Born on This Day in 1923, the Barrier-Breaking Female Who Became One of Country Music’s First-Ever Crossover Stars

The same year that Patsy Cline was climbing both the country and pop charts with “Walkin’ After Midnight”, another woman was also breaking barriers in the industry. With her 1957 song “Dark Moon”, Bonnie Guitar became one of the first women to score a country-pop crossover hit, cracking the Hot 100 Top 10. Born on this day (March 25) in 1923, Guitar wouldn’t stop there. In addition to an award-winning career as a performer, she also co-founded and ran her own record label, Dolton Records.

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The Incredible Life and Career of Bonnie Guitar

Born Bonnie Buckingham in Seattle, Guitar’s family later moved to a farm in the then-rural Washington town of Auburn. Both her father and uncle were fiddle players, and her two older brothers shared a flat-top Gibson guitar, which they passed on to her at the age of 13.

Three years later, she began her own musical journey, competing in (and winning) regional talent shows and taking lessons from prominent local guitar instructors. Guitar even married one of her teachers, Paul Tutmarc (27 years her senior). The couple had one daughter in 1950, but split up five years later.

Newly divorced, Bonnie Guitar found work as a session guitarist in Los Angeles. In 1957, she scored her first hit with the ballad “Dark Moon”, later covered by Gale Storm and Elvis Presley. Originally intended for another artist, Guitar offered to waive her royalty rights if given the chance to record “Dark Moon.”

“My body just physically shook when I heard that song,” she told the National Association of Music Merchants in 2018. “I just knew that song was something that I wanted to do.”

Finding success on the country charts, “Dark Moon” also shot to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. While Guitar did in fact surrender her royalties, the song catapulted her to national fame, landing gigs on The Ed Sullivan Show and touring spots with Gene Vincent and the Everly Brothers.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1957, Patsy Cline Released What Would Become Her First Hit, a Signature Track She Initially Disliked That Was Later Covered by Garth Brooks]

A Savvy Businesswoman

In the late 1950s, Bonnie Guitar put her studio skills to use when she co-founded the Seattle-based Dolton Records, which launched the careers of The Fleetwoods and Rock & Roll Hall of Famers The Ventures.

Leaving Dolton in the early 1960s, Guitar went on to serve as the A&R head of RCA Records’ country division during the 1960s, scouting and developing new artists. However, she wasn’t quite done making waves as a performer, scoring three Top 10 country hits in the late 1960s including “I’m Living in Two Worlds”, “A Woman In Love”, and “I Believe in Love.” in 1968, the Academy of Country Music tapped Bonnie Guitar as the Top Female Vocalist of the Year.

Guitar died on Jan. 12, 2019, in Soap Lake, Washington. She was 95 years old.

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