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In 1985, Yearwood started working as a session singer in Nashville. She was discovered by Garth Brooks and sang backing vocals on his 1990 album No Fences. She was the opening act on his 1991 tour and became the first female singer to top the US country charts with her debut single, the sparkling ‘She’s In Love With The Boy’. Working with producer Garth Fundis, further singles such as ‘Like We Never Had A Broken Heart’, ‘That’s What I Like About You’ and ‘The Woman Before Me’ quickly established her as a major new talent in contemporary country music. Her follow-up album Hearts In Armor (1992) was recorded while Yearwood was divorcing her first husband, Christopher Latham. The album went platinum and generated the Top 5 hit singles ‘The Wrong Side Of Memphis’ and the Don Henley duet ‘Walkway Joe’. The Song Remembers When (1993) was also a major success and was followed by the seasonal collection, The Sweetest Gift. By 1994, Yearwood had accomplished major headlining tours and published her (ghosted) autobiography. During the same year she married the Mavericks’ bass player Robert Reynolds. Her 1995 album, Thinkin’ Bout You, contained the irresistible light rocker ‘XXX’s And OOO’s (An American Girl)’. Both this single and the title track reached the top of the country charts. Yearwood’s choice of material again proved one of her great strengths. Her use of contemporary songwriters, and her country-tinged interpretations of their songs, proved inspiring, with Melissa Etheridge’s ‘You Can Sleep While I Drive’ in particular benefiting from the Yearwood treatment. The country hits continued for Yearwood in the late 90s with ‘Believe Me Baby (I Lied)’, ‘Everybody Knows’, ‘In Another’s Eyes’ (a duet with Brooks), and ‘Perfect Love’. She won the CMA Award in 1997 and 1998 for Best Female Vocalist, and received the 1998 Grammy for Best Country Female Vocal Performance for the highly successful single ‘How Do I Live’. This Diane Warren track was recorded for the movie Con Air and was Yearwood’s first single to reach the mainstream Top 30. The same year’s Where Your Road Leads, a more pop-orientated collection, was produced by MCA president Tony Brown. Real Live Woman, released in the aftermath of her divorce from Reynolds, was another top-notch collection which reunited her with Fundis. The follow-up Inside Out (2001) was a more commercial collection which returned the singer to the top of the country charts. In May 2005 Garth Brooks proposed marriage to Yearwood on stage at Buck Owen’s Crystal Palace in Bakersfield, California and they were married on 10 December 2005. She broke her extended hiatus from the music scene the same year with the excellent Jasper County, a return to the straightahead country sound of her early records. A compilation album marked the end of Yearwood’s tenure with MCA. She subsequently signed a new contract with the independent Big Machine Records, debuting for the label in late 2007 with Heaven, Heartache, And The Power Of Love. The album, which reunited Yearwood with Fundis, was a joy from start to finish. The natural production style allowed the singer’s personality to really shine through on a collection of good old fashioned country songs devoid of any Nashville gloss. Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze. |
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Patricia Lynn Yearwood, 19 September 1964, Monticello, Georgia, USA. During the mid-90s Yearwood became a figurehead of the new wave of highly creative female country singers, including Suzy Bogguss, Kathy Mattea and Mary Chapin Carpenter, who breathed exciting new life into an old formula.