{{short description|American country music singer|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians --> | name = Kippi Brannon | background = solo_singer | image = | caption = | birth_name = Kippi Rolynn Binkley<ref name="oldies"/> | alias = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1966}}<ref name="oldies"/> | birth_place = [[Nashville, Tennessee]], U.S. | origin = | genre = [[country music|Country]] | occupation = [[Singing|Singer]] | instrument = [[singing|Vocals]] | years_active = 1981–1982, 1988–1997 | label = [[MCA Records|MCA]], [[Curb Records|Curb]]/[[Universal Records|Universal]] | associated_acts = [[Jeff Carson]] | website = }}
'''Kippi Brannon''' (born '''Kippi Rolynn Binkley''', 1966)<ref name="oldies">{{cite web |url=http://www.oldies.com/artist-biography/Kippi-Brannon.html |title=Kippi Brannon Biography |accessdate=2007-12-23 |work=Oldies.com}}</ref> is an American [[country music]] singer. She made her debut on the country music scene as a teenager, releasing four singles on [[MCA Records]] in the early 1980s before leaving her career in favor of a college education. By 1992, she returned to the country music scene, eventually releasing her debut album ''I'd Be with You'' in 1997.<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p184539|pure_url=yes}} |title=Kippi Brannon Biography |accessdate=2007-12-23 |last=Erlewine |first=Stephen Thomas |work=[[Allmusic]]}}</ref>
==Early life== Kippi Rolynn Binkley was born in [[Nashville, Tennessee]].<ref name="oldies"/> A singer and musician at an early age, she began singing professionally before she was a teenager. At age 12, she gave a performance at a local shopping mall, when an executive for [[MCA Records]] discovered her.<ref name="allmusic"/><ref name="coast"/> With the help of record producer Chuck Howard, Jr., Kippi was signed to MCA in 1981. Her surname was altered to Brannon, after Brannon Auto Parts, a local automotive parts store.<ref name="oldies"/><ref name="allmusic"/>
==Career== Brannon charted three singles in the early 1980s, in addition to receiving a New Female Vocalist of the Year nomination from the [[Academy of Country Music]].<ref name="allmusic"/> She was also signed as an opening act for other country artists. Although she was gaining in popularity, Brannon decided to leave her career and attend college, first at [[Belmont University]] and later at the [[University of Tennessee]]-Knoxville.<ref name="oldies"/> During her hiatus from the country music scene, she also married and had a daughter, Kasey;<ref name="coast">{{cite web |url=http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/05-97/05-28-97/c04ae214.htm |title=Still "Daddy's Little Girl": Former teen star Kippi Brannon returns to country music |accessdate=2007-12-23 |last=Patterson |first=Jim |date=1997-05-28 |work=South Coast Today |archive-date=2016-03-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173709/http://www.southcoasttoday.com/section/archive |url-status=dead }}</ref> she later divorced and married a second time.<ref name="allmusic"/>
By 1988, Brannon resumed her music career, signing to [[Curb Records]] this time around. Her first single for the label, "I Ain't Never", failed to make the charts upon its 1992 release. Working with producers [[Matt Rollings]] and [[James Stroud]], she began a search for additional songs to record; however, by the end of 1992, she once again had to take a hiatus, as she had divorced a second time, and had to care for her ailing father.<ref name="allmusic"/>
Her first album, ''I'd Be with You'', was released in early 1997, under the production of [[Mark Bright (record producer)|Mark Bright]].<ref name="allmusic"/> Though the album's first single, "Daddy's Little Girl", only reached number 42 on Billboard's [[Hot Country Songs]] chart -- which tracked only radio airplay at the time -- it was a retail success, spending 23 weeks and reaching number 6 on the Country Single Sales chart, and number 23 on the 1997 year-end Country Single Sales chart.<ref>{{cite web |title=Billboard-1997-12-27 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1997/Billboard-1997-12-27.pdf |website=World Radio History}}</ref> The song was also blended with fellow [[Curb Records]] artist [[Jeff Carson]]'s solo recording of [[Bob Carlisle]]'s similarly-themed hit single "[[Butterfly Kisses (song)|Butterfly Kisses]]" as an additional track on Carson's [[Butterfly Kisses (Jeff Carson album)|album of the same name]]. Like Brannon's single, Carson's version of "Butterfly Kisses" struggled on the airplay charts but was a sales success, spending 15 weeks on the Country Single Sales chart and peaking at number 6. ''I'd Be with You'' reached number 53 on the [[Top Country Albums]] chart.
Brannon has not recorded since.
==Discography==
===Albums=== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |- ! rowspan="2" style="width:10em;"| Title ! rowspan="2" style="width:16em;"| Album details ! colspan="2"| Peak chart<br />positions |- style="font-size:smaller;" ! width="45"| [[Top Country Albums|US Country]] ! width="45"| [[Top Heatseekers|US Heat]] |- ! scope="row"| ''I'd Be with You'' | * Release date: April 22, 1997 * Label: [[Curb Records|Curb]]/[[Universal Records|Universal]] | 53 | 48 |}
===Singles=== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;" |- ! rowspan="2"| Year ! rowspan="2" style="width:18em;"| Single ! colspan="2"| Peak chart<br />positions ! rowspan="2"| Album |- style="font-size:smaller;" ! width="45"| [[Hot Country Songs|US Country]] ! width="45"| [[Bubbling Under Hot 100|US Bubbling]] |- | 1981 ! scope="row"| "[[Slowly (Webb Pierce song)|Slowly]]" | 37 | — | rowspan="4" {{n/a}} |- | rowspan="2"| 1982 ! scope="row"| "If I Could See You Tonight" | 55 | — |- ! scope="row"| "He Don't Make Me Cry" | 87 | — |- | 1983 ! scope="row"| "In My Dreams" | — | — |- | 1992 ! scope="row"| "[[I Ain't Never]]" | — | — | align="left" rowspan="4"| ''I'd Be with You'' |- | rowspan="3"| 1997 ! scope="row"| "Daddy's Little Girl" | 42 | 20 |- ! scope="row"| "I'd Be with You" | 53 | 20 |- ! scope="row"| "The Greatest Love I've Ever Known"<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Archive-RandR/1990s/1997/RR-1997-11-07.pdf|title=Going for Adds|journal=[[Radio & Records]]|page=65|date=November 7, 1997}}</ref> | — | — |- | colspan="5" style="font-size:8pt"| "—" denotes releases that did not chart |- |}
===Music videos=== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" ! Year ! style="width:18em;"| Video ! Director |- | 1997 ! scope="row"| "Daddy's Little Girl" | John Scarpati |}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brannon, Kippi}} [[Category:1966 births]] [[Category:American women country singers]] [[Category:American country singer-songwriters]] [[Category:Curb Records artists]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:MCA Records artists]] [[Category:Singers from Nashville, Tennessee]] [[Category:Country musicians from Tennessee]] [[Category:Singer-songwriters from Tennessee]] [[Category:21st-century American women]]