..:: audio-music dot info ::.. |
B i o g r a p h y |
Faith Hill (Audrey Faith Perry)
was born on Sept. 21, 1967, in Jackson, Miss. Adopted at only a week
old, she grew up in the small town of Star. She sang in church growing
up and moved to Nashville at 19 to pursue a country music career.
Hill's first Music City job was selling T-shirts at Fan Fair. She later
landed an office job with singer-songwriter Gary Morris' Nashville
company. Morris heard her singing along with the radio and asked her to
perform on demo tapes. Hill's first professional gig was singing backup
for songwriter-musician Gary Burr, who would later become her
co-producer. She was discovered by a Warner Bros. executive while
singing with Burr at Nashville's famed Bluebird Cafe.
Warner Bros. Nashville released Hill's debut album, Take Me as I Am,
in 1993. She made country music history in January 1994 when her debut
single "Wild One" held the No. 1 position for four consecutive weeks on
Billboard's country singles chart. Hill was the first female country
singer to accomplish the feat with a debut single since Connie Smith's
"Once a Day" in 1964. The album was eventually certified
triple-platinum.
The title track from 1995's album It Matters to Me gave Hill her third chart-topping hit and the album went on to sell 4 million copies. Tim McGraw and Hill married shortly after teaming up for the Spontaneous Combustion tour in 1996. Her first duet with McGraw, "It's Your Love," lodged itself at No. 1 for six weeks and brought Hill's first CMA award, for 1997 vocal event. It remained No. 1 for six weeks.
Hill's 1998 album Faith produced the crossover hit "This Kiss," which went to No. 1 on Billboard's country singles chart and peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart. The video for "This Kiss" earned a 1998 CMA award. On the strength of additional singles like "Let Me Let Go" and "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me" (another McGraw duet), Faith sold more than 6 million copies.
Her 1999 album Breathe debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top 200 and country albums charts and sold more than 8 million copies. The title track stayed at No. 1 for six weeks and reached the top of the adult contemporary and Top 40 charts as well. The steamy music video, in which she rolls around under a white bed sheet, gained Hill attention outside the world of country.
She earned three Grammy awards in 2000 - for female country vocal
performance, best country album and for country collaboration with
vocals, for the McGraw duet, "Let's Make Love." The couple embarked on
the co-headlining Soul 2 Soul tour in 2000. The outing raked in $49.6
million, making it the top country tour of the year. Hill was named
female vocalist of the year at the CMA Awards in 2000.
Cry, her 2002 album, sold 2 million copies, and she filmed an NBC-TV
Thanksgiving special to promote it. The title track won a 2003 Grammy
for best female country vocal performance. She landed a supporting role
in The Stepford Wives film in 2004 (aside Nicole Kidman and Bette
Midler).
Hill released the album Fireflies in 2005, which rejuvenated her
career. The first single, "Mississippi Girl," quickly reached No. 1 and
she and McGraw launched the Soul2Soul2 Tour in 2006, which sold more
than a million tickets. They also scored another hit duet, "Like We
Never Loved at All."
Hill has performed at several high-profile events, including Super
Bowl XXXIV, the 1996 Summer Olympics, VH1 Divas Live 2000 and the 2000
Academy Awards, where she stepped in at the last minute for an ailing
Whitney Houston. Her image has graced the covers of countless national
magazines, including People, US Weekly, Glamour, TV Guide, Redbook,
Country Music and Country Weekly. She also has landed lucrative
endorsements with CoverGirl, Pepsi and ALLTEL.
The Faith Hill Family Literacy Project, designed to help combat
illiteracy worldwide, launched in 1996. Hill's concern for family
literacy is a result of her own family's firsthand experience with the
issue. Her father, one of 14 children, never learned to read after
being forced to quit school in order to help support his family. Hill's
dream is that "someday every person will be able to read.
A l b u m s |