After numerous CMA and ACM vocalist awards, ten million albums sold, and six No. 1 hits, Martina McBride has become one of the nation’s most successful country artists. Despite her success, she claims that “I’m really no different. I just have a great job, and I get to wear cool clothes, and I was given a gift. That’s all it is, a gift, and we all have gifts. When it comes down to it, we are all just trying to do our thing, trying to make the world a better place in our way.”

Martina Schiff was raised in the small town of Sharon, Kansas where she was born on July 29, 1966. She grew up on her family’s dairy farm and began her music career as soon as she could sing. Along with her brothers, Steve and Martin, and her sister, Gina, she played in her parents’ country band, The Schiffters. Martina learned the values she holds today from her small town upbringing in Sharon, where her graduating class consisted of only ten students: “A big part of who I am is just the way I was raised…Nobody is better than anyone else, and if you really work hard, you might get lucky and get what you want.”

On May 15, 1988, Martina married sound engineer, John McBride. After two years of marriage, the two decided to move to Nashville. John moved his successful sound company with them and they both took jobs touring with Garth Brooks. While John worked as the production manager, Martina sold T-shirts at Garth's concerts. Upon their return, the couple worked to create Martina’s demo tape to present to recording companies. RCA Records receive this tape and decided that Martina was just what they were looking for.

In 1992, Martina released her debut album, The Time Has Come, which failed to attract much popularity. However, one year later, Martina released her second album, The Way That I Am, a very successful album, with her Top 5 hit, “My Baby Loves Me.” The next year Martina opened eyes to her talent as well as some of the nation’s social problems. With the release of her single, “Independence Day,” she secured her career with the popularity of this anti-domestic violence song.

Martina has worked to help victims of domestic violence over the years with the organizations, National Network to End Domestic Violence, ChildHelp USA , and the Safe Haven Family Shelter. “It’s an easy thing for me to do. The real heroes are the ones working at the shelters every day and the women who find the courage to better their lives for themselves and their children. The woman working at the shelter doesn’t have the opportunity to get in front of a million people and raise awareness. I’m the one that can do that for her.”

Martina's first daughter, Delaney Katharine was born on December 22 of 1994. In 2005, she released another album, Wild Angels in the same year. Her singles, “Wild Angels” and “Safe in the Arms of Love” both became hits on the country music charts. Two years later, she released the album Evolution. The album was extremely successful, selling over two million copies and appealing to both country and pop fans alike. From the album, four songs made it to the top of the charts, with the single “Valentine” becoming a big crossover hit from country into pop music. In the spring of 1998, Martina had her second child, Emma Justine. Martina released her next album, Emotion, in 1999, and won the CMA female vocalist award that same year. She received another award in 2002 after the release of her Greatest Hits CD and again after the release of her 2003 album, Martina.

After the birth of her third daughter, Ava Rose Kathleen in 2005, she release her most recent album, Timeless, in October of 2005.

Martina continues to teach her family the morals she has lived her life by. “What I would like my legacy to be is that of a person who took good care of her family and sang some songs that made a difference in some way,” she says. “I hope I’ll be remembered as somebody who was always down to earth and who handled her career and other people with honesty, integrity and class.”