b. Judy Kaye Cohen, 18 February 1952, Lakehurst, New Jersey, USA. This singing daughter from a military family spent most of her childhood in Virginia. While completing a formal education in California, she fronted Dixie Peach, a country rock combo that was renamed Silver Spur for their RCA Records albums in the mid-70s. Despite assistance from top Los Angeles session musicians, immediate solo success was dogged by Bonnie Tyler’s version of ‘It’s A Heartache’ eclipsing Newton’s own, though she gained a US country hit by proxy when the Carpenters covered her self-composed ‘Sweet Sweet Smile’ in 1978. Two years later, she arrived in Billboard’s Top 5 with a revival of Chip Taylor’s ‘Angel Of The Morning’ (her only UK hit) and then ‘Queen Of Hearts’ (also a hit for Dave Edmunds), while the Juice album containing both peaked at number 22. She enjoyed more hits in the pop charts with ‘Love’s Been A Little Hard On Me’, Quiet Lies and a 1983 overhaul of the Zombies’ ‘Tell Her No’, but it was the country market that came to provide the bulk of her success. After an encouraging response when she performed ‘The Sweetest Thing I’ve Ever Known’ at 1981’s annual Country Radio Seminar, this old Silver Spur track was remixed for a single to become a country number 1 the following year. Other genre successes included a reworking of Brenda Lee’s ‘Break It To Me Gently’, Dave Loggins’ ‘You Make Me Want To Make You Mine’, ‘Hurt’ and a duet with Eddie Rabbitt, ‘Born To Each Other’. She later married polo star Tom Goodspeed and concentrated on riding her many horses and working with her trio at small specialist venues.
