FAITH HILL

Born: Audrey Faith Perry Hill; Jackson, Mississippi, 21 September 1967

Genre: Country

Best-selling album since 1990: Breathe (1999)

Hit songs since 1990: "Breathe," "This Kiss," "The Way You Love Me"

In the late 1990s, crossover sensation Faith Hill turned heads with her powerful string of singles that topped both the country and pop charts.

Raised in the aptly named Star, Mississippi, Hill began singing at an early age; her musical influences included Elvis Presley, Tammy Wynette, George Strait, and Reba McEntire. Hill performed publicly for the first time at a 4-H luncheon when she was seven years old. While in school, Hill was involved in sports as well as drama, but singing remained her first passion. During her high school years, Hill began singing with a local band, which performed at a variety of community events and festivals, including the infamous Raleigh, Mississippi, Tobacco Spit.

Hill enrolled at Hinds Community College in Mississippi, but dropped out after a semester and moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music. After selling t-shirts in her first job, Hill became a receptionist at a music publishing company. Her singing along to the radio caught the attention of her co-workers, who convinced Hill to cut a demo. Hill soon after began performing around town with local singer Gary Burr. During one performance with Burr, Hill caught the attention of a scout from Warner Bros. Records, which subsequently signed her to a recording contract.

Warner Bros. released Hill's debut album, Take Me As I Am, in 1994. The lead single "Wild One" was an instant sensation, its mild, finger-snapping beat and twanging steel guitars pleasing country traditionalists, who pegged Hill as the next Reba McEntire. On the strength of its memorable chorus ("She's a wild one / With an angel's face / She's a woman-child / In a state of grace"), "Wild One" topped the country singles charts for four weeks; Hill was the first female country singer to achieve that milestone on her debut single in more than thirty years. The rollicking follow-up "Piece of My Heart," a cover of the Janis Joplin rock classic, also hit number one on the charts. Take Me As I Am ultimately sold 2 million copies and established Hill as a rising star in the country world.

Hill's follow-up album, It Matters to Me (1995), outdid its predecessor, selling an additional 1 million records. While touring in support of the album, Hill became romantically involved with tourmate Tim McGraw, one of country music's leading male performers. After an intense courtship, the pair married on October 6, 1996, in Rayville, Louisiana. Soon after, the newlyweds collaborated on "It's Your Love" for McGraw's studio album Everywhere (1997). The duet spent six weeks at number one on the country charts and became Billboard 's most-played country single to date.

Hill appealed to an entirely new fan base with her album Faith (1998). A major crossover success, Faith reached the Top 10 of both the country and pop album charts and sold 5 million copies. The album's success stemmed in large part from the hit single "This Kiss," which climbed all the way to number seven on the pop singles charts. While featuring some traditional country instrumentation such as steel guitars, Hill forsakes her vocal twang on "This Kiss" in favor of a more bubbly, pop-influenced singing style, suitable for the song's exuberant, cosmopolitan feel: "It's the way you love me / It's a feeling like this / It's centrifugal motion / It's perpetual bliss." Hill further enhanced her burgeoning celebrity by signing an endorsement deal with Cover Girl makeup, who anointed Hill one of its leading spokeswomen.

Hill's follow-up album Breathe (1999) further embraces the pop world and outdid its predecessor in sales, debuting at number one on the pop charts and ultimately selling over 7 million copies. The title track peaked at number two on the pop charts and was the most-played single of the year. A lush ballad, "Breathe" at once posits Hill as vulnerable, seductive, and emotive and features a soaring, inspiring chorus: "'Cause I can feel you breathe / It's washing over me / Suddenly, I'm melting into you." Hill also scored Top 10 hits with "The Way You Love Me" and "There You'll Be," the latter of which appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Pearl Harbor (2001) and was nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards.

Hill took a brief hiatus to care for her daughters, but returned in 2002 with the album Cry. The album finds Hill further refining her pop sound, incorporating R&B and soul influences into her country-pop mix. The album's title track was a Top 40 hit and earned Hill a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

By the end of the 1990s, Hill had surpassed fellow crossover sensation Shania Twain as mainstream radio's leading country-pop act and became Nashville's most recognizable contribution to pop culture.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Take Me As I Am (Warner Bros., 1993); It Matters to Me (Warner Bros., 1995); Faith (Warner Bros., 1998); Breathe (Warner Bros., 1999); Cry (Warner Bros., 2002). Soundtrack: Pearl Harbor (Warner Bros., 2001).

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