Marie Ratliff

Record World, MAF Advertising, Billboard

A Missouri native, Marie Ratliff moved to Nashville in the early 1960s after an inspiring weekend visit to the Grand Ole Opry. Her career began with a part-time job handling fan mail for Ralph Emery and Skeeter Davis, but not long afterward in 1963, she became office manager and publicist at Key Talent and Newkeys Music. Working with Tom T. Hall during the success of "Harper Valley P.T.A." She moved to the trade publication Record World in 1970, eventually becoming country chart manager, responsible for selecting and maintaining radio and retail reporting panels and writing a weekly column. In 1982, she went to work for supergroup Alabama as Vice President of their in-house advertising agency, MAF Advertising, planning and directing the advertising and promotional campaigns for Alabama's concert tours, producing press kits and editing the group's fan club newspaper. Ratliff joined Billboard in 1986 as Country Chart Manager, overseeing the compilation of the weekly country singles and albums charts (during which time the BDS tracking system was instituted) and writing the weekly "Country Corner" column. In 1991, she became Boxscore/ Touring database manager at Amusement Business before retiring in 1998.