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PASSINGS: Billie Jo Spears

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Billie Jo Spears, 72, a singer whose performance of “Blanket on the Ground” reached No. 1 on the country charts in 1975, died Wednesday at her home in the East Texas town of Vidor. A spokesman with R.S. Farmer Funeral Home in Silsbee, Texas, confirmed her death but could not provide the cause.

The Beaumont, Texas, native performed as a 13-year-old on the Louisiana Hayride radio program out of Shreveport, La., considered at the time a steppingstone to Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry.

She worked as a secretary until her music career took off and she left Texas for Nashville in the mid-1960s. Her career suffered in the early 1970s when she had trouble with her vocal cords, but she scored her chart-topper in 1975 and was voted most promising female vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1976.

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Her other hits included “Mr. Walker, It’s All Over” in 1969, “What I’ve Got in Mind” in 1976, “Misty Blue” in 1976 and “If You Want Me” in 1977. She also recorded duets with country singer Del Reeves.

—Los Angeles Times staff and wire reports

news.obits@latimes.com

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