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Margaret LeAnn Rimes (born August 28, 1982 in Pearl, Mississippi) is an American country music and pop singer and occasional songwriter. Rimes's debut single, "Blue", was released when she was only 13 years old. By the age of 24 she has sold over 37 million albums. She has won an American Music Award, two Grammy Awards, three Academy of Country Music Awards, and twelve Billboard Music Awards. In 1996, LeAnn Rimes burst out of nowhere with her debut single, "Blue," which immediately captured the attention of country fans across America. It wasn't just the fact that her rich, powerful vocals were remarkably similar to Patsy Cline -- it was the fact that Rimes was only 13 years old. Like Tanya Tucker and Brenda Lee before her, she had a hit with her debut single and was barely a teenager at the time. It was quite an auspicious way to begin a career. Throughout 1995, Rimes' career continued to gain momentum, as she performed more than 100 concerts and appeared on television shows across Texas. After Mack arranged a record contract for Rimes with Curb Records, the label sent out a release with the single of "Blue" that claimed the DJ had been waiting over 30 years to find the right vocalist to sing "Blue." The story was an exaggeration: "Blue" had been recorded by no less than three different artists, including Bill Mack and Kenny Roberts, who both released versions on Starday in the '60s, and in 1993, Kathryn Pitt released the record as a single in her native Australia. Nevertheless, the story was repeated throughout the country and mainstream music press, adding to the growing myth that Rimes was the successor to Cline's tradition. "Blue" and its accompanying album of the same name became major hits in the summer of 1996. Blue debuted at number three on the pop charts, selling over 123,000 copies within its first week of release -- the largest figure to date in the history of the SoundScan tracking system. Rimes was nominated for the Country Music Association Horizon award and the CMA Best Country Singer, becoming the youngest singer in the history of the CMA awards to receive a nomination; she won neither award. After two quickie 1997 releases -- Unchained Melody: The Early Years and You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs -- she issued her second proper LP, Sittin' on Top of the World, in 1998. Her self-titled third album followed a year later and I Need You appeared in early 2001. The next year, Rimes emerged with a sexy flair for the pop-oriented Twisted Angel, but returned to contemporary country in 2005 with This Woman. Her 2006 effort Whatever We Wanna found her going back to pop and was released exclusively in Europe. In 2007 she kicked off the Evan Almighty soundtrack with the gospel rave-up "Ready for a Miracle", appeared on Hal Ketchum's single "In Front of the Alamo", and began promoting her next album, Family, with the single "Nothing Better To Do". She holds four important records in the music industry: She is the current youngest person to win a Grammy and the first country artist to win the Grammy for Best New Artist. Her version of "How Do I Live" is currently the longest charting song on the U.S. Hot 100 at 69 weeks; this was the second multi-platinum country single ever, the first being Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's 1983 hit Islands in the Stream. She is often compared to other previous teen stars, like Brenda Lee and Tanya Tucker. Unlike most other child stars, Rimes has remained successful in music in adulthood, recording various kinds of music, including rhythm and blues and pop music. An only child, Rimes was born Margaret LeAnn Rimes in Pearl, Mississippi. LeAnn started singing before the age of two. LeAnn Rimes was only 8 years old when she appeared on Star Search in 1990. In 1991 before the age of 11, she released her first album titled Everybody's Sweetheart on a small independent label. The album's release garnered the attention of label executives and disc jockeys, including disc jockey, Bill Mack, who was fascinated by Rimes's Patsy Cline-styled voice. Mack then began to cultivate a plan to make Rimes a mainstream country music artist. Between the years of 1992 and 1994, Rimes continued to release albums under independent labels that failed to gain any success in the country music world. By then, her family had relocated to Garland, Texas. She continued honing her skills as a country artist performing on Johnnie High's Country Music Revue in Arlington, Texas, a popular show that featured local artists and national acts. Throughout 1995, Rimes's career continued to gain momentum, as she performed more than 100 concerts and appeared on television shows across Texas. In 1995, Mack arranged a recording contract for Rimes under the Nashville record label, Curb Records, and also sent out a demo release of the song "Blue", a song Mack had originally intended for legendary country-pop music singer, Patsy Cline to record. Cline's death in March 1963 stalled this plan. The DJ claimed that he had been waiting over 30 years for the right singer to record "Blue" for him. However, this story later proved to be exaggerated. The song had actually been recorded by three different artists, including Bill Mack and Kenny Roberts, who both released singles of the song under Starday Records in the 1960s. Kathryn Pitt released her version of "Blue" in her native country of Australia. Soon, Rimes was recording her newest album (also called Blue), which was released to the general public in 1996. The album, Blue hit stores in 1996 when Rimes was only 13 years old, and sold 6 million copies. Blue debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and sold 123,000 copies within its first week. The album was so successful, it has been certified six times platinum by the RIAA, and an additional two times platinum worldwide. The single, "Blue" was also released in 1996, reaching