[2][3] Born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States, she was raised in California by her mother, Liz Anderson, who was also a country music artist.

Previously she had recorded some demo tapes of her mother's songs and appeared on television in California on regional country music shows.

Soon after, Anderson joined the cast of The Lawrence Welk Show, where she performed country music weekly to a national audience.

[6] The song led producer Chet Atkins to sign Liz to a recording contract at RCA Victor.

[1] It was Anderson's first major hit as a music artist, reaching number five on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1967.

[16] Anderson's version became a bigger hit than the original, climbing to number 17 on the Billboard country singles list in 1970.

[21] The song became her fifth top ten hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, rising to number seven in 1970.

[28] The record topped the Billboard country albums chart and spent 77 weeks on the survey altogether.

[31] Anderson followed "Rose Garden" with the singles "You're My Man" and "How Can I Unlove You", which both became number one hits on the Billboard country songs chart in 1971.

[9] Both songs also registered on the Billboard adult contemporary chart, with "You're My Man" becoming a top ten hit on that survey.

[39] She also reached the top five with a version of Loggins and Messina's "Listen to a Country Song" and Joe South's "Fool Me".

Writers Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann commented that her diverse song subjects proved that she could be "poignant" and "downhearted".

[40] Greg Adams of Allmusic thought that albums such as 1972's Cry had an easy listening style that made her music more marketable to different genres.

This included a one-episode appearance on Starsky and Hutch, where Anderson performed her 1977 single "Wrap Your Love All Around Your Man".

[9] With declining chart success, Anderson adopted a newer image which was described by writers as "racy" and "skin tight".

[21] Prior to her departure, it was claimed that Columbia intended to promote her as the company's answer to counterparts, Barbara Mandrell and Dolly Parton.

[40] Back was her last charting record, peaking at number 61 on the Billboard Top Country Albums list in 1983.

[4] In 1988, her cover of The Drifters' "Under the Boardwalk" became her highest-charting single in five years, peaking at number 24 on the Billboard country songs chart.

[1] Richie Unterberger of Allmusic gave the effort three out of five stars in his review, commenting, "This disc is not an electrifying find, but it's decent for what it is.

[83] On January 24, 2005, Anderson was accused of shoplifting a Harry Potter DVD from a local supermarket in Taos, New Mexico.

[86] Her last arrest occurred on September 11, 2014, after being involved in a minor traffic accident in Nashville, Tennessee, on West End Avenue.

[92][95][96] Her style shifted after working alongside Glenn Sutton, who helped develop Anderson's music towards the Countrypolitan format by combining soft rock and adult contemporary.

[93] It was most apparent in "Rose Garden", which writer Richard Carlin called a "poppy, upbeat song" with rock accompaniment.

"[43] Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted a similar trend in his review of her 2017 album, The Definitive Collection: "[It] winds up with a narrative, illustrating how Anderson drifted from the Nashville sound to easy listening by the end of the '70s, and by telling that story, this double disc lives up to its title's promise".

[98] At the time of her passing, other country artists acknowledged her as a career inspiration, most notably Neal McCoy, Martina McBride and Mary Sarah.

In his book Historical Dictionary of Popular Music, author Norman Abjorensen viewed her as an artist that "took aim at the mainstream pop audience".

[101] Bufwack and Oermann noted that Anderson's "Rose Garden" helped set the trend for female crossover artists in the 1970s.

In 2015, The Washington Post explained that Anderson was the first female country artist to appear on national television due to cast membership on The Lawrence Welk Show.

[105] She received a similar recognition when Rolling Stone included her on their list of the "100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time".

[107] In 2018, daughter Lisa Sutton helped open the Lynn Anderson Rose Garden in Nashville to pay tribute to her career.