Reba McEntire

McEntire married rodeo steer wrestler Charlie Battles on June 21, 1976. The couple divorced on June 25, 1987, after which McEntire relocated to Nashville.

On June 3, 1989, McEntire married her manager and former steel guitarist Narvel Blackstock. In February 1990, she gave birth to their son, Shelby Steven McEntire Blackstock. Through her marriage to Blackstock, McEntire also helped raise three stepchildren: Brandon, Chassidy, and Shawna. After twenty-six years of marriage, McEntire and Blackstock separated in 2015, and their divorce was finalized on October 28, 2015.

In 2017, McEntire dated photographer Anthony "Skeeter" Lasuzzo before parting ways in late 2019. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she began a relationship with actor Rex Linn.

Reba Nell McEntire was born in McAlester, Oklahoma, to Clark Vincent and Jacqueline Smith McEntire. Raised on an 8,000-acre cattle ranch in Chockie, Oklahoma, she grew up traveling to rodeo competitions where her father and grandfather were world-champion steer ropers. McEntire competed in barrel racing from age eleven until twenty-one.

Her mother taught the children vocal harmonies during long road trips. While attending Kiowa High School, McEntire formed The Singing McEntires with her brother Pake and sister Susie, performing at clubs, dance halls, and rodeos. She enrolled at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, graduating in 1976 with a major in elementary education and a minor in music.

McEntire's career breakthrough began on December 10, 1974, when she performed the national anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City. Cowboy singer and songwriter Red Steagall heard her performance and invited her to Nashville to record demo tapes. The recordings caught the attention of Polygram Mercury Records, leading to a contract in November 1975.

McEntire debuted on the Grand Ole Opry in September 1977 and achieved her first number-one country singles in the early 1980s with "Can't Even Get the Blues" and "You're the First Time I've Thought About Leaving". In 1983, she signed with MCA Records and sought creative independence alongside producer Jimmy Bowen. Her 1984 traditionalist album My Kind of Country produced chart-toppers like "How Blue" and "Somebody Should Leave", earning her the Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year award, an honor she won four consecutive years from 1984 to 1987.

Her 1986 record Whoever's in New England became her first gold album. That same year, she was inducted as an official member of the Grand Ole Opry and won CMA Entertainer of the Year. Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, McEntire remained a dominant chart force with signature songs including "Fancy", "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia", and the Grammy-winning duet "Does He Love You" with Linda Davis.

On March 16, 1991, disaster struck when a chartered private plane carrying seven members of McEntire's touring band and her road manager crashed into a mountain near San Diego during takeoff, killing all eight people aboard. McEntire was traveling on a separate aircraft. In response to the loss, she recorded the critically acclaimed album For My Broken Heart, which became one of the highest-selling records of her career.

McEntire's success continued into subsequent decades. Her 2007 collaboration album Reba Duets debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, followed by Keep on Loving You in 2009. In 2011, she was formally inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and in 2017, she released her Grammy-winning gospel collection Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope.

McEntire made her feature film debut in the 1990 monster comedy Tremors, starring alongside Kevin Bacon and Michael Gross. She subsequently took roles in films such as The Little Rascals, North, and One Night at McCool's, as well as television productions including Buffalo Girls and The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw.

In early 2001, McEntire received critical acclaim on Broadway, starring as Annie Oakley in the revival of Annie Get Your Gun, which earned her a Drama Desk Award. Later that year, she debuted in the title role of the television sitcom Reba on the WB Network. The series ran for six seasons, concluding in 2007. She later returned to series television in the NBC comedy Happy's Place and served as a coach on NBC's The Voice.

Beyond entertainment, McEntire co-founded the multi-service management firm Starstruck Entertainment in 1988 with Narvel Blackstock. She developed branded clothing, footwear, and home collections for Dillard's department stores, published the 1994 autobiography Reba: My Story, and released the bestselling lifestyle book Not That Fancy in 2023.