number one on Country Top 10. It peaked at number 10 on the Billboard charts, as well as reaching the Billboard Hot 100 Top 30 at number 26. People were awed by Rimes' Patsy Cline-styled voice, easily accepted the story of how "Blue" came to be. As it was spread across the country and mainstream press, people came to believe that Rimes was indeed the successor to the legacy Cline left behind in early 1963. The fact that Rimes credited Cline to be one of the biggest inspirations to her career could have also been a factor to this myth. Because of the success of "Blue", Rimes became one of the youngest country music singers ever to rise to fame. At 13 years old, Rimes was a teenage country star. Rimes has been often compared to the previous teen stars to rise to fame in country music, including Brenda Lee in the 1950s, Tanya Tucker in the 1970s, as well as Marie Osmond in the early 1970s. Taylor Swift, who rose to fame in 2006 with her debut Top 10 hit, "Tim McGraw", at 16 years old, credits Rimes as one of the biggest inspirations to her career today. Two other singles were released from the Blue album in 1996, starting with the song "Hurt Me" mid-year, which was not a major country hit. However, the successor to the song, "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)", which was co-written by former country singer Judy Rodman proved to be a solid follow-up. It reached the number 1 spot on the Country charts in late 1996."One Way Ticket" is currently her only number 1 country hit to date on the United States charts. In mid-1997, one last single was released from the album, titled "The Light in Your Eyes". The song was a Top 5 Country hit, peaking at number five. Rimes was nominated for the Country Music Association Horizon award and the CMA Best Country Singer, becoming the youngest singer in the history of the CMA awards to receive a nomination; she won the Horizon award. She also won two Grammy awards, one for "Best New Artist" and one for "Best Female Country Vocal Performance" for "Blue", becoming the youngest female country singer to ever win the awards. The year 1997, marked a year of new trials for LeAnn Rimes. Curb re-released a previous album by Rimes done on an independent label before her breakthrough in 1996, and re-named it Unchained Melody: The Early Years. The title track "Unchained Melody" reached No. 3 on the Country charts. The album hit No. 1 on both the Top Country Albums list and the Billboard 200 list. Later that year, she released her third full-length studio project, You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs which debuted at No. 1 simultaneously on the Billboard 200, Top Country Albums, and Christian Albums charts. The first single released from the album, "How Do I Live" was made a hit in late 1997, and was more of a pop music hit than a country music hit. She recorded "How Do I Live" for the 1997 film Con Air. Though her version was rejected by producers in favor of Trisha Yearwood's rendition, it became the first certified multi-platinum country single and holds the record for most weeks spent on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100, peaking at No. 2. The song was unsuccessful on the Country charts only reaching No. 43. Yearwood's version hit No. 2 on the Country charts and No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. In late 1997, the title track of the album, "You Light Up My Life" was released. The song was also a cover version (previously recorded and made famous by Debby Boone in 1977), but was not successful, only reaching No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100, and did not even peak in the Top 40 on the Billboard Country list. One last single was released in early 1998, titled "On the Side of Angels", which was a major Country hit, reaching the Top 5. In 1998, the album, Sittin' on Top of the World was released. The album was another major seller, and the album received a Platinum rating by the RIAA, Rimes's third Platinum album. The first single released from the album, "Commitment", was a Top 5 Country hit by mid-1998. She had one other Country Top 10 hit from the album, titled "Nothin' New Under the Moon". The song "Lookin' Through You Eyes" from the same album, was a Top 20 Pop hit, but did not chart the Country list. In 1999, Rimes released a cover album of songs by singers Rimes has credited for inspiration, including songs by Patsy Cline, Janis Joplin, and Marty Robbins. The album was simply titled LeAnn Rimes and was certified Platinum. One song released from album was new song by Rimes titled "Big Deal", which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Country charts. In 2001, Curb Records released I Need You as a collection of promotional tracks and B-sides to help satisfy Rimes's recording contract obligations during litigation with the label and her management. The title track was released in mid-2000, and hit No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 8 on the Country charts. Her next song, "Can't Fight the Moonlight", also hit No. 11 on the Hot 100, but did not fair well with Country radio, only hitting No. 61 there. The song was a major hit on the Dance music charts, peaking at No. 17. The album I Need You was certified Gold in 2001. In 2000, she played herself in the film, Coyote Ugly. The album was re-released on March 26, 2002 with four remix bonus tracks and the song "Light the Fire Within", which LeAnn performed at the 2002 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Salt Lake City. LeAnn has furthered the promotion of her music by recording several soundtracks singles. These include "Looking Through Your Eyes" for Quest for Camelot, "Leaving's Not Leaving" for Anywhere but Here, "I Believe In You" for the TV movie Jesus, "Can't Fight the Moonlight", "The Right Kind of Wrong", "Please Remember", and "But I Do Love You" for Coyote Ugly, "Soon" for Driven, "Suddenly" for View from the Top, "We