Born Margaret LeAnn Rimes, 28 August 1982, Jackson, Mississippi, USA. Rimes' father, Wilbur, was a part-time guitarist and, with his encouragement, LeAnn was singing and tap-dancing when aged only two and winning talent contests when five. The family moved to Texas and she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at various sports events and the National Cutting Horse Championships in Fort Worth. Her parents recorded an album to sell at gigs when she was seven, and four years later she recorded All That, produced by her father, at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis, New Mexico. One track, an aching ballad, "Blue', had been written by Bill Mack for Patsy Cline, who had died before it could be recorded. Roy Drusky and Kenny Roberts subsequently cut the song, but Bill Mack felt that it was ideal for Rimes. While listening to tapes on holiday, record executive Mike Curb heard Rimes" voice, rushed to a phone and offered her a contract with his nationally distributed label. On her debut album for Curb, she reworked "Blue" and sang a duet with 78-year-old Eddy Arnold of his hit "Cattle Call". The new version of "Blue" was an instant US hit, climbing high on the pop chart and topping the country chart.
Her second country number 1 came with the up-tempo "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)" with its Searchers-like guitars. Blue also topped the country albums chart - 22 weeks at the top and multi-platinum sales. She was the youngest ever nominee at the 1996 CMA Awards, although it was not until the 1997 event that she picked up the Horizon Award. At the 1997 Grammy Awards, Rimes won Best New Artist, Best Female Country and Best Country Song for "Blue", and at the same year's Billboard Awards she won another six honours, including Artist Of The Year. By sticking to good, commercial material Rimes was able to enjoy the same level of success as other country child stars such as Brenda Lee and Tanya Tucker. Like them, she sounded and, with fashioned hair, Lolita sunglasses, AIDS ribbon and figure-hugging clothes, looked much older than her age (15), and was given adult material to perform - on "My Baby" she sang the words, "My baby is a full-time lover, My baby is a full grown man." That aside, she does possess an extraordinarily rich voice for such a young singer, and she seems to be handling her incredible success with great maturity. Her excellent 1997 revival of "Unchained Melody" gave an indication, however, that her management was having difficulty finding appropriate material, which was confirmed by the remixed reissue of old songs on Unchained Melody/The Early Years (although the album did debut at number 1 on the US album chart) and the release of the stop-gap You Light Up My Life/Inspirational Songs. That album indicated a move towards the AOR market, which was confirmed by the international success of the single "How Do I Live' and Sittin" On Top Of The World, an album firmly in the Celine Dion mould.
In October 1998, "How Do I Live" became the most successful US single of all-time completing 69 straight weeks on the Billboard chart (with a peak position of number 2). It also stayed in the UK Top 40 for 30 weeks. "Looking Through Your Eyes" provided her with another bestselling US Top 20 hit single in the same year. Rimes returned to her country roots on the following year's LeAnn Rimes, which featured six tracks associated with Cline and only one new song, the closing "Big Deal". The following November, Rimes topped the UK singles chart with "Can't Fight The Moonlight", taken from the soundtrack of Coyote Ugly. In December Rimes started litigation against Curb to release her from her recording contract, and publicly disowned I Need You. At the same time she was embroiled in similar legal proceedings against her father, who she claimed duped her out of several million dollars. The record company dispute was suddenly settled in December 2001, and LeAnn was reunited with her father on 23 February 2002 when he gave her away at her wedding.
