Faith Hill

Audrey Faith McGraw (Perry; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American country singer.

She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold almost 50 million albums worldwide.

In 1976, a few days before her 9th birthday, she attended a concert by Elvis Presley at the State Fair Coliseum in Jackson, which impressed her deeply.

During her teenage years, she became a member of the Steele Family gospel quartet with whom she performed regularly at area churches of all denominations.

At 17, Hill formed a band that played at local rodeos.

She graduated from McLaurin Attendance Center in 1986, and briefly attended college at Hinds Junior College (now Hinds Community College) in Raymond, Mississippi.

At times, she sang for prisoners at the Hinds County Jail, her song of choice being "Amazing Grace".

At age 19, she dropped out of college to move to Nashville and pursue her dream of being a country singer.

In her early days in Nashville, Hill auditioned to be a backup singer for Reba McEntire, but failed to secure the job.

In 1988, she married music publishing executive Daniel Hill (not to be confused with Canadian musician Dan Hill).

A co-worker heard Hill singing to herself one day, and soon the head of her music publishing company was encouraging her to become a demo singer for the firm.

She supplemented this work by singing backup vocals for songwriter Gary Burr, who often performed his new songs at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe.

During one of those performances, Martha Sharp, an executive from Warner Bros. Records was in the audience, and, impressed with Hill's voice, began the process of signing her to a recording contract.

A few years later in 1991, the singer who beat out Hill for the job was killed in a plane crash with 6 other members of Reba's band.

After a stint selling T-shirts, Hill became a secretary at a music publishing firm.

Hill also landed a job at a local McDonald's restaurant franchise, which she disliked intensely.

"Fries, burgers, cash register–I did it all, I hated it," she has said.

Hill's first two albums, Take Me as I Am (1993) and It Matters to Me (1995), were major successes that placed a combined three number ones on Billboard's country charts, quickly establishing her as one of country music's top acts.

Faith Hill's debut album was Take Me as I Am (1993); sales were strong, buoyed by the chart success of "Wild One".

Shortly after the release of her album, she and Daniel Hill divorced in 1994.

Hill has been married to American singer Tim McGraw since 1996, with whom she has recorded several duets songs.

Hill was born in Ridgeland, Mississippi, north of Jackson, Mississippi.

She was adopted as an infant and named Audrey Faith Perry.

She was raised in the nearby town of Star, 20 miles southeast of Jackson.

Her adoptive parents, Edna and Ted Perry, raised her with their two biological sons in a devout Christian environment.

She began singing at Star Baptist Church at age 3.

Hill's vocal talent was apparent early, and she had her first public performance, at a 4-H luncheon, when she was seven.

Next she achieved immense mainstream and crossover success with two albums, Faith (1998) and Breathe (1999).

Faith produced her first international hit, "This Kiss", while her album Breathe became one of the best-selling country albums of all time.

The album was led by the huge crossover success of the songs "Breathe" and "The Way You Love Me".

Breathe saw massive sales worldwide and earned three Grammy Awards.

In 2001, Hill recorded "There You'll Be" for the Pearl Harbor soundtrack and it too became an international success.

Nominated for an Academy Award, it remains her best-selling single in Europe.

In 2001, she was named one of the "30 Most Powerful Women in America" by Ladies Home Journal.

Hill's next two albums, Cry (2002) and Fireflies (2005), continued her commercial successes; the former spawned another crossover single, "Cry", which won Hill a Grammy, and the latter produced the singles "Mississippi Girl" and "Like We Never Loved at All", which earned additional Grammy Awards.

Hill has won five Grammy Awards, 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, six American Music Awards, and several other awards.

Her Soul2Soul II Tour 2006 with Tim McGraw became the highest-grossing country tour of all time.

From 2007 to 2012, Hill was the voice of NBC Sunday Night Football's intro song.

In 2009, Billboard named her as the Adult Contemporary Artist of the Decade (2000s) and also as the 39th top artist overall.

Hill received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2019.