50 facts about Reba McEntire: was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on January 17, 1986

Learn 50 facts about country singer and actress Reba McEntire.

1. Reba has sold over 56 million albums worldwide.

2. Is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame.

3. She has won 15 American Music Awards; 13 ACM Awards; 9 People's Choice Awards; 7 CMA Awards; 2 GRAMMY Awards; an ACM Career Achievement Honor.

4. She is one of only four entertainers in history to receive the National Artistic Achievement Award from the U.S. Congress.

5. Reba's reign of #1 hits spans four decades and Billboard, Country Aircheck and Mediabase recognized her as the biggest female hitmaker in Country music history.

6. She earned her 64th Top 10 hit and her 35th #1 with "Turn On The Radio," from her most recent album, ALL THE WOMEN I AM.

7. Reba's run of sales successes has garnered her in the upper echelon of #1 albums in the Country genre.

8. During her ALL THE WOMEN I AM TOUR, both Pollstar and Billboard's Boxscore (the touring industry's leading trade outlets) named Reba the #1 female Country touring artist, selling a combined total of over 9 million tickets.

9. She is an Oklahoma native.

10. Is also an acclaimed actress with 11 movie credits to her name, including Tremors, North & The Little Rascals.

11. In 2001, she made her Broadway debut in Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun which the New York Times hailed, "without qualification the best performance by an actress in a musical comedy this season."

12. She has also starred in the eponymous sitcom Reba, which ran for 6 seasons on the WB Television Network/The CW, and Malibu Country on ABC.

13. Her full name is Reba Nell McEntire.

14. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band, on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos.

15. While a sophomore in college, she performed the National Anthem at the National Rodeo in Oklahoma City.

16. While singing at the roedo she caught the attention of country artist Red Steagall who brought her to Nashville, Tennessee.

17. She signed a contract with Mercury Records in 1975.

18. She released her first solo album in 1977 and released five additional studio albums under the label until 1983.

19. Signing with MCA Nashville Records, McEntire took creative control over her second MCA album, My Kind of Country (1984), which had a more traditional country sound and produced two number one singles: "How Blue" and "Somebody Should Leave".

20. The album My Kind of Country brought her breakthrough success, bringing her a series of successful albums and number one singles in the 1980s and 1990s.

21. McEntire has since released 26 studio albums.

22. She acquired 40 number one singles, 14 number one albums.

23. 28 of her albums have been certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America.

24. She has sometimes been referred to as "The Queen of Country".

25. She is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 85 million records worldwide.

26. In the early 1990s, McEntire branched into film starting with 1990's Tremors.

27. She has since starred in the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun and in her television sitcom, Reba (2001-2007) for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series-Musical or Comedy.

28. She was named for her maternal grandmother Reba Estelle Smith.

29. Her father and grandfather, John Wesley McEntire were both champion steer ropers and her father was a World Champion Steer Roper three times (1957, 1958, and 1961).

30. Her mother had once wanted to be a country-music artist but eventually decided to become a schoolteacher, but she did teach her children how to sing.

31. Young Reba also taught herself how to play the guitar.

32. On car rides home from their father's rodeo shows, the McEntire siblings learned songs and harmonies from their mother, eventually forming a vocal group called the "Singing McEntires" with her brother, Pake, and her younger sister Susie (her older sister Alice did not participate).

33. Reba played guitar in the group and wrote all the songs. The group sang at rodeos and recorded "The Ballad of John McEntire" together.

34. In 1974, McEntire attended Southeastern Oklahoma State University planning to be an elementary school teacher.

35. McEntire made her first recordings for Mercury on January 22, 1976, when she released her debut single. Upon its release that year, "I Don't Want to Be a One Night Stand" failed to become a major hit on the Billboard country music chart, peaking at number 88 in May.

36. When Reba McEntire made her Grand Ole Opry debut on September 17, 1977, she almost did not make it in the door after a guard at the Opry gate missed her name on the night's list of performers.

37. Her parents and older sister, Alice, drove 1,400 miles round trip from their Oklahoma home to see what turned out to be Reba's three-minute performance.

38. Her act was cut from two songs to just one-"Invitation to the Blues"-because of a surprise appearance from Dolly Parton.

39. McEntire was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on January 17, 1986.

40. During the late 1980s, many of McEntire's music videos were being described as "mini movies".

41. In each video, she would portray a different character, which distinguished her music videos from other videos released by artists during that time.

42. In the late 1980s, McEntire became interested in an acting career, eventually hiring an agent.

43. In 1989, she co-hosted Good Morning America on ABC.

44. In 1990, she obtained her first film role playing Heather Gummer in the horror comedy Tremors, along with Kevin Bacon.

45. After the film's release, McEntire developed a strong interest in acting and made it her second career.

46. She starred along with Kenny Rogers and Burt Reynolds in the made-for-television movie, The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw.

47. Two of her siblings have also maintained careers in the music industry.

48. In 1976, McEntire married national steer wrestling champion and rancher Charlie Battles. Together, the couple owned a ranch in Oklahoma and managed her career. In 1987, McEntire divorced Battles and moved to Nashville, Tennessee.

49. In 1989, McEntire married her manager and former steel guitar player, Narvel Blackstock. The couple wed in a private ceremony on a boat in Lake Tahoe.

50. Reba holds the record for the most Academy of Country Music Top Female Vocalist Awards (seven), and American Music Awards for Favorite Country Female Artist (twelve).

Source: www.facebook.com/Reba, Wikipedia.org