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Country pop, with roots in both the countrypolitan sound and in soft rock, is a subgenre of country music that first emerged in the 1970s.^{[citation needed]} Although the term first referred to country music songs and artists that crossed over to Top 40 radio,^{[citation needed]} country pop acts are now more likely to cross over to adult contemporary.^{[citation needed]}

History[link]

Beginnings: Nashville sound[link]

The joining of country and pop began in the 1950s when studio executives Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley wanted to create a new kind of music for the young adult crowd after “rockabilly stole away much of country music's youth audience”.^[1] According to Bill Ivey, this innovative genre originated in Nashville, Tennessee and thus became known as Nashville Sound. He believes that the “Nashville Sound often produced records that sounded more pop than country” after the removal of the fiddle and banjo. Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, and Eddy Arnold were among the most popular artists during this time.^[2] This was intended to have country singers gain more success in pop music and sell more records.^{[citation needed]} The first male artists to come out of this new genre were Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold, who both grew to have widespread acceptance in both country and pop music.^{[citation needed]} Both Jim Reeves and Eddy Arnold had major influence on their RCA labelmate Elvis Presley, apparent not only in secular songs, but even more so in country gospel songs. The first female country singer to emerge from this new genre was Patsy Cline in the early 60s.^{[citation needed]} She created a whole new breed of female country artists,^{[citation needed]} such as Lynn Anderson, Crystal Gayle and Shania Twain, who gained prominence in later years. Even though Cline also gained widespread acceptance from country and pop audiences alike, the Nashville Sound did not maintain its popularity for long,^{[citation needed]} receiving competition first from the Bakersfield Sound and later the outlaw movement.^{[citation needed]}

Country pop in the late 70s and 80s[link]

Lynn Anderson - live in concert

Country pop found its first widespread acceptance during the 1970s.^{[citation needed]} It started with pop music singers, like Glen Campbell, John Denver, Olivia Newton-John and Anne Murray, began having hits on the country charts. Songs like Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" were among one of the biggest crossover hits in country music history.^{[citation needed]} These pop-oriented singers thought that they could gain higher record sales and a larger audience if they crossed over into the country world.^{[citation needed]} Among one of the most unappreciated artists who did this was Olivia Newton-John in 1974, who emerged from Australia in the mid-70s, hoping to make it big in the United States. When her single "Let Me Be There" became a big pop-country crossover hit in 1974, it became quite controversial,^{[citation needed]} especially after Newton-John won a Grammy award for "Best Female Country Vocal Performance" for the song, and also won the CMA's most coveted award for females, "Female Vocalist of the Year" (beating out established Nashville artists Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tanya Tucker, as well as Canadian transplant Anne Murray).

A group of artists, troubled by this trend, formed the Association of Country Entertainers in 1974.^{[citation needed]} The debate raged into 1975, and reached its apex at that year's Country Music Association Awards when reigning Entertainer of the Year Charlie Rich (who himself had a series of crossover hits) presented the award to his successor, John Denver. As he read Denver's name, Rich set fire to the envelope with a cigarette lighter. The action was taken in some quarters as a protest against the increasing pop style in country music (some, including Rich himself, cited medication instead as reason for his behavior). However, the ACE would not last all that long.^{[citation needed]}

In 1977 Kenny Rogers burst onto the country charts with "Lucille" and would go on to become the most successful of the country pop performers,^{[citation needed]} topping charts all over the world and taking the genre to the zenith internationally.^{[citation needed]} After "Lucille", Rogers had a string of songs that did well on both the country and pop charts around the world, including "Daytime Friends", "The Gambler" and "Coward of the County", all of which were produced by Larry Butler. Rogers would go on to push the boundaries of pop influence in country music,^{[citation needed]} having records produced by the likes of The Bee Gees, Lionel Richie, David Foster and George Martin, all of which did well in both the pop and country markets.

Dolly Parton, who had already achieved considerable success as a mainstream country artist, wanted to expand her audience and go in new directions, so she decided to make a change in 1977,^{[citation needed]} crossing over into the pop music world with No. 1 country and No. 3 pop hit that year called "Here You Come Again". She followed it up with a number of additional crossover pop hits, including "Two Doors Down" and "Heartbreaker" (both 1978), "Baby I'm Burning" (1979), "Starting Over Again" (1980), and "9 to 5", which topped both the country and pop singles charts in early 1981. (Ironically, despite her being one of the most successful practitioners of country pop crossover during the late 1970s and 1980s, Parton, because of her upbringing and mountain roots, is regarded by most critics as one of country's most authentic performers.)^{[citation needed]})

Country pop reached an early peak immediately following the movie Urban Cowboy in the early 1980s.^{[citation needed]} Some older artists from the 1960s and 1970s converted their sound to country pop or 'countrypolitan',^{[citation needed]} such as Parton, Willie Nelson and Dottie West. Dottie West, who had been around since the '60s, completely changed her image into a more sexy and risky profile in the early '80s,^{[citation needed]} following a series of hit duets with Kenny Rogers. (Rogers also had an enormous duet hit with Parton, the Bee-Gees-penned "Islands in the Stream", which topped the country and pop singles charts in late 1983.) After the success with Rogers, West wanted to remain on top of her game, so in order to keep up with current country music, she continued to record more pop-sounding material.^{[citation needed]} Because of this, Dottie West achieved her biggest success as a country singer during this time, acquiring her first No. 1 hit as a solo artist thanks to her music in 1980 titled "A Lesson in Leaving".

Alabama, Eddie Rabbitt and Ronnie Milsap also began experiencing crossover success during the early 1980s.^{[citation needed]} Four of Alabama's most successful songs of the early 1980s — "Feels So Right", "Love in the First Degree", Take Me Down" and "The Closer You Get" — all reached the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, while four of Ronnie Milsap's No. 1 songs between 1980-1982 reached the Hot 100's Top 20, the most successful of which was the No. 5 hit "(There's) No Gettin' Over Me". Rabbitt had three Top 5 pop songs in 1980-1981, and "I Love a Rainy Night" reached No. 1 on both the Hot 100 and Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.

By the mid-80s, however, fans of more traditional country music were growing restless.^{[citation needed]} For the next several years, country radio was dominated by neotraditional artists,^{[citation needed]} although some country pop artists continued to have hits, most notably Alabama, Parton, Rabbitt and Milsap.^{[citation needed]}

Revival in the 1990s[link]

Country pop enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s, primarily because of the beginning proliferation of country music to the FM radio dial, which in turn was aided by the increase of FCC licenses for suburban and rural FM stations in the late 1980s and an increase in talk radio on the AM dial. Garth Brooks rose to fame during the 1990s with a string of several extremely successful albums and songs. Shania Twain would rival this success with her three albums The Woman in Me, Come On Over and Up!. In the last few years, country singer LeAnn Rimes has proved her ability to sing country pop songs such as the record-setting "How Do I Live", which spent 69 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, the second longest single in the record history. This achievement came in spite of the fact that a nearly identical version of the same song by Trisha Yearwood was released at the same time and was also a hit. Rimes also had a hit with the pop songs "Can't Fight the Moonlight" and "I Need You."

Incorporating elements of pop into country music became extremely popular by the late 90s thus producing many crossover hits and artists, especially on the adult contemporary charts. Country love songs also became more popular with songs like To Make You Feel My Love, Cowboy Take Me Away, "I Love You", "Breathe", "It's Your Love", "Just to See You Smile", "This Kiss", "You're Still the One", "From This Moment On", "You've Got a Way", Valentine, etc.

Martina McBride caused some controversy in 1993 with her hit song "Independence Day" which dealt with spousal abuse. She would also go on to release similar songs about abuse and other society injustices with songs like "A Broken Wing", "Love's the Only House", and "Concrete Angel".

While supporters of country pop contend the style has brought many new fans to the genre,^{[citation needed]} others, particularly older country music artists and fans that embrace the more traditional styles, have criticized country pop music.^{[citation needed]} Their main argument is that commercial country music, especially that which has been produced since 2005, already sounds too much like mainstream pop music even without an even more pop-sounding sub-genre. Kenny Rogers responded to both sides of the debate by stating "For country music, I'm not country enough. Everywhere else I'm too country".^{[citation needed]}

In the 1990s many country artists experienced huge crossover success. These artists include Brooks, Twain, Billy Ray Cyrus, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, The Dixie Chicks, Jo Dee Messina, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, Lonestar, Sara Evans and Rimes.

Continued Success in 2000s[link]

The early 2000s also saw continued success of these artists. Lee Ann Womack scored a big hit with I Hope You Dance". The Dixie Chicks had continued success with a less mainstream country-pop sound when they released their album Home in 2002. However, by the mid-2000s there were fewer country acts having crossover success. Carrie Underwood became a crossover success in 2006 and 2007 though, with her hit single Before He Cheats. Taylor Swift has also had crossover success in the late 2000's.

