Timeless is the title of a 2005 album by American country music singer Martina McBride.

The album is an 18-track collection of classic country songs. Major artists whose songs were covered include Eddy Arnold, Johnny Cash, Don Gibson, Loretta Lynn, Buck Owens, Ray Price, Hank Snow, Hank Williams, Tammy Wynette and many others. The album debuted at No. 1 on the country album chart and No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

The album became McBride's fastest-selling of her career and gave her her best debut sales week with 185,000 copies sold in its first week. As of March 2007, the album has sold 1.2 million copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan and is certified platinum.

Artist/Band Information

Martina McBride (born Martina Mariea Schiff on July 29, 1966, in Sharon, Kansas) 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 #1 on the country chart between 1995 and 2001, and one peaked at #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 certification of "Gold", or higher. Worldwide, she has sold over 18 million albums. In addition, Martina 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. In her 19 year career she has accomplished many things including being named 2007's Top Grossing Country Artist of the year, and the over all Top Grossing Female in 2007 behind only Gwen Stefani.

Early life

McBride was born Martina Mariea Schiff in Sharon, Kansas, to Daryl and Jeanne (née Clark) Schiff on July 29, 1966. She has two brothers, Martin and Steve, who currently play in her concert band, and a sister, Gina.

She was raised in Sharon, Kansas, a small town with population of about 200. Her father, who was a farmer and cabinetry shop owner, exposed McBride to country music at a young age. Listening to country music helped her acquire a love for singing. After school, she would spend hours singing along to the records of such popular artists as Pat Benatar, Linda Ronstadt and Bonnie Raitt.

Around the age of 8 or 9, McBride began singing with a band her father fronted, "The Schiffters." As Schiff grew older her role in the band progressively increased, from simply singing, to also playing keyboard with them. She enjoyed performing in her early years.

At the end of high school, Schiff was offered a scholarship to a local college, but she only attended it for one semester. She realized her passions lay in music and she began performing with local rock bands, including the Penetrators and Private Parts throughout her home area. In 1987, Schiff arranged a group of musicians and started to look for rehearsal space. She began renting space by studio engineer John McBride, whom Schiff met and became engaged to four months later.

After marrying McBride, the two moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1989 in the hope of beginning a career in country music. John McBride joined the sound crew of Garth Brooks and later become his concert production manager. Martina occasionally joined her husband on the road and helped sell Garth Brooks souvenirs. Brooks, who was impressed by McBride's enthusiastic spirit, offered her the position of his opening act on his 1992 tour, though only if she could obtain a recording contract.

During this time, while her husband was working with country artists Charlie Daniels and Ricky Van Shelton, he also helped produce her a demo tape, which helped her gain a recording contract with RCA Nashville Records, in 1991.

Music career

Country success: 1992-1996

McBride released her debut studio album through the RCA Records label in 1992, titled The Time Has Come, which contained a variety of differently styled songs from "Honky Tonk" to "Country-Folk."

Although the album gained many positive reviews, the singles the album spawned did not gain enough radio airplay to become major hits. The album's titled track was the biggest hit, peaking at #23, and a video for the track "Cheap Whisky" received a moderate amount of airplay on CMT and The Nashville Network. It was her second album, 1993's The Way That I Am, that gave McBride her first major hits.

Its first single, "My Baby Loves Me", went to #2 on the Billboard Country Chart, and its follow-up, "Life #9", also reached the Country Top 10. The third single, "Independence Day", a song about domestic abuse, nearly reached the Top 10. "Independence Day" was originally offered to Reba McEntire, but she did not record the song.

The song didn't reach the Top 10 particularly because many radio programmers objected to the song's subject of a mother fighting back against abuse by burning the family home to the ground. However, the song has become one of McBride's signature hits and helped lead to the major success of her second album, which has sold a million copies in the United States to date.

"Independence Day" won "Video of the Year" by the Country Music Association Awards, and since then she has rarely released a single without a music video to accompany it.

McBride's third studio album was 1995's Wild Angels, which spawned her third Top 10 hit, "Safe in the Arms of Love." The album's title track became her first #1 hit single in 1996.

