Reba McEntireReba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955) is an American country music artist. She began her career in the music industry Music of the United States singing with her siblings on local radio shows and rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma City, which caught the attention of country artist Red Steagall. He brought her to Nashville, Tennessee, where she eventually signed a contract with Mercury Records in 1975. She released her first solo album in 1977 and released five additional studio albums under the label until 1983. Signing with MCA Nashville Records, McEntire took creative control over her second MCA album, My Kind of Country (1984), which had a more traditional country sound and produced two number one singles: "How Blue" and "Somebody Should Leave". The album brought her breakthrough success, bringing her a series of successful albums and number one singles in the 1980s and 1990s. McEntire has since released 25 studio albums, acquired 24 #1 singles, and 28 albums have been certified Gold, Platinum or Multi-Platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America. Her album For My Broken Heart broke ground for female artists in country music, as it was the first album recorded by a female in country music to be certified double-platinum (selling two million copies) by the RIAA. In the early 1990s, McEntire branched into film starting with 1990's Tremors Tremors (film) . She has since starred in the Broadway Broadway Theatre revival of Annie Get Your Gun Annie Get Your Gun (musical) and starred in her television sitcom, Reba Reba (TV series) (2001–2007) for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series / Musical or Comedy . She has sometimes been referred to as "The Queen of Country Honorific nicknames in popular music ", having sold 41 million records in the United States and more than 60 million worldwide. In the United States, she ranks as the seventh best-selling female artist in all genres and is the second best-selling female country artist of all time. 1976–1983: Career launch at Mercury McEntire made her first recordings for Mercury January 22, 1976, when she cut her debut single single (music) . Upon its release that year, "I Don't Want to Be a One Night Stand" failed to become a major hit on the Billboard country music chart Hot Country Songs , peaking at #88 in May. Because of its subject, the song garnered less of a response from radio and peaked at #15. After many years of releasing studio albums of newly-recorded material, McEntire's nineteenth studio album, Starting Over Starting Over (Reba McEntire album) (1995) was collection of her favorite songs originally recorded by others from the 1950s through the early '80s. The album was made to commemorate twenty years in the music industry, but many music critics gave it a less positive response than her previous release. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine commented that although the album was considered a "rebirth" for McEntire, he thought that some tracks were recorded for merely "nothing more than entertainment". The album paid tribute to many of McEntire's favorite artists and included cover versions of "Talking in Your Sleep" originally sung by Crystal***le, "Please Come to Boston", "Starting Over Again", "On My Own On My Own (song) ", and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix". but only one single—a cover of Lee Greenwood's "Ring on Her Finger, Time on Her Hands"—was a Top 10 hit single. 1997–2001: What If It's You, If You See Him, So Good Together . McEntire made a major comeback into the music industry the following year with her twentieth studio album, What If It's You. The album's lead single, "The Fear of Being Alone" reached #2 on the Billboard country music chart Hot Country Songs . MCA Nashville chairman Bruce Hinton told Billboard how pleased he was with McEntire's release, calling the album's ten tracks "powerful" and concluding by stating, "There are so many writers and so many great songs in Nashville, and Reba has collected her disproportionate share[...]She's country music's female artist of the 90's." At the end of 1997, McEntire also charted at #23 the charity single "What If What If (Reba McEntire song) ". The proceeds of sales for this single were donated to the Salvation Army. Thom Owens of Allmusic reported in its review that both album titles were named nearly the same as "a way to draw attention for both parties, since they were no longer new guns — they were veterans in danger of losing ground to younger musicians". The duet reached number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in June 1998 and spawned an additional three Top 10 hits during that year: "Forever Love", "Wrong Night", and "One Honest Heart". In 2001, McEntire returned with her third greatest-hits album: Greatest Hits Vol. 3: I'm a Survivor. The album helped McEntire receive her third gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, which made her the most certified female country artist in music history. Dan MacIntosh of Country Standard Time gave Room to Breathe a less-received review, reporting that "it ultimately falls short of leaving the listener breathless". He highlighted "I'm Gonna Take That Mountain" for sounding like a Bluegrass Bluegrass music -inspired song such as music by Ricky Skaggs or Patty Loveless. The album itself reached a peak of #4 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Top Country Albums chart and #25 on the Billboard 200, staying at the position for only one week. The second single, "Somebody Somebody (Mark Wills song) ," also recorded by Mark Wills on his "Loving Every Minute" release, became her twenty-second number one single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and first since "If You See Him/If You See Her" six years previous. This became her thirty-third number one single overall. Its