Gus Hardin

Carolyn Ann Blankenship was born in 1945 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her rise to country music popularity began in 1983 with her first single for RCA Records, the top 10 hit "After The Last Goodbye." Other hits, such as "Fallen Angel," "I Pass," "Lovin' You Hurts" and "If I Didn't Love You" soon followed, as well as "All Tangled Up in Love," a duet with Earl Thomas Conley. She recorded and released "One of the Boys" and "Mama Knows" by songwriter Kevin Weyl, and "Tornado" by Kevin Weyl and Steve Robertson which is featured in the sound track of the Kevin Pollak film Deterrence.

Hardin married keyboard player Steve Hardin, who was a member of the group Point Blank, and after their divorce kept his last name. Garth Brooks' sister, Betsy Smittle, was one of Gus's band members and did background vocals on Gus's album I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can.

On February 17, 1996, Hardin died in a car accident on State Highway 20 west of Salina, Oklahoma, near her home in the Lake Hudson area.^[1] A laboratory report listed her blood alcohol level at 0.28 percent.^[2] Memorial services were held in Oklahoma and Nashville, Tennessee. Gus Hardin is survived by daughter Toni Jones and granddaughter Chelsea Johnson, both of Sapulpa, Oklahoma.