Like her previous album, Wild Angels sold a million copies, and was produced by McBride, Paul Worley, and Ed Seay. That same year she also joined the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

The album's final three singles released between 1996 and 1997, ("Phones Are Ringin' All Over Town," "Cry on the Shoulder of the Road," and "Swingin' Doors") only reached the Top 40 on the country chart.

Breakthrough: 1997-2003

In 1997, McBride released her fourth album, Evolution, which became her first Top 10 country album, reaching #4 on the Top Country Albums chart. The third single spawned from the album, "Valentine," a duet with Jim Brickman, produced by pop producer Dan Shea, was not just a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Country Chart, but also went to #3 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart, giving her one of her first major hits on Adult Contemporary radio. From the album, McBride had two singles that reached #2 on the country charts, "Happy Girl" and "Whatever You Say," as well as two #1 singles, "A Broken Wing" and "Wrong Again." The album was McBride's breakthrough into the country music industry, after acquiring 5 Top 10 hits from it.

Towards the end of 1998, the album was certified double platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling two million units. In addition, she also won the Country Music Association Awards' "Female Vocalist of the Year" award in 1999 and also performed for President Bill Clinton during the same time. In 1998 she also issued a Christmas album, White Christmas, which was later reissued.

Her fifth studio album, Emotion, was released in 1999. Its lead single, "I Love You," reached #1 on the Billboard Country Chart in 1999, and also crossed over to the Adult Contemporary chart. The song's three follow-ups, "Love's the Only House," "There You Are," and "It's My Time" were also successful country hits that made the Top 10. In 2001, she released her first compilation, Greatest Hits, which featured four new songs. It was her first album to reach #1 on the Top Country Albums chart, and eventually sold enough copies for it to peak at #5 on the Billboard 200. The four new songs were all released as singles, beginning with "When God-Fearin' Women Get the Blues," followed by "Blessed," (which reached #1), "Where Would You Be," and "Concrete Angel," all of which reached the Country Top 10 between 2001 and 2002.

To date, the album has been certified 3× Multi-Platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America, and is her highest-selling album.

In 2003, McBride released her sixth studio album, Martina, which celebrated womanhood.

The first single, "This One's for the Girls," went to #3 on the Billboard Country Chart and also went to #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The second single, "In My Daughter's Eyes," reached #3 as well on the country chart and reached the Top 5 on the Adult Contemporary chart. These first two were McBride's first Top 10 solo hits on the Adult Contemporary chart, giving her a larger audience that included Pop music listeners. Two additional singles followed in 2004 that reached the Top 20 on the country chart.

Also in 2003, McBride presented the second, Joy of Christmas Tour, and began to plan it as an annual event. That year she was also featured on an episode of Country Music Television's Crossroads show with her idol from childhood, Pat Benatar. Together they sang Benatar's "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" and McBride's "Independence Day," as well as other songs.

In 2004 McBride won the CMA's Female Vocalist award for the fourth time, following the wins in 2003, 2002 & 1999, which tied her for the most wins in that category with Reba McEntire.

Timeless & Waking Up Laughing: 2005-2009

After finding success in country pop-styled music, McBride released her next studio album in 2005, Timeless, which was an album consisting of country covers.

The album included cover versions of country music standards, such as Hank Williams' "You Win Again," Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough," and Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through the Night." To make the album fit its older style, McBride and her husband hired older Nashville session players and outdated analog equipment. The album was very successful, selling over 250,000 copies within its first week, the highest sales start for a Martina McBride album.

The lead single, a cover of Lynn Anderson's 5-week #1 hit from 1970, "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden," was a major hit, peaking at #18 on the Billboard Country Chart.

The album's other two singles, "I Still Miss Someone" and "You Ain't Woman Enough," were not as successful.

In 2006, McBride served as a guest coach on Canadian Idol. The remaining five finalists traveled to Nashville, where McBride worked with the competitors on the songs they had chosen by country artists such as Gordon Lightfoot and Patsy Cline. Among the other guest judges that year were Nelly Furtado and Cyndi Lauper.

McBride later joined Canadian Idol on a tour in the Spring.

In 2007, McBride also served as a guest coach on Fox Networks television series, American Idol.

In 2007, McBride released her eighth studio album, Waking Up Laughing. It was the first album in which McBride co-wrote some of the tracks. She set up her Waking Up Laughing Tour in 2007, which included country artists Rodney Atkins, Little Big Town, and Jason Michael Carroll.

