Born in Mississippi and adopted at only a week old, Audrey Faith Perry grew up in the small town of Star. She sang in church growing up and, at 19, moved to Nashville 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. Records released Hill's debut album, Take Me as I Am, in the fall of 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 did with "Once a Day" in 1964.
Take Me as I Am was released in 1995, and the title cut gave Hill her fourth charttopping hit. The follow up, Faith, hit stores in 1998 and 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. It was just the beginning of Hill's across-the-board popularity.
Breathe, Hill's most recent release, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top 200 and country albums charts and has sold over 3 million copies. It contains her crossover smash "Breathe," which went to No. 1 on the Billboard country singles, adult contemporary and Top 40 charts. The steamy music video gained Hill attention outside the world of country. The song and album also earned her Grammy awards in 2001 for female country vocal performance and best country album, respectively.
Hill picked up her third Grammy award in 2001 for a duet with husband, Tim McGraw, on the steamy ballad, "Let's Make Love." The couple, who married after teaming up for the Spontaneous Combustion tour in 1996, 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. The Hill-McGraw collaborations on "It's Your Love" and "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me," have garnered the pair vocal event awards from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. Hill was named female vocalist of the year at the CMA Awards in 2000 and the ACM Awards for 1998 and 1999.
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 and Country Weekly. She also has landed lucrative endorsements with CoverGirl, Pepsi and ALLTEL.
Hill launched the Faith Hill Family Literacy Project in 1996, along with Warner Bros. Records and Time Warner. The project is designed to help combat illiteracy worldwide. 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."
|
