Jean Stafford (musician)

Stafford was born in Latrobe, Tasmania in 1950 and grew up at small town called Meander in a one-room shack along with her mother, foster-father and six cousins. In 1962, at the age of 12, Stafford made her first public appearance on a program called ShowTime a popular series from TNT-9 Launceston during that time. After leaving school, Stafford worked at a hotel as a kitchen hand in a nearby town of Deloraine, while performing at local dances on weekends, she began to learn her craft as a professional singer.

Stafford's recording career began in 1965 at the age of 15, singing a duet with Dusty Rankin called "Promised to John" produced by Eric Scott for Hadley Recording Company. In 1973, winning first prize in a Country Music Talent Quest in Launceston, Tasmania, she received a five-album deal with Hadley Records that pofficial launched her career.

Stafford's debut album Flowers for Mama was recorded in Tamworth was released in 1974 and gained her Australia-wide recognition winning her first Golden Guitar Award in 1975 at Tamworth for Female Vocalist Of the year. Her second Golden Guitar came in 1980 with Hello Love.

In 1981, Stafford won her third Golden Guitar Award for "That Glory Bound Train," a song from her final album with Hadley Records entitled Born Again. Shortly after her contract ended that same year, Stafford moved from Tasmania to Sydney and signed a contract with EMI Music Australia releasing her first commercial album on a major record label The Way I Feel Inside.

Born at Latrobe, Tasmania in 1950, she spent her childhood in a small locality area of Meander Valley in Northern Tasmania. Raised by her mother and foster-father, Stafford later in life discovered that her biological father was a Navajo Native American.[2]

Stafford has three children who live in Tasmania near the town of Burnie.