Trisha Yearwood

She may be a small-town Georgia girl, but Trisha Yearwood has one of the biggest voices—and one of the quickest rises to the top—in country music.

Heavily influenced by the country/pop crossover successes of both Patsy Cline and Linda Ronstadt, Trisha Yearwood “arrived” in 1991 with “She’s in Love With the Boy,” a No. 1 debut single, quickly followed by three more Top 10 singles from her debut album: “Like We Never Had a Broken Heart,” “That’s What I Like About You,” and “The Woman Before Me.” She had actually made it to Nashville six years earlier, enrolling in Belmont University’s music-business program in 1985. She soon started singing demos while working as an intern at a Music Row record label.

By 1992, Trisha had notched an impressive six consecutive Top 10 hits, toured with Garth Brooks, won the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Female Vocalist Award and the American Music Award for Top New Country Act, and released a second album, Hearts in Armor, which had gone platinum as well. The album’s lead single, “Wrong Side of Memphis,” included the prophetic lyric, “I’ve had this dream from a tender age ... calling my name from the Opry stage.” The album also featured the plaintive “Walkaway Joe,” a duet with the Eagles’ Don Henley.

More successful albums and hit singles followed, including “The Song Remembers When,” “XXX’s and OOO’s (American Girl),” and “Believe Me Baby (I Lied).” In 1997, “How Do I Live,” the first single from her Songbook album became a monster smash, propelling the greatest-hits collection to the top of the charts. She was named CMA Female Vocalist of the Year (in 1997 and 1998) and also won ACM Female Vocalist honors as well as two Grammys. The years since her 1999 Opry induction have been filled with career and personal growth, along with hits such as “Real Live Woman” and “I Would Have Loved You Anyway.” Her Where Your Road Leads album included a title track duet with Garth Brooks. She’s recorded several songs with Garth, including the 1997 Top 5 hit, “In Another’s Eyes.”

After nearly three years out of the spotlight, Trisha returned in 2005 with a new single, “Georgia Rain.” Jasper County, the album that included "Georgia Rain" would be Yearwood's last project with MCA Records. In 2007 Big Machine Records became the new home of Trisha Yearwood where she began working on her most recent album, Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love.