September 11 1984 Did Not Become The Final Date On Her Stage Career
Barbara Mandrell survived a head on crash that killed the other driver and her bones healed but the head injury and lost touring months and public backlash took much longer
Sometimes a comeback means carrying the crash with you long after the bones have healed
On September 11 1984 Barbara Mandrell was 35 and still near the height of her career
She had already won the CMA Entertainer of the Year award twice and hosted a hit network television show with her sisters and built a reputation as one of the most polished live performers of country music
Even that week one of her singles was sitting near the top of the country chart
That evening Mandrell was driving near her home in Hendersonville Tennessee with her two oldest children Matthew and Jaime
A car driven by 19 year old Mark White crossed the center line and struck the Jaguar of Mandrell head on and White was killed
Matthew and Jaime escaped with comparatively minor injuries and Barbara did not because her right femur was broken and her ankle was fractured and she suffered knee injuries and cuts and a significant concussion
Doctors later inserted a metal rod into her thigh to stabilize the femur and the head injury brought severe headaches and neurological effects that Mandrell would describe as particularly difficult for both her and her family
For someone whose stage shows depended on movement and dancing and playing multiple instruments recovery meant more than waiting for bones to heal and concerts disappeared from the calendar
Doctors initially warned that she could be offstage for six to eight months and Mandrell later admitted that there were moments when she wondered whether she would ever sing professionally again
The Career Did Not End On That Highway
She returned to the recording studio in 1985 and more hit records followed including Thereβs No Love in Tennessee and Fast Lanes and Country Roads and Angel in Your Arms
By 1986 she was performing live again and eventually resuming touring and television work and acting
The crash also followed her in a less expected way because a legal action connected to insurance claims produced harsh publicity because it formally named the family of the dead driver
The attorney of Mandrell and the father of White both explained publicly that the action was a procedural step aimed at insurance coverage and not an attempt to take money from the family but the misunderstanding damaged her image with some fans
The Date Stayed With Everyone Involved
So the accident left two kinds of rehabilitation and one was physical and learning what her injured leg and head would allow her to do again and the other was public
September 11 1984 also belonged to the White family who lost a nineteen year old son and that fact stays at the center of the tragedy
Years later Mandrell could point to the records and concerts and television work that came afterward and the Jaguar was gone and the touring calendar had been interrupted and one family had lost a son
Nothing about it was clean and nothing about it healed all at once and a comeback can require more than walking back under the lights