Date of Birth

28 December 1982, Jackson, Mississippi, USA

Birth Name

Margaret LeAnn Rimes

Height

5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

LeAnn started singing at age 3, and has sold over 20 million records since. She was born August 28, 1982 in Jackson, Mississippi. By age 7, LeAnn made her stage debut in a Dallas musical production of "A Christmas Carol". Later, she would sing "The Star Spangled Banner" to open Dallas Cowboys football games. By age 11, LeAnn recorded her first album on an independent label only available in local stores in Dallas: "All That" which featured her signature song "Blue". This got the attention of Curb Records. In 1996, 14-year-old LeAnn recorded a major-label album. In 1997, LeAnn released "You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs" which debuted on 3 Billboard Magazine charts at the same time: Pop, Country, and Contemporary Christian (that had never been achieved before by a country singer). That year, LeAnn released "How Do I Live" which would set a record by staying #1 on Billboard Magazine's "Hot 100" chart for 69 weeks. LeAnn starred in the TV-movie Holiday in Your Heart (1997), based on a book which she had co-authored. Capping a great year for the 15-year-old LeAnn, she won an American Music Award, 2 Grammy awards, 3 Academy of Country Music Awards, and 4 Billboard Music Awards. In 1998, LeAnn won a Lone Star Film & Television Special Award for Rising Star Actress. In 1999, LeAnn released a namesake CD, offering her interpretations of 11 Country standards, including "Crazy" and "I Fall to Pieces" (originally recorded by Patsy Cline in 1960). LeAnn made a cameo in Coyote Ugly (2000) (the low budget movie that raked in big bucks) and she also recorded 4 Diane Warren songs, including "Can't Fight the Moonlight", for the movie soundtrack. An amazing career and, since she is only 18, I am sure there will have to be mini-bio updates in the future.

Trivia

• Was a one time winner on Star Search (1983) in 1990, in the junior vocalist competition.
• chosen as one of Teen People Magazine's "21 Hottest Stars Under 21" [1999]
• In May 2000, filed a lawsuit against her father, Wilbur, and his partner and LeAnn's co-manager alleging that they stole more than $7 million of her earnings.
• Diagnosed as suffering from Epstein-Barr virus. [September 2000]
• LeAnn Rimes is reportedly planning to get married on February 23. Rimes met dancer Dean Sheremet last May, when they performed at the Academy Of Country Music Awards in Nashville. The wedding is to take place in Dallas, according to reports. It was initially pencilled in for Santa Barbara, California, but Rimes changed the location to Dallas so that her ill grandfather could walk her down the aisle.
• December 14, 2001 - Announced engagement to actor Dean Sheremet at Elton John's "The Concert" for the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
• won the 1997 Grammy awards for best new artist & best female country vocalist.
• When then 14-year-old Rimes was voted Best New Artist of 1997 at the Grammy Awards, she became the youngest person to win the award.
• Lived for quite a while in Garland, Texas at an apartment complex called Pecan Knoll.
• Ranked #47 in VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid Stars"
• By age 2, she learned to tap dance; by age 5 she was winning talent competitions; by age 7 she had cut her first album, sold at shows; and by age 14, she was the youngest artist to be nominated for the Country Music Awards.
• Friends with actor Jensen Ackles.
• Ranked as #50 in FHM's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement. (2005)
• Turned down the role of "Grace" in The Horse Whisperer (1998), a move which she later admitted regretting.
• She is a cousin to both former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and actress Katherine Connella.
• Taylor Swift credited LeAnn Rimes as her main influence into a country music career. Swift stated on The Oprah Winfrey Show (1986) that she wanted to be a country singer after attending Rimes' concert.
• At the start of Rimes' singing career, the media often remarked that her rich vocals sounded like a "young Patsy Cline", and she was often nicknamed "The Next Patsy Cline" with the popularity of her hit single "Blue", a song originally intended for Cline to re-record when the original recording of the song by Bill Mack did not become a hit. ("Blue" was written in 1956 by Bill Mack, who also sung and released it in 1958 as his own single backed with "Faded Rose"; his recording received limited airplay but it did not become a hit. Contrary to claims, Cline was not the inspiration for the song. According to Mack in a 2011 interview for DFW.com, he wrote "Blue" in 1956 while strumming his guitar and the words and lyrics just came to him; his wife thought it sounded great so he recorded it as his 1958 single. Mack wanted "Blue" to be re-recorded by Cline in an effort to make the song a hit, but she had died in a plane crash in 1963. However, Rimes was not the first singer to record "Blue"; aside from Mack, "Blue" was previously recorded by at least four more artists prior to Rimes: Kenny Roberts, Kathryn Pitt, Polly Stephens and Roy Drusky. Rimes cover of "Blue" used the Polly Stephens rendition.) Rimes later covered several of Cline's hits on her self-titled album "LeAnn Rimes".
• LeAnn has 4 tattoos. One on her left wrist that says 'Trust', one on her right hip (Still I Rise) and one on her lower back(LovE) symbolizing her relationship with boyfriend Eddie Cibrian, and one of a feather on her torso (which she documented on her reality show) to celebrate the end of her long-time recording contract.
• Engaged to Eddie Cibrian [December 27, 2010].
• Release of the book, "LeAnn Rimes" by Cathy Alter Zymet. [1999]
• Release of her book, "Holiday in Your Heart: A Novel". [1997]
• Release of her book, "What I Cannot Change" by LeAnn with Darrel Brown. [2009]
• Started traveling and performing at age 13 and essentially "grew up in a tour bus" surrounded by as many as 67 personnel by the time she turned 16.
• First recorded the Bill Mack song "Blue" at age 11, but when her record label had her re-record it at age 13, they inadvertently released the earlier rendition.
• She is broached in Barenaked Ladies' "One Week.".
• Her dog Evie died in a coyote attack on February 7, 2019.

Quotes

• "I'm not an overnight success, I've been at this since I was 6." (On winning her Best New Artist Grammy at age 14 in 1997)
• Me and my husband don't really do the drugs and rock'n'roll thing. We don't do crazy stuff like that. We're pretty mellow people.
• I was raised as a Southern woman so I am polite, have great manners and know how to handle myself as a woman. But I'm no goody two-shoes, definitely not. I have fun when I want to have fun.
• I'm very happy now; I'm married, I have wonderful friends, my dad and I have a great relationship. I feel better than I ever have. There was a lot more pressure when I was 14 - a lot more was expected of me.
• I grew up in a really musical family and I think I was just blessed with a gift. I kind of knew this was what I was supposed to do in life, with a little help from my mum and dad, who were never pushy parents.