Lounge singer, Las Vegas Sun, May 2, 1997

Longtime Caesars lounge singer making waves on country radio Lisa Ferguson Friday, May 2, 1997 | 11:59 a.m. Forgive Tammy Graham if she seems a bit overwhelmed. With a self-titled debut compact disc out this week and a country tune climbing the charts, who can blame her? "It's unbelievable. I have to pinch myself," the Green Valley resident said recently. "I never thought I would even get to this point." Her tear-jerking ballad, "A Dozen Red Roses," about a woman who receives flowers from her deceased father on her wedding day, reached No. 41 on Billboard's country chart this week. But the road to country music fame has been a long and bumpy one for the Arkansas native. Graham, who's named after country legend Tammy Wynette, spent her early teen years playing piano on Nashville's famed Music Row, where she was billed as "Little Miss Jerry Lee Lewis." At 14, she formed her own band -- featuring her parents -- and began touring. In 1986, they moved to Las Vegas, where she won the $50 top prize at talent contests at the California hotel-casino. "That's all the money we had," the 29-year-old recalls. "Thank goodness we liked peanut butter and jelly and tuna fish (sandwiches)." Things turned around when Graham got a gig at Caesars Palace, where she's spent the last nine years crooning for crowds inside the Olympic and La Piazza lounges. She had to cut back her appearances there -- from 43 weeks a year to 20 -- while recording her CD in Nashville -- in the same studio where country music greats Lorrie Morgan and Patty Loveless have laid down tracks. Reluctant to chose a favorite song off the disc, she admits a particular fondness for "Houdini," about a guy who proposes to his sweetheart and then disappears. "I love kids, and every kid who hears it loves that song," she says, including her 9-year-old daughter, Amanda. "It's just a fun song to get crazy with." Just back from a performance at a music festival in Switzerland, Graham, a newlywed, will head to Japan for shows later this month. In June, she'll open for Billy Ray Cyrus in Brazil. Meanwhile, she's keeping an eye on the music charts. "I hope for at least a Top 10 (song), even a Top 20," she says. Graham will perform in the La Piazza lounge tonight and Saturday, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Call 731-7110 for more information.