second single, "He Gets That from Me" reached #7, followed by the Amy Dalley co-written track "My Sister", which reached #16. The album reached a peak of #3 on the Top Country Albums chart and #12 on the Billboard 200 upon its release, certifying 2× Platinum by the RIAA within two years. On August 30, 2007, McEntire received two CMA Country Music Association nominations: Female Vocalist of the Year and Vocal Event of the Year. With those two nominations plus another in 2008 and two more in 2009, Reba became the female artist with the most nominations (forty-eight) in the forty-three year history of the CMA Awards, surpassing Dolly Parton, who has forty-three. In mid 2007, McEntire announced the release of her twenty-fifth studio album, Reba: Duets, on September 18. McEntire stated that out of all the albums she had previously recorded, her newest release was particularly special: "This is an album that will go down in history as probably my favorite album to record because I got to work and sing and be with my friends. Out of everything in this whole career that I can say that I'm the most proud of, are my friends. And here's the proof." In promotion for the album, McEntire made appearances at radio shows and on The Oprah Winfrey Show September 19. The album's lead single, "Because of You Because of You (Kelly Clarkson song) "—a duet with Kelly Clarkson, who originally recorded the song—became her fifty fifth Top 10 single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, tying her with Dolly Parton, who also had the same amount of Top 10 records. The album was given high critical praise from magazines such as PopMatters, which called McEntire's vocals, "to sound sweet without being syrupy, while being extremely powerful. McEntire’s vocal strength yields a different kind of authority than the bluesy, drawling growl of Janis Joplin, the weathered rasp of Marianne Faithful, or even the soul-shrieking powerhouse of Tina Turner. Instead, Reba's voice combines the aspects of all three singers but tempers it with a Southern sweetness and an unmistakable femininity." The album contained ten tracks of duets with country and pop artists, including Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes, Trisha Yearwood, Carole King, and Justin Timberlake. Reba: Duets peaked at #1 on the Top Country Albums chart, while also becoming her first album in her thirty-year career to peak and debut at #1 on the Billboard 200, with 300,536 copies (according to Nielsen Soundscan) sold within its first week of release. On January 17, 2008, McEntire embarked on the 2 Worlds 2 Voices Tour with Clarkson, which began in Dayton, Ohio. A month after its release, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on October 19, 2007. The album's only other single was "Every Other Weekend". Recorded on the album as a duet with Chesney, it was released to radio with its co-writer, Skip Ewing, as a duet partner. 2008 – present: New record label In early 2008, McEntire partnered again with Brooks & Dunn for a re-recorded version of their single "Cowgirls Don't Cry". McEntire is featured in the video, but not on the version found on the album Cowboy Town. It became McEntire's fifty-sixth Top Ten country hit, breaking Dolly Parton's record for the most Top Ten country hits for a solo female. In November 2008, McEntire announced that she would be departing from her label of twenty-five years and signing with the Valory Music Group, an imprint of Big Machine Records. Under MCA, she had sold a total of fifty-five million records worldwide and won two Grammys. The switch to Valory reunited McEntire with the label's president, Scott Borchetta, who had worked as senior vice president of promotion at MCA during most of the 1990s. McEntire later commented on her label switch, stating, "I am thrilled to be joining the Valory team. Scott and I worked together on some of the biggest singles of my career, and I am excited to renew our partnership." On April 5, 2009, McEntire debuted her first single, "Strange Strange (Reba McEntire song) ", on Valory at the 2009 Academy of Country Music Awards. The song debuted at #39 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, giving McEntire the highest single debut of her career, and went on to peak at #11. Her twenty-sixth studio album, Keep On Loving You Keep on Loving You (album) was released August 18, 2009 and became McEntire's first solo studio album in six years. The album gained fairly positive reviews from most album critics, including Jim Malec of The 9513, which gave Keep on Loving You three and a half out of five stars. Malec favored "Strange", calling McEntire's performance of the song "stellar". Criticism was given to the album's third track, "I Want a Cowboy", characterizing the song as an "annoying stop-and-go melody and lyrics more befitting a 17 year old Lila McCann, it is a song so generic and irrelevant that it would be album filler on the worst albums". On August 26, Keep on Loving You became McEntire's second album to top both the Billboard Country and 200 charts, selling 96,000 copies within its first week. With the album, McEntire broke the record for the female country artist with the most Billboard #1 albums, which was previously held by Loretta Lynn. On August 18 the label released the album's second single, "Consider Me Gone". The single became McEntire's thirty fourth number one on the Billboard chart in December. With a four-week stay at Number One, this song became the longest-lasting Number One of her career, as well as the first multi-week Number One by a female country singer since Taylor Swift's "Our Song Our Song (song) " in 2007. 