| Faith Hill,
one of the biggest female country
stars of the '90s, also took advantage
of the inroads Shania Twain made into
pop territory, becoming an enormous
crossover success by decade's end. Of
course, Hill's movie star good looks
certainly helped her cause, and her
much-celebrated marriage to fellow
country star Tim McGraw gave her career
an extra kick of glamour and mystique.
Hill may not have appealed to country
purists, but she had the star power of a
diva even before her pop success.
Faith Hill was born Audrey Faith
Perry on September 21, 1967, in Jackson,
MS, and grew up in the nearby small town
of Star. She was singing for her family
as young as age three and first
performed publicly at a 4-H luncheon
when she was seven. Hill spent much of
her childhood singing wherever the
opportunity arose, influenced primarily
by Reba McEntire, and at age 17 formed a
band that played local rodeos. At 19,
she quit college and moved to Nashville
to make it as a singer, first finding
work selling T-shirts. During this time,
she was married briefly to music
executive Dan Hill. Eventually she was
hired as a secretary at a music
publishing firm, where she was
discovered by accident while singing to
herself one day. Encouraged by company
head Gary Morris, Hill became a demo
singer for the firm and also performed
professionally as a harmony vocalist
behind singer/songwriter/producer Gary
Burr, who produced Hill's own demo tape.
A Warner Brothers executive caught Burr
and Hill's act at a Nashville club, and
wound up signing Hill to a solo deal.
Hill released her debut album, Take
Me as I Am, in late 1993, with producer
Scott Hendricks (also her boyfriend) at
the helm. Success wasn't long in coming;
the lead single "Wild One" raced up the
country charts en route to a four-week
run at number one early the next year,
making her the first female country
singer in 30 years to top the charts for
that long with her debut single. The
follow-up, a countrified cover of Janis
Joplin's "Piece of My Heart," also hit
number one, as did the album's title
track, and Take Me as I Am wound up
selling over two million copies. Hill
was set to build on her success right
away, but had to undergo surgery on her
vocal cords, which delayed recording of
her next album. Nevertheless, the wait
wasn't unreasonable, and It Matters to
Me appeared in the summer of 1995. The
title track became her fourth number one
country single, and it was accompanied
by a string of Top Ten hits that helped
push sales of the album past the three
million mark. Hill was by now a firmly
established country hitmaker, and she
continued her active touring schedule by
teaming up with Tim McGraw in 1996 for
the Spontaneous Combustion Tour; it was
an apt name, as Hill broke off her
engagement to Hendricks to marry McGraw
that October. The couple's first child,
daughter Gracie, was born in May of
1997, and not long after, their duet
"It's Your Love" -- recorded for
McGraw's Everywhere album -- was burning
up the country charts, hitting number
one for six weeks.
Hill returned in the spring of 1998
with Faith, which provided the first
signs that she was interested in
crossing over to pop audiences, even if
the still-countrified music often
straddled the fence instead of making
her ambitions explicit. The single "This
Kiss" proved the savvy of her approach;
not only did it top the country charts
for three weeks, but it also became her
first pop hit, climbing to number seven.
By the time "This Kiss" had run its
course on the charts, Hill had given
birth to her second daughter by McGraw,
Maggie. If Hill had been a star in the
country world, she was now rapidly
becoming a superstar, known not just for
her music but also her pure celebrity;
she also signed an endorsement deal with
Cover Girl makeup. Her next two singles,
"Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me"
(another duet with McGraw) and "Let Me
Let Go," hit number one country, though
they didn't duplicate the pop success of
"This Kiss." Faith became Hill's
biggest-selling album yet, moving over
five million copies and reaching the Top
Ten on the LP charts; plus, it was now
crystal clear that Hill potentially held
major crossover appeal. Accordingly, she
re-entered the studio immediately after
her supporting tour and cut Breathe, a
full-fledged bid for pop and adult
contemporary success. Breathe entered
the charts at number one upon its
release in late 1999, and its title
track became Hill's biggest hit yet; it
spent six weeks on top of the country
charts and was an even bigger hit on the
adult contemporary charts. While it only
climbed to number two pop, the single
had such staying power that it wound up
the biggest hit of the year 2000. The
follow-ups were pretty successful in
their own right: "The Way You Love Me"
and "There You'll Be" both hit the pop
Top Ten, with the former topping the
country charts and the latter hitting
number one AC. Hill also scored a Top
Ten country hit with "Let's Make Love,"
a third duet with McGraw, and the two
teamed up for another tour in 2000.
Breathe was a bona fide blockbuster,
selling over seven million copies, and
earned her a slew of award nominations.
Hill spent much of 2001 taking a break
and spending time with Audrey, her third
daughter with McGraw. The next year,
Hill returned to the spotlight with her
fifth studio recording, Cry. |
