Singer Lynn Anderson was proud of 'Garden,' her big hit

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Lynn Anderson, whose strong, husky voice carried her to the top of the charts with (I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden, has died. She was 67.

A statement from her family said she passed away at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville on Thursday. She died of a heart attack.

Anderson soaked up the national spotlight as a young singer on The Lawrence Welk Show between 1967 and 1969. The exposure helped her nab a deal with Columbia Records.

“He felt country music was coming into its own and deserved to be on national TV,” she said of Welk in a 1987 interview. “He’s one of my heroes and always will be.”

And it was Rose Garden that sealed her legacy, earning her a Grammy and Country Music Association’s female vocalist of the year award in 1971.

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“This song stated that you can make something out of nothing,” Anderson said. “You take it and go ahead. It fit me well, and I’ll be proud to be connected to it until I die.”

She appeared on television with such stars as Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby, John Wayne and Tom Jones and performed for Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan. Anderson’s other hits included Rocky Top, How Can I Unlove You and Top of the World (also recorded by the Carpenters).

Country star Reba McEntire lauded Anderson’s career.

“She did so much for the females in country music,” McEntire said in a statement. “Always continuing to pave the road for those to follow.”

She was born in Grand Forks, N.D., but raised in Sacramento, Calif. The daughter of country songwriters Casey and Liz Anderson, she started performing at age 6.

In her later years, Anderson lived in Taos, N.M., where she faced numerous legal problems. In 2005, Anderson was accused of shoplifting a Harry Potter DVD from a Taos supermarket and then punching a police officer upon arrest. She later pleaded no contest to obstructing an officer and was given a conditional discharge, records show.

In 2004, Anderson was arrested for drunken driving in Texas.