Gretchen Wilson Biography
Summary
"Gretchen Frances Wilson" (born June 26, 1973) is an American country music singer and guitarist. Her debut album, "Here for the Party", topped the US country charts in 2004 and reached #2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Her two subsequent albums "All Jacked Up" and "One of the Boys" have also reached the top of the US country charts. She has won a Grammy Award for her music.
Biography
Early life
Gretchen was born in Pocahontas, Illinois, to a 16-year-old mother, and Gretchen's father left the family before she was two years old. Living in trailer parks and relative poverty, Gretchen's mother worked as a waitress to support the family. Gretchen began singing for Kmart as a child. She dropped out of the 8th grade at the age of 15 to work as a cook and bartender in rural Illinois.
After a failed marriage to former Baywolfe band mate Larry Rolens, she moved to Nashville and began dating Mike Penner. They have a daughter, Grace Frances Penner, who was born November 9, 2000. Contrary to rumors, Gretchen is not related to the sisters Nancy and Ann Wilson from Heart.
Gretchen sang in two bar bands by the age of 20. In 1996 she moved to Nashville to sing back-up and record sample songs. In 2000, she met John Rich, a former member of Lonestar, who invited her to become his song-writing partner. Wilson signed with Epic Records in 2003 and recorded "Here for the Party" within the year.
Career
Her first single, 'Redneck Woman', was released in early 2004 and reached the top of the Hot Country Songs charts and #22 on the Billboard Hot 100. The success of 'Redneck Woman' prompted an earlier-than-planned release for "Here for the Party" -- May 11, 2004 -- and it debuted at #1 on the Billboard country chart. It also reached #2 on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Internet album sales charts. She performed as a support artist for Brooks & Dunn and Montgomery Gentry.
She released the title track "Here For The Party" as the second single. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard country chart. Two other songs were released as singles, and both reached the top 10. Released in markets outside the U.S., the album hit #2 on the Australian country charts (behind Kasey Chambers) and the top 50 of the Australian charts. As of July 5, 2004, 'Redneck Woman' was #1 on a world composite country chart (based on the U.S., U.K., and Australia charts). The album went on sell more than 4 million copies in the U.S. and 5 million worldwide and was certified four times "platinum."
On September 27, 2005, Gretchen released her second album, "All Jacked Up," which peaked at #1 on both the Top 200 and Country album charts, but, after initial decent sales, the album quickly fell off the charts. It was certified "Platinum" and sold 1 million copies. The title track, "All Jacked Up," peaked at a disappointing #8 on the Country singles chart and was the only song from the album to reach the top 10. The second single, "I Don't Feel Like Loving You Today", peaked at #22. The third and the fourth singles were "Politically Uncorrect" and "California Girls," which peaked respectively at #23 and #25 on the Country chart. Kid Rock appeared on 'The Other Side of Me,' an exclusive track that Target released with the album.
On February 28, 2006, Gretchen appeared on Kid Rock and The Twisted Brown Trucker Band's 'Live' Trucker, as she performed 'Picture' recorded at Detroit's Cobo Hall, 3/26/04. On November 2006, she released a new single called "Come To Bed", a song produced by her friend John Rich, who also sings the background vocals. The song's suggestive video received a TV-14 S rating when aired on CMT.
Gretchen's 'I Don't Feel Like Loving You Today' was nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Female Country Vocal Performance, and Best Country Song. In 2006, Wilson contributed a well-received cover of Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Mornin' Coming Down" on the tribute CD "The Pilgrim: A Celebration of Kris Kristofferson". In 2007, Wilson displayed her rock and roll vocals on the cable TV special VH1 Rock Honors, singing Heart's hit "Barracuda", along with Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell, and Heart member Nancy Wilson on guitars.,
On May 15, 2007, Gretchen released her third album, One of the Boys. The album debuted at #5 on the Top 200 and at #1 on the Country album chart. After 11 weeks, it exited the Billboard Top 200, having sold just 178,220 copies at that point. "Come To Bed" and "One Of The Boys," the two singles released, both failed to enter the top 30 and missed the Hot 100 completely. A new single called "You Don't Have To Go Home" has been recently released as third single.
On September 3, 2007 Wilson announced that she plans to obtain a General Education Development certification (... more) .
Awards
2005 CMA Female Vocalist of the Year
2004 ACM Top Female Vocalist
2004 ACM Top New Artist
2004 CMA Horizon Award
2004 Grammy Award Best Female Country Vocal Performance
Discography
Singles
A Digital single (to the tune of 'Redneck Woman') released in November 2004 to correspond with the St. Louis Cardinals' trip to the World Series.
B Reached #1 on Radio & Records country charts.
C 'All Jacked Up' also peaked at #51 on the US Pop 100 and #37 on US Digital.
D Album cut, charted from unsolicited airplay.
E Current single.
External links
(Gretchen Wilson official site)
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Gretchen Wilson.