Revival in the 2010s[link]

In the new decade, Taylor Swift, and Lady Antebellum have achieved success recently, winning nine Grammy Awards between the two (Swift's song "White Horse" - 2 awards, and album "Fearless" - 2 awards; Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" - 5 awards). Uncle Kracker also achieved success when his No. 3 peaking adult contemporary hit "Smile" also became a No. 6 country hit. Lady Antebellum scored another crossover hit in the summer of 2011 with the song "Just A Kiss", and also during this past summer The Band Perry song "If I Die Young" crossed over to pop radio.

Swift is the youngest ever to win the Grammy for Album of the Year and the first country solo artist to win that award.

On October 25, 2010, Swift released her third album Speak Now and it sold more than 1 million copies the first week, she is the third female in history to sell more than 1 million copies in a week.

On February 12th, 2012, Swift won the Grammys for the "Best Country Song" and "Best Country Solo Performance" for her song "Mean"; and Lady Antebellum won the Grammy for "Best Country Album" for "Own the Night", bringing the total amount of Grammy wins between the two act to thirteen (Swift - 6 awards; Lady Antebellum - 7 awards).

Country pop artists/groups[link]

See also[link]

Country music portal

• "Murder on Music Row"
• "Long Time Gone"

Notes[link]

v t e Country music genres Alternative country Australian country Bakersfield sound Bluegrass Country folk Country pop Country rap Country rock Cowpunk Country soul Honky tonk Lubbock sound Nashville sound Neotraditional country Outlaw country Progressive country Red Dirt music Rockabilly Texas country music Western swing Country music portal

Martina McBride
Martina McBride performing in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Martina Mariea Schiff
Born	(1966-07-29) July 29, 1966 (age 45) Sharon, Kansas, United States
Origin	Nashville, Tennessee
Genres	Country, country pop
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, producer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1990–present
Labels	RCA Nashville, Republic Nashville
Associated acts	Jason Sellers, Blake Shelton, Patrick Monahan, Lionel Richie, Jim Brickman
Website	Official Website

Martina McBride (born July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the "Céline Dion of Country Music" for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range.^[1]

McBride was signed to RCA Records in 1991, and made her debut the following year as a neo-traditionalist country singer with the single, "The Time Has Come."^[2] It was not until 1997, when she released her fourth album, Evolution, that she broke through into the country music industry with a new pop-styled crossover sound, similar to that of Faith Hill and Shania Twain. From that point on, McBride has had a string of major hit singles on the Billboard country chart and occasionally on the adult contemporary chart. Five of these singles went to No. 1 on the country chart between 1995 and 2001, and one peaked at No. 1 on the adult contemporary chart in 2003.

McBride has recorded a total of nine studio albums, one greatest hits compilation, one "live" album, a Christmas compilation, as well as two additional compilation albums. Seven of her studio albums and two of her compilations have received an RIAA Gold certification, or higher. In the U.S. she has sold over 14 million albums. In addition, McBride has won the Country Music Association's "Female Vocalist of the Year" award four times (tied with Reba McEntire for the most wins) and the Academy of Country Music's "Top Female Vocalist" award three times.

Early life[link]

McBride was born Martina Mariea Schiff in Sharon, Kansas, to Daryl and Jeanne (née Clark) Schiff. She has two brothers, Martin and Steve, who currently play in her concert band, and a sister, Gina.^[3]

McBride was raised in Sharon, Kansas, a small town with population of about 200. Her father, who was a farmer and cabinetry shop owner, exposed McBride to country music at a young age. Listening to country music helped her acquire a love for singing. After school, she would spend hours singing along to the records of such popular artists as Reba McEntire, Linda Ronstadt, Juice Newton, Jeanne Pruett, Connie Smith and Patsy Cline.^[4] Around the age of eight or nine, McBride began singing with a band her father fronted, "The Schiffters." As Schiff grew older her role in the band progressively increased, from simply singing, to also playing keyboard with them. She enjoyed performing in her early years.^[4]

McBride began performing with a local rock band, The Penetrators, in Wichita instead.^[4] Then, in 1987, Schiff gathered a group of musicians called Lotus and started looking for rehearsal space; she began renting space from a studio engineer named John McBride. In 1988, the two married.^[4][5]

After marrying, the couple moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1989 with the hope of beginning a career in country music. John McBride joined Garth Brooks's sound crew and later became his concert production manager. Martina occasionally joined her husband on the road and helped sell Garth Brooks souvenirs.^[3] In 1990, impressed by Martina's enthusiastic spirit, Brooks offered her the position of his opening act provided she could obtain a recording contract.^[5] During this time, while her husband was working with country artists Charlie Daniels and Ricky Van Shelton, he also helped produce her demo tape, which helped her gain a recording contract with RCA Nashville Records in 1991.^[2]

Music career[link]

[edit] 1992–1995: The Time Has Come and The Way That I Am

McBride released her debut studio album through the RCA Records label in 1992, titled The Time Has Come. This album's title track made number 23 on the country music charts, but the next two singles both failed to make top 40.^[6] Unlike her later country pop-influenced albums, The Time Has Come featured honky tonk and country folk influences.^[2]

The Way That I Am was the title of McBride's second album. Its first two singles both brought her into the country top ten: "My Baby Loves Me" peaked at number two, and "Life #9" at number six. The third single, "Independence Day", did not reach the top 10 because many radio programmers objected to the song's subject of a mother fighting back against abuse by burning the family home to the ground.^[7] "Independence Day" won Video of the Year and Song of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards.^[6][8] It also earned the song's composer, Gretchen Peters, a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Country Song. McBride performed the song at the 1995 Grammys ceremony. The fourth and fifth singles from The Way That I Am were less successful: "Heart Trouble" peaked at number 21, and "Where I Used to Have a Heart" fell short of top 40.^[6]

[edit] 1995–1999: Wild Angels and Evolution

Released in 1995, Wild Angels accounted for another top five hit in "Safe in the Arms of Love", and her first number-one hit in the album's title track.^[6] "Phones Are Ringin' All Over Town", "Swingin' Doors" and "Cry on the Shoulder of the Road" were less successful, reaching the lower regions of the top 40.

In early 1997, after "Cry on the Shoulder of the Road" peaked, McBride released two duets. "Still Holding On", a duet with Clint Black which was the lead-off single to his album Nothin' but the Taillights,^[6] and "Valentine" with Jim Brickman which appeared on his album Picture This.^[9] After these two songs were released, she had her second number one on the country charts with "A Broken Wing", the lead-off to her album Evolution. This album went on to produce four more top ten hits at country radio: a re-release of "Valentine", "Happy Girl", "Wrong Again" (which also went to number one) and "Whatever You Say".^[6] Towards the end of 1998, the album was certified double platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling two million units. In addition, she also won the Country Music Association Awards' "Female Vocalist of the Year" award in 1999 and also performed for President Bill Clinton during the same time.

Also in 1998, McBride released a Christmas album titled White Christmas. Included on it was a rendition of "O Holy Night", which first charted in 1997 and continued to re-enter the charts until 2001.^[6] She also sang a guest vocal on Jason Sellers' mid-1998 single "This Small Divide".

[edit] 1999–2003: Emotion and Greatest Hits

McBride's fifth studio album, Emotion, was released in 1999. Its lead single, "I Love You," reached number one on the Billboard country charts in 1999, and also crossed over to the Adult Contemporary chart. The song's follow-ups, "Love's the Only House" and "There You Are", both made top ten at country radio, and "It's My Time" peaked at number eleven.^[6]

In 2001, she released her first compilation, Greatest Hits. This album has been certified 3× Platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America, and is her highest-selling album.^[10] It included most of her major hits to that point, and the album track "Strangers" from the album The Way That I Am, which she put on the album because she felt that it should have been a single.^[11] The album also included four new songs, all of which made top ten on the country music charts between 2001 and 2003: "When God-Fearin' Women Get the Blues", "Blessed (Martina McBride song)" (her fifth number one), "Where Would You Be" and "Concrete Angel". In between the latter two, she also sang a guest vocal on Andy Griggs' 2002 single "Practice Life".^[6]

[edit] 2003–2005: Martina

In 2003, McBride released her sixth studio album, Martina, which celebrated womanhood.^[2] The first single, "This One's for the Girls," went to number three on the country charts and became her only number-one hit on the Adult Contemporary charts. It also included backing vocals from Faith Hill, Carolyn Dawn Johnson and McBride's daughters, Delaney and Emma.^[6] Follow-up single "In My Daughter's Eyes" was also a top five hit at both country and adult contemporary. "How Far" and "God's Will" from the same album both made top 20 at country radio, as did her guest appearance on Jimmy Buffett's single "Trip Around the Sun".

In 2004, McBride won the CMA's Female Vocalist award for the fourth time, following the wins in 2003, 2002 & 1999, which tied her for the most wins in that category with Reba McEntire.

