1956 and 1957, she was a regular on the Midwestern Hayride on WLW Cincinnati and also played on the Grand Ole Opry. In 1958, she starred on WNOX Knoxville’sTennessee Barndance, before moving to the Louisiana Hayride on KWKH Shreveport. After leaving Decca, she recorded for Bandera, gaining a number 7 hit (her last) with ‘Old Moon’ in 1959. She eventually became a resident performer, with her father, on the ABC’s networked Jubilee USA television show on KWTO Springfield, Missouri. After retiring as a performer, she had a business interest in Kentucky Fried Chicken.