Health
At 64, Tanya Tucker’s Found Her Forever Man — And It Was Fated 20 Years Before They Met
Tanya Tucker might be an icon in the country music industry — but she’s also known for being a little unlucky in love. Thankfully, after a rocky romantic history, Tucker has found stability at long last with a fellow creative, singer-songwriter boyfriend Craig Dillingham. They’ve been together for four years, but they first met over 50 years ago. In an exclusive interview with Woman’s World, Tucker shares a touching story from the recording of her latest album, Sweet Western Sound. This example of musical kismet proves these two were meant to be together all along.
Tanya Tucker’s Romantic History
Tucker has had a series of relationships with professional entertainers, but never tied the knot with any of them. To be fair, when would she have found the time? She released her first hit song, “Delta Dawn,” at the tender age of 13 in 1972, and from there went on to have numerous top-10 and top-40 hits. Her 2019 album While I’m Livin’ won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album, and she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame earlier this year. A documentary about her prodigious career and return to the studio to record her first album in 10 years, The Return of Tanya Tucker Featuring Brandi Carlile, was released last fall.
At times, Tucker’s talent has been unfairly overshadowed in the media by her relationships. Most famous is her explosive romance with country singer Glen Campbell; the pair were engaged for a brief time in 1981 and became known for their public arguments and frequent tabloid appearances. Tucker got engaged twice more after that, to a rodeo cowboy and later to producer Jerry Laseter, who fathered her daughter Layla. Tucker called off her wedding with Laseter just days before the ceremony upon discovering she was pregnant; apparently, she didn’t want to walk down the aisle pregnant. She also had daughter Presley and son Grayson with actor Ben Reed.
Meeting ‘The One’
Craig Dillingham and Tucker are both native Texans, and they met at a Fort Worth, Texas, radio station when they were only thirteen. Tucker was rocketing to stardom with her first single “Delta Dawn,” while Dillingham had experience singing in a family group and was working on establishing a solo career. He went on to score a top 40 hit in 1983, and has written several songs for other artists over the years.
“His dad would take him around like my dad would, to sing,” Tucker tells Woman’s World. “He’s a singer and he has a great voice — in fact, we [re]cut “Delta Dawn” and he’s singing on it, the bass part, and my daughters are singing the harmonies.”
Tucker and Dillingham were in and out of each other’s lives for many years after that. They stayed friends, and twice tried to make their connection romantic; but it didn’t work out. Then in 2019, Tucker’s friend and fellow country artist Lee Ann Womack made a move. Womack is married to Frank Liddell, who is best friends with Dillingham — and Womack invited Dillingham to a show that would bring the two face to face. The rest is history. “If it ain’t him,” Tucker told People in a 2020 interview of Craig, “I’m done.” Clearly, the sentiment hasn’t changed three years later.
“Lee Ann is to blame,” Tucker confirms. “We’re all best friends, but it’s been four years. He’s past the three year limit with me. For a guy, it’s usually three years, times up. He’s seemed to have gotten me to stay. In fact, we both said, ‘If this ain’t it, then that’s it for me.’ He’s a good man and he’s got the same kind of values that I have and we come from the same kind of backgrounds.”
The New Album and Musical Kismet
On the night before Tucker was scheduled to record her latest album, Sweet Western Sound, her musical collaborator Brandi Carlile sent her a song called “When the Rodeo Is Over (Where Does the Cowboy Go?).”
“Brandi had sent me a song, which she usually does — she sings all my demos,” Tucker explains. “She sent it and said, ‘If you like this song, we’ll start with it tomorrow.’ And I go, ‘Okay,’ so I listened to it and liked it, but I wanted [my boyfriend] Craig’s opinion. So I said, ‘Craig, get in here.’ He was in another part of the room and I handed him the phone and I said, ‘Go in there and listen to this song and if you like it, I think I’m going to cut it tomorrow.’ About a minute later he came back and said, ‘Hell, I wrote the son-of-a-bitch!’ Can you believe that? He wrote it 20 years ago. That’s God pitching me a song.”
Sweet Western Sound comes out June 2, 2023 and will be Tucker’s twenty-sixth solo record. It was produced by Brandi Carlile and Shooter Jennings, and the beautiful album cover — featuring Tanya standing alone with her horse in front of a sunset — was shot at Craig’s ranch in Texas.
What’s Next?
Just because she’s found a forever love doesn’t mean Tanya will be slowing down anytime soon. There’s still plenty left on her bucket list. “I want to travel the world, take my music. I want a big black stallion like I rode downtown in Nashville; I want to call him Cosa Salvaje [“Wild Thing”] and I want to get my tequila [also named Cosa Salvaje] where it needs to be,” Tucker tells Woman’s World. “I would like to get a highway named after my mother and my dad in their honor in Wilcox, Arizona. And I want to meet Jane Goodall. I want to go see the gorillas in the mist and try to help their plight somehow.”
Sounds like a pretty busy schedule! It seems gorillas actually do enjoy “singing” and humming while eating their meals, so perhaps Tanya, Craig, and the great apes can croon together.
Additional reporting by Deborah Evans Price.
