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| Hill’s
desire to perform and record songs close to her heart set her on a path
to explore new musical and emotional territories. |
Faith
(Audrey Faith Perry Hill) was born on the 21 September 1967 in Jackson,
Mississippi. She was raised in the small town of Star, Mississippi, USA.
Her love
for music start early on, singing at family gatherings from the age of
three.
She formed
her first band when she was 17 years old, performing at local rodeos, private
parties, fairs and churches.
At nineteen
Faith figured she was ready to try her luck in the city of Nashville. Her
first job was selling T-shirts at the Country Music Fan Fair. In attempts
to make a name for herself in Nashville Faith eventually accepted a secretarial
job with a music publisher. Faith was "office singer" for a year or so,
until one of the in-house writers overheard her and convinced Faith to
cut a demo.
She cut
a demo of a song called "It Scares Me" and played it for her boss, Gary
Morris, who liked what he heard and urged her to leave the job and take
up singing as a career. Faith Hill's first professional singing job was
as back-up for songwriter/musician Gary Burr, who produced her demo tape,
and suitably impressed Warner Brothers Records executive Martha Sharp.
Since
exploding onto the music scene in 1993 with her smash debut album "Take
Me as I Am", on Warner Brothers' label, Faith has served as a country music
leading light - a true star. She made country music history by being the
first female country singer to hold Billboard's No. 1 position for four
consecutive weeks with a debut single "Wild One". Besides the hit "Wild
One," the record also featured Faith's take on Janis Joplin's classic "Piece
of My Heart." Two No. 1's in two tries! She also attained the Academy of
Country Music's Top New Female Artist Award. To retain that title, Faith
hit the road in a big way throughout 1994 and 1995. In fact touring has
been one of Hill's strongest promotional efforts. She has toured extensively
with Reba McEntire, Brooks & Dunn, Alan Jackson,George Strait and Tim
McGraw. |
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In 1996
she also played over 140 dates in the United States with Tim McGraw, a
road trip that turned out to be one of the top-grossing tours of the year.
Faith's
second album "It Matters To Me" (1995) followed her wild success, it surpassed
the million sales mark twice as fast as her first album. The title cut
spent three weeks at No. 1 on the charts, making it the best-selling country
single for the first six months of 1996. In fact, Faith Hill is the first
female country artist ever to achieve double platinum status on both her
debut and follow up albums.
1996
was a huge year for Faith all around. Beyond the album's success, she married
her touring partner Tim McGraw , with whom she's had her two beautiful
daughters, Gracie in 1997 and Maggie in 1998.
In 1998,
following a brief but devoted period of
mothering,
Faith got back into the studio to make her third album "Faith". The album,
of course, yielded "This Kiss," a Billboard Hot smash that transformed
the singer from country music sensation to mega-pop star, and also provided
Faith with her debut entry on the UK singles chart. That song helped Faith
sell over three million copies, and earn her not one but five Academy of
Country Music Awards and culminated with her appearance on the 1999 VH1
Divas Live, where she shared the same stage with Tina Turner, Cher and
Whitney Houston. Her appearance went over so well, she was invited back
for Divas 2000: A Tribute to Diana Ross.
In last
seven years, Faith Hill has sold more than 11 million records, garnered
eight No. 1 singles and ten No. 1 videos. She received countless nominations
and statues from the Country Music Association, the Grammy Awards, the
Academy of Country Music Awards, Blockbuster Awards and TNN Music City
News Awards.
Her music
isn't the only thing keeping Hill busy or successful. Faith, along with
Warner Brothers Records and Time Warner, launched the Faith Hill Family
Literacy Project, designed to help combat illiteracy worldwide.
Faith's
list of performances includes: the Country Music Association, the
Grammy Awards, the Academy of Country Music Awards, the Blockbuster Awards
and Country Weekly's Music Awards. She has performed at Superbowl XXXIV,
The Academy Awards, The Grammy Awards, VH1 Divas 2000, and the ACM Awards
show (Best Female Vocalist recipient two consecutive years).
She was
named the newest face for CoverGirl Cosmetics, graced the cover of numerous
magazines as diverse as Country Weekly, People, TV Guide and Glamour.
Much of
Hill's popularity has been fuelled by having one of the best touring bands
in the business.
After
completing a 50-city tour—her first headline series of performances—she
found herself back in the studio with barely six weeks to finish "Breathe".
The album
"Breathe" followed in the footsteps of the previous albums in terms of
enormous success, and debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top 200 and Country
Album Charts and has sold over three million copies. The album focuses
on the things closest to her heart and contains No. 1 singles including
the cross-over smash "Breathe" and "The Way You Love Me." |
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