 At age 15 she was taken by her father to Lake Tahoe to audition as a lounge singer at Harrah's hotel and casino.She got the job, but her widowed father found it impossible to leave his job at the police force to chaperone her, and the offer had to be declined.Schuur was noticed by country music singer/actor Jimmy Wakely, who met her in an Elks Club in 1971 when she was eighteen.