High levels of E. coli were found in uncooked meats and raw dog food sold in grocery stores in the U.K., according to research presented last week at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Global Congress in Barcelona.
Researchers from the University of Bristol examined 58 samples of raw beef, chicken, pork and lamb sold at grocery stores in the U.K., along with 15 samples of raw dog food sold at “specialty pet stores,” according to a press release.
Eighty-one percent of the meat samples and 87% of the dog food samples were found to contain E. coli (Escherichia coli) that was resistant to antibiotics.
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The raw chicken had the highest levels of the resistant intestinal bacteria.
“E. coli is an intestinal bacteria that may propagate in cows and chickens used for meat, especially when they are raised in squalor or close together,” Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, told Fox News Digital.
High levels of E. coli were found in uncooked meats and raw dog food sold in grocery stores, according to research presented last week at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Global Congress in Barcelona. (iStock)
“Since poultry and meat cows are often fed antibiotics to help them grow and to ward off infections, this helps to breed resistant strains, which emerge amid antibiotic overuse.”
MEAT CONTAMINATED WITH E. COLI COULD CAUSE HALF A MILLION URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS EACH YEAR, STUDY FINDS
Siegel was not involved in the study.
“This study confirms that uncooked meat carries multiple resistant E. coli, commonly including resistance to critically important antibiotics important for human health,” the study authors said in a press release from ESCMID.
“E. coli is an intestinal bacteria that may propagate in cows and chickens used for meat, especially when they are raised in squalor or close together.” (iStock)
If ingested, the bacteria could colonize the intestines and cause resistant infections, according to study author Matthew B. Avison, a professor at the School of Cellular & Molecular Medicine, University of Bristol.
“They can sit in your gut for years without causing sickness, and in some cases the bacteria will cause different types of disease later on, including urinary tract infections and bloodstream infections that can kill,” Avison told Fox News Digital.
“Infections with resistant bacteria are more difficult to treat and so are more likely to get worse.”
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Uncooked meat sold to be eaten by people after cooking is “commonly contaminated” with antibiotic-resistant E. coli, Avison noted.
The study results weren’t surprising, he said, as there have been “numerous reports” of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in uncooked meat and some studies showing this in raw dog food.
“In some cases, the bacteria will cause different types of disease later on, including urinary tract infections and bloodstream infections.”
“People often believe that because raw dog food is sold frozen, the freezing kills the bacteria, but we have shown that it does not,” Avison told Fox News Digital.
“There were just as many samples of chicken-based raw dog food contaminated with resistant E. coli than there were samples of raw chicken meat. If you feed your dog raw meat, therefore, you are likely feeding it antibiotic resistant E. coli.”
These findings explain why researchers previously found a strong link between feeding dogs raw meat and the dogs excreting resistant E. coli in their feces, Avison noted.
“People often believe that because raw dog food is sold frozen, that freezing kills the bacteria on it, but we have shown that it does not,” a researcher told Fox News Digital. (iStock)
Most people are not aware of the risk of these antibiotic-resistant pathogens, the researchers stated in the release.
They emphasized the importance of cooking meat thoroughly before eating, and using “appropriate hygiene practices” while preparing it.
“Cooking the meat properly will kill those bacteria,” Avison advised.
‘GENTLE GIANT’ DOG, AT 250 POUNDS, EATS AN ENTIRE CHICKEN DAILY AS OWNER SPENDS NEARLY $5K A YEAR ON FOOD
“Treat all raw meat as if it were contaminated with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and assume dogs fed raw meat will be excreting resistant bacteria,” he went on.
“Use appropriate hand-washing and general hygiene practices to minimize the risk that you and other people will accidentally ingest these bacteria.”
“If you feed your dog raw meat, you are likely feeding it antibiotic resistant E. coli.”
Dog owners who feed raw meat to their pets should dispose of the animals’ waste hygienically, Avison said.
“Don’t let your dog lick your face or share your bed, and wash your hands after petting it,” he recommended. “These are all common sense practices anyway, but even more important if you raw-feed your dog.”
Researchers emphasized the importance of cooking meat thoroughly before eating, and using “appropriate hygiene practices” while preparing it. (iStock)
“And, of course, treat raw dog food as if it were any raw meat, in terms of hygiene and cleaning practices.”
The study raises a “red flag,” Siegel said, underscoring the importance of making sure that poultry and meat is fully cooked prior to human consumption, and that dog food is also cooked.
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Andre Delattre, chief operating officer of Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG) in Washington, D.C., said the study “underscores the importance of ending the practice of routine use of antibiotics in animal agriculture.”
“Use appropriate hand-washing and general hygiene practices to minimize the risk that you and other people will accidentally ingest these bacteria,” researchers said. (iStock)
“An inevitable byproduct of antibiotic overuse is resistance to these drugs,” he told Fox News Digital.
“Studies have also shown that meat raised without antibiotics is less likely to be contaminated with resistant bacteria.”
The University of Bristol study was published on a pre-print server and has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Fox News Digital reached out to the U.K. Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for comment.
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health.
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Derek McFadden, pictured at left with his mom Robin McFadden, was 23 when he took his own life on Aug, 17, 2018, in Tucson, Arizona. (Robin McFadden)
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