The album's lead single, "Anyway," went to #5 on the Billboard Country Chart, becoming her first Top 10 hit since 2003. Its follow-up, "How I Feel," reached the Top 15. In Spring 2008, McBride released Martina McBride: Live In Concert, a CD/DVD set.

It was taped in Moline, Illinois in September 2007.

In July 2007, The ABC Television Network announced a special program called Six Degrees of Martina McBride where individuals from around the country were challenged to find their way to Martina McBride on their own connections and research using a maximum of six methods. The "winner" of this challenge eventually located a direct connection to Martina through her husband John McBride who knew someone, who knew someone else.

McBride recently recorded an electronically-produced duet with the late Elvis Presley, performing his song "Blue Christmas" as a duet with him on his latest compilation, The Elvis Presley Christmas Duets. A compilation collection entitled Playlist: The Very Best of Martina McBride was released on December 16, 2008 as part of Sony BMG Playlist series. The album features 11 previously released tracks and three unreleased tracks.

Shine: 2009-2010

Martina McBride wrapped up production of her tenth studio album in late 2008. The first single, "Ride", was released to radio in October 2008 and debuted at #43 on the Hot Country Songs chart. It barely missed the Top 10 on the chart, peaking at #11 in March 2009. A music video produced by Kristin Barlowe was also released at the end of the year. The album, Shine, was released by RCA Records on March 24, 2009, and debuted at the top of the U.S. Country album chart as well as #10 on the Billboard 200. McBride co-produced the album with Dann Huff, and it featured "Sunny Side Up", a song that she co-wrote.

The second single, "I Just Call You Mine", was released in May 2009 and reached the Top 20 on the Hot Country Songs chart, peaking at #18 in December 2009. A music video produced by Theresa Wengert was also released in June 2009.

McBride also initiated the Shine All Night Tour, a co-headlining venture with fellow country star and friend Trace Adkins and opening act Sarah Buxton. The tour began in November 2009 and ended in May 2010.

On July 15, 2009 she performed on the Today Show Throws a Wedding reception.

In May 2010, Martina was nominated for the first round of CMT Music awards, but lost the second round to Miranda Lambert, Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood & Taylor Swift.

On June 10, 2010, Billboard announced that McBride has collaborated on a song with Kid Rock for his upcoming new album. The song will also feature rapper T.I.http In late June 2010, Martina was nominated for a Teen Choice Award, "Favorite Country Female Artist", alongside country stars Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift & Gretchen Wilson.

The third single from the critically acclaimed album "Shine" was "Wrong Baby Wrong." It was released in February 2010, and has peaked at #11 on the Hot Country Singles Charts, and became her highest charting single (reaching #74) on the Hot 100 Charts since "Anyway" in 2006.

In late 2010 Martina McBride was nominated for 2 American Country Awards (Best Female Single & Touring Artist of the year w/ Trace Adkins.) Along with the ACA nominations, she received her 14th Female Vocalist nomination for Country Music Association in October.

McBride exited RCA in November 2010 and signed with Republic Nashville.

Future Projects: 2011-present

After exiting RCA Nashville Records, and entering Republic Nashville, McBride announced that she had started working on a new studio album with producer Byron Gallimore, who has also produced projects with Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw. In a blog by Martina, she announced that she has found new creativity, and what she thinks are some of the best songs of her career. She also announced that she would start recording the album on January 8, and the album would be set to release sometime in mid-2011.

In February, McBride released the title of the kick-off single from her new album. The single is titled "Teenage Daughters." On her twitter account, McBride spoke of things relating to her album being in the works, and having already 11 songs cut, by February. And, a photo-shoot was mentioned to be in the works—also in February.

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.

Charity work

Martina McBride works with a variety of charities. She is currently the spokeswoman for the "National Domestic Violence Hotline" as well as for the "National Network to End Domestic Violence" and national spokeswoman for the Tulsa Domestic Violence and Intervention Services. Every year since 1995, she has hosted Middle Tennessee's YWCA, "Celebrity Auction", and it has raised nearly $400,000 so far. In 2004, she worked with "Kids Wish Network" to fulfill the wish of a young girl dying from Muscular Dystrophy. McBride was awarded the "Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award" in 2003.

