Audrey Faith McGraw, known professionally as Faith Hill (born September 21, 1967), is an American country singer, known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill's voice (described as both soulful and raspy[1]) and careful song selection[2] have helped her to sell more than 35 million records and accumulate eleven number-one singles on the Country charts.
Hill has been honored by the Country Music Association, the Academy of Country Music, the Grammy Awards, the American Music Awards and the People's Choice Awards. Her Soul2Soul II Tour 2006 with husband McGraw became the highest-grossing country tour of all time.[3] In 2001 she was named one of the "30 Most Powerful Women in America" by Ladies Home Journal.
Hill was born Audrey Faith Perry in Ridgeland, Mississippi near Jackson, Mississippi. She was adopted as an infant and raised by a couple in the nearby town of Star. Her adoptive parents reared their two biological sons along with Hill in a very Christian environment.[2]
Hill's vocal talent was apparent early, and she had her first public performance, a 4-H luncheon, when she was seven.[4] In 1976, a few days before her 9th birthday, she attended a concert by Elvis Presley at the State Fair Coliseum, in Jackson, which impressed her deeply. By the time she was a teenager, Hill was a regular performer at area churches, even those not in her own Baptist denomination.[5] At seventeen, Hill formed a band that played in local rodeos. She briefly attended college at Hinds Community College in Raymond, Mississippi, but at 19 quit school to move to Nashville and pursue her dream of being a country singer. In her early days in Nashville, Hill auditioned to be a backup singer for Reba McEntire, but failed to secure the job.[2] After a stint selling t-shirts, Hill became a secretary at a music publishing firm.[4]
Apart from her quest for entry into the music industry, Hill also began working toward a more robust family life. In 1988 she married songwriter and music executive Dan Hill, who provided the surname she would use as she became famous. Her first husband was not prominent Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Hill despite the similar name.[6] Two years later she began a search for her natural mother, whom she eventually met and with whom she corresponded until her mother's death.[7]
A co-worker heard Hill singing to herself one day, and soon the head of her music publishing company was encouraging her to become a demo singer for the firm.[4] She supplemented this work by singing backup vocals for songwriter Gary Burr, who often performed his new songs at Nashville's Bluebird Cafe. During one of those performances, an executive from Warner Bros. Records was in the audience, and, impressed with Hill's voice, began the process of signing her to a recording contract.
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