In early 2001, country music legend Reba McEntire took Broadway by storm, receiving rave reviews and playing to packed houses as backwoods sharp-shooter Annie Oakley in the hit revival of Annie Get Your Gun. Later that year, Reba took her talents to the small screen and made her television series debut as a Texas soccer mom in the acclaimed comedy, Reba.
Raised on a cattle ranch just outside of Chockie, Oklahoma (population: 18), McEntire traveled the rodeo circuit during her youth with her champion steer-roper father. Reba herself competed on horseback as a barrel racer. Along with her siblings, Reba was taught to sing by her mother and formed the vocal trio The Singing McEntires, performing at social events and dance halls.
After graduating from high school, she studied violin and piano at Southeastern Oklahoma State University while majoring in elementary education. Her life changed dramatically when a songwriter named Red Steagall heard her sing the national anthem at the National Finals Rodeo and convinced her to make a demo recording in Nashville. She was soon signed to a record contract and her career took off from there.
Over the course of her career, McEntire has established herself as country music's leading lady, rising to become the best-selling female country singer in history with more than 45 million records sold. She is an unprecedented four-time Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year and one of only five women to win the CMA's coveted Entertainer of the Year honor. She has won two Grammy® Awards, multiple People's Choice and American Music Awards, and released a string of chart-topping hits.
McEntire has also hit the road to support her music. In 2005, she headlined the Habitat for Humanity Two Hats and a Redhead tour, named one of Pollstar’s largest grossing mid-year tours in the country genre. Along the way, she played to thousands of fans and raised a quarter of a million dollars for the Habitat cause.
McEntire has found success as an actress as well. She made a memorable feature debut in the 1990 cult classic/Kevin Bacon horror film Tremors as a gun-toting survivalist. She recently appeared on the big screen in the dark romantic comedy One Night at McCool's and was also featured in North and The Little Rascals.
On television, she played Annie Oakley in the miniseries Buffalo Girls and has appeared in the original movies The Gambler IV with Kenny Rogers, Secret of Giving, Forever Love and Is There Life Out There?
The hardest-working woman in show business, McEntire is also a successful author. Following her 1995 New York Times Best Seller List autobiography Reba: My Story, she published Comfort from a Country Quilt: Find New Inspiration and Strength from Old-Fashioned Values, a collection of personal essays. Her written works have sold a combined total of over 1 million copies.
McEntire has added clothing designer to her long list of career accomplishments with the 2005 launch of a women’s collection, “Reba.”