[edit] 2005–2008: Timeless and Waking Up Laughing

After finding success in country pop-styled music, McBride released her next studio album in 2005, Timeless, which was an album consisting of country covers.^[12] The album included cover versions of country music standards, such as Hank Williams' "You Win Again," Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough," and Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through the Night." To make the album fit its older style, McBride and her husband hired older Nashville session players and outdated analog equipment. The album sold over 250,000 copies within its first week, the highest sales start for a Martina McBride album.^[7] The lead single, a cover of Lynn Anderson's "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden," went to number 18 on the country charts, but the other two singles both failed to make top 40.

In 2006, McBride served as a guest coach on Canadian Idol. The remaining five finalists traveled to Nashville, where McBride worked with the competitors on the songs they had chosen by country artists such as Gordon Lightfoot and Patsy Cline. Among the other guest judges that year were Nelly Furtado and Cyndi Lauper.^[13] McBride later joined Canadian Idol on a tour in the Spring.^[14] In 2007, McBride also served as a guest coach on Fox Networks television series, American Idol.^[15]

In 2007, McBride released her eighth studio album, Waking Up Laughing. It was the first album in which McBride co-wrote some of the tracks. She set up her Waking Up Laughing Tour in 2007, which included country artists Rodney Atkins, Little Big Town, and Jason Michael Carroll.^[12] The album's lead single, "Anyway," went to No. 5 on the Billboard Country Chart, becoming her first Top 10 hit since 2003. Its follow-up, "How I Feel," reached the Top 15. In Spring 2008, McBride released Martina McBride: Live In Concert, a CD/DVD set.^[12] It was taped in Moline, Illinois in September 2007.

In July 2007, The ABC Television Network announced a special program called Six Degrees of Martina McBride where individuals from around the country were challenged to find their way to Martina McBride on their own connections and research using a maximum of six methods. The "winner" of this challenge eventually located a direct connection to Martina through her husband John McBride who knew someone, who knew someone else.^[16] McBride recently recorded an electronically-produced duet with Elvis Presley, performing his song "Blue Christmas" as a duet with him on his latest compilation, The Elvis Presley Christmas Duets.^[17] A compilation collection entitled Playlist: The Very Best of Martina McBride was released on December 16, 2008 as part of Sony BMG Playlist series. The album features 11 previously released tracks and three unreleased tracks.

[edit] 2008–2010: Shine

Martina McBride wrapped up production of her tenth studio album in late 2008. The first single, "Ride", was released to radio in October 2008 and debuted at No. No. 43 on the Hot Country Songs chart. It barely missed the Top 10 on the chart, peaking at number eleven in March 2009. A music video produced by Kristin Barlowe was also released at the end of the year. The album, Shine, was released by RCA Records on March 24, 2009, and debuted at the top of the U.S. Country album chart and number 10 on the Billboard 200. McBride co-produced the album with Dann Huff, and it featured "Sunny Side Up", a song that she co-wrote. The second single, "I Just Call You Mine", was released in May 2009 and reached the Top 20. The third single from Shine was "Wrong Baby Wrong Baby Wrong", which the Warren Brothers co-wrote with Robert Ellis Orrall and Love and Theft member Stephen Barker Liles.

McBride also initiated the Shine All Night Tour, a co-headlining venture with fellow country star and friend Trace Adkins and opening act Sarah Buxton. The tour began in November 2009 and ended in May 2010.

On June 10, 2010, Billboard announced that McBride had collaborated on a song with Kid Rock.^[18][19] In late June 2010, Martina was nominated for a Teen Choice Award, "Favorite Country Female Artist", alongside country stars Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift & Gretchen Wilson.

In late 2010, Martina McBride was nominated for two American Country Awards (Best Female Single & Touring Artist of the year w/ Trace Adkins.) Along with the ACA nominations, she received her 14th Female Vocalist nomination for Country Music Association in October.

[edit] 2010–present: Eleven

McBride exited RCA in November 2010 and signed with Republic Nashville.^[20] She began working on a new studio album with producer Byron Gallimore. Her first single for Republic Nashville is "Teenage Daughters", which she also co-wrote with the Warren Brothers. McBride told Country Weekly that she co-wrote eight of the eleven songs on the album; she decided to write more frequently because she felt more confident in her songwriting ability after "Anyway" had become a hit.^[21] An album track, "One Night" was released as a promotion for NASCAR with a music video in June 2011.

"I'm Gonna Love You Through It" was released as the album's second single on July 25, 2011. The song became a critical and commercial hit, peaking at number 4 and becoming her first top five hit since 2006's "Anyway." The album, titled Eleven, was released on October 11, 2011.

"Marry Me", a cover of the Train song which is cleverly re-worked as a duet between McBride and Train frontman Pat Monahan, was released as the third single off of Eleven.

RCA Records released McBride's final album for the label, Hits and More, in January 2012.

On February 13, 2011, she paid tribute to Aretha Franklin during the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. She was joined onstage by Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch and Yolanda Adams.

On July 4, 2011, she sang at the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular.

Charity work[link]

Martina McBride works with a variety of charities. She is currently the spokeswoman for the National Domestic Violence Hotline as well as for the National Network to End Domestic Violence and national spokeswoman for the Tulsa Domestic Violence and Intervention Services. Every year since 1995, she has hosted Middle Tennessee's YWCA, "Celebrity Auction", and it has raised nearly $400,000 so far. In 2004, she worked with "Kids Wish Network" to fulfill the wish of a young girl dying from Muscular Dystrophy.^[22] McBride was awarded the "Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award" in 2003.

McBride explained that educating girls and women on domestic violence is something she works on at home with her own daughters, stating that:

McBride has also teamed up with, "Loveisrespect, National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline," working with them on a new program called, "My Time to Shine."^[24]

McBride appeared on the Stand Up 2 Cancer Telethon in September 2010, where she performed "Unchained Melody" with Leona Lewis, Aaron Neville, and Stevie Wonder. Also in 2010, she hosted the YWCA for the 16th consecutive year, raising over 50,000 dollars. It totals over 500,000 dollars raised so far.

Personal life[link]

McBride has been married to sound engineer John McBride, since May 15, 1988. The couple has three daughters: Delaney Katharine (born December 22, 1994), Emma Justine (b. March 29, 1998), and Ava Rose Kathleen (b. June 20, 2005).

Discography[link]

Tours[link]

Headlining

• Greatest Hits (2002–03)
• Joy of Christmas (2002)
• Timeless (2006)
• Waking Up Laughing (2008–09)

Co-headlining

• "Virginia Slims on the Legends" (1995) (with Regina Belle, Gladys Knight and Barbara Mandrell)
• Lilith Fair (1998–99) (with Sarah McLachlan, et al.)
• "Girls Night Out" (2001) (with Sara Evans, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Jamie O'Neal and Reba McEntire)
• "Shine All Night" (2009–10) (with Trace Adkins)
• "Eleven Tour" (2012) (with George Strait)

As supporting act

• Garth Brooks (1992–94)
• Brooks & Dunn (1994)
• Tim McGraw (1997)
• George Strait (2011–12)

Awards and nominations[link]

Country music artist Martina McBride has received over 15 major music awards including matching Reba McEntire's record for the most wins for the Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year with her fourth win in 2004. She holds the record in that category for most consecutive nominations. She also has accepted the Flameworthy's (now called CMT Video Awards) Female Video of the Year award twice, sharing the record for most wins with Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift. She has been nominated for 14 Grammy Awards, but never won.

Note: In 1995, McBride was one of the various artists featured on the album Amazing Grace – A Country Salute to Gospel (singing "How Great Thou Art"), which won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album. This award went to the compilation album's producer, Bill Hearn, and not to the artists.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Martina McBride

• Official Website
• Martina McBride at the Internet Movie Database
• Martina McBride on Myspace

Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack signing an autograph.
Background information
Birth name	Lee Ann Womack
Born	(1966-08-19) August 19, 1966 (age 45)
Origin	Jacksonville, Texas, US
Genres	Country, Country Pop
Occupations	singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Decca Nashville MCA Nashville Mercury Nashville
Associated acts	Cross Canadian Ragweed, Willie Nelson, Jason Sellers, George Strait
Website	Official Website

Lee Ann Womack (born August 19, 1966 in Jacksonville, Texas, United States) is an American country music singer and songwriter, who is best known for her old fashioned-styled country music songs that often discuss subjects such as cheating and lost love.^[1] Her 2000 single, "I Hope You Dance" was a major crossover music hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard Country Chart and the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming her signature song.^[2]

Although Lee Ann Womack emerged as a contemporary country artist in 1997 with the release of her first album, her material closely resembled that of Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette,^[3] mixing Womack's music with an old fashioned style, as well as contemporary elements, making her different from her counterparts. Her 2000 release I Hope You Dance, however, was an entirely different sound, using pop music elements instead of traditional country, helping to establish Womack as a pop crossover artist. It was not until the release of There's More Where That Came From in 2005 that Womack returned to recording traditional country music.

