Gretchen Wilson

Gretchen Frances Wilson (born June 26, 1973, in Pocahontas, Illinois) is an American country music singer and songwriter.

Wilson signed with Epic Records in 2003 and recorded Here for the Party within the year.

She made her debut in March 2004 with the Grammy Award-winning single "Redneck Woman", a number-one hit on the Billboard country charts.

The song served as the lead-off single of her debut album, Here for the Party.

Overall, Wilson has charted 13 singles on the Billboard country charts, of which five have reached top ten: the number one "Redneck Woman", as well as "Here for the Party" (#3, 2004), "When I Think About Cheatin'" (#4, 2004), "Homewrecker" (#2, 2005), and "All Jacked Up" (#8, 2005).

The album Here for the Party was certified 5× multi-platinum by the RIAA for sales of five million copies, while All Jacked Up was certified platinum.

She has sold over 8.2 million records worldwide.

Her first single, "Redneck Woman", was released in early 2004 and reached the top of the Hot Country Songs charts and No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This song was also the first number one country hit by a female in two years.

The success of "Redneck Woman" prompted an earlier-than-planned release for Here for the Party, and it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard country chart.

It reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Internet album sales charts.

She performed as a support artist for Brooks & Dunn and Montgomery Gentry.

She released the title track to her debut album as the second single.

It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard country chart.

Two other songs were released as singles, and both reached the top 10.

Released in markets outside the U.S., the album hit No. 2 on the Australian country charts (behind Kasey Chambers) and the top 50 of the Australian charts.

Here for the Party was certified 5× multi-platinum by the RIAA.

Wilson followed this album one year later with All Jacked Up, the title track of which became the highest-debuting single for a female country artist upon its 2005 release.

On September 27, 2005, Wilson released her second album, All Jacked Up, which peaked at No. 1 on both the Top 200 and Country album charts and sold 1 million copies.

The title track debuted at No. 21 on the Hot Country Songs charts, setting a record for the highest debut ever made by a female artist.

In 2006, Wilson contributed a well-received cover of Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Mornin' Coming Down" on the tribute CD The Pilgrim: A Celebration of Kris Kristofferson.

A third album, One of the Boys, was released in 2007.

This record was broken in late 2007 by Carrie Underwood's "So Small".

Despite its high debut, however, "All Jacked Up" peaked at No. 8 on Hot Country Songs after only eight chart weeks.

It was also used, at one time, by ESPN as the opening theme for its baseball coverage.

Three more singles were released from All Jacked Up: "I Don't Feel Like Loving You Today", "Politically Uncorrect" (a duet with Merle Haggard) and "California Girls", none of which reached Top 20 on the country charts.

These latter two singles were issued on Columbia Records, due to the closure of Epic Records's Nashville division.

Wilson's "I Don't Feel Like Loving You Today" was nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Female Country Vocal Performance, and Best Country Song.

On May 15, 2007, Wilson released her third album, One of the Boys.

The album debuted at No. 5 on the Top 200 and at No. 1 on the Country album chart.

After 10 weeks, it exited the Billboard Top 200, having sold 178,220 copies at that point.

"Come to Bed" (a duet with John Rich) and the title track, the first two singles released, both peaked in the 30s on the country charts, while the third and final single ("You Don't Have to Go Home") failed to reach the Top 40.

On July 14, 2008, Wilson released a new single, "Don't Do Me No Good".

This song was intended to be the lead-off single to a fourth studio album, but it failed to reach the Top 40 and the album was delayed.

On July 31, 2008, The Black Crowes filed a lawsuit against Wilson for copyright violation, alleging that her song "Work Hard, Play Harder" copied the Crowes song "Jealous Again".

It was followed in 2009 by two more singles, "The Earrings Song" and "If I Could Do It All Again," neither of which entered the charts.

Wilson then issued a press release on July 28, 2009, stating that she would be parting with Sony Music Nashville.

Wilson then launched Redneck Records, her own record label.

"Work Hard, Play Harder" was released to radio on October 26, 2009 as the first single from the label and her fourth studio album, I Got Your Country Right Here, was finally released on March 30, 2010.

Her former label, Columbia Nashville, released her first Greatest Hits album on January 19, 2010, to finish off her recording contract.