Faith Hill, The #42 Female Artist of the Rock Era

Hill was born in Ridgeland, Mississippi, and raised in the nearby town of Star.  She made her first public performance at a 4-H luncheon when she was seven.  When she was a teenager, Faith was a regular performer at churches throughout the area.  At age 17, she formed a band that played at local rodeos.  She attended Hinds Community college, but she quit school to move to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue her dream of becoming a singer.

Faith auditioned to become a backup singer for Reba McEntire but was not successful and thus became a secretary at a music publishing firm.  However, a co-worker heard Hill singing to herself one day, and soon the head of the company encouraged Faith to become a demo singer for the firm.  Hill also sang backup vocals for songwriter Gary Burr, who performed his songs at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville.  Bob Saporiti, executive of Warner Brothers Records, heard one of the performances, and eventually signed Hill to a recording contract.   

Faith released her debut album Take Me as I Am in 1993.  She became the first female in 30 years to enjoy a #1 Country hit for four consecutive weeks when "Wild One" accomplished the feat.  Faith's cover of "Piece of My Heart" also went to #1 in the genre, and helped the album sell three million copies. 

Hill had to delay the recording of her second album due to surgery to repair a ruptured blood vessel on her vocal chords.  She finally completed the project and released It Matters to Me in 1995.  The title song was her fourth #1 Country song and she achieved another three million in sales of this album as well.

The following spring, Hill began a tour with country singer Tim McGraw.  During the tour, they fell in love and were married on October 6.  Faith then took four years off from touring to begin a family.  Hill and McGraw recorded "It's Your Love", which was #1 on the Country charts for six weeks, and reached #7 overall.  The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals: 

In 1998, Hill exploded into the mainstream with her album Faith.  "This Kiss" was a monster across-the-board smash--#1 on the Country chart, #3 Adult Contemporary and #7 on the Hot 100 chart, and earned another Grammy nomination for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

The album Faith was nominated at the Grammys for Best County Album.  Hill and McGraw earned another Grammy nomination that year for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for the song "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me".  "Let Me Let Go" also hit #1 Country from the album, and was nominated for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, competing with "Breathe" for the honor. 

To capitalize on the uptick in her popularity and album sales, Hill released the album Breathe, which became her first #1 album.  The title track was another multi-format smash, reaching #1 on both the Adult Contemporary and Country charts and #2 on the "Popular" chart.  She won the Grammy for Best Country Female Vocal Performance.

Hill won three American Music Awards:  Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, Favorite Country Female Artist and Favorite Country Album.  She also captured Grammys for Best Country Album and Best Country Collaboration With Vocals (with McGraw on "Let's Make Love").  Breathe

has now gone over the nine-million mark in sales.  The second single, "The Way You Love Me", reached #3 Adult Contemporary and #7 overall in the U.S. and #1 in Canada.

In 2000, Hill went on an extensive tour with her husband.  She was featured in VH1's Behind the Music, VH1 Divas 2000, and also starred in a CBS television special and was featured on Lifetime's Intimate Portraits series.  Faith appeared on the cover of numerous magazines, performed at the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards, and performed the U.S. National Anthem at the Super Bowl.  

She recorded "Where Are You Christmas" for the wildly popular full-length movie remake of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  It became one of The Top Christmas Songs of All-Time*.

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n 2001, Hill recorded "There You'll Be" for the "Pearl Harbor" Soundtrack.  It gave her a #1 AC smash, and was #10 overall in the United States, #1 in Canada and #3 in the U.K.  The song was nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and earned Faith a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

Faith released the album Cry in 2002, which yielded the title song that reached #1 on the AC chart and #3 in Canada.  "Cry" won the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, and the album was nominated for Best Country Album.

Hill captured the People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Musical Performer.  Cry has now sold over three million copies.  The single "One" also landed in the Adult Contemporary Top 10 at #7.

Hill released the album Fireflies in 2005, which gave her one final career Top 10--"Like We Never Loved At All", a #9 hit on the AC chart.  Hill and McGraw won the Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals.

Hill earned her fourth American Music Award for Favorite Female Country Artist.  "Mississippi Girl" from the album was a #1 Country song and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, and Fireflies was nominated for Best Country Album.

In 2006, after a six-year hiatus from touring, Hill and McGraw went on the Soul2Soul II Tour.  It grossed over $90 million and was named Major Tour of the Year by Pollstar, beating out Madonna and the Rolling Stones.  

In 2009, Hill performed "America the Beautiful" at the pregame show of Super Bowl XLIII.  In October, Hill released her first fragrance titled Faith Hill Parfumes.  In 2010, Faith released a second fragrance, True.    

Hill has five Grammy Awards to her credit; she's been nominated 15 times.  She has sold over 40 million albums, and had nine hits with five reaching the Top 10.