Jett Williams (born Antha Belle Jett; January 6, 1953)
is an American singer and songwriter.
Early life
Born Antha Belle Jett, she is the daughter of country music icon
Hank Williams
Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An early pioneer of country music, he is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. W ...
and Bobbie Jett (1922–1974), whose brief relationship with Hank Williams occurred between his two marriages. She is a
posthumous child; born on January 6, 1953, in
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama. Named for Continental Army major general Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River on the Gulf Coastal Plain. The population was 2 ...
, five days after her
father's death on January 1.
In December 1954,
she was legally
adopted by her paternal grandmother, Lillie Williams Stone, who renamed her Catherine Yvonne Stone. Following her grandmother's death in 1955, Stone was made a ward of the state of
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
and subsequently
adopted by parents who renamed her Cathy Louise Deupree.
Court fight
Deupree knew she was adopted, but did not learn of her biological parents until the early 1980s. Although Hank Williams had executed a custody agreement three months before her birth that gave him custody of his unborn daughter, she was forced to go to extreme lengths to prove the relationship and be recognized as Williams' daughter.
[
In September 1984, she met and retained ]Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
investigative attorney Keith Adkinson to help her. Within days, he obtained a copy of the custody contract, and within months had conclusive proof Deupree was defrauded for the financial gain of others. A lawsuit was filed based on this discovery. On September 28, 1986, Deupree and Adkinson married in Washington.[ Hank Williams Jr. appealed against the decision in federal court, but the ruling stood when the United States ]Supreme Court
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
refused to hear the case in 1990.
Book and honors
In 1990, she published her autobiography
An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...
''Ain't Nothin' as Sweet as My Baby''.
Sole rights
In January 2006, the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling stating Hank Williams' heirs — son Randall Hank Williams (Hank Williams Jr.) and daughter Jett Williams, Hank Jr.'s half-sister — have the sole rights to sell his old recordings made for a Nashville
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
radio station in the early 1950s. The court rejected claims made by Polygram Records and Legacy Entertainment in releasing recordings Williams made for the ''Mother's Best Flour Show'', a program that originally aired on WSM. The recordings, which Legacy Entertainment acquired in 1997, include live versions of Williams' hits and covers of other songs. Polygram contended Williams' contract with MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...
, which Universal Music Nashville now owns since 1998, gave them rights to release the radio recordings. In October 2008, a selection of the "Mother's Best" recordings was released by Time-Life
Time Life, Inc. (also habitually represented with a hyphen as Time-Life, Inc., even by the company itself) was an American multi-media conglomerate company formerly known as a prolific production/publishing company and Direct marketing, direct ...
as ''Hank Williams: The Unreleased Recordings''.
Jett Williams released a number of albums featuring her own songs, and toured with a version of the Drifting Cowboys to sing her father's songs. Her nephew Hank Williams III is an ardent critic of her, calling her an atrocious performer and saying that she should have written a book instead.
Discography
* ''That Reminds Me of Hank'' (Foundation Records, 1993)
* ''You Are on My Lonely Mind'' (Self-released, 1999)
* ''Honk!'' (Self-released, 2007)
* ''Mount Olive'' (Storytown Records, 2017)
References
External links
Official Website
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jett
1953 births
Living people
Musicians from Montgomery, Alabama
American country singer-songwriters
American adoptees
American women country singers
American women songwriters
American people of English descent
Country musicians from Alabama
Singer-songwriters from Alabama
Jett