At 11 years old she was leading worship from a church piano in an Arizona Pentecostal congregation, her mother an ordained preacher. By the leather-clad 1970s, that same girl — born Miriam Johnson — had reinvented herself as Jessi Colter, one of the only female faces of outlaw country's notoriously wild boys club.

Her path ran through flop singles, corporate confusion, and the radical decision to shed her old name and identity entirely. Then came 1975: a Capitol Records debut that broke the rules of what country music was supposed to be and made her a crossover sensation. Her story is proof that a first failure never has to be a defining identity.

• "I'm Not Lisa" topped the country charts and rocketed into the pop top five in 1975

• Raised by an ordained preacher mother, she led church worship at the piano at age  ...