Can" for Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, and most recently "Ready for a Miracle" for Evan Almighty. In 2002, Rimes released another album with a pop-oriented sound titled, Twisted Angel. It featured two successful singles and videos, "Life Goes On" and "Suddenly". On February 23, 2002, she married Dean Sheremet (b. December 9, 1980), a dancer whom she met while recording Twisted Angel. They currently live in Nashville, Tennessee. Rimes was chosen to sing the theme song "Light the Fire Within" for the Opening Ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Later that year, Rimes was ranked #39 in CMT' 40 Greatest Women in Country Music. Just a few short months after her 21st birthday, Rimes released a greatest hits album, simply titled Greatest Hits, which went platinum in 2007. It featured all her hits spanning from 1996–2002, along with three new songs, "This Love", "We Can", and "Last Thing On My Mind". In 2004, the album was released internationally under the title The Best of LeAnn Rimes with a different track listing and remixes of various songs. As of this period, Rimes had not released any major country hits for some time. LeAnn was featured in a UK interview television called "LeAnn on Faith & Music". During the interview, it talked about LeAnn's rise to fame as well as her worldwide success including her duets such as with Ronan Keating and Reba McEntire. She did an episode of American Dreams, in which she portrayed Connie Francis On January 25, 2005, Rimes made a comeback into Country music, when she released This Woman. With sales over 800,000, it was her best-selling album in over five years, receiving a Platinum rating by the RIAA. The first single released from the album in late 2004, titled "Nothin' Bout Love Makes Sense", hit the No. 5 spot on the Country charts late that year, her first major country hit in a number of years. In addition, the next single, "Probably Wouldn't Be This Way", reached No. 3 on the Country charts in 2006, and even made the Top 10 on the Adult Contemporary charts. Another single, from the album, "Something's Gotta Give", just missed the top spot on the Country charts at No. 2. In 2005, Rimes became the new host of the USA Network reality tv series Nashville Star, a position which she held for only one season. On June 3, 2006, Rimes recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios for Live from Abbey Road. Her performance was shown on an episode with Dr. John and Massive Attack and aired in the USA on the Sundance Channel and on Channel 4 in the UK. On June 6, 2006, Rimes released a new pop album called Whatever We Wanna, led by the single "And It Feels Like". The album was to be released in U.S. and Canada, but due to the success of 2005's This Woman, it was only released in Europe. Rimes co-wrote 10 out of the 15 songs on the album. LeAnn's new single, "Nothin' Better To Do", is the first single from her album entitled Family, which hit store shelves on October 9, 2007. The album is based on her personal life. "Nothin' Better to Do" peaked at No. 14 on the Country charts in late 2007. "Good Friend and a Glass of Wine", the next single to be released off her 2007 album, will be released to country radio in early 2008. On a special taping of a CMT Giants episode, LeAnn paid honor to Reba McEntire by singing a show stopping rendition of Reba's song, "The Greatest Man I Never Knew". She received a standing ovation from both the audience and Reba, including Reba's parents. The episode was taped in front of a live audience at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. LeAnn can be heard on the track "When You Love Someone Like That", off Reba McEntire's duets album released on September 18, 2007. Rimes has also recorded a duet with rock band Bon Jovi for their album Lost Highway, called "Till We Ain't Strangers Anymore", which entered Billboard's "Bubling Under Hot 100" chart on radio airplay alone. In an episode of Bon Jovi Unplugged, Jon Bon Jovi stated that he wanted a singer who could understand the lyrics, and almost gave up, saying, "and couldn't find anyone and went all the way through the process, and said 'oh well' it's not gonna work out." He even joked about her: "A great artist like LeAnn, who's been around for a hundred years, and still she's only about 13 now." He also stated about her "with all that talent..." Both of LeAnn's duets with Bon Jovi and Reba appear as bonus tracks on her album Family. In early June 2007, LeAnn was chosen at the last minute to record the leading song for the soundtrack of Evan Almighty called "Ready For A Miracle" (previously recorded by Patti LaBelle and featured in Bruce Almighty). The song can be heard in the movie, during the end credits, and in the trailers of Evan Almighty. LeAnn will have a small part in the movie Good Intentions with her friend Elaine Hendricks which is filming near Atlanta, Georgia. LeAnn teamed up with Joss Stone for a CMT Crossroads special aired in fall 2007. Rimes is in the singing line-up for two of the five Freedom concerts in 2007, promoted and arranged by Sean Hannity and WABC. Rimes is slated to open for Kenny Chesney on his upcoming Poets And Pirates Tour scheduled to kick off in the summer of 2008. At 16, Rimes tried to take the reins of her career from her father. In 2000, she filed suit against her father, claiming her father and his partner pocketed some $7 million of her earnings and kept tens of thousands in cash hidden in a safe on her tour bus. Amid the legal battles, Rimes fell in love with backup dancer Dean Sheremet. The two met when he was cast to dance during Rimes's performance when she hosted the 2001 Academy of Country Music Awards. Since meeting each other, the two have since been married, and Rimes has also reconciled with her father since the wedding. In 2002, she publicly denounced her I Need You album, which her record label had assembled from studio outtakes. |
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