Born on September 26, 1955 to country legends June Carter and Carl Smith, Rebecca Carlene Smith would make a place in the country music scene for herself as Carlene Carter. Divorced when Carlene was just two years old, June would later remarry when Carlene was twelve Johnny Cash. As a result of her mothers profession as a member of the Carter Family country music group and later the Carter/Cash tour, Carlene was introduced to performing at a young age. When Carlene was six she would learn to play the piano and at ten she would pick up the guitar for the first time. Carlene was a backup singer for the Carter Family and the Carter/Cash tour. In 1976 her voice along with her step-sister Rossanne Cash's voice, would be recorded on Johnny Cash's "The Junkie and the Juicehead, Minus Me" album. This would be her first recording. In 1978 Carlene's first album "Carlene Carter" would appear on the scenes.

Carlene began singing for her family and later would break through the Country barriers and release a Rock & Roll album as her debut album. For much of the seventies and early eighties Carlene would experiment with blending Rock and Country, something that was new at the time and as a result the records were not well received by the public but received glowing praise from critics. Carlene's career would slide for a while during the eighties, but relying on her country routes, Carlene would resurface to take the country music charts by storm in the late eighties and early nineties. Her album "Hindsight 20/20" would take her 18 best songs from these early years and combine them into an album. Since then Carlene has been making a name for herself.

Carlene's personal life reads like a soap opera gone bad. At the age of fifteen she would drop out of high school and marry Joe Simpkins. She would have one child and divorce Joe. Not long after she met and married Jack Routh and have another child. Within two years they too would divorce. As a result before Carlene was twenty she would be married twice and have two children. In 1979 she would meet and marry British rocker Nick Lowe. Their marriage would last until 1985 when they would divorce but remain good friends. After her divorce from Lowe, she would become involved in the party scene and fall under the influence of drugs and alcohol. She would swing back from this low period in her life with a force to contend with. Her two albums following her recovery would hit the tops of the charts and mark her as a country music star.