Presently, Womack has released a total of six studio albums and two compilations. Four of her studio albums have received a Gold certification or higher by the RIAA. Additionally, she has received five Academy of Country Music Awards, five Country Music Association Awards, and a Grammy Award. She has sold over 6 million albums worldwide.*[1]

Early life[link]

Womack was born and raised in Jacksonville, Texas, United States. At an early age, she was interested in country music. Her father, a disc jockey, often took his daughter to work with him to help choose records to play on the air.^[4] Womack was the second of two daughters. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was also a high school principal. As a child, Womack studied the piano and later graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1984.^[1] After graduating, Womack attended South Plains Junior College in Levelland, Texas. The college was one of the first in the nation to offer country music degrees, and soon she became a member of the college band, Country Caravan.^[4] A year later, she left the college and after an agreement with her parents, Womack enrolled at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she studied the commercial ways of the music business. In Nashville, she interned at the A&R department of MCA Records. She studied at the college until 1990, leaving the school a year before graduation.^[1]

Womack spent a few years raising her children before reentering the music business in the mid 90s.^[2] In 1995 she began performing her music in songwriting demos and at showcase concerts. At one of these showcase concerts, she was spotted by Tree Publishings, who signed her after listening to one of original demo recordings.^[4] Womack wrote songs with some popular Nashville songwriters, including Bill Anderson and Ricky Skaggs, who recorded her composition, "I Don't Remember Forgetting" for one of his albums. After divorcing her first husband around that time, Womack decided to pursue a career as a country music artist. She auditioned for MCA chairman, Bruce Hinton, who praised her talents. Shortly afterward, she accepted a contract from MCA's sister record company, Decca Nashville in 1996.^[1]

Music career[link]

Country music stardom: 1997 — 1999[link]

Womack released her self-titled debut album in May 1997, produced by Mark Wright. The album consisted of self-penned material as well as songs written by other artists, including Mark Chesnutt, Ricky Skaggs, and Sharon White.^[4] With the original release of the album, there was worry that the album wouldn't sell because some people wouldn't be able to differentiate between her and LeAnn Rimes, who was also a successful artist at that time. However, Womack decided to keep her given name.^[2] The first single, "Never Again, Again" made the country charts and playlists by March 1997, which led to the release of the album's second single, "The Fool" shortly afterward. More successful than her first single, "The Fool" reached the Top 5 on the Billboard Country chart that year. That year she won major awards from the country music community; Top New Female Vocalist from the Academy of Country Music Awards, Top Artist of the Year from Billboard Magazine, and was nominated for the Horizon award by the Country Music Association.^[1] Decca Nashville decided to close its doors in 1998, moving Womack to MCA Nashville Records that year.^[5]

In 1998, Womack released her second studio album, Some Things I Know,^[1] which was also produced by Mark Wright.^[3] The album's first two singles, "A Little Past Little Rock" and "I'll Think of a Reason Later" both went to #2 on the Billboard Country Chart.^[5] Two additional singles, "(Now You See Me) Now You Don't" and "Don't Tell Me" were released in 1999, and the album was certified Gold by the RIAA soon after.

That year, she also won Favorite Country New Artist from the American Music Awards.^[2] Womack also contributed her vocals to the songs "If You're Ever Down in Dallas" and "The Man Who Made Mama Cry" in collaboration with her ex-husband and musician, Jason Sellers. The material was promoted through shows through October to November before the birth of Womack's second child in January 1999.^[3]

Pop crossover success & career decline: 2000 — 2004[link]

She released her third studio album in 2000 entitled, I Hope You Dance, which was met with major success.^[1] The title track (which was released as the lead single), reached #1 on the Billboard Country chart for five weeks and crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, becoming a major crossover Pop hit, reaching #14. It also peaked at the top spot on the adult contemporary chart and even reached the UK Singles Charts, peaking at #40. Both of Womack's daughters appeared in the song's video that year. Towards the end of 2000, "I Hope You Dance" won the Country Music Association's "Song of the Year" and "Single of the Year" awards.^[5] With the Pop success of "I Hope You Dance," Womack drew the attention of the magazines People and Time, both of which praised the single, calling it "one of her best." The song later won awards in 2001 from the Grammy and Academy of Country music awards.^[1] The album of the same name has sold 3 million copies in the United States to date.^[5] The album's follow-up single, a cover of Rodney Crowell's "Ashes by Now" peaked at #4 on the Billboard Country Chart. The third single, "Why They Call it Falling" was also successful, reaching the country Top 15.

On December 11, 2000, Womack performed "I Hope You Dance" at the annual Nobel Peace Prize concert. This song was also featured in the 2008 Tyler Perry film entitled "The Family that Preys."

In 2002 Womack's fourth studio album, Something Worth Leaving Behind was released. The album made a stronger attempt at a pop-flavored style, however it did not react well, leading to poor record sales and only one major hit. Following its release, Womack's career stalled. Later that year, she released a Christmas album, The Season for Romance and also collaborated with Willie Nelson on his single, "Mendocino County Line," which won a Grammy and Country Music award in 2002.^[5] In early 2003, she got a small recurring role on the popular CBS drama, The District.^[4]

In 2004, Womack performed "I Hope You Dance" at the Republican National Convention, in which George W. Bush was nominated for his second term as President of the United States. The other performers that night included Sara Evans and Larry Gatlin.^[6] She also collaborated with Texas Music band, Cross Canadian Ragweed on their hit, "Sick and Tired" in 2004. Also that year, she also released her first Greatest Hits album, which included two new songs; "The Wrong Girl" (the only song from the album released as a single) and "Time for Me to Go."

[edit] There's More Where That Came From & hiatus: 2005 — 2007

In 2005, she released her fifth studio album aimed at traditional country music entitled, There's More Where That Came From.^[5] Many people in the music industry called the album, "a return to tradition," featuring songs about drinking and cheating with a distinctive older country twang, mixing strings and steel guitar. The album won the Country Music Association's "Album of the Year" award in 2005.^[7] Womack took inspiration from the records of the 60s and 70s, and according to Allmusic, the album sounded like albums by Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, and Dolly Parton from the 70s. They also called it one of her best records.^[8] The lead single, "I May Hate Myself in the Morning" was a Top 10 hit in 2005, and also won "Single of the Year" by the CMA awards later that year.^[5] Two additional singles were released from the album in 2005 that became minor hits, "He Oughta Know That by Now" and "Twenty Years and Two Husbands Ago." The album was released on vinyl LP as well as CD.

Womack can be heard on the track "If I Could Only Fly" from Joe Nichols' album Real Things.^[9] Womack has also appeared on specials on the CMT network, including their, "100 Greatest Duets", which featured Womack singing the duet with Kenny Rogers, "Every Time Two Fools Collide". The song had been originally recorded by Rogers and Dottie West in 1978 and was a No. 1 Country hit that year. Womack took the place of West during that show, being West had died in a serious car accident in September 1991. Womack's other honors includes being listed at #17 on CMT's 2002 special of their countdown of the 40 Greatest Women of Country Music.

In 2006, Womack announced plans of a sixth studio album off of Mercury Nashville Records. The lead single, "Finding My Way Back Home" was released in the late summer of that year and debuted at #46 on the Billboard Country Chart.^[10] The single later peaked at #37 and was re-scheduled into 2007, because Womack found more songs that she wanted to record, however it was never released and Womack left Mercury.^[11]

Return to music: 2008 — present[link]

In 2008, Womack announced plans for a new single for the first time in three years, once again on MCA Nashville. "Last Call" was released on June 30, 2008. It served as the lead-off single to Womack's seventh studio album, Call Me Crazy, which was released on October 21, 2008.

Call Me Crazy was issued as a vinyl LP at the time of its release, as well as CD.

Call Me Crazy, produced by Tony Brown, has been described as a dark album with plenty of songs about drinking and losing love. It featured a duet with George Strait titled "Everything But Quits," a re-make of the George Strait classic, "The King of Broken Hearts," which first appeared on the Pure Country soundtrack. One track, "The Bees," features vocals from Keith Urban.^[12]

In October 2009, Womack released "There Is a God", as the lead-off single to her upcoming seventh studio album which she has said she is unsure of the release date. The song debuted at #60 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of November 14, 2009, eventually peaking at #32 in early 2010. Womack has revealed a few of the tracks that she has recorded for the album, including: "Talking Behind Your Back", as well as "You Do Until You Don't".^[13]

In October 2010, Womack contributed the new track "Liars Lie" to the soundtrack for the film Country Strong. Womack also contributed guest vocals to Alan Jackson's cover of the song "Ring of Fire", which was released in December 2010 as a single from his compilation album, 34 Number Ones. His version of the song was a minor hit, charting to number 45 on the Hot Country Songs charts. Though Womack is featured on the song, she was not given credit on the charts.

Lee Ann Womack also performs the theme song for The Berenstain Bears animated television show.

Personal life[link]

At Belmont University, Womack met and married fellow musician singer-songwriter Jason Sellers in 1990. Together they had a daughter Aubrie Lee Sellers, born 1991, before divorcing in 1996.^[14] In January 1999 daughter Anna Lise Liddell was born after Lee Ann married record producer Frank Liddell.

