March 28: "The Queen of Country," Reba McEntire is 56 today.

Reba Nell McEntire was born near Kiowa, Oklahoma. Her father and grandfather were champion steer ropers and her mother originally had plans to become a country music artist but became a schoolteacher instead.

Her mother did teach her children how to sing. On car rides home from her father's rodeo trips, the McEntire siblings were taught songs and learned their own harmonies, eventually forming a vocal group called the "Singing McEntires." Reba, along with brother Pake and sister Susie performed on local radio shows and at rodeos.

As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma City, which caught the attention of country artist Red Steagall. He brought her to Nashville, Tennessee, where she eventually signed a contract with Mercury Records in 1975. She released her first solo album in 1977 and released five additional studio albums under the label until 1983.

Signing with MCA Nashville Records, McEntire took creative control over her second MCA album, My Kind of Country in 1984, which had a more traditional country sound and produced two number one singles: "How Blue" and "Somebody Should Leave." The album brought her breakthrough success, bringing her a series of successful albums and number one singles in the 1980s and 1990s.

McEntire has since released 26 studio albums, acquired 35 #1 singles, and 28 albums have been certified Gold, Platinum or Multi-Platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA.)

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In the early 1990s, McEntire branched into film starting with 1990's Tremors. She has since starred in the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun and starred in her television sitcom, Reba (2001–2007) for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series–Musical or Comedy.

Reba has been called "The Queen of Country," having sold 41 million records in the United States and more than 56 million worldwide. In the United States, she ranks as both the seventh best-selling female artist in all genres and the seventh best-selling country artist, and the second best-selling female country artist of all time, behind Shania Twain.

McEntire holds the record for the most Academy of Country Music Top Female Vocalist Awards (seven), and American Music Awards for Favorite Country Female Artist (twelve), and is tied with Martina McBride for most Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year Awards (four) - though Reba does have the distinction of winning the award four times consecutively.

Reba also is one of only two women in country music history to have attained a number one hit in four different decades, and the only female to achieve solo number ones across four decades.

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March 28: Lady Gaga, "Born This Way," "Telephone," Paparazzi" is 25 today.

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Do You Know ...
Where her stage name Lady Gaga came from?

Music producer Rob Fusari, who helped her write some of her earlier songs, compared some of her vocal harmonies to that of Freddie Mercury.

Fusari helped create it after the Freddie Mercury/ Queen song "Radio Ga Ga." Gaga was in the process of trying to come up with a stage name when she received a text message from Fusari that read "Lady Gaga." She loved it and has used it ever since.

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Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in New York City, Lady Gaga has already won two Grammy Awards, amongst twelve nominations; two Guinness World Records; and sales of over fifteen million albums and fifty-one million singles worldwide. Billboard named her as the Artist of the Year in 2010 and ranked her as the 73rd Artist of the 2000s decade.

She learned to play piano from the age of four, went on to write her first piano ballad at 13 and began performing at open mike nights by age 14An avid thespian in high school musicals, Gaga portrayed lead roles as Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and Philia in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  She has described her academic life in high school as "very dedicated, very studious, very disciplined."

At age 17, Gaga gained early admission to the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and lived in a NYU dorm on 11th Street. There she studied music and improved her songwriting skills by composing essays and analytical papers focusing on topics such as art, religion, social issues and politics. By the second semester of her sophomore year, she withdrew from the school to focus on her musical career.

 

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She had initially signed with Def Jam Recordings at the age of 19, but dropped by the label after only three months. Shortly after, her former management company introduced her to songwriter and producer RedOne, whom they also managed. The first song she produced with RedOne was "Boys Boys Boys," a play on Mötley Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls" and AC/DC's "T.N.T."

She recorded a couple of songs with hip-hop singer Grandmaster Melle Mel for an audio book accompanying the children's book The Portal in the Park by Cricket Casey. She also started the Stefani Germanotta Band with  friends from NYU. They recorded an extended play of their ballads at a studio underneath a liquor store in New Jersey, becoming a local fixture at the downtown Lower East Side club scene.

Gaga quickly captured the public's attention after the release of her debut studio album The Fame (2008), featuring the singles "Just Dance" and "Poker Face." The album reached number one on the record charts of six countries, topped the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart while also peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S.

Her follow-up album 2009's The Fame Monster, produced two more top international singles, "Bad Romance" and "Telephone." Because of this success, Lady Gaga embarked on her second global headlining concert tour, "The Monster Ball Tour," on the heels of her first, "The Fame Ball Tour." (Well-recognized for her unconventionality, her performance on "The Monster Ball Tour" included a "blood soaked" scene which riled a number of people in England.)

In 2010, Lady Gaga recoreded a duet with Beyonce, entitled "Telephone." (SEE below.)

Her next studio album, Born This Way, is scheduled for release in 2011.

Inspired by glam rock artists like David Bowie and Queen, as well as pop singers such as Madonna and Michael Jackson, Gaga is well-recognized for her unique sense of style as a recording artist, performer, in fashion, and in music videos.

Gaga has been included in Time magazine's annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world as well as Forbes' list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world.

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