Reba McEntire

• Born: March 28, 1955
• Place of Birth: Chockie, Oklahoma

One of the most successful country music recording artists of the late twentieth century, Reba McEntire has continued to make music, including the 2019 album Stronger Than the Truth, and remain a popular figure in the industry into the twenty-first century.

By 1990, Reba McEntire was already a popular country music singer with a large fan following. Her music contract, signed in 1984 with MCA Nashville Records, had successfully propelled her to the status of being among the best-selling country music artists of all time. In 1990, she released her fifteenth album, Rumor Has It, which contained the number one hit “You Lie” and what would become her signature song, “Fancy.” Tragically, on March 16, 1991, seven of her band members and her road manager were killed in an airplane crash. One week after the accident, amid criticism, McEntire performed the song, “I’m Checking Out,” at the Academy Awards in honor of her band members. In October 1991, she released her sixteenth album, For My Broken Heart, which was also dedicated to her band members.

In December 1992, she released her seventeenth album, It’s Your Call, which went triple platinum. The song “The Heart Won’t Lie,” which was performed as a duet with country singer Vince Gill, reached number one on the country music charts in April 1993. Another duet on the album “Does He Love You,” which she performed with Linda Davis, also reached number one on the country charts in November 1993. In April 1994, she produced her eighteenth album, Read My Mind, as well as her nineteenth album, Oklahoma Girl. Read My Mind produced five country chart singles and went triple platinum. Her twentieth album, Starting Over, was released in October 1995, and marked the singer’s twentieth anniversary in the music industry. In November 1996, she released her twenty-first album, What If It’s You, in 1998 she released her twenty-second album, If You See Him, and in November 1999, she released her twenty-third album, So Good Together.

In addition to producing nine albums during the 1990s, McEntire also toured with her band to promote her music. In 1994 and 1995, her stage shows earned more money than any other concert tour in country music at the time. As if her music did not keep her busy enough, in 1994, she published her autobiography, Reba: My Story, followed by a memoir, Comfort from a Country Quilt (1999). She also starred in several television movies during the decade, including The Gambler IV (1991), with Kenny Rogers, The Man from Left Field (1993), with Burt Reynolds, and The Secret of Giving (1999). Throughout the 1990s, McEntire also won numerous awards for her music, including several American Music Awards, People’s Choice Awards, and Academy of Country Music Awards.

In 2001 McEntire took a two-year break from recording to focus on acting. She starred in her own television series, Reba (2001–7). She was also featured in two movies that year, One Night at McCool’s and Secret of Giving, and made her Broadway debut as Annie Oakley in a revival of Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun. Her subsequent acting credits include the role of Nellie Forbush in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific (2005; 2007); the voice of Betsy the cow in the 2006 remake of Charlotte’s Web; and the lead role of Reba MacKenzie in the television series Malibu Country (2012–13).

McEntire returned to the recording studio to release the album Room to Breathe (2003), including the number-one single, “Somebody.” For her twenty-fourth studio album, she collaborated with top vocalists in several different genres to produce Reba Duets (2007), featuring Kenny Chesney, Kelly Clarkson, Ronnie Dunn, Rascal Flatts, Vince Gill, Don Henley, Faith Hill, Carole King, LeAnn Rimes, Justin Timberlake, and Trisha Yearwood.Reba Duets debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and the Billboard Top 200 Chart, as did her next album, 2009’s Keep On Loving You. The latter album also marked a significant change in her recording career, as she had not continued with a contract with MCA for the first time since she was originally signed and had begun a new deal with Valory Music.

In the 2010s, McEntire released five studio albums: All the Women I Am (2010); Love Somebody (2015); My Kind of Christmas (2016), for Cracker Barrel; Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope (2017), a gospel album that secured the Grammy Award for Best Roots Gospel Album; and Stronger Than the Truth (2019), which peaked at the fourth position on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. The year 2020 saw McEntire announce that she had signed with MCA once again before, having hosted the event previously, taking the stage as a cohost for the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards in November. Because of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic declared in early 2020, she was forced to postpone a tour that had originally been scheduled for that year; it was postponed again in 2021.

In 2022, McEntire would play local businessperson Sunny Barnes in season 3 of the drama Big Sky. She starred in the Lifetime film Reba McEntire's The Hammer in 2023. During the same year, it was announced that McEntire would be a coach on The Voice. In 2024, McEntire sang the national anthem during Super Bowl LVIII. Also during that year, the singer announced that she was creating a new comedy for NBC, Happy's Place, co-starring Melissa Peterman.

Impact

With diligence and hard work, Reba McEntire became a country music superstar during the 1980s and 1990s and has continued to release top country albums as well as receive critical acclaim in the form of multiple awards. In 2018, her work was further recognized when she was included as part of that year's Kenedy Center Honors. As of 2024, she had produced thirty-two studio albums and twenty-six compilation albums, performed hundreds of stage shows, written her autobiography, and starred in television, film, and Broadway productions. Her upbeat songs, elaborate stage shows, and vibrant personality proved that a country music star could be as glamorous as any other music diva.

Bibliography

Dauphin, Chuck. “Reba McIntire Prepares for Return to Grand Ole Opry Stage, Recalls Nearly Getting Bumped for Dolly Parton 40 Years Earlier.” Billboard, Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, 20 Nov. 2017, www.billboard.com/articles/columns/country/8039636/reba-mcentire-grand-ole-opry-stage-interview. Accessed 22 May 2024.

Keel, Beverly. “Reba McIntire.” In Popular Musicians, edited by Steve Hochman. Vol. 3. Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press, 1999.

McEntire, Reba. Comfort from the Quilt. New York: Bantam Books, 2000.

McEntire, Reba, and Tom Carter. Reba: My Story. New York: Bantam Books, 1994.

Reba. Reba, 2024, reba.com/. Accessed 22 May 2024.

Willman, Chris. "Reba on Resurrecting Her Classics with 'Revived Remixed Revisited' Boxed Set, Dolly, Dave Cobb and Recovering from Covid." Variety, 13 Aug. 2021, variety.com/2021/music/news/reba-mcentire-revived-remixed-remastered-classics-covic-recovery-1235041026/. Accessed 22 May 2024.