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LEANN RIMES BIOGRAPHY |
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Born Margaret LeAnn Rimes, 28 August 1982, Jackson, Mississippi,
USA. Rimes' father, Wilbur, was a part-time guitarist and, with
his encouragement, LeAnn was singing and tap-dancing when aged
only two and winning talent contests when five. The family moved
to Texas and she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at various
sports events and the National Cutting Horse Championships in
Fort Worth. Her parents recorded an album to sell at gigs when
she was seven, and four years later she recorded All That,
produced by her father, at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New
Mexico. One track, an aching ballad, "Blue', had been written by
Bill Mack for Patsy Cline, who had died before it could be
recorded. Roy Drusky and Kenny Roberts subsequently cut the song,
but Bill Mack felt that it was ideal for Rimes. While listening
to tapes on holiday, record executive Mike Curb heard Rimes"
voice, rushed to a phone and offered her a contract with his
nationally distributed label. On her debut album for Curb, she
reworked "Blue" and sang a duet with 78-year-old Eddy Arnold of
his hit "Cattle Call". The new version of "Blue" was an instant
US hit, climbing high on the pop chart and topping the country
chart.
Her second country number 1 came with the up-tempo "One Way
Ticket (Because I Can)" with its Searchers-like guitars. Blue
also topped the country albums chart - 22 weeks at the top and
multi-platinum sales. She was the youngest ever nominee at the
1996 CMA Awards, although it was not until the 1997 event that
she picked up the Horizon Award. At the 1997 Grammy Awards,
Rimes won Best New Artist, Best Female Country and Best Country
Song for "Blue", and at the same year's Billboard Awards she won
another six honours, including Artist Of The Year. By sticking
to good, commercial material Rimes was able to enjoy the same
level of success as other country child stars such as Brenda Lee
and Tanya Tucker. Like them, she sounded and, with fashioned
hair, Lolita sunglasses, AIDS ribbon and figure-hugging clothes,
looked much older than her age (15), and was given adult
material to perform - on "My Baby" she sang the words, "My baby
is a full-time lover, My baby is a full grown man." That aside,
she does possess an extraordinarily rich voice for such a young
singer, and she seems to be handling her incredible success with
great maturity. Her excellent 1997 revival of "Unchained Melody"
gave an indication, however, that her management was having
difficulty finding appropriate material, which was confirmed by
the remixed reissue of old songs on Unchained Melody/The Early
Years (although the album did debut at number 1 on the US album
chart) and the release of the stop-gap You Light Up My Life/Inspirational
Songs. That album indicated a move towards the AOR market, which
was confirmed by the international success of the single "How Do
I Live' and Sittin" On Top Of The World, an album firmly in the
Celine Dion mould.
In October 1998, "How Do I Live" became the most successful US
single of all-time completing 69 straight weeks on the Billboard
chart (with a peak position of number 2). It also stayed in the
UK Top 40 for 30 weeks. "Looking Through Your Eyes" provided her
with another bestselling US Top 20 hit single in the same year.
Rimes returned to her country roots on the following year's
LeAnn Rimes, which featured six tracks associated with Cline and
only one new song, the closing "Big Deal". The following
November, Rimes topped the UK singles chart with "Can't Fight
The Moonlight", taken from the soundtrack of Coyote Ugly. In
December Rimes started litigation against Curb to release her
from her recording contract, and publicly disowned I Need You.
At the same time she was embroiled in similar legal proceedings
against her father, who she claimed duped her out of several
million dollars. The record company dispute was suddenly settled
in December 2001, and LeAnn was reunited with her father on 23
February 2002 when he gave her away at her wedding. |
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