wanted to be a singer like barbara mandrel and i would pray every night when i was a little girl that i would get a record deal. reporter: during college in nashville, roberts interned at mercury records and got a job as a receptionist. a demo without roberts name on it found its way to his desk. her days of answering phones were over when she got to work on her first record. please welcome, julie roberts. cmt was there in the moment when roberts first single debuted on the radio. reporter: roberts album went gold. she was living the dream. and then one night on stage, a nightmare. the first time that i knew
records, and when she graduated she was offered a job, eventually an assistant. eventually becoming aassistant to luke lewis. a demo without roberts name on it found its way to lewis desk and her days of answering the phones were over. she got to work on her first record. please welcome julie roberts. reporter: cmt was there in the moment when roberts first single debuted on the record. radio. roberts album went gold. she was living the dream. and then one night on stage a nightmare. i can t even remember the city. but i remember the stage. i can see it in my mind. i was holding the microphone. the band was behind me. they were playing like they always do. and i lost use of my right hand. and i knew that it was giving out, so i switched to my left.
reporter: nowhere does country singer julie roberts look more at home than on stage, performing for her fans. got your feet on the ground i decided at a young age i wanted to be a singer like barbara mandrell. when country wasn t cool and i would pray every night when i was a little girl that i would get a record deal. reporter: during college in nashville, roberts interned at mercury records. when she graduated, she was offered a job as a receptionist. eventually becoming the assistant to chairman luke lewis. a demo without roberts name on it found its way to lewis desk. and her days of answering the phones were over. she got to work on her first record. lordy made a woman out of me please welcome julie roberts! reporter: cmt was there in the moment when roberts first single debuted on the radio. i m in trouble if these wheels start rolling
graduated she was offered a job, eventually an assistant. a demo without roberts name on it found its way to lose s desk and her days of answers the phone was brought to an end. she got to work on her first record. please welcome julie roberts. reporter: cmt was there in the moment when roberts first single debuted on the record. roberts album went gold. she was living the dream. and then one night on stage a nightmare. i can t even remember the city. but i remember the stage. i can see it in my mind. i was holding the microphone. the band was behind me. they were playing like they always do. and i lost use of my right hand. and i knew that it was giving out, so i switched to my left. and my left hand didn t work.