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She was born Reba Nell McEntire on March 28, 1955, in Chockie, Oklahoma, grew up on a large cattle ranch. Nothing about Reba McEntire’s entry into country music in 1976 foreshadowed the achievements she would make as an entertainer and businesswoman. Her mother was a singer and teacher, while her father was a champion calf roper. Both her brother, Dale, and sister, Susie, were singers as well, and each would go on to be solo artists. At home, they would come together as the singing McEntires.Red Steagall heard her singing the national anthem at the National Rodeo finals in 1974 and was so impressed that he offered to back a recording session for her in Nashville. This led to her signing with Mercury Records in 1975. The following year, she married rodeo rider Charlie Battles. They would later divorce in 1987.
Reba became the first female country singer to sell as many tickets as the boys did. And in true Reba fashion, she championed the first all female major country music tour, “Girls' Night Out,” starring Reba, Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Jamie O'Neal and Carolyn Dawn Johnson. Known for her elaborate staging and costume changes, Reba also can bring the house down with the sheer emotion of her voice.
Well into the '80s, she made the most of her rodeo persona, both in publicity photos and stage costumes. Her powerful but still twangy voice was as distinctively rough and rural as Loretta Lynn's Appalachian yawp. But during this period, as her presence within the industry rose, she began moving her looks and sound more toward the middle.
Much of her artistic metamorphosis came from hiring attorney Bill Carter as her principal manager, a duty that formerly fell to her husband Battles. It also helped her career when she moved from Oklahoma to Nashville. Under Carter's management, she would greatly spread her presence beyond country music, a point made obvious when she sold out Carnegie Hall in 1987, the same year she issued her first volume of hits on MCA. After her divorce from Battles, her former steel player and road manager, Narvel Blackstock, became her manager and later her second husband. Together, they created Starstruck Entertainment in 1988, an umbrella organization that eventually embraced concert promotion, music publishing, recording, publicity, transportation and related services.
At the time of its release, 1990's Rumor Has It had become her best-selling album to date with the hits "You Lie," "Fancy" and "Fallin' Out of Love." While on tour, seven members of her band and her road manager were killed in an airplane crash near San Diego on March 16, 1991. In spite of her grief, she sang a few weeks later on the Academy Awards show. Still mourning the loss, she went into the studio to record her next album and created one of the best, yet bleakest, collections of her career, For My Broken Heart. It went on to sell more than 4 million copies, making it her best-selling studio album.
McEntire has been a survivor. More than a survivor, she reigns as the most successful female artist in the genre with 50 million records sold. And, her success is not just limited to country music. Few performers can claim the multi-layered resume of Reba – Broadway phenomena, motion picture actress, television series star, best-selling author, international touring sensation and multi-platinum recording artist. As Reba herself says, “I keep changing to keep from getting bored and I'm also curious to see if I can do it, and how much fun it's going to be.”
Musically, Reba has toured domestically and internationally for more than 25 years. Her tours have been on Pollstar's top grossing tours list for much of that time.
Most artists consider it a rare achievement to accumulate enough single success to fill one volume of Greatest Hits. Reba McEntire now turns in her third collection. If Reba's past can be any indication, it will not be her last.