Discography[link]

Studio album

• 1997: Lee Ann Womack
• 1998; Some Things I Know
• 2000: I Hope You Dance
• 2002: Something Worth Leaving Behind
• 2005: There's More Where That Came From
• 2008: Call Me Crazy

Compilation albums

• 2004: Greatest Hits
• 2011: Icon

Holiday albums

• 2002: The Season for Romance

Awards[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Lee Ann Womack's Official Website
• Lee Ann Womack Unofficial Site
• Lee Ann Womack at the Internet Movie Database

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lee Ann Womack

Taylor Swift
Swift performing during the Australian leg of her Speak Now Tour in 2012
Background information
Birth name	Taylor Alison Swift
Born	(1989-12-13) December 13, 1989 (age 22) Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres	Country pop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, ganjo, piano,[1] ukulele[2]
Years active	2006–present
Labels	Big Machine
Website	TaylorSwift.com

Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Swift moved to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 14 to pursue a career in country music. She signed to independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever hired by Sony/ATV Music Publishing. She released her self-titled debut album in 2006. The record spawned five singles: "Tim McGraw", "Picture to Burn", "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song" and "Should've Said No". Swift wrote three of the album's songs alone, including two singles, and co-wrote the remaining eight. As part of the album's promotion, Swift opened on tour for Rascal Flatts, George Strait, Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. She received a Best New Artist nomination at the 50th Grammy Awards.

In 2008, Swift released her second album, Fearless, which became a crossover commercial success. Five singles were released: "Love Story", "White Horse", "You Belong with Me", "Fifteen" and "Fearless". Swift wrote seven of the album's songs alone, including two singles, and co-wrote the remaining six. The record won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest ever Album of the Year winner. Fearless also received Album of the Year plaudits at the American Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards and Country Music Association Awards, making it the most awarded album in country music history. Swift conducted a 105-date Fearless world tour in support of the album. Billboard named her Artist of the Year in 2009.

In 2010, Swift released her third album, Speak Now, which sold over one million copies in its first week. Written and composed entirely by Swift, the record spawned six singles—"Mine", "Back to December", "Mean", "The Story of Us", "Sparks Fly" and "Ours". "Mean" was awarded Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance at the 54th Grammy Awards. The 111-date Speak Now World Tour was attended by over 1.7 million fans and has become one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time. In 2011, Billboard named Swift Woman of the Year. She is currently recording her fourth album, due for release in the fall of 2012.

Swift's work has earned her numerous accolades, including six Grammy Awards, ten AMAs, seven CMAs, six ACMs and 13 BMI Awards. She has sold over 20 million albums and 41.8 million digital tracks worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Swift has endorsement deals with Target, CoverGirl, Sony, Elizabeth Arden, Walmart and American Greetings. She is considered by Forbes to be one of the wealthiest recording artists working today. In addition to her music career, Swift has appeared as an actress in the crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2009), the romantic comedy Valentine's Day (2010) and the animated film The Lorax (2012).

Early life[link]

Swift was born on December 13, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania,^[3] the daughter of Scott Kingsley Swift, a Merrill Lynch financial adviser,^[4][5] and Andrea (née Gardner), a homemaker who previously worked as a mutual fund marketing executive.^[3][6] Swift was named after singer James Taylor; her mother believed a gender-neutral name would help her forge a successful business career.^[7][8] She has a younger brother, Austin, who attends Vanderbilt University.^[9] She spent the early years of her life on an 11-acre Christmas tree farm near Pottstown, Pennsylvania and was educated at the fee-paying Wyndcroft School.^[10] When Swift was nine, her family moved to Wyomissing, Pennsylvania,^[11][12] where she attended Wyomissing Area Junior/Senior High School.^[13] Swift spent her summers at her parent's vacation home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey^[14] and has described it as the place "where most of my childhood memories were formed".^[12]

At the age of nine, Swift developed an interest in theatre and performed in Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions of Grease, Annie, Bye Bye Birdie and The Sound of Music.^[15][10] She travelled regularly to Broadway, New York for vocal and acting lessons. However, "after a few years of auditioning in New York and not getting anything”, Swift turned her attention to country music.^[16] She was inspired by LeAnn Rimes's Blue^[17] and her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay, an opera singer.^[10] When she was in fourth grade, Swift won a national poetry contest with a three-page poem, "Monster in My Closet".^[18] At the age of eleven, after many attempts, Swift won a local talent competition by singing a rendition of LeAnn Rimes’s “Big Deal”, and was given the opportunity to appear as the opening act for Charlie Daniels at a Strausstown amphitheater.^[15] She spent her weekends performing at local festivals, fairs, coffeehouses, karaoke contests, garden clubs and Boy Scout meetings.^[19][6] Swift recorded a demo of karaoke covers, and travelled with her mother to Nashville, Tennessee for spring break, leaving a copy of the demo with record labels along Music Row. She received label rejections and realised that "I needed to know how to do something more than just sing a song".^[15]

Swift began performing the "The Star Spangled Banner" at many sporting events, hoping she would be offered a recording contract. On one occasion, an 11-year-old Swift high-fived Jay-Z after singing the national anthem at a 76ers game in Philadelphia.^[20] At the age of 12, Swift was shown by a computer repairman how to play three chords on a guitar, inspiring her to write her first song, "Lucky You".^[21][22] She then recorded a second demo of original songs.^[15] In 2003, Swift and her parents began working with music manager Dan Dymtrow, after he spotted her singing at the US Open.^[23] Swift's second demo caught the attention of RCA Records, who offered the eight-grader an artist development deal. In 2004, Swift modelled for Abercrombie and Fitch as part of their "Rising Stars" campaign and had an original song included in a Maybelline Cosmetics compilation CD.^[24]

When Swift was 14, her father transferred to the Nashville office of Merrill Lynch and the family relocated to a lake-shore house in Hendersonville, Tennessee.^[3] Swift has said her parents "presented it as a move to a nice community" rather than as her chance to become a star.^[25] Her mother has said, "We've always told her that this is not about putting food on our table or making our dreams come true."^[26] In Tennessee, Swift attended Hendersonville High School for her freshman and sophomore year.^[27] Later, to accommodate her touring schedule, Swift transferred to the Aaron Academy, a private Christian school which offered homeschooling services, and earned her high school diploma in 2008.^[28]

Music career[link]

2004–2005: Move to Nashville[link]

Swift moved to Nashville at the age of 14, having secured an artist development deal with RCA Records. Her musical influences included the Dixie Chicks, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes, Faith Hill,^[25] Sheryl Crow,^[29] Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette.^[30] Swift had writing sessions with experienced songwriters such as Troy Verges, Brett Beavers, and the Warren Brothers,^[31] but eventually formed a lasting working relationship with Liz Rose.^[32] Swift saw Rose performing at an RCA songwriter event and suggested that they write together.^[33] They began meeting for two-hour writing sessions every Tuesday afternoon after school.^[34] Rose has said that the sessions were "some of the easiest I've ever done. Basically, I was just her editor. She'd write about what happened in school that day. She had such a clear vision of what she was trying to say. And she'd come in with the most incredible hooks".^[35][34] Swift also began recording demos with producer Nathan Chapman.^[33] After performing at a BMI Songwriter's Circle showcase at The Bitter End, New York,^[31] Swift became the youngest songwriter ever hired by the Sony/ATV Tree publishing house.^[36]

Swift left RCA Records when she was 15; the company wanted her to record the work of other songwriters and wait until she was 18 to release an album, but she felt ready to launch her career with her own material.^[37] She also parted ways with manager Dan Dymtrow, who later took legal action against Swift and her parents.^[24] At an industry showcase at Nashville's The Bluebird Café in 2005, Swift caught the attention of Scott Borchetta, a Dreamworks Records executive who was preparing to form his own independent record label, Big Machine Records.^[32] Swift was one of the new label's first signings.^[32] She also joined talent agency CAA.^[24]

[edit] 2006–2008: Taylor Swift

Swift performing at a café with a koa wood guitar in June 2006. Swift continues to perform with custom-made Taylor guitars

Swift began her career by building a strong MySpace presence, using the site to get feedback about her demos.^[38] She released her debut single, "Tim McGraw", in mid-2006, reaching No.6 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs chart.^[39] Big Machine Records was still in its infancy and Swift and her mother "came in to help stuff the CD singles into envelopes to send to radio. We sat out on the floor and did it because there wasn't furniture at the label yet".^[26] Her self-titled debut album was later released on October 24, 2006.^[40] Debuting high on the Billboard 200, the album sold 39,000 copies during its first week.^[41] It peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums and No.5 on the Billboard 200.^[42] Her debut album spent eight consecutive weeks at the top of the Top Country Albums charts^[43] and remained at the top for 24 out of 91 weeks.^[44] The music video for "Tim McGraw" won Swift an award for Breakthrough Video of the Year at the 2007 CMT Music Awards.^[45] Her pursuit of country music stardom was the subject of "GAC Short Cuts", a part-documentary, part-music-video series airing since the summer of 2006.^[46] On May 15, 2007, Swift performed "Tim McGraw" at the Academy of Country Music Awards. Swift appeared as an opening act for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, George Strait, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts.^[47]

Swift performing at Yahoo HQ in 2007

The second single from the Taylor Swift album, "Teardrops on My Guitar", was released February 24, 2007. In mid-2007, the song peaked at No.2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and No.33 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released with a pop remix that brought "Teardrops on My Guitar" to No.13 on the Hot 100 and No.11 on the Pop 100. In October 2007, Swift was awarded Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Assn. Intl., making her the youngest artist ever to win the award.^[48] Her third song off her debut album, "Our Song" spent six weeks at No.1 on the Country charts, peaked at No.16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and rose to No.24 on the Billboard Pop 100. Swift recorded a holiday album, Sounds of the Season: The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection, which was released exclusively at Target in late 2007. Swift was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award in the category of Best New Artist, but lost to Amy Winehouse.

