In Nashville, Hill worked as a receptionist at a music publishing company
before landing a job packaging fan merchandise for her idol, country diva
Reba McEntire. She married the songwriter and music publishing executive
Daniel Hill in 1988. Hill's professional breakthrough came when she was
spotted by Martha Sharp, a talent scout from the Warner/Reprise recording
company, while singing back-up for Gary Burr in the Bluebird Café, a
popular Nashville bar. Her debut album, Take Me As I Am, was released in
1993 to immediate success. The album's first single, "Wild One," reached No.
1 on the Billboard country music chart and stayed there for four weeks,
followed by the second single, a version of Janis Joplin's classic "Piece of
My Heart." Take Me As I Am went on to reach triple platinum status.
Hill's rise to country stardom coincided with a good deal of upheaval in her
personal life. In 1990, she had begun a search for her birth mother, whom
she eventually met in 1993. Hill has declined to publicly name her birth
mother in order to protect her privacy, but has remained in contact with her
. On a sadder note, her marriage to Daniel Hill ended in divorce in 1994.
Country Star
Hill spent much of 1994 touring as an opening act for such respected country
artists as McEntire, Alan Jackson, and Brooks & Dunn. She won numerous
honors that year, including Best Female Country Artist from Billboard and
Performance magazines and Favorite New Female Artist from the Academy of
Country Music. Her second album, It Matters to Me (1995), surged to the top
of the charts and cemented Hill's popularity among country fans. The title
single remained the top-selling country single for the first six months of
1996.
In the spring of 1996, Hill began a joint tour, dubbed the Spontaneous
Combustion tour, with country superstar Tim McGraw. At the time, McGraw had
recently broken an engagement to Kristine Donahue, and Hill was engaged to
Scott Hendricks, a record producer who had helmed her first two albums.
Nonetheless, sparks flew, and the two began a romantic relationship. They
married on October 6, 1996, immediately becoming country music's most
visible couple. Hill and McGraw have three daughters, Audrey Caroline,
Gracie Katherine and Maggie Elizabeth.
