We announce the very sad news of Country Music Queen Reba McEntire, along with a tearful farewell.

We announce the very sad news of Country Music Queen Reba McEntire, along with a tearful farewell.

#rebamcentire

Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955), also known mononymously as Reba,[1][2] is an American country music singer and actress. She is often referred to as "the Queen of Country",[3] having sold more than 75 million records worldwide.[4] Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 25 of which reached the number one spot.[5] She is an actress in films and television.[6] She starred in the television series Reba, which aired for six seasons. She also owns several businesses, including a clothing line.[7]

One of four children, McEntire was born and raised in the state of Oklahoma. With her mother's help, she and her siblings formed the Singing McEntires, which played at local events and recorded for a small label. McEntire later enrolled at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and studied to become a public school teacher. She also continued to occasionally perform and was heard singing at a rodeo event by country performer Red Steagall. Drawn to her singing voice, Steagall helped McEntire secure a country music recording contract with PolyGram/Mercury Records in 1975.

Over the next several years, PolyGram/Mercury released a series of McEntire's albums and singles, which amounted to little success. In the early 1980s, McEntire's music gained more momentum through several top ten country songs, including "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven", "I'm Not That Lonely Yet" and her first number one "Can't Even Get the Blues". Yet McEntire became increasingly unhappy with her career trajectory and signed with MCA Records in 1984. Her second MCA album titled My Kind of Country (1984) became her breakout release, spawning two number one Billboard country singles and pointed towards a more traditional musical style. Through the 1980s, McEntire released seven more studio albums and had ten more number one country hits. Her number one singles included "One Promise Too Late", "The Last One to Know" and the Grammy Award-winning "Whoever's in New England".

In 1991, McEntire lost eight of her band members in a plane crash in San Diego, California. The experience led to McEntire's critically acclaimed album For My Broken Heart, which is her highest-selling album to date. She followed it with several commercially successful albums during the 1990s, including Read My Mind (1994), What If It's You (1996) and If You See Him (1998). These albums featured the number one country singles "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter", "How Was I to Know" and a duet with Brooks and Dunn called "If You See Him/If You See Her". McEntire also began acting on film and television, beginning with 1990's Tremors. In 2001, she played the role of Annie Oakley in the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. The same year, the WB channel launched the TV series Reba, which starred McEntire as a fictionalized version of herself.

McEntire was born in McAlester, Oklahoma, in 1955[8] but was raised on a ranch in Chockie, Oklahoma.[9][10] She was the third of four children born to Clark and Jacqueline McEntire.[11] Her grandfather, John Wesley McEntire, was a world-champion steer roper in 1934, while her father held the same title three times (1957, 1958 and 1961).[12] Jacqueline McEntire had aspirations of becoming a country singer,[11] but instead became a public school teacher, librarian and secretary[13] While her mother was tender and loving, her father had trouble showing affection. "When we were growing up I used to regret that Daddy never told us that he loved us," she recalled in her autobiography.[14] The McEntire family owned a cattle ranch in Chockie. Each family member contributed to running the cattle operation. The McEntire children helped with ranch chores before and after school. This included castrating bulls and giving them worm medicine.[15]

The McEntire siblings also developed an interest in singing, which was encouraged by their mother. On car trips to their father's rodeo dates, Jacqueline McEntire taught her children to sing in harmony with one another.[16] Young Reba then started performing at school, beginning in first grade when she sang "Away in a Manger" at an elementary school Christmas pageant. In fifth grade, she joined the 4-H club and won first place in the Junior Act Division for singing "My Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown". She also played basketball and ran track. For several summers, she attended a basketball camp.[17] She also learned piano[18] and guitar.[19] She also developed an interest in the rodeo and trained to become a barrel racer.