Swift's successful single, "Picture to Burn", was the fourth single from her debut album. The song debuted and soon peaked at No.3 on the Billboard Country chart in spring 2008. "Should've Said No" became Swift's second No.1 single. In Summer 2008, Swift released Beautiful Eyes, an EP sold exclusively at Wal-Mart.^[49] In its first week of release, the album sold 45,000 copies, debuting at No.1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and No.9 on the Billboard 200. With her self-titled debut album sitting at No.2 during the same week, Swift became the first artist since 1997 to hold the Top 2 positions of the Top Country Albums chart.^[50] In October 2008, Swift performed a duet with best selling rock band Def Leppard in a taped show in Nashville, Tennessee, and their collaboration was up for both Performance of the Year and Wide Open Country Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards in 2009.^[51]

[edit] 2008–2010: Fearless

Swift performing as the headlining act at the 2010 Cavendish Beach Music Festival in Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Swift's second studio album, Fearless, was released in the United States on November 11, 2008.^[52] The album debuted at No.1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with sales of 592,304, making it the largest opening U.S. sales week in 2008 by a female artist in all genres of music, and the fourth biggest overall.^[53] During the first week of release, more than 129,000 of Swift's sales were sold digitally, giving Swift the best online start for any country album in history.^[54] "Change", a song from the album, was selected as part of a soundtrack supporting Team USA's efforts in the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[55] The song was also featured as part of the soundtrack of NBC's broadcast package of the Olympics.

The lead single from the album, "Love Story", was released on September 12, 2008. It became the first country crossover recording to hit number one on the Nielsen BDS CHR/Top 40 chart in the 16-year-history of the list, as well as number one on the Mediabase Top 40 Chart.^[56] The second single from Fearless, "White Horse", was released on December 8, 2008. Though it missed the No.1 spot on Billboard's Hot Country Songs as of the week April 11, 2009, "White Horse" claimed the No.1 spot atop the USA Today/Country Aircheck chart (powered by Mediabase) in that week.^[57] She was the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have two different albums in the Top 10 on the year end album chart.^[58] It also was the first album by a female artist in country music history to log eight weeks at No.1 on The Billboard 200. Swift is Billboard's Top Country Artist and Hot Country Songwriter of 2008; she is also country music's best-selling artist of 2008.^[59] Swift ranked seventh on Nielsen SoundScan Canada's top-10 selling artists across all genres in 2008.

Swift sang the Star-Spangled Banner at game three of the World Series in Philadelphia on October 25, 2008. In January 2009, Swift announced her North American Fearless Tour planned for 52 cities in 38 states and provinces in the US and Canada over the span of 6 months.^[60] In the same month, Swift made her first musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live.^[61][62] On February 8, 2009, Swift performed her song "Fifteen" with Miley Cyrus at the 51st Grammy Awards. As of the week ending February 8, 2009, Swift's single "Love Story" became the country song with the most paid downloads in history.^[63][64]

Since the release of Fearless, she released one new song "Crazier" for the soundtrack of the feature film Hannah Montana: The Movie. At the 44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, Swift picked up Album of the Year honors as a performer and producer for Fearless. Swift is the youngest artist in history to win the ACM Album of the Year award. The Academy lauded her for career achievements including selling more albums in 2008 than any other artist in any genre of music, the breakthrough success of her debut album, the worldwide crossover success of her No.1 single "Love Story" and Swift's contribution to helping country music attract a younger audience.^[65] As of late April 2009, Swift has sold more than 14 million downloads.^[66] On April 28, 2009, Swift gave a free, private concert to students at Bishop Ireton High School, a small Catholic school in Alexandria, Virginia after the school won a national "TXT 2 WIN" contest from Verizon Wireless.^[67] On October 8, 2009 Swift's official website announced that her sold-out Fearless Tour would return to North America for 37 additional dates in 2010.

Scheduled to perform on September 13, 2009, Swift attended the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. She became the first country music artist to win an MTV Video Music Award.^[68] During the show, as Swift was on stage accepting the award for Best Female Video for "You Belong with Me", singer/rapper Kanye West came on stage and took the microphone from Swift, saying that Beyoncé's video for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", nominated for the same award, was "one of the best videos of all time," an action that caused the many audience members to boo West.^[69][70] He handed the microphone back to a stunned and reportedly upset Swift, who did not finish her acceptance speech.^[69][71] When Beyoncé later won the award for Best Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift up on stage so that she could finish her acceptance speech.^[69][72] Following the awards show, West apologized for his verbal outburst in a blog entry (which was subsequently removed).^[69] He was criticized by various celebrities for the outburst,^{[70][73][74][75][76]} and even by President Barack Obama who called West a "jackass" in an "off the record" comment.^[77][78][79] He later posted a second apology on his blog and made his first public apology one day after the incident on the debut episode of The Jay Leno Show.^[70] On September 15, 2009, Swift talked about the matter on The View, where she said she was at first excited to see West on stage and then disappointed once he acted out.^[80][81] She said West had not spoken to her following the incident.^[81] Following her appearance on The View, West contacted her to apologize personally; Swift said she accepted his apology.^[68][81] However, on November 8, 2010, in an interview with a Minnesota radio station, West seemed to recant a bit of his past apologies by attempting to describe the act at the 2009 awards show as "selfless" and downplay the perception of disrespect it created.^[82][83]

On November 11, 2009, Swift became the youngest artist ever to win the Country Music Association Award for Entertainer of the year, and is one of only six women to win the Association's highest honor.^[84] "Fifteen" reached No.38 on the chart week of November 21, 2009l.^[85] "Two Is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls and John Mayer's "Half of My Heart" both featured Swift, peaking at No.40 and No.25 respectively. Fearless was the best-selling album of 2009 in the US with more than 3.2 millions copies sold in that year. Swift claimed both the No.1 and No.2 positions atop Nielsen's BDS Top 10 Most Played Songs chart, with "You Belong With Me" and "Love Story", respectively.^[86]

Swift released the track "Today Was a Fairytale" as a digital download on iTunes on January 19, 2010.^[87] It sold more than 325,000 copies in its first week.^[88] In February 2010, Swift brought her Fearless Tour to 5 cities in Australia. Opening acts included Gloriana.^[89]

In January 2010, Swift won four awards for Album of the Year, Best Country Album, Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song at the 52nd Grammy Awards, from a total of eight nominations.^[90][91] During the ceremony, she performed a duet with Stevie Nicks. Her vocal performance received a negative critical response and was described variously as "tinny and rhythmically flat-footed", "badly off-key", "strikingly bad" and "incredibly wretched".^[92][93]

[edit] 2010–2012: Speak Now

Swift performing on Speak Now tour in July 2011

On Wednesday, August 4, 2010, the lead single from Swift's third album, "Mine", was leaked onto the internet. Big Machine Records decided to rush the release of the song to counteract the leak. Swift appeared at the 44th Annual Country Music Awards on November 10, 2010.^[94] Speak Now was released on October 25, 2010.^[95] She wrote the album completely by herself in Arkansas, New York, Boston and Nashville with Nathan Chapman serving as co-producer.

