Entering the new millennium, Martina McBride stood among country music’s brightest rising talents. Her breakthrough arrived via the 1995 release of her third album, Wild Angels, which yielded several major singles including the chart-topping “A Broken Wing” and “Wrong Again.” These tracks pushed into pop territory, establishing her as a credible crossover contender. That momentum carried through the early 2000s as Martina (2003) and Timeless (2005) not only dominated the Country Albums chart but also climbed into the pop Top Ten, each earning multi-platinum status. McBride’s soaring soprano, country-rooted delivery, and focus on female empowerment won over a broad audience that sustained her Top Ten presence well into the next decade, even as she explored fresh directions with the 2014 soul project Everlasting, helmed by producer Don Was. In the process she issued two Christmas albums, supported multiple charities, started a podcast, and launched a cooking show. In 2020 she appeared as a guest artist on the NBC series Songland.
Born Martina Mariea Schiff in 1966 in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, she first encountered country music through her father, leader of the local band the Schifters. During her teenage years she sang and played keyboards alongside the group, then performed with various ensembles across Kansas after finishing high school. She wed sound engineer John McBride, and in 1990 the couple relocated to Nashville, where he worked with artists including Charlie Daniels and Ricky Van Shelton. Meanwhile Martina sang on demos and enlisted her husband to produce a demo tape that secured her a 1991 deal with RCA. Around that period John became Garth Brooks’ production manager, which helped Martina secure an opening slot on Brooks’ tour.
Her first album, The Time Has Come, appeared in 1992 and featured material rooted in traditional honky-tonk and progressive country-folk. The more pop-oriented follow-up, The Way That I Am (1993), marked her commercial arrival; its lead single “My Baby Loves Me” rose to number two on the country charts. The narrative-driven “Independence Day” emerged as a signature piece, while “Life #9” also reached the Top Ten.
Wild Angels, released in 1995, produced another Top Five single in “Safe in the Arms of Love,” and its title track became her first number-one hit. Evolution, issued in 1997, marked her initial Top Ten country album; the Jim Brickman collaboration “Valentine” reached the Top Ten and crossed over to adult contemporary radio. The set also generated the number-one singles “A Broken Wing” and “Wrong Again,” sold more than two million copies, and elevated McBride to the forefront of country stardom. She released a Christmas album in late 1998 before returning with Emotion in 1999. Its lead single “I Love You” topped the country chart and crossed to adult contemporary, while subsequent releases “Love’s the Only House,” “There You Are,” and “It’s My Time” all performed strongly.
The 2001 Greatest Hits collection became her first album to lead the country charts and also reached the pop Top Five. It included four new tracks, all issued as singles, one of which—“Blessed”—hit number one. The 2003 self-titled Martina honored womanhood, while 2005’s Timeless gathered classic country songs; both achieved Top Ten status, with the latter peaking at number three. Waking Up Laughing followed in 2007 on RCA Records. The CD/DVD Live in Concert appeared in 2008, succeeded by Shine in 2009, also on RCA.
McBride then signed with Republic Nashville, which issued her eleventh studio album, Eleven, in 2011. Late in 2013 she began work on her twelfth album, 2014’s Everlasting. Produced by Don Was, the project represented a stylistic shift as McBride performed primarily soul and R&B covers such as Aretha Franklin’s “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” and the Supremes’ “Come See About Me,” plus a duet with Kelly Clarkson on Etta James’ “In the Basement.” Released on Kobalt Records in April 2014, it debuted at number one on Billboard’s Country Albums chart.
In 2015 McBride joined Scott Borchetta’s Nash Icon imprint for veteran artists. Working with producers Dann Huff and Nathan Chapman, she debuted on the label with Reckless in 2016. Her second Christmas album, It’s the Holiday Season, arrived in 2018 together with a cookbook and a Food Network cooking show. After introducing her podcast Vocal Point, the country artist made a 2020 guest appearance on the songwriting competition Songland, where she selected the HALIE-written “Girls Like Me” as her new single.
