Holly Dunn passes away at 59

Dunn enjoyed two number one hits: "Are You Ever Gonna Love Me" and "You Really Had Me Going." She enjoyed eight songs that went top 10 between 1986 and 1990.

In March, Dunn said she was battling ovarian cancer and had undergone treatments.

Dunn was born Aug. 22, 1957 in San Antonio. She started performing in high school and college. She also wrote songs with her brother Chris Waters, who would have his own songwriting career. After graduating Abilene Christian University , she moved to Nashville, working as a demo singer and a songwriter at CBS and then MTM Records. Louise Mandrell had a top 10 hit in 1984 with a song Dunn wrote with Waters, "I'm Not Through Loving You Yet."

Dunn signed with MTM, a label started by actress Mary Tyler Moore, as a recording artist. Three singles failed to make much of a dent, but "Daddy's Hands," did, going to number 7 in 1986. The song, which Dunn wrote, was about the love of a father with the opening lines "I remember daddy's hands folded silently in prayer / And reachin' out to hold me, when I had a nightmare / You could read quite a story in the callous' and lines / Years of work and worry had left their mark behind."

Dunn recorded two more albums for MTM, "Cornerstone" in 1987 and "Across the Rio Grande" in 1988. "Cornerstone" contained 3 top 10 hits "Love Someone Like Me," "Only When I Love" and "Strangers Again."

After the demise of MTM, Dunn shifted to Warner in 1989. She would go onto release three albums for Warner, starting with "The Blue Rose of Texas" that year. The disc contained her first chart topper, "Are You Ever Gonna Love Me," written by Dunn with Waters and Tom Shapiro. "There Goes My Heart Again" also was a big hit. That same year, Dunn became a member of the Grand Ole Opry

"You Really Had Me Going," filled with twangy guitars and a bit of a rockabilly sound, was her second and final number one hit. The cut was on her 1990 disc, "Heart Full of Love." Dunn, Waters and Shapiro also wrote "You Really Had Me Going."

Dunn encountered backlash to a single on her greatest hits package, "Milestones: Greatest Hits." Some thought "Maybe I Mean Yes" condoned date rape. Dunn asked the single to be withdrawn. Dunn had one more release for Warner, "Getting It Dunn," before leaving the label in 1993.

Dunn surfaced on River North with two more albums, "Live and Love and All the Stages" in 1995 and ""Leave One Bridge Standing" in 1997.

Dunn got into the radio business as well, becoming a DJ at a Detroit station, WWWW. Later, she moved to New Mexico to pursue art, leaving the music business for good.