Trisha Yearwood

Did You Know?

• Yearwood was born in Monticello, Georgia, the daughter of a schoolteacher and a local banker.
• She studied at Young Harris College for two years, earning an associate degree in business, then attended the University of Georgia for one semester before dropping out.
• Yearwood participated in Habitat for Humanity projects, including Hurricane Katrina disaster relief, and collaborated with former president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter.

Music career

Yearwood's debut album, released in 1991, produced the number-one single "She's in Love with the Boy" and three additional top-ten country singles. The album sold one million copies and was certified double platinum by the RIAA, making Yearwood the first female country artist to sell a million copies of her debut album. AllMusic gave the album four and a half out of five stars, and Entertainment Weekly praised her voice. In 1991, she was named Top New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music, and the following year she was voted Favorite New Country Artist at the American Music Awards. After parting with her previous management, she worked under Ken Kragen, who also managed Kenny Rogers and Travis Tritt. Yearwood became the spokesperson for the WildHeart fragrance by Revlon. During the filming of the commercial, she declined to embrace a male model until her manager arrived to support her decision; the commercial was eventually aired on major television networks.

Other career ventures

In April 2008, Yearwood released her first cookbook, Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen, co-written with her mother and sister. It reached number one on the New York Times Best Seller list and included 120 recipes. A second cookbook, Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood, was published on April 6, 2010, and also reached number one on the same list. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine later listed it among "The Five Worst Cookbooks of 2010," citing recipes high in fat and cholesterol. In 2015, Yearwood released a third cookbook, Trisha's Table, again co-written with her sister and with a foreword by Garth Brooks. She also began a culinary television series on the Food Network called Trisha's Southern Kitchen in 2012, which later won a Daytime Emmy Award.

Artistry

Yearwood possesses an alto vocal range and has said she enjoys singing harmonies, often taking the alto part in school chorus and church. Her musical tastes were shaped by classic artists her parents listened to, including Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Tammy Wynette. As a teenager, she developed a liking for country rock artists such as the Allman Brothers and James Taylor, and also cited the Eagles and Gordon Lightfoot as influences. Her primary musical influence is Linda Ronstadt, whose album Simple Dreams she discovered after her parents bought it for her. Yearwood told The Wall Street Journal that while Ronstadt's music was considered pop, her phrasing and emotional style appeared country. Music critics have drawn similarities between the two voices; Peter Galvin of Rolling Stone noted that Yearwood's voice is thinner and more pliable than Ronstadt's, but both share low honey tones and a hearty squawk when passionate. Yearwood has also reported being influenced by Emmylou Harris. Her musical style has been described as country pop and adult contemporary. The Boot magazine staff wrote that Yearwood carved out a unique niche by finding high-quality songs and recording them in arrangements sonically different from other commercial country artists. Laura McClellan of Taste of Country noted that her diverse musical styles have shaped country music, particularly for female artists, for decades.

Personal life

Yearwood married her first husband, Chris Latham, in 1987; they divorced in 1991. In 1994, she married Robert Reynolds, founding bassist for The Mavericks, and they lived in a log cabin-styled home in Hendersonville, Tennessee. The pair divorced in 1999 after five years of marriage, and Yearwood described the separation as difficult. Yearwood and Garth Brooks had been friends and musical partners before romantically seeing each other. Brooks said his first encounter with Yearwood felt like "that feeling when you just meet your wife. During this period, both were married to other people, so they remained friends through the first half of their careers. Brooks proposed to Yearwood onstage in front of 7,000 people in Bakersfield, California, in 2005, and they married on December 10, 2005, at their home in Owasso, Oklahoma, with Brooks's three children participating. Yearwood said the couple made a commitment not to spend time apart, estimating they spend about five days away from each other per year. She became a stepmother to Brooks's three children and later said that being part of that family was rewarding.