From
the small town of Star, Miss., Faith Hill has enjoyed a
wild ride as one of the world's most popular solo female
country artists since her 1993 Warner Bros. debut, Take Me
As I Am, hit the streets. After the release of this album,
Hill enjoyed a storybook 1994: she became the first female
country singer to hold Billboard's No. 1 position for four
consecutive weeks with a debut single ("Wild
One") since Connie Smith's "Once A Day" in
1964; she won the Academy of Country Music's Favorite New
Female, Billboard magazine's Top Female Country Artist,
and Best Female Country Artist in Performance magazine's
1994 year-end Reader's Poll.
As if that were not
enough, she also found herself receiving nominations for
the 1994 and 1995 Country Music Association's prestigious
Horizon award, the American Music Award for Favorite New
Artist and the 1994 ACM award for Top Female Vocalist.
In
1995, Hill released her sophomore album, It Matters to Me,
which followed in her debut's footsteps by going
multi-platinum. The title cut spent three weeks at No. 1
on the charts, making it the best-selling country single
for the first six months of 1996. "It Matters To
Me" was also Hill's fourth No. 1 single, an amazing
streak that includes six of her seven single releases
reaching the Top 5. In addition, Hill was selected by
People magazine to appear in their annual listing of the
50 Most Beautiful People.
After
extensive touring in 1994, 1995 and 1996 with Reba
McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson and George
Strait, Hill emerged as one of country music's most
popular live performers. In May, 1996, Faith, along with
Warner Bros. Records and Time Warner, launched the Faith
Hill Family Literacy Project, designed to help combat
illiteracy worldwide. She participated in two album
projects for children, which were released in the Fall of
1996: The Best of Country Sings the Best of Disney and For
Our Children Too, a benefit album from which all profits
go directly to the Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
In
1996, Hill married her 1996 touring partner, country star
Tim McGraw. They have three children: Gracie, born in
1997, Maggie, born in 1998, and Audrey Caroline, born in
2001. Meanwhile, her professional success continued with
the release of Faith in 1998 and Breathe, in 1999, which
debuted at number on Billboard’s album chart and sold
more than 8 million copies. The album also brought her two
Grammy’s - one for Best Female Country Vocal Performance
and one for Best Country Album.
Three years later, in
2002, Hill released her fifth album, Cry, an album that
favors gospel-flavored ballads and further solidifies her
status as a certified diva.
