Reba McEntire

Before the records, the sitcom, and the title “The Queen of Country,” Reba McEntire learned timing and stamina on a cattle ranch in Chockie, Oklahoma. Born Reba Nell McEntire in McAlester in 1955, she grew up as the third of four children in a family shaped by rodeo, work, and music. Her grandfather, John Wesley McEntire, was a world-champion steer roper in 1934, and her father, Clark, won the same title three times. Her mother, Jacqueline, had dreamed of becoming a country singer, but became a public-school teacher, librarian, and secretary instead.

That mix of discipline and song ran through McEntire’s childhood. The children helped with ranch chores before and after school, and on car trips to their father’s rodeo dates, Jacqueline taught them to sing harmony. Reba performed early, singing “Away in a Manger” in a first-grade Christmas pageant, later winning a 4-H singing contest, learning piano and guitar, playing basketball, running track, and training as a barrel racer. By high school, she and her siblings were performing as the Singing McEntires, recording a small regional single in 1971 called “The Ballad of John McEntire.”

After graduating from Kiowa High School in 1973, McEntire enrolled at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, majoring in elementary education with a minor in music. She completed student teaching and earned a bachelor’s degree, while still helping on the family ranch and performing when she could. In 1974, after her father encouraged her to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City, country performer Red Steagall heard her voice. With his help, and with her mother beside her on a trip to Nashville, she secured a recording contract with PolyGram/Mercury Records in 1975.

Success did not arrive all at once. Her early albums and singles for PolyGram/Mercury brought little attention, but in the early 1980s her career began to gather strength with top-10 country songs including “(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven” and “I’m Not That Lonely Yet,” followed by her first number one, “Can’t Even Get the Blues.” Unhappy with her direction, she moved to MCA Records in 1984. Her second MCA album, My Kind of Country, became her breakout release, producing two number-one Billboard country singles and pointing her toward a more traditional sound. Through the 1980s, she released seven more studio albums and added ten more number-one country hits, including the Grammy Award-winning “Whoever’s in New England.”

In 1991, McEntire lost eight members of her band in a plane crash in San Diego, California. The grief shaped For My Broken Heart, a critically acclaimed album that became her highest-selling release. She followed it with successful 1990s albums such as Read My Mind, What If It’s You, and If You See Him, with number-one songs including “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” “How Was I to Know,” and the Brooks and Dunn duet “If You See Him/If You See Her.” At the same time, she expanded into acting, making her film debut in Tremors in 1990, playing Annie Oakley in Broadway’s Annie Get Your Gun in 2001, and starring for six seasons in the television series Reba.

McEntire’s career has kept stretching across music, television, and business. She has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, placed more than 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and reached number one 25 times. She has also appeared on Young Sheldon, had a main role in the third season of Big Sky, coached on The Voice from 2023 to 2025, and stars in the NBC sitcom Happy’s Place. Her words still connect because they sound like someone who learned by watching, working, and listening. As she put it, “It’s very important to surround yourself with people you can learn from.”