A hard road for Mindy McCready

Erratic behavior
McCready’s first album, 1996’s “Ten Thousand Angels,” produced four hits and sold 2 million copies. She toured with major artists including George Strait and Alan Jackson and was regarded a promising young star. Her follow up, “If I Don’t Stay the Night” sold 825,000 copies, and her third, “I’m Not So Tough” sold a paltry 144,000.

After losing her contract with BNA, she signed with Capitol Records and released a self-titled album in 2002, but it also sold poorly and the deal dissolved.

Hageman said McCready’s behavior was erratic when they worked together on the Capitol release.

“There was always some dramatic excuse and unrealistic excuse as to why she was late or couldn’t do the work,” said Hageman, who declined to discuss specifics. “It was frustrating. ... You never knew what personality you would be dealing with. But underneath all of that, she was very sweet.”

McCready’s list of problems is long:

• August 2004: Charged with using a fake prescription to obtain the pain medicine OxyContin. She pleaded guilty in November.
• May 2005: Charged with drunken driving in Nashville. The charge is pending.
• May 2005: Former boyfriend William McKnight charged with attempted murder after he allegedly broke into her home and beat her up. Charges against McKnight are pending.
• July 2005: Charged in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., with unlawful use of transportation and hindering prosecution after police say she and a known con-man tried to use her celebrity to obtain two luxury boats. Charges are pending.
• July 2005: Hospitalized in Florida after a drug overdose that authorities say appeared to be a suicide attempt.
• August 2005: Jailed in Tennessee after authorities say she violated her probation on the drug charge. She was released on bond and the case is scheduled for trial in November.
• Earlier this month she testified in court that she was pregnant by McKnight, the man charged with trying to kill her. Later she was hospitalized after overdosing on antidepressants after a quarrel with McKnight.

Longtime Music Row executive Jeff Walker, owner of the promotions company Aristo Media, said he’s seen other singers face similar struggles.

The demands of the industry can be brutal, he said.

“It pulls people in many different directions, sets unrealistic levels and puts pressures on people to reach goals that in some sense are unattainable. Once you have some degree of success, to come down to a second level of success makes it difficult to cope and adjust.”

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