You might recognize Trisha Yearwood's name from her award-winning country hit. But her
stellar career certainly didn't happen overnight. She spent years hustling on her music — and
struggling to find her true love. From small town girl to country music superstar, here's
why Trisha Yearwood is seriously turning heads.
Trisha Yearwood hails from the small farm town of Monticello, Georgia, and was a self-proclaimed
"nerd" who had a passion for music from the time she was 5 years old. According to Country
Living, Yearwood's mother was a great cook, and her father was a banker who also raised
cattle, hogs, and chicken on the family farm. Meanwhile, little Trisha had dreams of a career
in music. She said at a Country Music Hall of Fame Q&A,
"Music, from the time I was probably about five years old, was my obsession. I was going
to say passion, but I really was obsessed; I really didn't want to do anything else."
"I mean, that's 'Every Girl.' Right there. That's me in the fifth grade."
At 15 years old, Yearwood wanted to drop out of school to go get herself a record deal,
but her parents wouldn't allow it. She went on to graduate from high school and continued
with her studies.
Because Yearwood was so close to her family growing up, she decided to go to school nearby
at the University of Georgia, where she initially majored in business. But during her junior
year, Yearwood transferred to Belmont University's business administration program in Nashville,
where other notable musicians had graduated, including Brad Paisley and Steven Curtis Chapman.
She said at the Country Music Hall of Fame,
"I really just wanted to be in Nashville. I felt like this was the place where the music
I wanted to make was being made. So it was [me] kind of making a deal with my parents
that I would finish college if I could move to Nashville."
"When you're young, you believe you can do anything."
Yearwood began her career in music as an intern with MTM Records. There, she was able to gain
enough exposure that she became a demo singer, and Garth Brooks, who was relatively unknown
at the time, hired her as a backup vocalist. Yearwood went on to be a featured singer on
Brooks' debut album, Garth Brooks, in 1989. She also got a job working as a receptionist
at a record label. But she said in a Q&A,
"I started figuring out that if I didn't get aggressive about it, I'd get to be the receptionist
forever."
Trisha quickly decided that it was time to start networking, calling writers, and taking
whatever singing gigs she could get. And it appeared she might have been mixing business
with pleasure…
In 1987, Yearwood married her first husband, music producer Chris Latham. At the time,
Yearwood was in her 20s and enrolled in college. And she was still a fledgling artist with
a dream of hitting it big.
While neither Yearwood nor Latham have publicly spoken out about their time together, they
did stick with each other for years. According to Heavy, Latham worked behind the scenes
in music production for years, but he's best known for his attachment to Yearwood. The
two would ultimately divorce by 1992.
After snagging a deal with record label MCA in 1990, Yearwood released her self-titled
debut album in 1991, right around the time that she and Latham filed for divorce. Notably,
her now-husband Garth Brooks, whom she met during this chapter of her life, helped her
make her album a success. Trisha told the L.A. Times in 1992,
"I'm so indebted to Garth, and we're still buddies, but I can't have people saying Trisha
can't do it without Garth, and Trisha can't stand alone. Well, I just have to go out and
show 'em all what Trisha's really made of."
And that's exactly what she did. Her song "She's in Love with the Boy" set the precedent
for her decade of hit singles, such as "XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl)," "Thinkin' About
You," "Believe Me Baby (I Lied)," and "A Perfect Love."
"My career that I had been waiting for, for 25 years to happen, when it kicked off, it
was crazy. And it was like holding on to a runaway train."
Yearwood was clearly bursting with talent from the start, but no one was expecting just
how far she'd rise. She went on to become the first female country artist in history
to ever sell a million copies of her debut album, according to All Music. Later on, she
became the first female country artist to ever sell two million copies of a debut album,
as well. Additionally, both her debut record and her 1992 follow-up, Hearts in Armor, went
platinum.
"There wasn't another female artist who'd had a debut single go to Number 1 since, I
think, maybe, I think it was Donna Fargo like 20 years earlier."
Today's top-selling country artists like Carrie Underwood, Linda Ronstadt, Reba McEntire,
and Taylor Swift have sold tens of millions of albums, according to Cat Country 96. But
back in the '90s when country music was still very much a male-dominated industry, Yearwood's
one- and two-million copy sales records were the numbers to beat.
In '94, Yearwood married a second time to Robert Reynolds, a bassist and singer for
the band, The Mavericks. Notably, he was allegedly fired from the group because of an addiction,
according to Heavy, and, in '99, the Associated Press reported that he and Yearwood divorced
because of, quote, "irreconcilable differences." But while it was a relatively short pairing,
it took some time for Yearwood to forgive herself for letting go of a second marriage.
She explained in an article for Good Housekeeping,
"One turning point came when I was finally able to forgive myself for being divorced.
Divorce is so common and accepted in America that beating myself up over it may sound ridiculous.
But I was raised to believe that divorce wasn't an option; to me, divorce equaled failure."
Yearwood claimed that she wasn't able to break through that mindset until she married Garth
Brooks, which would be her most lasting relationship yet.
Yearwood and Brooks had been friends for quite a long time before they finally took it to
the next level and got married in 2005. Trisha explained in an interview with SheKnows that
the two knew each other for many years before she ever even went on a date with him. And
it's because of their solid friendship that she believes their relationship works so well.
