50 facts about Martina McBride

50 things about country music singer Martina McBride.

1. Martina Mariea Schiff, known professionally as Martina McBride, is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer.

2. Martina McBride is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material.

3. McBride was signed to RCA Nashville in 1991, and made her debut the following year as a neo-traditionalist country singer with the single, "The Time Has Come".

4. Over time, she developed a pop-styled crossover sound, similar to that of Shania Twain and Faith Hill and has had a string of major hit singles on the Billboard country chart and occasionally on the adult contemporary chart.

5. 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.

6. Martina McBride has recorded a total of twelve studio albums, two greatest hits compilations, one "live" album, as well as two additional compilation albums.

7. Eight of her studio albums and two of her compilations have received an RIAA Gold certification, or higher.

8. In the U.S. she has sold over 14 million albums.

9. In addition, McBride has won the Country Music Association's "Female Vocalist of the Year" award four times (tied with Reba McEntire and Miranda Lambert for the most wins) and the Academy of Country Music's "Top Female Vocalist" award three times.

10. Martina McBride is also a 14-time Grammy Award nominee.

11. Martina McBride was born Martina Mariea Schiff in Sharon, Kansas, to Daryl and Jeanne Schiff.

12. Martina McBride has two brothers, Martin and Steve, who currently play in her concert band, and a sister, Gina.

13. Martina's father, who was a farmer and cabinetry shop owner, exposed Martina to country music at a young age.

14. Listening to country music helped her acquire a love for singing.

15. After school, she would spend hours singing along to the records of such popular artists as Reba McEntire, Linda Ronstadt, Juice Newton, Jeanne Pruett, Connie Smith and Patsy Cline.

16. Around the age of eight or nine, Martina began singing with a band her father fronted, "The Schiffters."

17. 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.

18. Martina McBride began performing with a local rock band, The Penetrators, in Wichita instead.

19. Then, in 1987, Schiff gathered a group of musicians called Lotus and started looking for rehearsal space; she began renting space from a studio engineer named John McBride. In 1988, the two married.

20. After marrying, the couple moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1989 with the hope of beginning a career in country music.

21. John McBride joined Garth Brooks's sound crew and later became his concert production manager.

22. Martina occasionally joined her husband on the road and helped sell Garth Brooks souvenirs.

23. In 1990, impressed by Martina's enthusiastic spirit, Brooks offered her the position of his opening act provided she could obtain a recording contract.

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

25. McBride released her debut studio album through the RCA Nashville label in 1992, titled The Time Has Come.

26. The Way That I Am was McBride's second album. Its first two singles both brought her into the country top ten: "My Baby Loves Me" peaked at number two, and "Life No. 9" at number six.

27. "Independence Day" won Video of the Year and Song of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards. It also earned the song's composer, Gretchen Peters, a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Country Song.

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

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

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

31. 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.

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

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

34. 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 McBride on their own connections and research using a maximum of six methods.

35. 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.

36. On June 10, 2010, Billboard announced that McBride had collaborated on a song with Kid Rock.

37. In late June 2010, McBride was nominated for a Teen Choice Award, "Favorite Country Female Artist", alongside country stars Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift and Gretchen Wilson.

38. In late 2010, McBride was nominated for two 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.

39. 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.

40. Every year since 1995, she has hosted Middle Tennessee's YWCA, "Celebrity Auction", and it has raised nearly $400,000 so far.

41. In 2004, she worked with "Kids Wish Network" to fulfill the wish of a young girl dying from Muscular Dystrophy.

42. McBride was awarded the "Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award" in 2003.

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

44. McBride appeared on the Stand Up 2 Cancer Telethon in September 2010, where she performed "Unchained Melody" with Leona Lewis, Aaron Neville, and Stevie Wonder.

45. Also in 2010, she hosted the YWCA for the 16th consecutive year, raising over 50,000 dollars. It totals over 500,000 dollars raised so far.

46. In 1988 McBride married sound engineer John McBride and the couple have three daughters: Delaney (b. 1994), Emma (b. 1998), and Ava (b. 2005).

47. McBride has received a number of awards, including the Country Music Association Award (CMA) for Female Vocalist of the Year, with her fourth win in 2004.

48. In 2011 she received and honorary CMA award.

49. She has been nominated for 14 Grammy Awards, but has never won.

50. In September 2014, McBride received her 17th Female Vocalist nomination from the Country Music Association. This feat ties her with Reba McEntire for most nominations in any vocalist category.

Source: Wikiipedia.org