LeAnn Rimes, the country singing sensation, has a surprisingly firm handshake for a 14-year-old girl. We're not talking a G.I. Joe kung fu grip, but her handclasp, by way of greeting, is strong, confident and direct. When she has hold of your hand, you know it.
Rimes has taken hold of country music in much the same way. Her debut CD, Blue, has sold more than 3 million copies, making it one of the top-selling albums ever by a female country singer. Two weeks ago her sophomore album, Unchained Melody/The Early Years, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's pop charts. Entering the charts at the top is something the hottest rock and rap acts do on a regular basis, but as far as country acts go, the only other performer to pull that off is veteran megaseller Garth Brooks. Last week Rimes continued her winning streak, taking the Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance and beating out a slate of more heavily favored rockers--including the pop-ska band No Doubt--to win the highly coveted award for Best New Artist. "I was in shock, and still am," she said backstage. But even in that moment of unexpected triumph, Rimes maintained a precocious awareness of her place in country music: "I am one of the only country artists ever nominated [for Best New Artist] and the only one to win."
Youthful supersuccess can be fascinating--and fragile. It's hard to recall the last time that former pop teen sensation Debbie Gibson got any real radio airplay; and it's difficult to forget those photos of Michelle Kwan, 16, slipping in last month's U.S. figure-skating championships. For Rimes, so far, there have been few stumbles. She was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and raised in Garland, Texas, by her mother Belinda, a homemaker, and her father Wilbur, a seismic-supply salesman who peddled drilling rigs, metal pipes and the like before quitting to co-manage his only child and produce her albums ("I'm not technical," he says of his learn-as-you-go approach).
Wilbur recalls that LeAnn started singing songs like Jesus Loves Me and You Are My Sunshine when she was just 18 months old. He says even then, unlike most infants (and, frankly, many adults), she could "carry a pitch.'' "I've got it on tape," he says, in case there are any disbelievers out there. Says LeAnn: "[The tapes are] really funny because you can understand what I'm saying when I'm singing, but when I'm talking, you can't understand a word."
Early on, Wilbur began entering her in local song-and-dance competitions. When she was eight, he had her cut a record to give her the feel and experience of being in a studio; at 10 she had another practice session; and then at 11 LeAnn recorded a demo that the family sent to Curb Records, a small company in Nashville, Tennessee, that promptly signed her to a recording deal. About a year later, the title song for her first album, Blue, propelled the youngster to the top of the country charts and onto the fast track to stardom. The song was written for Patsy Cline, who died before she could record it, but it seems made for Rimes. The melody is thick and generous, and even if you're not into country, when Rimes' wild-berry-sweet voice yodels through the hook-filled chorus--"blooOOooOOoo"--you feel like putting on a cowboy hat and line dancing.