Martina McBride (born July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the “Céline Dion of Country Music” for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range.
McBride was signed to RCA Records in 1991 and made her debut the following year as a neo-traditionalist country singer with the single, “The Time Has Come.” It was not until 1997, when she released her fourth album, Evolution, that she broke through into the country music industry with a new pop-styled crossover sound, similar to that of Faith Hill and Shania Twain. From that point on, McBride has had a string of major hit singles on the Billboard country chart and occasionally on the adult contemporary chart. Five of these singles went to No. 1 on the country chart between 1995 and 2001, and one peaked at No. 1 on the adult contemporary chart in 2003.
McBride has recorded a total of nine studio albums, one greatest hits compilation, one “live” album, a Christmas compilation, as well as two additional compilation albums. Seven of her studio albums and two of her compilations have received an RIAA Gold certification, or higher. In the U.S. she has sold over 14 million albums. In addition, McBride has won the Country Music Association’s “Female Vocalist of the Year” award four times (tied with Reba McEntire for the most wins) and the Academy of Country Music’s “Top Female Vocalist” award three times.
McBride exited RCA in November 2010 and signed with Republic Nashville. She began working on a new studio album with producer Byron Gallimore. Her first single for Republic Nashville is “Teenage Daughters”, which she also co-wrote with the Warren Brothers. McBride told Country Weekly that she co-wrote eight of the eleven songs on the album; she decided to write more frequently because she felt more confident in her songwriting ability after “Anyway” had become a hit. An album track, “One Night” was released as a promotion for NASCAR with a music video in June 2011. “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” was released as the album’s second single on July 25, 2011. The album, titled Eleven, was released on October 11, 2011.
On February 13, 2011, she paid tribute to Aretha Franklin during the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards. She was joined onstage by Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch and Yolanda Adams.
On July 4, 2011, she sang at the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular.