McBride explained that educating girls and women on domestic violence is something she works on at home with her own daughters, stating that:

McBride has also teamed up with, "Loveisrespect, National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline," working with them on a new program called, "My Time to Shine." Loveisrespect.org

McBride appeared on the Stand up 2 Cancer telethon in September 2010. alongside Leona lewis, Aaron Neville, and Stevie Wonder, she performed Unchained Melody. Also in 2010 she hosted the YWCA again, for the 16th year raising over 50,000 dollars this year, it totals over 500,000 dollars raised so far.

Personal life

McBride has been married to sound engineer John McBride, since May 15, 1988. The couple has three daughters: Delaney Katharine (b. 22 December 1994), Emma Justine (b. 29 March 1998), and Ava Rose Kathleen (b. 20 June 2005). In 2000, Martina and her family received the Family Award, for their continuous contribution to their family, and setting a great example to other growing families.

Discography

Studio albums

*1992: The Time Has Come

*1993: The Way That I Am

*1995: Wild Angels

*1997: Evolution

*1998: White Christmas

*1999: Emotion

*2003: Martina

*2005: Timeless

*2007: Waking Up Laughing

*2009: Shine

Compilations and other albums

*2001: Greatest Hits

*2008: Live in Concert

*2008: Playlist: The Very Best of Martina McBride

Tours

;Headlining

*Joy of Christmas Tour (2002)

*Timeless Tour (2006)

*Waking Up Laughing Tour (2008-09)

;Co-headlining

*Virginia Slims on the Legends Tour (1995) (with Regina Belle, Gladys Knight and Barbara Mandrell)

*Lilith Fair (1998-99) (with Sarah McLaughlin, et. al.)

*Girls Night Out Tour (2001) (with Sara Evans, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Jamie O'Neal and Reba McEntire)

*"Shine All Night Tour" (2009-10) (with Trace Adkins)

;Supporting act

*Garth Brooks (1992-94)

*Brooks & Dunn (1994)

*Tim McGraw (1997)

Musical style and legacy

McBride's style has been referred to as country/pop, which occasional singles would cross-over to the Adult Contemporary Chart, and the Bubbling Under Chart. Perhaps her most successful cross over single would be "Anyway". The single charted of-course on the Hot Country Singles Chart, as well on the Hot 100, Hot Adult Contemporary, Hot Adult Christian Contemporary, Hot Christian, Hot Pop Singles, and the Bubbling Under chart. In 2005, Country Weekly announced their first ever Most Beautiful Women competition. The fans would go on Country Weekly's website, or send in their ballot, and the votes were counted. McBride placed at number 4 in 2005. Since then McBride has been featured in the Most Beautiful issue since then with these following positions: 2005, #4. 2006, #5. 2007, #6. 2008, #6. 2009, #8. 2010, #10. McBride has said in many interviews, etc. that she is and has been very influenced by Reba McEntire. She even dedicated her first ever ACM Award to McEntire during the 2002 broadcast of the award ceremony. McBride, and McEntire has been seen performing together, including when McBride was featured in McEntires' Giants episode on CMT. In 2005, Carrie Underwood mentioned in her American Idol audition that she liked McBride's singing, and that she was an influence to her. Later in the season she performed one of McBride's most recognizable songs "Independence Day". McBride has been referred to as the Queen of Country many times, including placing above the rankings of Dolly Parton, and Loretta Lynn. With nearly over 20 million records sold world-wide, she has been recognized as one of the Most Influential Country Stars in history. She has also been defined as the best voice in country music and one of the best vocalists music has ever seen. The biggest shock people have about McBride, is that she has yet to win even one Grammy Award. Even though she has been featured on the show multiple times, and honored with over 10 nominations, she has never won, music's highest honor. In 2007, McBride was honored with her own star on the Walk of Fame. Which some might say was a long time over-due.

Awards

Country Music superstar Martina McBride has accepted over 15 major music awards including matching Reba McEntire's record for most wins for the CMA's Female Vocalist in 2004. She also has accepted the Flameworthy's (or now called CMT Video Awards) Female Video award twice, sharing the record for most wins with Carrie Underwood & Taylor Swift. She has been nominated for over 10 Grammy Awards, but never won. McBride is also known as winning the AMA's, ACM's, & CMA's, Female Vocalist of The Year, two of them being multiple times.

References