Martina McBride

Martina Mariea McBride (née Schiff, born July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer-songwriter.

She is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material.

McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, on July 29, 1966.

Then, in 1987, Schiff gathered a group of musicians called Lotus and started looking for rehearsal space; she began renting space from studio engineer John McBride.

In 1988, the two married.

McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, and relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1989.

After marrying, the couple moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1989 with the hope of beginning a career in country music.

John McBride joined Garth Brooks's sound crew and later became his concert production manager.

She occasionally joined her husband on the road and helped sell Garth Brooks souvenirs.

In 1990, impressed by her enthusiastic spirit, Brooks offered her the position of his opening act provided she could obtain a recording contract.

She signed to RCA Records in 1991, and made her debut the following year as a neo-traditionalist country singer with the single, "The Time Has Come".

Over time, she developed a pop-styled crossover sound, similar to Shania Twain and Faith Hill, and had a string of major hit singles on the Billboard country chart and occasionally on the adult contemporary chart.

During this time, while her husband was working with country artists Charlie Daniels and Ricky Van Shelton, he also helped produce her demo tape, which helped her gain a recording contract with RCA Nashville Records in 1991.

McBride released her debut studio album by RCA Records in 1992, titled The Time Has Come.

It was produced by Paul Worley and Ed Seay.

This album's title track made it to number 23 on the country music charts, while the next two singles both failed to make the Top 40.

Unlike her later country pop-influenced albums, The Time Has Come featured honky tonk and country folk influences.

The Way That I Am was McBride's second album.

Its first two singles both brought her into the country top ten: "My Baby Loves Me," the album's de facto title song, peaked at number two, and "Life No. 9" peaked at number six.

The former was previously a Top 10 hit in Canada for Patricia Conroy.

The third single, "Independence Day", was prevented from reaching the Top 10 through the oppositions of many radio programmers, who objected to the song's subject of a mother fighting back against abuse by burning the family home to the ground.

"Independence Day" won Video of the Year and Song of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards.

It also earned the song's composer, Gretchen Peters, a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Country Song.

The song also gave McBride a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

Five of these singles went to No. 1 on the country chart between 1995 and 2001, and one peaked at No. 1 on the adult contemporary chart in 2003.

McBride has fourteen studio albums, two greatest hits compilations, one "live" album, as well as two additional compilation albums.

Eight of her studio albums and two of her compilations have an RIAA Gold certification, or higher.

In the U.S., she has sold over 14 million albums.

In addition, McBride has won the Country Music Association Award for Female Vocalist of the Year award four times (tied with Reba McEntire for the third-most wins) and the Academy of Country Music's "Top Female Vocalist" award three times.

She is also a 14-time Grammy Award nominee.

McBride performed the song at the 1995 Grammys ceremony.

She has two brothers, Martin and Steve, who play in her concert band as of 2017, and a sister, Gina.

McBride's parents, Daryl and Jeanne Schiff, owned a dairy farm.

Daryl, who was also a cabinetry shop owner, exposed her to country music at a young age.

Listening to country music helped her acquire a love for singing.

After school, she sang for hours along to the records of such popular artists as Reba McEntire, Linda Ronstadt, Juice Newton, Jeanne Pruett, Connie Smith, and Patsy Cline.

Around the age of eight or nine, Martina began singing with a band her father fronted, "The Schiffters."

As she grew older her role in the band progressively increased, from simply singing, to also playing keyboard with them.

She enjoyed performing in her early years.

McBride began performing with a local rock band, The Penetrators, in Wichita instead.