Leann Rimes

Margaret LeAnn Rimes was born on August 28, 1982 in Jackson, Mississippi. Her father played the guitar on a part-time basis and under his influence, Rimes started singing and tap dancing by the age of two. She went on to win a talent contest by the age of five. At the age of six, she moved to Garland, Texas where she was raised. Things really picked up for Rimes in Dallas; she sang The Star-Spangled Banner at the Dallas Cowboys games and at the National Cutting Horse Championships in Forth Worth. Her parents sold copies of her singing at these events and by the age of eleven, she recorded All That, produced by her father at Petty Norman's studio in Clovis, New Mexico. This song got her signed a few months later. During her early years, she gained experience and even sang a song written for Patsy Cline, which was later cut down by Roy Drusky and Kenny Roberts. While on holiday, record executive Mike Curb heard Rimes' demo tape and immediately signed her to a contract with his nationally distributed label. In her debut release, she sang a duet with 78-year-old Eddy Arnold of his hit Cattle Call. She also reworked Blue, an old time favorite of music lovers in all genres. This new version of Blue became a huge success, climbing the top of the country charts in the US. She soon hit number one again with the up-tempo One-Way Ticket (Because I Am). Blue was still burning the charts as it stayed on top for twenty-two weeks, with three million albums sold by February 1997. She became the youngest nominee at the 1996 Country Music Association Awards, but she had to wait until the 1997 event to pick up the Horizon Award. That same year, she picked up the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Singer and Best Country Song for the ever popular single Blue. She picked up six more honors at the Billboard Awards including the prestigious Artist of The Year. Rimes looks and acts much older than her age as she sings adult oriented songs, which is partly due to her extraordinarily rich voice. She made an excellent revival of the classic Unchained Melody. However, her management had a difficult time finding appropriate material for the talented singer. This was further proven with two remixes of old songs like Unchained Melody/The Early Years and the release of the Stop-Gap. In May 1998, the album Sittin' on Top of the World was released. In October 1999 Rimes released a cover album simply titled LeAnn Rimes. In October 2002 Rimes released another album with a pop-oriented sound, Twisted Angel. A few months after her 21st birthday, Rimes released a greatest hits album, Greatest Hits, which went platinum in 2007.