By StephanieLee Elliott
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Reba Nell McEntire (/ˈriːbə ˈmækɪntaɪər/ REE-bə-MAK-in-tire; born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country singer and actress. Dubbed “The Queen of Country“, she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s she has placed over 100 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, 25 of which reached the number one spot. An actress in films and television, McEntire starred in the television series Reba, which aired for six seasons. She also owns several businesses, including a restaurant and a clothing line.
One of four children, McEntire was born and raised in Oklahoma. With her mother’s help, she and her siblings formed the Singing McEntires, which played at local events and recorded for a small label. McEntire later enrolled at Southeastern Oklahoma State University and studied to become a public school teacher. She also continued to occasionally perform and was heard singing at a rodeo event by country performer Red Steagall. Drawn to her singing voice, Steagall helped McEntire secure a country music recording contract with PolyGram/Mercury Records in 1975. In that year, she relocated with her mother to Nashville, Tennessee.
Over the next several years, PolyGram/Mercury released a series of McEntire’s albums and singles, which amounted to little success. In the early 1980s, McEntire’s music gained more momentum through several top ten country songs, including “(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven“, “I’m Not That Lonely Yet“, and her first number one “Can’t Even Get the Blues“. Yet McEntire became increasingly unhappy with her career trajectory and signed with MCA Records in 1984. Her second MCA album titled My Kind of Country (1984) became her breakout release, spawning two number one Billboard country singles and pointed toward a more traditional musical style. Through the 1980s, McEntire released seven more studio albums and had ten more number one country hits. Her number one singles included “One Promise Too Late“, “The Last One to Know“, and the Grammy Award-winning “Whoever’s in New England“.
In 1991, McEntire lost eight of her band members in a plane crash in San Diego, California. The experience led to McEntire’s critically acclaimed album For My Broken Heart, which is her highest-selling album to date. She followed it with several commercially successful albums during the 1990s, including Read My Mind (1994), What If It’s You (1996), and If You See Him (1998). These albums featured the number one country singles “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter“, “How Was I to Know“, and a duet with Brooks and Dunn called “If You See Him/If You See Her“. McEntire’s acting career began in January 1990 when she made her film debut in Tremors. In 2001, she played the role of Annie Oakley in the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun. In the same year The WB launched the TV series Reba, in which she starred. More recently, she has guest-starred on Young Sheldon as June Ballard. In 2023 and 2024, from the twenty-fourth season to the twenty-sixth season, McEntire was featured as a coach on The Voice.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- William Byrd (satirist) –
- August Anheuser Busch Jr. (brewer) –
- Rudolf Serkin (pianist) –
- Marlin Perkins (zookeeper) –
- Nelson Algren (novelist) –
- Edmund Muskie (politician) –
- Freddie Bartholomew (actor) –
- Dianne Wiest (actress) –
- Reba McEntire (country singer) –
- Vince Vaughn (actor) –
- Julia Stiles (actress) –
- Lady Gaga (entertainer) –
Died
- Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th U.S. president) –
- Maria von Trapp (singer) –
- Eugene Ionesco (playwright) –
- Peter Ustinov (actor, playwright, novelist, & director) –
- Art James (television game show host and announcer) –
- Richard Griffiths (actor) –
- James Noble (actor) –
- Peggy Fortnum (illustrator) –
Events
- Cat eating condemned by England’s Richard II –
- The U.S. Senate voted to censure President Jackson for the removal of federal deposits from the Bank of the U.S. –
- First world weightlifting championships held in London –
- Emma Goldman gave a shocking speech (on contraception) to an audience in NYC. She was arrested and given a choice of paying a $100 fine or going to jail for 15 days. She chose jail –
- Mary Pickford married Douglas Fairbanks –
- U.S. and U.N. officials signed an agreement permitting the U.N. to issue its own postage stamps –
- Tsunami struck Port Alberni, British Columbia –
- The rock musical Hair opened at the Biltmore Theater in New York City –
- Basketball’s Wilt Chamberlain played his last professional game. In 14 years, 1,045 games, he never fouled out of a game –
- Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone, won the Academy Award for Best Picture –
- Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in southeastern PA seriously malfunctioned, raising fears of a meltdown of the reactor’s core, causing the evacuation of thousands and creating widespread concern about the safety of such facilities –
- El Chichon volcano in Mexico began series of eruptions, killing and injuring hundreds –
- Mt. Kilauea, Hawaii, erupted –
- Russian President Boris Yeltsin claimed victory after surviving attempts by the Russian Congress to depose him –
- A major earthquake struck off the west coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra island –
- Around 6:15 a.m. EDT, a fireball was seen in the northeastern United States –
Weather
- The Ottauquechee River reached its highest level since 1869 at Woodstock, Vermont –
- The earliest ice out of Lake Winnipesaukee, N.H., on record –
- Twenty-two tornadoes spotted in the Carolinas –
COURTESY www.almanac.com
