Reba McEntire Tickets

About Reba McEntire

Reba’s success came after her time with her family band was finished and she was attending Southeastern Oklahoma State University while pursuing a teaching degree. In 1974, McEntire sang “The Star Spangled Banner” at the National Rodeo Finals in Oklahoma City. Country star Red Steagall was so impressed with her rendition that he told Reba she should go to Nashville to pursue a music career.

McEntire could not turn down such advice and managed to score a record deal with Mercury Records. She began singing a honky-tonk sound, but failed to make an impact in a country landscape dominated by outlaw personas. Reba eventually found success in 1976 with her first single, “I Don’t Want to Be a One-Night Stand” breaching the top 100.

Soon after, in 1978, she broke into the Top 20 with “Three Sheets in the Wind/I’d Really Love to See You Tonight”. Although the song did not belong on any album, her second LP, Out of a Dream, gave her five Top-40 hits. She continued to place on the singles charts, but would not make a real impact until the mid-80s.

McEntire switched to MCA Nashville in 1984 and released Just a Little Love. The album placed well on the charts, but failed to sell. After being allowed to pick her own material and rework it, Reba released My Kind of Country. The album was her first financial success, going gold and number 13 on the charts.

Two years later, in 1986, Reba scored her first number one album, Whoever’s in New England. The platinum selling album included the number hit title track and the number one “Somebody Should Leave”. McEntire was rewarded for her breakthrough with four straight Country Music Association “Female Vocalist of the Year” awards from 1984 to 1987.

Reba’s career continued to remain at the top as she followed her 1986 breakthrough album with the platinum-selling What Am I Gonna Do About the same year and strong of platinum-selling records that continues to this day.

With her incredible success Reba founded Starstruck Entertainment as a management, booking, and publishing company to handle her career. The company would go onto to handle other talents as well as McEntire.

Her career was destined to see some sort of tragedy and Reba’s first blow with mortality came on March 16, 1991 when a plane carrying seven of her band members and her road manager crashed, killing everyone on board. McEntire’s decision to perform at the Academy Awards the next week was criticized, but she dedicated a cover of “I’m Checking Out” to the members of her band and ultimately earned the respect of her peers.

She went on with her career, dedicating the next album, For My Broken Heart, to the members as well. Reba’s popularity began to extend beyond the realm of country in the ‘90s. McEntire scored her first pop hit in 1993 with the album It’s Your Call, which entered the Top 10 of the pop charts.

Reba’s showmanship was also approaching its pinnacle in 1994 when she became the first woman to have the highest grossing tour of the year. She repeated that feat again in 1995. McEntire again crossed the charts with the remix of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”, which reached number two on the dance/club charts.

Her career was officially legendary in 1995, when she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

Reba closed out the 20th century on top with the platinum album, So Good Together. She began the 21st century again looking to extend her career. In February 2001, McEntire starred in a revival of Annie Get Your Gun on Broadway. Her performance earned her special awards from Drama Desk, the Outer Critics Circle, and Theatre World.

McEntire entered the television world full time with her own sitcom, Reba, on the WB in 2001. Moving to Los Angeles to focus on her show, she won a People’s Choice Award and a Golden Globe nomination for the show, which ran six seasons.

During the new century the focus on acting took away from her singing, but she still released two albums, Room to Breathe and Reba: Duets. Both went platinum and the duet album peaked at number one on the country charts and overall album Billboard charts.