Mirriam Johnson was born on May 25, 1943,[2] in Phoenix, Arizona,[3] and raised in a strict Pentecostal home.

After marrying guitarist Duane Eddy in 1961, and still using her real name of Mirriam Johnson, she released two singles that were issued on the Jamie label.

The following year, she met country artist Waylon Jennings who helped her secure a recording contract with RCA Victor, and married him.

That year, Waylon Jennings and Colter sang duet on two top 40 country chart hits.

A survey of industry sources reveals that Capitol was releasing both "You Ain't Never Been Loved" and "What's Happened to Blue Eyes" as simultaneous singles for the Pop and Country markets.

Capitol clearly recognized that a miscalculation had occurred and subsequently purchased full-page industry ads saying, "We've FLIPPED.

With two competing singles marketed to radio, Capitol's risky move made certain that Colter would not naturally follow-up the success of 'I'm Not Lisa' in the Pop Top 40.

The second single was nevertheless a huge country/pop success and later that year, Colter launched a nationwide tour as part of Waylon Jennings' program at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

Her second album that year, Diamond in the Rough produced only one charting single, "I Thought I Heard You Calling My Name".

[2] At this point, Colter had established herself as a big-selling "albums artist," rather than a casual honky-tonk hitmaker, given that her talents were far more inclined to soul-rock than to mundane country music.

For the remainder of the decade, Colter toured with her husband, Waylon Jennings, and released her studio album Mirriam in 1977.

She released an album in 1984 on the Triad label titled Rock and Roll Lullaby, produced by Chips Moman.

[2] However, in the later years of the decade, she decided to let her recording career decline to help take care of and nurse her husband through his drug abuse and various medical problems.

[2] In 2000, Colter performed on Jennings's live album Never Say Die, released two years before his death in 2002, at age 64.

[10] In 2007 Colter recorded a duet version of her 1975 hit "I'm Not Lisa" with Deana Carter on her 2007 album, The Chain.

[11] In 2017, Colter and Jan Howard provided guest vocals to a track appearing on Written in Song, an album by Jeannie Seely.

The song, called "We're Still Hangin' In There Ain't We Jessi", references how Seely and Colter are seemingly two of the only women in country music who managed to have a successful marriage.

Of the album, Kaye stated that "we tried to choose songs that weren't about warring peoples but more about comfort and reconciliation".

Colter announced on June 19, 2023, on her social media pages that she had married Arlin Brower in Rio Verde, Arizona, on February 14, 2023.