Reba Nell McEntire was born on March 28, 1955 in Chockie, Oklahoma where she learned everything from riding horses to playing music. Reba and her sisters Alice and Susie and her brother, Pake, joined together to form “The Singing McEntires.” They were successful in their area, making a hit out of “The Ballad of John McEntire,” a song about their grandfather. Reba’s career as a musician grew quickly over the years and she was invited to sing “The Star Spangled Banner” at the 1974 National Rodeo Finals in Oklahoma City. Her talent attracted Red Steagall, who later persuaded her to go to Nashville to truly pursue her career.

This proved to be good advice when Reba was signed to Mercury Records upon her arrival in Nashville. While she was first starting her career, she married Charlie Battle, who worked as a professional steer and bulldog wrestler. Although her honky tonk style didn’t seem to fit in with the popular outlaw trend in country music at the time, her single, “I Don’t Want To Be A One-Night Stand” hit the charts in 1976. Four years later, Reba scored a bigger hit with “Up to Heaven” and in 1982, Reba’s “Can’t Even Get the Blues No More” became a No. 1 hit.

Soon, Reba switched to MCA Records, a change that marked her style transition from honky tonk to pop-like ballads and expanded her fan base. Despite her musical style change, Reba made it clear she was still very much a country girl with her famous rodeo outfits. In 1984, Reba made her first No.1 hit with MCA, “How Blue.” Throughout the rest of the 1980s, Reba released single after single that made the Top Ten hit lists. The 80s also marked Reba’s beginnings in acting with the start of music videos. “Whoever’s in New England,” Reba’s 1986 hit, was the first of her singles to become a small screen production. Other hits that followed as popular music videos include, “What Am I Gonna Do About You,” “Is There Life Out There,” “Fancy,” and “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”

By the end of Reba’s 1980s transformation, she had divorced her husband, won several CMA and Grammy awards, expanded her talent into acting, and made a huge name for herself. While the 1980s proved to be a musical development for Reba, the 1990s focused on her acting abilities. In 1990 Reba played a major role in Tremors, along with Kevin Bacon. She also appeared in North, The Little Rascals, The Man From Left Field, Forever Love, One Night at McCool’s, Buffalo Girls, The Gambler Returns, and Is There Life Out There (a TV movie based on her hit “Is There Life Out There”). While not acting in films, Reba kept up her performance attitude by participating in specials including Reba Live and performing the most extravagant concert shows in any type of music.

During this time Reba still continued recording music among the many acting opportunities. In 1990 she released her best-selling album, Rumor Has It, that included the hits “You Lie,” “Fancy,” and “Fallin’ Out of Love.” Although this success encouraged her to go on tour, it was followed by tragedy. In March of 1991, seven of Reba’s band members and the road manager were killed in an airplane crash. Reba was able to successfully recover from her grief and sang on the Academy Awards show a few weeks later.

Still, the pain of losing her close friends stayed with her and she recorded her album, For My Broken Heart. Although this album is, understandably, Reba’s most sorrowful album to date, it also provided some of her best work. She worked through this painful time and the next year, she released It’s Your Call, followed by 1993’s Greatest Hits, Vol. II which included the hit duet with Linda Davis, “Does He Love You.” Both of these albums sold millions of copies, and the next album, Read My Mind, followed suit.

With the release of her 1995 album, Starting Over, Reba’s popularity dropped momentarily. She released a few hits including “How Was I To Know” and “I’d Rather Ride Around With You.” During this time, however, another hit duet was released: “If You See Him/If You See Her” with Brooks & Dunn. Once the millennium rolled around, Reba became more active then ever, writing her second book, Comfort From a Country Quilt in 1999 (her first book, autobiography Reba: My Story, was published in 1994), hosting a 2000 stage show tour, playing Annie in the Broadway production Annie Get Your Gun, and starting her TV sitcom, Reba, in 2001.

Reba continued her stream of albums between her other projects and released her third hits album in 2002 and Room to Breathe, which included the No. 1 hit “Somebody,” the next year. After climbing back up the charts, Reba’s #1’s was released in 2005. Recently, Reba has performed in a series of concerts in Las Vegas.