A native of McAlester, Oklahoma, Reba McEntire is not only one of the best selling country artists of all-time, the Reba brand has expanded to include television, clothing, shoes, and housewares. Considered by some to be the "Queen of Country," McEntire began her recording career in 1977, and after more than 50 Top 10 singles, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2011.
Her mother, Jacqueline, introduced McEntire to country music. Reba's mother had her own aspirations to be a country singer, but instead became a schoolteacher and taught her children to sing.
Reba, her brother, and her sister formed a singing group and performed at local rodeos. Reba was going to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a schoolteacher until the singer Red Steagall heard her sing the national anthem at the National Rodeo Finals in Oklahoma City. Steagall signed her to Mercury Records in 1975, and she released her self-titled debut album in 1977.
Seven members of McEntire's road band and her road manager were killed when their private charter jet crashed near San Diego on March 17, 1991. Devastated by the loss, McEntire dedicated her next album,
For My Broken Heart, to her band.
In an interview with CMT, McEntire said the album was "a tough one" to record and the songs reflect that she was not in a happy place. The title track made it to #1 on Billboard's Country chart; the album also includes a remake of the 1973 Vicki Lawrence hit "
The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia."
McEntire tried her hand at Broadway in 2001, earning rave reviews for her portrayal of Annie Oakley in the revival of Annie Get Your Gun. That same year, she debuted her sitcom, Reba, which originally aired on the WB network. The series was on the air until 2007 and finished its run on the CW network. Playing the wisecracking lead character – named Reba, of course - McEntire won the 2001 People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Performer in a New Television Series. She was also nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe in 2006.
In 2011, McEntire launched her first new stage show since the late 1990s with the
All the Women That I Am tour. One single on the album, "If I Were A Boy," turned some heads because the song was made famous by R&B superstar Beyoncé. McEntire confessed that she was not familiar with the song until she recorded it in 2010 for CMT's Unplugged Sessions, but the song went viral online and sparked the idea for a whole new album.
Before embarking on the tour, McEntire admitted that after 34 albums it was hard to narrow down her set list, but her most requested song was still "
Fancy," a song that was originally a hit for Bobby Gentry. So cover songs often suit Reba, no matter who recorded them first.
When Reba was in the first grade she made her singing debut with a solo of "
Away In A Manger" in a school Christmas play.
Her father and grandfather were both champion steer ropers. Reba's "grandpap," John Wesley McEntire, was a World Champion Steer Roper in 1934 and her father, Clark, won three times champion in 1957, 1958 and 1961.
Reba formed a vocal trio called the "Singing McEntires" with her older brother Pake and younger sister Susie that performed at rodeos in the early 1970s
All three of the Singing McEntires pursued music careers. Reba we know about, Pake McEntire went on to become a successful country artist in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Susie Luchsinger became a successful gospel singer.
It took Reba a few years to find an audience. Her debut single, "I Don't Want to Be a One Night Stand," was released January 22, 1976 and topped out at #88 on the Country chart. She didn't crack the Top 10 until "(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven" in 1980.
After "How Blue" hit #1 in 1984, McEntire reached the Top 10 on the Country chart with every solo single she released for the next 10 years, with only two exceptions: her cover of Vikki Lawrence's "The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia" peaked at #12 and "
She Thinks His Name Was John" reached #15.
McEntire is the only country female solo act to have a #1 hit in four straight decades: the 1980s, '90s, '00s and '10s.
In 1996, McEntire was cast by director James Cameron as the unsinkable Molly Brown in his film Titanic, but when it became clear how long it would take to shoot the movie, she had to turn down the part because she had already scheduled concerts. The role went to Kathy Bates instead.
In 1989, McEntire married her manager and former steel guitar player, Narvel Blackstock. They had one son, Shelby Blackstock, before announcing their separation in August 2015 after 26 years of marriage. Reba had to learn on the fly how to handle her business affairs, since that was Narvel's job.
Reba told AARP The Magazine how Narvel Blackstock rose from playing pedal steel guitar in her band to becoming her personal manager: "Narvel became my manager because everybody kind of patted me on the head and said, 'You've done it. Good girl.' They assumed I had peaked. Narvel was like, 'Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Here's what we could do.'"
McEntire's stepson, Brandon Blackstock, married the country star's friend and fellow singer Kelly Clarkson in 2013. Clarkson filed for divorce from Blackstock in 2020, citing irreconcilable differences, and in 2025 he died of cancer at age 48.
McEntire made her film debut in 1990
appearing in the movie Tremors. The country star played Heather Gummer, part of a survivalist couple helping to protect their small hometown from the deadly underground creatures that are trying to kill them off.
Despite a lifelong career in music, Reba McEntire had another dream growing up: becoming a world champion barrel racer. Though her ambitions for the sport didn't last long - she jokingly recalled to Jimmy Fallon her father questioning why she'd pursue something she wasn't "good at" - the thrill of riding horses still attracted her more than vocal practice.
Reba McEntire is deeply passionate about sitcoms and brings a touch of her personal life onto the set. In her show Happy's Place (launched in 2024), her boyfriend, Rex Linn, plays a recurring role as a short-order cook, a part Reba specifically suggested for him.
During a "Most Likely To" segment on CMT, Thomas Rhett shared the story of how his dad, Rhett Akins, who used to tour with Reba, would often leave him in her care. While we might imagine Reba as a soft-spoken, gentle babysitter, Rhett painted a different picture. He recalled a time when he and Shelby Blackstock, Reba's son, were arguing over a toy. Reba swiftly stepped in to settle the dispute, proving that she was no pushover, even as a babysitter.
Reba isn't a songwriter. She says finding the right songs is the most important thing for her career.
She loves bird watching and is good at identifying them. "When you're looking at these birds, so colorful and beautiful, that, to me, is the face of God," she told Esquire.
