LeAnn Rimes
Early Life
Margaret LeAnn Rimes was born August 28th, 1982, in Pearl, Mississippi, United States the only child of Belinda and Wilbur Rimes. She was enrolled into vocal and dance lessons by her parents from a early age and was performing at local talent shows at the age of five. In 1988 the family relocated to Garland, an inner suburb northeast of Dallas, Texas where she began performing in musical theatre. However, after appearing on the network television competition show, Star Search, Rimes decided to pursue a career in country music. Following her national television appearance, Rimes made a number of appearances on Johnnie High's Country Music Revue in Fort Worth, Texas. In order to bring his daughter more national attention, Wibur, became LeAnn’s manager. The pair travelled the United States over the next few years with LeAnn performing the national anthem at various sporting events as well as releasing three album on the independent label, Nor Ja Vak. During this time Rimes was spotted by Dallas based disc jockey and record promoter, Bill Mack. In 1995, Mack was able to secure Rimes a contract with Curb Records, after record executives heard Rimes sing "Blue" a song Mack had written thirty years previous for Patsy Cline.
Career Highlights In June 1996, Rimes re-recorded "Blue" for Curb, which was released as the lead single for her album of the same name, reaching a peak of #10 on the Billboard Country Chart. Rimes followed up her debut effort with "Hurt Me" which fell short of Top 40. The third single "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)," reached #1 on the Billboard Country Chart. The album's last single "The Light in Your Eyes" made it to #5 on the Country chart in April 1997. The following year, Rimes won two Grammy awards, one for Best New Artist and another for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Blue". The album itself reached # 3 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart, and # 1 on Hot Country Albums. The album has been certified 6x Multi-Platinum by the RIAA and has sold over 8 million copies worldwide. On the back of Blue’s success Rimes released a compilation of previously recorded material under the Nor Va Jak label, Unchained Melody: The Early Years. The album mainly consisted of cover versions including "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton, "Yesterday" by The Beatles and "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers.
In September 1997, Rimes released her follow-up studio album to Blue entitled You Light up My Life: Inspirational Songs. The album covered songs, such as "Clinging to Saving a Hand" and "Amazing Grace". The albums first single, "How Do I Live", became a major hit on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #2 as well as charting in the Top Twenty in Canada, Australia and the U.K. The album debuted at #1 on Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums and sold over 4 million copies in the United States alone. Rimes released her third album for Curb in May 1998, Sittin' on Top of the World. Sittin' on Top of the World debuted at #2 on the Country Albums chart, and #3 on the Billboard 200, and sold over a million copies in the United States. The album gave Rimes two Top Ten Country hits, "Commitment" which peaked and #4 and "Nothin' New Under the Moon" which reached #10. Rimes released her fourth studio album for Curb, LeAnn Rimes in October 1999, a collection of covers of country hits. The album covered songs mainly by Patsy Cline which included "Crazy", "I Fall to Pieces" and "She's Got You" as well as Marty Robbins's "Don't Worry" and Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee". The album included one new song, "Big Deal", which was the lead single off the album and made the Top Ten on the Country Charts, peaking at #6. LeAnn Rimes debuted at #1 on the Top Country Albums chart, peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and was certified Platinum by the RIAA. In January 2001, Rimes released her fifth studio album, I Need You, her first Pop crossover effort. The album topped the Top Country Albums chart for one week, and also peaked at #10 on the Billboard 200. The highlights of the album included a duet with Elton John for the stage musical, Aida titled "Written in the Stars" and the album's lead single, "I Need You", which peaked at #11 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Also included on the album was the song "Can't Fight the Moonlight," released from the soundtrack of the film, Coyote Ugly. The song was released as the album's second single in 2001 reaching #11 on The Hot 100. However the song proved to be Rimes biggest hit to date elsewhere. It reached # 1 in the U.K, selling over 560,000 copies, Germany, Italy, New Zealand and Ireland. It also reached #1 in Australia and went on to become the highest selling single in Australia of 2001. In 2002 Rimes released Twisted Angel, another Pop Crossover effort. The album received mainly negative reviews by most music critics and was not well received by Rimes’s fans. The album would peak at #3 on the Country Albums chart and #12 on the Billboard 200 chart. Three singles from the album, "Life Goes On", "Tic Toc" and "Suddenly" were released between 2002 and 2003, however none were Top 40 hits on the Country or Pop charts. In 2003 she released a Greatest Hits compilation which peaked at #3 on the Top Country Albums chart and #24 on the Billboard 200 in November. The following year Rimes released her first holiday themed album titled, What a Wonderful World.
January 2005 saw Rimes return to her country roots with the release of her seventh studio album, This Woman. The album was Rimes's best-selling album in over five years, reaching #3 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the Country Albums charts selling more than 100,000 copies within its first week. Three singles released from the album, "Nothin' 'Bout Love Makes Sense", "Probably Wouldn't Be This Way" and "Something's Gotta Give" all peaked within the Top 5 on the country charts between 2005 and 2006. "Some People" was also released reaching # 34 on the Hot Country Songs Chart. Rimes was nominated for a Grammy award in 2007 for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Something's Gotta Give". In the summer of 2006, Rimes released the album Whatever We Wanna, exclusively in Europe. It was originally planned on being released in North America, however due to the success of This Woman, it was never released. The album spawned minor hits in the United Kingdom, including "And it Feels Like" and a duet with former Westlife singer Brian McFadden entitled, "Everybody's Someone". Rimes released her next studio album, Family, in October 2007. The album's lead single, "Nothin' Better to Do" peaked at #14 on the Billboard Country Chart and the second single, "Good Friend and a Glass of Wine", reached # 35. The final single from the album, "What I Cannot Change", which was nominated for a Best Female Country Vocal Performance award at the 51st Grammy Awards, went to # 1 on the Billboard Dance Chart. The album peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the Country Albums Chart. LeAnn Rimes Discography Albums 1991 Everybody's Sweetheart | 1992 From My Heart to Yours | 1994 All That | 1996 Blue | 1997 You Light up My Life: Inspirational Songs | 1998 Sittin' on Top of the World | 1999 LeAnn Rimes | 2001 I Need You | 2002 Twisted Angel | 2005 This Woman | 2006 Whatever We Wanna | 2007 Family Singles 1996 "Blue", "Hurt Me", "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)" | 1997 "Unchained Melody", "The Light in Your Eyes", "How Do I Live", "You Light Up My Life" | 1998 "On the Side of Angels", "Commitment", "Looking Through Your Eyes", "Nothin' New Under the Moon", "These Arms of Mine" | 1999 "Feels Like Home", "Crazy", "Big Deal", "Cattle Call" (with Eddy Arnold) | 2000 "Written in the Stars" (with Elton John), "I Need You", "Can't Fight the Moonlight" | 2001 "But I Do Love You", "Soon" | 2002 "Life Goes On" | 2003 "Tic Toc", "Suddenly", "We Can" | 2004 "This Love", "Nothin' 'Bout Love Makes Sense" | 2005 "Probably Wouldn't Be This Way" | 2006 "Something's Gotta Give", "Some People", "And It Feels Like", "Everybody's Someone" (with Brian McFadden) | 2007 "Strong", "Nothin' Better to Do" | 2008 "Good Friend and a Glass of Wine", "What I Cannot Change" Trivia LeAnn Rimes Links Babe Invasion | Bestzilla | Celebrity Link | Chickipedia | Famous Hookups | Famous Why | Free Ones | Net Glimse | Perfect People | TeraBabes | Sound Unwound | Star Pages |