1990–1999: Entrance into film and television During the late 1980s, many of McEntire's music videos were being described as "mini movies". In each video, she would portray a different character, which distinguished her music videos from other videos released by artists during that time. In the late 1980s, McEntire became interested in an acting career, eventually hiring an agent. In 1989, she co-hosted Good Morning America on the ABC network. The following year, she starred along with Kenny Rogers and Burt Reynolds in the made-for-television movie, The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw. In 1994, McEntire worked with director, Rob Reiner in the film, North North (film) , playing Ma Tex. In 1995, McEntire starred in a third made-for-television movie, Buffalo Girls, which was based upon the life of western cowgirl, Calamity Jane (played by Angelica Houston). Playing Jane's friend, Annie Oakley, Buffalo Girls was nominated for an Emmy award. In the mid 90s, McEntire auditioned and won the portrayal of Molly Brown for the making of the film, Titanic Titanic (1997 film) . However, production for the film was extended beyond its original duration, and therefore McEntire had to resign from the part, as she had already scheduled prior concert engagements. The role was instead given to Kathy Bates. In 1998, she starred as Lizzie Brooks in a fourth TV film, Forever Love Forever Love (film) , which was based upon McEntire's hit single of the same name. 2000–2007: Broadway and television series In early 2001, McEntire expanded into theater, starring in the Broadway Broadway musical revival of Annie Get Your Gun Annie Get Your Gun (musical) . Playing Annie Oakley (whom she previously portrayed in Buffalo Girls), McEntire's performance was critically acclaimed by several newspapers, including The New York Times, which commented, "Without qualification the best performance by an actress in a musical comedy this season." McEntire personally called the musical, "some of the hardest work I've ever done in in my life". Reba garnered critical acclaim and success, becoming the network's highest-rated television show for adults ranging from the ages of eighteen to forty nine.McEntire's sound has been influenced by the country music of Bob Wills, Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, Barbara Mandrell, and Patsy Cline. In college, McEntire would sneak into local dances at the Oklahoma-Texas border so she could dance to Wills's music, commenting that, "it didn't get any better than dancing to Bob Wills music". She also explained Merle Haggard's influence on her career, stating "I had every album he ever put out", and would sing "every song he did", along with her brother, Pake and sister, Susie. In addition, her first major hit, "Sweet Dreams Sweet Dreams (Don Gibson song) " was a remake of Patsy Cline's version of the song, according to McEntire herself. McEntire's music has been described to not only be built upon traditional country music, but also expand into the genres of Country pop, Mainstream pop Pop music , Soul Soul music , Adult Contemporary, and R&B Rhythm and Blues . At times, her music has often been criticized for moving away from traditional country music. Many music critics have often called her music to be "melodramatic", "formulaic", and "bombastic", particularly after her 1988 album, Reba Reba (album) . Studio releases such as Sweet Sixteen Sweet Sixteen (Reba McEntire album) , Rumor Has It Rumor Has It (Reba McEntire album) , It's Your Call, and Starting Over Starting Over (Reba McEntire album) have often been described by these terms. and performs "vocal gymnastics" with her voice, a musical technique in which a singer twirls a note around, using their vibrato. McEntire has often credited Dolly Parton for influencing this trait, stating that she would always listen to Parton's records and find her style of vocal gymnastics, "so pretty". McEntire has often been regarded as one of country music's most influential female vocalists and most well-loved entertainers.McEntire's two siblings (both from the Singing McEntires) have also maintained careers in the music industry. Her brother, Pake McEntire was a successful country artist in the late 1980s and early 90s. Her sister, Susie Luchsinger, is a successful Christian music singer. She also has an older sister, Alice. In 1976, McEntire married national steer wrestling steer roping champion and rancher, Charlie Battles. Together, the couple owned a ranch in Oklahoma and managed her career. In 1987, McEntire divorced Battles and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. She later commented to Bob Allen of Country Music about their separation, saying, "I had to pack everything in one day and leave. I was totally starting over."McEntire holds the record for the most Academy of Country Music Top Female Vocalist Awards (seven), and American Music Awards for Favorite Female Country Artist (twelve), and ties with Martina McBride for most Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Awards (four), though McEntire does have the distinction of winning the award 4 times consecutively.* 1977: Reba McEntire Reba McEntire (album) * 1979: Out of a Dream Out of a Dream (Reba McEntire album) * 1980: Feel the Fire Feel the Fire (Reba McEntire album) * 1981: Heart to Heart * 1982: Unlimited Unlimited (Reba McEntire album) * 1983: Behind the Scene * 1984: Just a Little Love * 1984: My Kind of Country * 1985: Have I Got a Deal for You * 1986: Whoever's in New England * 1986: What Am I Gonna Do About You * 1987: The Last One to Know * 1988: Reba Reba (album) * 1989: Sweet Sixteen Sweet Sixteen (Reba McEntire album) * 1990: Rumor Has It Rumor Has It (Reba McEntire album) * 1991: For My Broken Heart * 1992: It's Your Call * 1994: Read My Mind Read My Mind (album) * 1995: Starting Over Starting Over (Reba McEntire album) * 1996: What If It's You * 1998: If You See Him * 1999: So Good Together * 2003: Room to Breathe Room to Breathe (Reba McEntire album) * 2007: Reba: Duets * 2009: Keep On Loving You Keep on Loving You (album) Film Television Theater
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