In 2011, Swift visited Singapore as the first stop of the Asian leg of her first world tour.^[96] After the last stop of the Speak Now World Tour in Hong Kong, Swift began the European and American leg.^[97] Swift's first live album, Speak Now World Tour: Live, featuring all seventeen performances from the North American leg of her concert tour, was released on November 21, 2011.^[98] Three dates on the Speak Now World Tour were cancelled because Swift fell ill with bronchitis.^[99] Swift invited many stars to duet with her during the US tour, including singer-songwriters such as James Taylor, Jason Mraz and Shawn Colvin,^[100] pop stars such as Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, rappers such as Nicki Minaj, Usher, Flo Rida and T.I., rock stars such as Jim Adkins and Hayley Williams, and country singers such as Ronnie Dunn, Darius Rucker, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney.^[101]

In October 2011, Swift was named Songwriter/Artist of the Year by Nashville Songwriters Association International. During the ceremony, she played an acoustic version of "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" in honor of Alan Jackson, a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee.^[102] When making his induction speech, Jackson praised Swift for "the prettiest version I've ever heard".^[103] In December 2011, Swift released "Safe & Sound", co-written and co-recorded with The Civil Wars. The single featured on The Hunger Games soundtrack, which also featured a second Swift song, "Eyes Open".^[104]

At the 54th Grammy Awards on February 12, 2012, Swift's song "Mean" won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance.^[105] She performed the song during the ceremony; her first Grammy performance since her widely criticized 2010 appearance. She received positive reviews. Time felt she "delivered her comeback on-key and with a vengeance"^[106] while USA Today remarked that the criticism in 2010 seemed to have "made her a better songwriter and live performer".^[107]

On April 1, 2012, she won the award for "Entertainer of the Year" for the second time running at the Academy of Country Music Awards. She was also was nominated for "Female Vocalist" and "Video of the Year" for "Mean". Swift has sold over 20 million albums worldwide.^[108] She holds the new record for Fastest Selling Digital Album by a Female Artist, for her latest CD, 'Speak Now,' as well as the Most Simultaneous U.S. Hot 100 Hits by a Female Artist, with 11 charting back-to-back singles in the Guiness Book of World Records 2012.^[109] On January 8, 2012, Swift was elected the fifth top artist (fourth female top artist) of all-time with the best-selling digital music tracks. Swift has sold 41,821,000 digital tracks as of the end of 2011 according to Nielsen SoundScan.^[110] Swift sold approximately 4,470,000 albums in the US in 2010 (more than any other artist) and sold 9.9 million digital tracks.^[111]

2012–present: Untitled fourth album[link]

Swift is currently working on her fourth album with producer Nathan Chapman.^[112][113] It is scheduled for release in the fall of 2012.^[114] 25 songs have already been completed^[114] but Swift intends to keep writing and recording throughout 2012 "because I'm having so much fun".^[115] After writing her third album alone, Swift is now collaborating with people "from all different places in music",^[115] including songwriter Lori McKenna.^[116][117] The album will detail "the rise and fall of a relationship",^[118] as well as the resulting "absolute crash-and-burn heartbreak".^[119] She has described the album's mood as "sad, if I'm being honest."^[120] There has been media speculation that it will focus on Swift's relationship with actor Jake Gyllenhaal.^[119]

Swift also appeared on a song called "Both of Us" from B.o.B's second album Strange Clouds, which was released May 1st, 2012.^[121]

Songwriting style[link]

Swift's lyrics are highly autobiographical; she has said that "If you listen to my albums, it’s like reading my diary."^[122] It has been said that her lyrics "can be tinged with acid: the quiet loner girl getting one over on the cheerleaders, or a caustic payback for the boy who dumped her."^[123] She has also indicated that she tries to write so her fans can relate to the lyrics, saying "My goal is to never write songs that my fans can't relate to."^[124] She parodied her confrontational style of songwriting during her appearance on Saturday Night Live; during her opening monologue, she performed an original song that featured lines such as "You might think I'd bring up Joe, that guy who broke up with me on the phone/ Hey, Joe, I'm doing real well, tonight I'm hosting 'SNL'" referring to her highly publicized relationship with Joe Jonas.^[125]

The intensely personal nature of the songs has drawn her attention in the music industry. Swift once said, "I thought people might find them hard to relate to, but it turned out that the more personal my songs were, the more closely people could relate to them."^[126] Due to the autobiographical nature of her songs, some fans have researched the songs' origins. Swift once said, "Every single one of the guys that I’ve written songs about has been tracked down on MySpace by my fans."^[127] The New York Times described Swift as "one of pop's finest songwriters, country’s foremost pragmatist and more in touch with her inner life than most adults".^[128]

Other work[link]

Acting[link]

Swift made her primetime television acting debut in 2009 in an episode of CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The episode was watched by 20.8 million viewers.^[129] Swift both hosted and performed as the musical guest for the November 7, 2009 episode of Saturday Night Live.^[130] In 2010, Swift made her feature film acting debut in the romantic comedy Valentine's Day and won the Teen Choice Award for Movie Female Breakout.^[131] In 2012, she voiced the character of Audrey in the animated film The Lorax.^[132] Swift is in talks to star as Joni Mitchell in the film adaptation of in Sheila Weller's Girls Like Us, which follows the careers of Mitchell, Carly Simon and Carole King.^[133]

Philanthropy[link]

On September 21, 2007, Swift helped launch a campaign to protect children from online predators.^[134] She has teamed up with Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen to combat internet sex crimes.^[134] The year-long campaign, in partnership with the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police, will distribute Internet safety information and materials to parents and students across the state.^[134] In early 2008, Swift donated the pink Chevy pick-up truck given to her by her record label to the children’s charity, the Victory Junction Gang; in June 2008, Swift donated all the proceeds from her merchandise sales at the 2008 Country Music Festival to Red Cross, the Nashville Area Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund and the National American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.^[135]

Swift donated $100,000 to the Red Cross in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to help the victims of the Iowa flood of 2008.^[136] Swift has teamed up with Sound Matters to make listeners aware of listening "responsibly".^[137] Swift supports @15, a teen-led social change platform underwritten by Best Buy to give teens opportunities to direct the company's philanthropy through the newly-created @15 Fund. Swift's song, "Fifteen", is featured in this campaign.^[138] Swift lent her support to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal by joining the lineup at Sydney's Sound Relief concert,^[139] reportedly making the biggest contribution of any artist playing at Sound Relief to the Australian Red Cross.^[140] Swift donated her prom dress, which raised $1,200 for charity, to DonateMyDress.org.^[141] On November 20, 2009 after a live performance on BBC's Children in Need night Swift announced to Sir Terry Wogan she would donate £13,000 of her own money to the cause.^[142]

On December 13, Swift's own birthday, she donated $250,000 to various schools around the country which she had either attended or been involved with.^[143] Swift has donated a pair of her shoes – a gently-worn pair of black Betsey Johnson heels with her autograph on the sole – to the Wish Upon a Hero Foundation's Hero in Heels fundraiser for auction to raise money to benefit women with cancer. In response to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, Swift donated $500,000 during a flood relief telethon hosted by WSMV, a Nashville television station.^[144] On May 23, 2011, Swift transformed what was to have been the final dress rehearsal for the North American leg of her Speak Now tour into a benefit concert for victims of recent tornadoes in the United States southeast region. The concert in Nashville drew more than 13,000 people and raised more than $750,000 from proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise and other facets of the show.^[145] The benefit concert for tornado relief was subsequently honored at the 2011 Do Something Awards.^[146] In July 2011, Swift further aided the cause by donating $250,000 to Alabama football coach Nick Saban's charity Nick's Kids to aid in the tornado relief efforts of West Alabama.^[147]

Product endorsements[link]

Jakks Pacific released a celebrity doll of Swift in late 2008.^[148] Swift has been the face of L.E.I. Jeans (Life Energy Intelligence) since 2008.^[149] Swift and the L.e.i. Clothing Line made a deal to create a line based on Swift's style of dressing, which will appear in Wal-Mart in the coming months.^[150] However, Swift said she does not want to be called a designer. Instead, she says she will inspire the clothing company's dress line based on her own style. "I don't look at it like I'm branching out as a designer... It's not the Taylor Swift designer line."^[151] In 2009, Swift became the National Hockey League's newest celebrity spokesperson. She appears in commercials for the Nashville Predators.^[152]

In May 2009, Swift filed a lawsuit (kept sealed until August 2010) against numerous sellers of unauthorized counterfeit merchandise bearing her name, likeness, and trademarks, where she demanded a trial by jury, sought a judgement for compensatory damages, punitive damages, three times the actual damages sustained, and statutory damages, and sought for recovery of her attorney's fees and prejudgement interest.^[153] Nashville's U.S. District Court granted an injunction and judgment against the sellers, who had been identified at Swift's concerts in several states. The court ordered merchandise seized from the defendants to be destroyed.^{[154][155][156]} On July 15, 2011, Swift's official website announced that she had partnered with Elizabeth Arden to launch a fragrance, which is to be released in October 2011.^{[dated info]} The fragrance's name, "Wonderstruck", is a reference to the song "Enchanted" featured on her Speak Now album.^[157] Swift is also working with American Greetings, Inc.^[158] She has endorsement deals with companies including Target, CoverGirl, Sony, Elizabeth Arden, Walmart and American Greetings.^[159]

In the media[link]

Position as a role model[link]

Swift has been described as a role model.^[160] The singer considers it "my responsibility" to be "conscious" of her influence on young fans.^[161] However, she insists that "I don't live by all these rigid, weird rules that make me feel all fenced in. I just like the way that I feel like, and that makes me feel very free."^[162] Swift does not drink alcohol because she worries that "I might come off in a way that I can't control. Maybe I should just lighten up!" "It's not like I judge people who [drink] or that I don't hang out with people who drink."^[162] She refuses to take part in overly sexualised photo-shoots: "I like trying out new styles but I don’t feel comfortable taking my clothes off."^[11] A 2012 Vogue cover story described Swift as "clever and funny and occasionally downright bawdy" in person, but noted that she "asks if her cursing can be off the record".^[163] The lyrical content of her songs is regarded as appropriate for young audiences; a New Yorker journalist who attended a Swift concert recounted watching "six sixteen-year-old girls holding hands and swaying, and a girl in a hijab sobbing as she sang the words. It was hard not to be a little moved, and not to feel relieved that the words being sung were, more or less, safe ... One can attend a concert by Katy Perry and listen to a stadium full of thirteen-year-olds chant along with the song “Peacock” which goes, “I want to see your peacock-cock-cock! Your peacock-cock!"^[3]

