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Margaret LeAnn Rimes (born August 28, 1982 in Jackson, Mississippi) is an American country music singer and occasional Songwriter. Rimes' debut single, "Blue", was released when she was only thirteen years old, and by age 24 she had 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. She holds four important records in the music industry, as the current youngest person to win a Grammy and 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 first multi-platinum country single selling over 3 million copies, and the first country artist to win the Grammy for Best New Artist. LeAnn Rimes is one of the youngest Country music vocalists ever to come to fame, alongside other previous teen stars, like Brenda Lee, Tanya Tucker, and Billy Gilman. Unlike most child stars, Rimes has remained successful in music in adulthood, recording various kinds of music, including rhythm and blues and Pop music.
Early years and rise to fame: 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. A few years later, Rimes and her family moved out to Texas, and before age 11, she released her first album titled Everybody's Sweetheart in 1991 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' Patsy Cline-styled voice. Mack then began to cultivate a plan to make Rimes a mainstream Country music artist. Between the years 1992 and 1994, Rimes continued to release albums under independent labels that failed gaining any type of success in the Country music world. By then her family had relocated to Garland, Texas. She began honing her skills as a country artist performing on Johnnie High’s Country Music Revue in Ft. Worth, a popular show that featured local artists and national acts. Throughout 1995, Rimes' 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. However, her death in March 1963 failed for Mack to give the song to Cline. The DJ claimed that he had been waiting over 30 years for the right singer to record "Blue" for him. However, this story was later found out 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 soon released to the general public in 1996.
Rising success: Blue album 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 2x platinum worldwide. The single, "Blue" was also released in 1996, and hit the Country Top 10, reaching the very top, peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard charts, as well as reaching the Billboard Hot 100 Top 30 at No. 26. People were shocked by Rimes' Patsy Cline-styled voice, and thererfore, the story of how "Blue" came to be was spread across the country and mainstream press, and added people 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 70s. 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 reaching the No. 1 spot on the Country charts in late 1996. "One Way Ticket" is currently Rimes' only No. 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 No. 5. 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.
Worldwide success:You Light Up My Life and Sittin' on Top of the World The year 1997, marked a year of new trails 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, a remake of the song "Unchained Melody" reached No. 3 on the Country charts in early 1997. 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. Because the song was unsuccessful on the Country charts, it didn't even make the Top 40, only hitting No. 43 there. 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 didn't 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 early that year.
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' 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' Under the New 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, Rimes focused her next album, I Need You almost entirely on the Pop market. 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.
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.
Greatest Hits (2003-2004) 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. However, by this time, Rimes has not had a major hit on the Country charts in a long 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.She did a episode of American Dreams, who she portrayed Connie Francis
Comeback (2005-) 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 off of her album entitled Family, which hit store shelves on October 9, 2007. The album is based on her personal life.
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. 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 himself 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 will be teaming up with Joss Stone for a CMT Crossroads special airing this fall.
Rimes is in the singing line-up for two of the five Freedom concerts in 2007, promoted and arranged by Sean Hannity and WABC.
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' 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.
