Holly Dunn

Holly Dunn was a female country vocalist and mainstay at country radio for several years in the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s. Her rise came on the back of the song "Daddy's Hands," a tribute to her father, a Church of Christ preacher, presenting him as a loving man who worked hard to provide for the family and guide his children. "Daddy's Hands" went on to earn Dunn two Grammy nominations and become a perennial Father's Day favorite. She had signed with MTM Records in 1985 and after a few minor hits broke through with "Daddy's Hands." Other hits followed, including her duet hit with Micahel Martin Murphey on "A Face in the Crowd," and her first solo top 5 hit "Love Someone Like Me," both in 1987. When MTM Records closed in late 1988, Dunn's contract was bought by Warner Bros. Records, where she went on to co-write songs with her brother, Chris Waters Dunn, and scored two No. 1 hits: "Are You Ever Gonna Love Me" (1989) and "You Really Had Me Going" (1990). However, with the rise of pop-influenced country in the early 1990s, Dunn's hits became fewer and farther between, and after recording a gospel album in 2003, Dunn left music and turned to painting. Dunn announced in early 2016 that she had ovarian cancer. On Nov. 14, 2016, she died in hospice care in Albuquerque, N.M.