She said,
"I think we have a very strong friendship, which is a solid base, and I think that’s
really important because, you know, I’m madly in love with him, but sometimes I get
mad at him. But he’s always my best friend. I think that’s one of the really big keys.
And also humor! We laugh a lot."
In an exclusive interview with WBUR, Yearwood said that she and Brooks understand each other
thanks to their shared passion for country music. She claims there's an inevitable advantage
to being married to another country music star, in that they can talk about their careers
as well as the desires of their souls. She said,
"I think that the advantage to being married to someone who does what you do is to be able
to talk about what you do for a living and also to have kind of an unspoken understanding
of the drive and the need and the desire that feeds your soul [as to] why you really feel
not even like you made a choice to do this, but that you're called to do it.”
Without having had any biological children of her own, these days Yearwood calls herself
a "bonus mom" instead of a "stepmom" to Garth Brooks' three daughters. Apparently, before
she ever took on her new duties, she admitted she had never even babysat anyone before.
She told Wendy Williams,
"When I got married to Garth, I had a dog, and he had three girls, so it was a whole
different thing for me to come into."
Trisha also revealed that she hated the term "stepmom" because of a connotation she perceives
it to have, and when Jada Pinkett Smith once called her a "bonus mom," she decided on that
name for herself, instead.
"'Stepmom' has all those, you know, wicked connotations, you know."
With Brooks' help and advice, Yearwood learned how to be in his daughters' lives without
trying to be their mom or their best friend. She explained to actress Marlo Thomas, in
an interview,
"I'm a third voice, I'm a third parent in their lives."
While fans already knew Yearwood as a country star who can light up the stage, they quickly
found out she's also cooking with fire in the kitchen. In fact, she published her first
cookbook in 2008, called Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen: Recipes from My Family
to Yours. In it, she reveals how to whip up everything from chicken tortilla soup to banana
pudding.
"Definitely need more whipped cream. Definitely. And it looks good with our outfits. It does,
look at that!"
She went on to publish a second cookbook titled Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood: Stories
and Recipes to Share with Family and Friends. In this New York Times bestseller, Yearwood
shares recipes and stories of picnics at the beach, holiday gatherings with her family
and friends, and more. And, in her third cookbook, Trisha's Table: My Feel-Good Favorites for
a Balanced Life, Yearwood released more health-forward recipes that certainly didn't sacrifice taste,
think vegetarian smashed sweet pea burgers and chicken tortilla casseroles.
For fans that have cooked their way through all of her recipes already, in a 2020 Facebook
Live video, Yearwood teased an upcoming fourth installment, so get your tastebuds ready.
Yearwood isn't just limiting herself to focusing on her own endeavors. She also likes to get
involved in community work. And she and Garth work quite closely with Habitat for Humanity,
constructing homes for those in need. Trisha told Parade that she even helped to launch
Habitat for Humanity's National Women Build Week. Yearwood was also involved in a number
of other builds over the years with the organization. The first time she picked up a hammer, she
said that she fell in love with the work, adding,
"I think traditionally and stereotypically construction seems like a man’s sport and
we wanted to encourage a lot more women to do it.”
Both she and Garth were raised to value being charitable toward people, and she says that
it's not about being celebrities with money but, instead, it's about a quote "responsibility…to
help others."
"It's such an honor for us to be here. We get thanked, but we're like, no, we should
be thanking everybody 'cause we really do get a lot out of this week."
Yearwood may be recognized for her top hits in country music, but she's also becoming
ever more known for her cooking skills. And she landed her own cooking show, Trisha's
Southern Kitchen, on Food Network in 2012. On the show, Yearwood welcomes viewers into
her home to share some of her favorite family recipes and to show off her genuine Southern
hospitality.
Trisha decided to start her own series that featured her family and friends so that it
wasn't just what she called "another boring recipe show." Instead, Trisha wanted a series
that was fun and real, where she could interact with others and be herself. So she and her
friends swap stories and have some laughs, and then just happen to make an incredible
meal together.
"Alexa, play the new Trisha Yearwood album. Here's the latest album by Trisha Yearwood,
"Every Girl," on Amazon Music. Yesss!"
In 2019, after an extended break from music, Yearwood released her album Every Girl. Before
the launch of the record, she'd enjoyed a long hiatus because she thought that taking
a step back was important. She had told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 2005,
"I don't think it would have been so good if I'd always been there. It's like they can't
miss you if you don't go away."
Fortunately, Every Girl quickly found its audience, and that led to her going on tour.
While she said she was having fun getting back on the circuit, Trisha told SheKnows
that while touring in her mid-50s, she was busier than she'd ever been during her whole
career. She noted that the purpose behind the album was finding songs that she really
vibed with, since, other than a Christmas album with Garth, and a collaboration with
Williams Sonoma, she hadn't put out a record since 2007.
In an interview with PopCulture, Yearwood revealed that she's open to whatever the future
holds for her, adding,
"I have never been the 'where do you see yourself in five years' person. I've always been…open
to whatever opportunities come."
Yearwood said that, while she knew she always wanted to do music, most of her success has
come from rather unexpected opportunities. She also added that she's at a stage in her
life and career in which she has the, quote, "luxury" to do what she wants. So it looks
like whatever fans see Trisha do next, her heart will be totally in it.
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