Singer, author, actress, and television host Trisha Yearwood rocketed to fame in the early 1990s. Signed to MCA Nashville, she released her self-titled album in 1991. Its lead single, “She’s in Love with the Boy,” rose straight to No. 1 on Billboard’s country charts – the first time for a debut single since Connie Smith’s “Once a Day,” 27 years prior – and brought her an immediate fan base. Three other singles from the album breached the Top 10, catapulting the sales of Trisha Yearwood to make the LP country music’s first platinum debut in two decades.
Despite the appearance of overnight success, Yearwood was not a neophyte in Music City. The daughter of a small town Georgia banker and a schoolteacher, she’d moved to Nashville fresh from high school. After completing a music business program at Belmont College and working as a tour guide at the Country Music Hall of Fame, she began singing wherever she could – at bars, in bowling alleys, and on demo recordings for songwriters, making between $10 and $30 per song. “I worked cheap. I sang on pitch and I knew the song when I got there,” she remembers, “so I got a lot of work.“ Singing on demos also served as a training ground for Trisha. “I learned what a good song was,” she says, “and I learned what my own voice was, because I had to take a song that no one had ever sung and make it my own.”
After the phenomenal success of her first album, Yearwood went on tour as Garth Brooks’s opening act, gaining more exposure and more fans. Between 1992 and 1995, she produced three more platinum albums and multiple Top 10 hits, including two No. 1s: “Thinkin’ About You” and “XXXs and OOO’s (An American Girl),” co-written by Alice Randall. In 1997 and 1998 she was named CMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year, won multiple GRAMMY awards, and was hailed as one of the great singers of the era, in any genre. In 1999, she was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry – an evening that is now a treasured family memory for Yearwood.
My mom grew up in South Georgia. She would come in from working in the tobacco field or milking cows – it would be a hundred degrees, no air-conditioning – and she’d lay on the cold floor, listening to the Grand Ole Opry on the radio. Her senior class took a trip to Nashville. And what I remember most is her diary – she wrote down, for her mom and dad, what Hank Snow was wearing; what Hawkshaw Hawkins looked like; what they sang – and took that experience back to share with her parents. The full circle, for me, was when I became a Grand Ole Opry member, she brought that diary. Hank Snow was alive and he signed her diary. So being a member of the Grand Ole Opry was something that my whole family got to experience and share in. Watching my parents that night at the Opry House, getting to meet their heroes, it makes me want to cry.
Yearwood, married to Brooks since 2005, has expanded her success in the music business into a lifestyle empire that includes a clothing line, the “TY Home Collection” of furniture, rugs, and accessories, and “Trisha’s Southern Kitchen,” a popular Emmy-winning show on the Food Network. In late 2018 she released her 13th solo album, Let’s Be Frank – a tribute to music icon Frank Sinatra.
Born: September 19, 1964, Monticello, Georgia
FAQs
Yearwood was born in Monticello, Georgia, the daughter of schoolteacher Gwendolyn Yearwood and local banker Jack Howard Yearwood.
Who was Trisha Yearwood's first husband? ›
Trisha was married to her first husband, Christopher Latham, from 1987 to 1991, and to her second husband, Robert Reynolds, from 1994 to 1999. Garth was married to his first wife, Sandy Mahl, from 1986 to 2001. He reflected on meeting Trisha for the first time and the bond they shared.
Did Trisha Yearwood graduate from college? ›
In 1985 she transferred to Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, and graduated in 1987 with a bachelor's degree in music business. That same year she married her first husband, Christopher Latham; the couple divorced in 1991.
How rich is Trisha Yearwood? ›
Trisha Yearwood is a country singer and actress who has a net worth of $400 million. That is a combined net worth with her husband, fellow country singer Garth Brooks. The majority of their combined fortune ($300 – $350 million) is attributable to Garth.
Does Trisha Yearwood have any biological children of her own? ›
Although Trisha didn't have any kids of her own from prior marriages to exes Chris Latham and Robert Reynolds, she became the proud stepmom to Garth's kiddos.
Does Garth Brooks live with Trisha Yearwood? ›
The couple – who married in 2005 – have owned a few luxury properties over the years but have called Nashville home since 2015 after relocating from a $3.5 million estate in Oklahoma, where they lived to be closer to Garth's three daughters following his history-making divorce from his first wife, Sandy Mahl.
How did Trisha Yearwood lose weight? ›
She went down from a size 14 to a size 10. “I designed my own plan that's low-fat, low-sugar 90 percent of the time,” the Grammy winner said in an interview with People, adding that she eats her favorite foods the other 10 percent of the time and regularly takes Zumba classes.
Who is Trisha Yearwood married to now? ›
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are one of country music's most beloved power couples. They've been married since 2005, and in a November 2023 interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Brooks opened up about just how much Yearwood means to him.
Which Garth Brooks daughter has a child? ›
August Brooks
August became a parent herself at 19 years old when she welcomed daughter Karalynn in 2013 with husband Chance Michael Russell. Their second daughter, Gwendolyn joined the family in December 2016. Grandpa Garth praised his daughter for being a rockstar mom during an interview with KICKS 105.5 in 2016.
What is Garth Brooks college degree in? ›
A track-and-field scholarship brought Brooks to Oklahoma State University, and it was there that he met guitarist Ty England, with whom he began performing at area nightclubs. Brooks graduated with a degree in advertising in 1984 and moved to Nashville the following year, hoping to break into the music business.
Brooks graduated from Oklahoma State University where he starred on the track and field team in the javelin throw. He later completed his MBA from Oklahoma State and participated in the commencement ceremony on May 6, 2011. Brooks married songwriter Sandy Mahl on May 24, 1986.
Who does Trisha Yearwood's hair? ›
"Special thanks to @goodwillglendastyle for the gorgeous blonde balayage, Ray @wynnlasvegas Salon for the bangin' haircut, and @lypservice for the glam.
Who is the wealthiest country music singer? ›
Known for her iconic voice and larger-than-life personality, Dolly Parton tops the list as the wealthiest country singer.
Who is the richest singer in the world? ›
American rapper Jay-Z is the wealthiest music artist in the world, with Forbes estimating his net worth at $2.5 billion in 2024.
Are Trisha Yearwood and Beth twins? ›
Trisha Yearwood's sister, Beth, has officially moved to Nashville, so they're making the perfect welcome home meal using peaches that are straight out of Beth's new peach orchard!
Did Garth Brooks have a sister? ›
Brooks' half-sister, Betsy Smittle, who died in 2013, was a musician who released her own album Rough Around the Edges (as Betsy) and was part of Brooks' band for some years.
How many grandchildren does Garth Brooks have? ›
The family's middle child has two children making Garth a grandfather for the first time in July 2013. August had daughter Karalynn nine years ago, before welcoming another child in December 2016, named Gwendolyn. Grandmother Sandy spoke about how excited Garth was to become a grandfather.
