faith hill

Early life

Hill was born Faith Perry in Jackson, Mississippi, but raised in the nearby town of Star. She began singing at a very early age and, after briefly attending college, moved to Nashville in an attempt at singing career. In her early days in Nashville, Hill worked as a secretary and sold merchandise for famous country stars. She also traveled and sang with a Southern Gospel group called The Steeles.

Hill is adopted and met her biological mother in the early 1990s. She was married to a music executive named Dan Hill from 1988 to 1994.

Faith Hill's voice caught the attention of Warner Brothers Records executives, who eagerly gave her a record deal. Shortly after being signed to Warner, Hill was given the opportunity to open for fellow country superstar Tim McGraw. They married in 1996 and currently have three daughters together.

1993—1997: Country success

Hill's debut album was Take Me As I Am (1993); sales were strong, buoyed by the chart success of "Wild One". A version of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart", also went to the top of the country charts in 1994. She was delayed in the recording of her second album by surgery on her vocal cords. It Matters to Me finally appeared in 1995 and was another success, with the title track becoming her fourth #1 country single. Hill began the Spontaneous Combustion Tour with country singer Tim McGraw and later started seeing him, breaking off engagement to her former producer, Scott Hendricks. When he proposed marriage to her in one of his tour trailers, he had to go perform right then, so she took a permanent marker and wrote her answer on the mirror. Hill after touring with McGraw married him on October 6, 1996. They have three daughters together: Gracie Katherine (b. 1997), Maggie Elizabeth (b. 1998) and Audrey Caroline (b. 2001).

1998—2004: Pop crossover

Hill's 1998 album, Faith, moved her closer towards a mainstream, pop-oriented sound. "This Kiss" became a #1 country hit, and went to #7 on the pop charts.

Hill's fame grew rapidly as she signed an endorsement deal with CoverGirl makeup and released Breathe, an even more successful pop hit that became one of the biggest albums of 2000. The title track "Breathe" was ranked as the #1 pop song that year and has become Hill's signature song; especially notable is the power and control she shows in her lower register during the song. "The Way You Love Me" hit the top ten as well (#6), and becoming one of the longest running singles in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 (57 weeks). The album won Hill three Grammy Awards including Best Country Album.

The year 2000 was also very successful in a concert setting as Hill and Tim McGraw staged the joint Soul2Soul Tour, one of the best-grossing concert tours of 2000. By the holidays she had contributed "Where Are You Christmas?" to the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas; this gospel-flavored song became very popular on the all-Christmas-all-the-time holiday formats that American radio stations adopted in the 2000s.

The following summer she recorded the Diane Warren penned "There You'll Be" for the Pearl Harbor soundtrack. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Hill showed her gospel colorings again when she performed "There Will Come a Day" on the America: A Tribute to Heroes benefit telethon. At the end of 2001, Faith released her first collection called There You'll Be which reached the top 30 of the Italian album chart and #6 on the UK album chart selling nearly 1 million copies worldwide.

In 2002, Hill released Cry. Though the album debuted at #1 on Billboard magazine's pop and country album charts, its singles (including the title track "Cry", written and originally performed by Angie Aparo) received much less radio airplay than her previous smashes. In fact, country radio pretty much ignored the songs, considering them "too pop". The album did win one Grammy Award and has sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide.

In the summer of 2004, Hill co-starred with Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick in director Frank Oz's remake of the 1975 thriller The Stepford Wives.

2005—present: Back to country roots

She references this sojourn in Hollywood as well as the chilly reception of Cry in the 2005 country release "Mississippi Girl", the first single from her back-to-roots album Fireflies. It worked, as the song restored her to the top of the country charts. "Mississippi Girl" is her 8th song to have reached #1. She performed this song along with "Breathe" and "Piece of My Heart" at the Live 8 concert in Rome on July 2, 2005, where McGraw also performed. The second single, "Like We Never Loved At All", featured a duet with McGraw and reached the top five of the country chart, as well as winning the duo a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. The third single from the album was the song "The Lucky One". The song was released to country radio in February 2006 and peaked at #5 on the Billboard Country Singles chart.

In April 2006, Hill and husband Tim McGraw embarked on their Soul2Soul II Tour 2006 which is now stands as the highest grossing country music tour ever with a gross of $89 million.

The fourth single was originally expected to be "Stealing Kissses", however "Sunshine & Summertime" ended up becoming the fourth single released from the album as the song was sent to radio in early June. The song went to #7 on the Billboard Country Singles Chart. The video for "Sunshine and Summertime" was made into a contest when CMT and Hill asked people to make a 30 second video for the song. The winner was Issac Mezza.

"Stealing Kisses" became the fifth single off of the album. The video, directed by Sophie Muller (who also directed "Like We Never Loved At All") was shot in New Jersey in Spring 2006. "Stealing Kisses" has had a harder time getting started on the charts than the previous singles from "Fireflies." Many of the fans believe the reasoning behind this is because of the dramatic subject matter of the song. "Stealing Kisses" debuted at #58 on the Billboard Country Singles Chart.

The album Fireflies has sold more 1.9 million copies in the U.S. and was certified double platinum on January 2006.

In June 2006 a reader poll released by Country Weekly magazine voted Hill "the most beautiful woman in country music". [1]

It is rumored that Faith Hill will release her first Christmas album in fall 2006 and in August 2006 Hill told CMT that a "Greatest Hits" album was in the works stating "but it's gonna be different."

Discography

Studio albums

• Take Me As I Am (1993) #59 US ▲3
• It Matters to Me (1995) #29 US ▲4
• Faith (1998) #7 US ▲6
• Breathe (1999) #1 US ▲8,#19 UK
• Cry (2002) #1 US ▲2, #29 UK
• Fireflies (2005) #1 US ▲2

Compilation albums

• There You'll Be (2001) #6 UK

Singles

• "Breathe" topped Billboard's Hot 100 Year-end list in 2000 without topping the weekly chart, becoming the second single to do so.
• "There You'll Be" went to number one in Canada.

External links

• Official website
• Faith Hill at the Internet Movie Database
• Faith Hill at Country Music Television
• Liberal Country Fan Covers Faith's music and liberal political activism.
• Faith Hill articles and CD reviews at Country Standard Time