After a year, Jennifer yearned to give music
another shot and drove to Nashville one
weekend with demo tapes in hand.
"People saw me," she muses, "God knows why they
did." Troy Seals was one who
liked what he heard and arranged for Almo
Irving Publishing to fly the Kimmels back
to Nashville to work with him. "He did it on my
voice. He was producing me as a
singer." Seals also signed a deal to acquire
some of Tom's songs and co-wrote with
him. Later that year, they moved to Nashville
and Tom took a job cleaning studios "as
a janitor, like Kris Kristofferson." Through a
relative they got a meeting with pro-
ducer/songwriter Alan Reynolds.
Reynolds recommended them to Roger Cook and
Charles Cochran, who hired
Jennifer as a demo singer. "Charles got me an
audition with Crystal Gayle and within
six months I was singing backgrounds on the
road with her." Not long after, the
couple separated and divorced. In the wake,
Jennifer took up songwriting. Building
on what she had learned about the craft from
Tom, she experienced quick success.
"One of my first songs, `Fool, Fool Heart,' was
cut by Don Williams."
Gayle band mate, saxophonist Jay Patton,
introduced Jennifer to his publisher at
Sony Tree (now Sony/ATV Music). "They published
my first songs for 100 percent of
the publishing and no draw," Kimball laughs.
"But I still love those people, especially
Donna Hilley. It was a family atmosphere and
very inspirational to be around all
those greats--Sunny Throckmorton, Bobby
Braddock, Curly Putman. It was an
incredible place, as a beginning songwriter, to
be a small part of it. They gave me free
studio time in those days--24 track and great
players."
Kimball built on the Williams success with
smaller cuts and eventually landed a
publishing deal with an advance. Her first pop
hit came in 1984. Co-written with
fellow background singer Cindy Walker, "Almost
Over You" was a smash for Sheena
Easton. ("We wrote it in the dressing room at
Caesar's Palace, between shows.") The
following year, Kimball was awarded Country
Music Association's 1985 Single of the
Year for her song "Bop," recorded by Dan
Seals.
Kimball has gone on to score several number
ones including the mega-hit "I Can
Love You Like That," which All-4-One took to
the top of the Billboard AC single
charts for three weeks, and hit number three on
Billboard Hot 100. Their version of
the song was nominated for two Grammys and won
ASCAP Pop Awards in 1996,
1997, and 1998, BMI Pop Awards in 1996 and
1997, and was featured in the Disney
film First Kid. John Michael Montgomery's
recording of the song landed the number
one slot on the country charts for three weeks
and was also nominated for two
Grammy Awards. It was named 1996 ASCAP Country
Song of the Year and received
BMI's 1996 Most Performed Country Song Award.
Her co-written Brooks &
Dunn/Reba duet "If You See Him/If You See Her"
earned another Grammy nomina-
tion. Others who have recorded songs penned by
Kimball include America, Johnny
Cash, Faith Hill, Bette Midler, and The Trio:
Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and
Linda Ronstadt.
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