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Knots Landing Background: American award-winning actress and Grammy-nominated country music singer Lisa Hartman has amassed a number of credits since making her TV series debut in the one-season show “Tabitha” (1977-1978) thanks to her glorious looks and down to earth image. Several years later, she hit the big time playing ill-fated singer Ciji Dunne and then look-alike rocker Cathy Geary Rush on the long-running nighttime soap “Knots Landing” (1982-1986), from which she won a Soap Opera Digest Award. After leaving the series, she starred as Jade O'Keefe on the soon-canceled series “2000 Malibu Road” (1992). Hartman has also appeared in feature films, among them Wes Craven's “Deadly Blessing” (1981) and “Where the Boys Are '84” (1984), and had lead roles in numerous TV movies, two of which she also produced. Her TV film credits include “Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls” (1981), “Beverly Hills Cowgirl Blues” (1985), “Roses Are for the Rich” (1987), “Bare Essentials” (1991), “Not of This World” (1991), “Red Wind” (1991), “Have You Seen My Son” (1996), “Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack” (1998) and more recently, “Back to You and Me” (2005). In music industry since the mid-1970s, Hartman released four solo albums during 1976 to 1987, but did not enjoy major success until 1999. “When I Said I Do,” a duet sung with husband Clint Black, peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts and brought Hartman her first and only Grammy nomination. The couple also had a country hit in 2002 called “Easy For Me to Say.” Now credited as Lisa Hartman Black, the beautiful, multi-talented with measurements 34C-24-34 has been married to Clint Black since 1991. They have a seven-year-old daughter named Lily.
Mrs. Black
Childhood and Family: “I remember having the best childhood. I had a very healthy, happy, funny family.” Lisa Hartman Lisa K. Hartman was born on June 1, 1956, in Houston, Texas, to Howard Hartman, a country-singer, and Jonni Hartman, a Hollywood publicity agent. She has a sister named Terri Hartman. As a child, Lisa told her mother that she was going to be a star and appeared in commercials with actor John Wayne. She was educated at Houston's High School for the Performing Arts, during which she performed with local rock bands and did a number of local theater work. In October 20, 1991, Lisa married country music star Clint Black, whom she met in 1991 after one of his concerts and became subsequently in love. The couple have worked together since the marriage. On May 8, 2001, Lisa gave birth to a baby girl named Lily Pearl Black and subsequently put her acting career on the back burner to concentrate on her new role as a mother.
When I Said I Do
Career: The daughter of a singer and an agent, Lisa Hartman knew from the beginning that she wanted to be a performer. Having her first taste of showbiz by doing commercials with actor John Wayne as a young, at age 16, she served as the lead vocalist of a Houston rock group called Lisa Hartman and Four Grand and went on to perform with other local bands throughout her high school. Upon graduating, Hartman, whose main desire was singing, was offered a record deal and headed to Los Angeles at age 19 after signing a contract with Don Kirschner's record label. Within a year, the future star kicked off her recording career by releasing a debut album, “Lisa Hartman,” in 1976. Also in that same year, she made her TV series acting debut with a starring role on the ABC sitcom “Tabitha,” a spin-off of the long-running “Bewitched.” In addition to this gig, she appeared as a stewardess in her first TV film, “Murder at the World Series” (1977), and after the series ended, she played Diana Payne in an episode of the drama series “Vega$” (1979). However, Hartman's great passion was still music. In attempts to full fill her dream of becoming a booming recording star, she launched a one off single titled “Nobody Likes Lovin More Than I Do” in 1978 and a second album, “Hold On,” in 1979. She kept on taking acting jobs by choosing roles that permitted her to act and sing as well. One of these roles was as a lead singer in the television film “The Great American Traffic Jam” (1980), opposite John Beck, Shelly Fabares, Shelley Fabares, James Gregory and others. Hartman had three differed characters in the sitcom “The Love Boat” (1979-1981) and five in the adventure series “The Fantasy Island” (1978-1981). Her next feature film outing after 1980's “Just Tell Me You Love Me,” an indie-comedy where she starred as Julie, arrived in a supporting role as Faith Stohler on Wes Craven's “Deadly Blessing” (1981). The same year, she also had a stellar role in the CBS original TV film “Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls” (1981), playing actress/singer Neely O'Hara. The Houston native had just released her third studio album, “Letterock” (1982), which marked her first on RCA Records and was later re-released under the new title “Lisa Hartman” (1983), when she was offered the role of singer Ciji Dunne on the popular night time soap opera “Knots Landing.” Thinking it would be an ideal way to promote her music, she received the offer and made her debut in the drama show in October 1982 in the episode “Encounters.” At the end of 1982-1983 season, her character was killed off, but due to its popularity, Hartman was brought back to “Knots Landing” in the following season to portray Ciji's look a like Cathy Geary Rush. She remained with the season until the 1986 season and won a 1984 Soap Opera Digest for Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role on a Prime Time Soap Opera. While working on “Knots Landing,” Hartman played Kate Flannery on the short-lived series “High Performance” (1983), provided the theme song for and starred as the virginal Jennie Cooper on “Where the Boys Are '84” (1984), a remake of the 1960s movie of the same name, gave memorable lead performance in the Hebrew-language film “The Bride” (1985) and was cast as a Wyoming policewoman in the TV film “Beverly Hills Cowgirl Blues” (1985). After departing the series, she tried to resume her singing career by launching the album “'Til My Heart Stops” in 1987, which was released by Atlantic Records. She maintained her screen presence by playing roles in popular TV movies like “Roses Are for the Rich” (1987). Hartman went on to act in such TV movies as the Emmy nominated “The Operation” (1990, opposite Joe Penny), the based-on-novel “The Take” (1990), “Bare Essentials” (1991, with Gregory Harrison and Mark Linn-Baker, “Not of This World” (1991, starred as Linda Fletcher), “Fire: Trapped on the 37th Floor” (1991, with Lee Majors), the thriller “Red Wind” (1991), the Robert Stack vehicle “The Return of Eliot Ness” (1991). Following her marriage to popular country singer Clint Black in 1991, she kept on her acting career by starring as Jade O'Keefe on the short-lived series “2000 Malibu Road” (1992), opposite Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Beals, and making a number of TV movies, including the Paul Schneider-directed “Have You Seen My Son” (1996) and “Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack” (1998), both of which she also produced. The latter movie saw the actress act together with her husband. Hartman reunited with her husband in the following year to sing duet in the song “When I Said I Do,” which became a No. 1 hit in the Billboard Hot Country Songs (formerly Hot Country Singles & Tracks) charts. The popular song, which spawned from the Clint Black CD, “D'lectrified,” brought the two a Grammy nomination and became Hartman's first and only No. 1 single to date. Their second duet, “Easy For Me to Say,” reached No. 27 on the country music charts in 2002. While her music career gained boots with her collaboration with her star husband, Hartman took long hiatus from acting. She resurfaced in front of the camera as an actress in 2005 to star in the TV film “Back to You and Me,” as Syd Ludwick. It was her first TV film since the 1998 “Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack.”
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