Early Life
Born Amanda Carol Barnett, she was the only child of Betty and Dan Barnett (who worked respectively as a bookkeeper and contractor). Barnett began her musical career by singing in church at the age of five. Her mother encouraged her by booking singing engagements wherever people would listen: bowling alleys, VFW halls and political rallies (notably for Lamar Alexander and future Vice President Al Gore, Jr.). When there was no venue, she would perform in parking lots. By age nine, her father financed a professionally recorded gospel music album. The following summer, she had joined a summer theatre cast at Dollywood and shared the stage with Dolly Parton herself. It was during her two years at Dollywood that she won a talent contest that included making a demo in Nashville.
Read more about this topic: Mandy Barnett
Famous quotes related to early life:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)
“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)