Feminist discussion[link]

Swift at the premiere of Hannah Montana: The Movie, April 2009

The merits of Swift as a feminist have been widely discussed.^[164] She has been described by Jezebel as "a feminist's nightmare": "Her image of being good and pure plays right into how much the patriarchy fetishizes virginity, loves purity, and celebrates women who know their place as delicate flowers".^[165] However, a Village Voice music critic dismissed this criticism as "shallow and gross, in that special way that things get gross when you cram shaded and living work through an ideological sieve like you're mechanically separating chicken".^[166] He continued: "Criticisms include: She's a conformist stooge of the patriarchy (she's now had two hits about defying fathers); she idolizes chastity (she's coy about sex, but only the willful could miss the fucking in the new "Sparks Fly," which includes the line "Gimme something that'll haunt me when you're not around"); and she sells girls corrupt and shallow fairy-tale notions of romance (one of the two fairy-tale songs on Fearless mocked a guy for trying to white-knight her, and the only mention of such things on Speak Now is "I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you"—note the tense)."^[166]

The song Fifteen has been the subject of particular scrutiny. It has been said that the song contains a "feminist message" in the lyrics "Back then I swore I was gonna marry him some day, but I realized some bigger dreams of mine” and "In your life you'll do things greater than dating the boy on the football team".^[167] Feminist critics claim the use of the word "everything" in the lyric "Abigail gave everything she had to a boy, who changed his mind, and we both cried" is a reference to virginity: "Songs like "Fifteen" dig up the ancient Puritan ideal that girls can only access power by confidently and heterosexually denying access to their pants."^[168] However, others interpret “everything” as trust: "Abigail trusted and opened up to a boy for the first time, only to be let down. Maybe that includes sex, maybe it doesn’t."^[167]

When asked by The New York Times in 2010 whether she considered herself a feminist, Swift replied, "I have never really thought about that".^[169] In 2012, Billboard asked Swift whether the marginalization of women in country music, prevalent in the 1950s, was still an issue: "I was fortunate enough to come about in a time when I didn't feel that kind of energy at all, and it was always my theory that if you want to pay in the same ballgame as the boys, you've got to work as hard as them. I was always playing just as many shows as they were and playing on the same shows as they were. I was willing to pay my dues as an opening act, playing in clubs and bars and playing in tiny venues. The new male artists were doing the same thing, so I never saw an issue there".^[170]

Criticism of vocal abilities[link]

Swift's vocal performance during a duet with Stevie Nicks at the 2010 Grammy Awards was widely criticized as "badly off-key", "strikingly bad" and "incredibly wretched".^[92] Music critic Bob Lefsetz was particularly vocal in his criticism. He argued that, while "Taylor’s too young and dumb to understand the mistake she made", she killed her career "overnight". "In one fell swoop, Taylor Swift consigned herself to the dustbin of teen phenoms".^[93] Lefsetz had previously been a supporter of the singer's career,^[171] and Swift and Lefsetz had corresponded occasionally by email and telephone.^[172] Wired has described "the Swift attack" as "one of the most personal tracts Lefsetz had ever written. You got the sense that he felt duped, that he really believed in her. Which, for Lefsetz, doesn’t happen a whole lot anymore".^[172]

Swift's song "Mean" is believed to a rebuttal to Lefsetz.^[172] In the album liner notes, Swift wrote, “I thought you got me", and Lefsetz has said she told him “You get me” on several occasions.^[172] In response to the song, Lefsetz wrote that, while Swift had "captured the teen zeitgeist better than anyone in this century", it was now time for her to "be a woman singing about womanly issues". "Joni Mitchell ultimately sang about the human condition, contemplating suicide in "Song For Sharon". Is Taylor Swift gonna grow or keep on fighting these petty wars?"^[173] "She still can’t sing," he concluded. "And if this song is really about me, I wish it were better".^[173] Swift performed "Mean" at the 2012 Grammy Awards and won two awards for the song. In her acceptance speech, Swift said, "There's really no feeling quite like writing a song about someone who's really mean to you ... and then winning a Grammy for it."^[174]

In an interview with The New Yorker, Swift refused to defend her singing voice: “I write songs, and my voice is just a way to get those lyrics across”.^[3] "I'm not trying to go out there and do vocal acrobatics. I'm just trying to write good songs".^[175] She has said that she only feels nervous performing "if I'm not sure what the audience thinks of me, like at award shows".^[176]

Industry polls[link]

Swift at the 2010 Time 100 Gala, where she was honored.

Swift was included in People's annual "100 Most Beautiful People" 2008, 2009, and 2010 lists.^[177][178] Additionally, she was named 57th on Maxim's sexiest women of 2008, 50th on the 2009 list^[179] and 31st on the 2010 list.^[180] CosmoGirl voted Swift as the "2008 Girl of the Year".^[181] Swift was named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of "The RS 100: Agents of Change".^[182] People magazine named Swift one of 25 Most Intriguing People of 2009.^[183]

She was nominated as a candidate for Time's "2009 The Time 100 Finalists" list, which is determined by online voting.^[184] In April 2010, Swift was included in Time's annual list of the 100 Most Influential People. Swift's entry was written by Stevie Nicks, who said that "Taylor reminds me of myself in her determination and her childlike nature. It's an innocence that's so special and so rare. This girl writes the songs that make the whole world sing, like Neil Diamond or Elton John [...] The female rock-'n'-roll-country-pop songwriter is back, and her name is Taylor Swift. And it's women like her who are going to save the music business."^[185] She was ranked second on Rolling Stone's lists of Top 16 "Queen Of Pops" of the decade.^[186]

Personal life[link]

Swift's main residence is a duplex penthouse in midtown Nashville, Tennessee.^[187][3] She also owns a house in Beverly Hills, California.^[188][189]

Relationships[link]

Swift dated singer Joe Jonas from July to October 2008.^{[190][191][192][193][194]} She dated actor Taylor Lautner from October to December 2009.^{[195][196][197]} Swift was romantically linked to musician John Mayer from late 2009 until June 2010.^{[198][199][200]} They first met in 2008^[201] and recorded a duet, "Half of My Heart", in late 2009.^{[202][203][194]}

Swift dated actor Jake Gyllenhaal from October 2010 to December 2010.^{[204][205][206][207][208][209][210][211]} On December 9, 2011, Gyllenhaal called the LAPD for assistance, after a large number of photographers followed the couple's car in Los Angeles.^[212][213] Following their break-up, they were seen together in January and February 2011.^[214][215]

Politics[link]

After casting her vote in the 2008 US presidential election, Swift declined to inform journalists which candidate she had supported.^[216] However, following Barack Obama's inauguration, she told Rolling Stone: "I've never seen this country so happy about a political decision in my entire time of being alive. I'm so glad this was my first election."^[217] In 2009, after Swift's VMA acceptance speech was interrupted by Kanye West, President Obama described West's behaviour as "really inappropriate. The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She’s getting her award. What is he doing up there? He’s a jackass."^[218]

In 2010, former U.S. President George H. W. Bush attended the taping of a Swift television special in Kennebunkport, Maine,^[219] and later described Swift as "unspoiled" and "very nice".^[220] In 2012, Swift was presented with a Kids' Choice Award in recognition of her charitable work by Michelle Obama, who praised her as someone who "has rocketed to the top of the music industry but still keeps her feet on the ground, someone who has shattered every expectation of what a 22-year old can accomplish".^[221] Swift later described the First Lady as "a role model".^[222]

Swift is an admirer of the Kennedy family and has spent time with Rory, Caroline and, particularly, Ethel Kennedy.^[223] When asked about her friendship with Swift, Ethel replied, "Oh, she is amazing! Such good company."^[224] Rory has said, "There is a mutual admiration society between my mother and Taylor Swift and I just love it! I think it says so much about Taylor - she has that ability to connect and cross generations ... She's terrific and such a great role model for young girls, as well as for all women, really. ... She's just so curious and interested".^[224] In January 2012, Swift travelled to Utah to attend the Sundance premiere of the HBO documentary Ethel.^[225]

In a 2012 interview, Swift remarked that she was "very cautious" about using her public profile to address political issues, adding that she hoped to "gradually" become more outspoken: "I don't feel that I am in a place to sing about politics or anything like that. I don't know enough at this point".^[226]

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Taylor Swift (2006)
• Fearless (2008)
• Speak Now (2010)

Tours[link]

• Fearless Tour (2009–10)
• Speak Now World Tour (2011–12)

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]