Martina McBride

Contemporary country singer Martina Mcbride rose to stardom in the late '90s, starting out with a more traditionalist approach and later moving into pop-friendlier territory. She was born Martina Mariea Schiff in Medicine Lodge, KS, in 1966 and discovered country music through her father, who led a local band called the Schifters. By her teen years, she was singing and playing keyboards with the Schifters, and after high school she gigged around Kansas with several different bands. She married soundman John Mcbride, and in 1990 the couple moved to Nashville, where John worked for artists like Charlie Daniels and Ricky Van Shelton; Martina, meanwhile, worked as a demo singer, and her husband produced her demo tape, which got her signed to RCA in 1991. Around the same time, John was hired as Garth Brooks' production manager, which helped land Martina an opening slot on tour with Brooks. Her debut album, The Time Has Come, was released in 1992, offering a set of songs indebted to traditional honky tonk and progressive-minded country-folk. The pop-inflected 1993 follow-up, The Way That I Am, was her commercial breakthrough, with the lead single "My Baby Loves Me" zooming up the country charts to the number two position. The affecting story-song "Independence Day" became something of a signature number, and another single, "Life #9," also reached the Top Ten.

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