Reba McEntire

McEntire's success as a recording artist represents only part of her story. In 1988, she founded Starstruck Entertainment, a multi-dimensional corporation encompassing booking, management, music publishing, a recording studio, and transportation services. She has starred in films, in her own hit TV comedy series (Reba) from 2001 to 2007, and on Broadway in the title role of a hit musical (a 2001 revival of Annie Get Your Gun). Reba Nell McEntire was born on March 28, 1955, in McAlester, Oklahoma, and grew up in nearby Chockie on an eight-thousand-acre cattle ranch, traveling regularly to rodeos with her father, champion calf roper Clark McEntire. Her mother, Jackie, was a powerful singer and a strong influence. By the time Reba reached high school, she and her siblings Pake and Susie performed as the Singing McEntires. In 1974 she sang the national anthem at the National Rodeo finals in Oklahoma City. Cowboy singer Red Steagall heard her and financed a recording session, leading Mercury Records to sign her to a recording contract in 1975. The following June, she married Charlie Battles, a rodeo star ten years her senior, and she continued to compete in rodeos as a barrel racer while getting her degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State University. In 1976, McEntire began releasing singles. Signing with MCA Records in 1983, McEntire took more control of her career. She won her first CMA Vocalist of the Year award in 1984; in 1986 she joined the Grand Ole Opry cast; and in 1987 she performed a sold-out concert at New York's Carnegie Hall-a rarity for a country star in any era. With her 1987 divorce from Battles, McEntire moved to Nashville and began building her business enterprises. She married Narvel Blackstock, a former steel guitarist, who eventually assumed management of her career. McEntire encountered unimaginable tragedy: In March 1991, seven members of her band and her road manager were killed when a private jet-one of two she chartered for her entourage-struck a mountain near San Diego during takeoff. The singer took an extended break from touring and recorded the 1992 album For My Broken Heart, one of her biggest sellers. When the TV series Reba ended after six seasons, McEntire refocused her energies and talents on recording and touring-with outstanding results. In November 2008, she left MCA Records after twenty-five years and signed with Valory Music Group, a subsidiary of Big Machine Records.