All of country music’s biggest stars were in Nashville last night for the 43rd Annual Country Music Awards. Hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley were energetic and kept the crowd going. Carrie changed 10 times and performed during the awards show. The always gracious Taylor Swift couldn’t believe she won Entertainer of the Year, and also performed along with Reba McEntire, Martina McBride and other country divas. It was definitely ladies night!
Posts Tagged ‘martina mcbride’
PHOTOS: Country Music’s Biggest Night Goes Off Without a Hitch
November 12th, 2009 / Author: Brittany Talarico
Carrie, Taylor, Reba, Martina Share Guide to Nashville
November 11th, 2009 / Author: Valerie Nome
Country’s biggest divas including Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire and Martina McBride are in Nashville for the CMA Awards, and offer suggestions about how to best spend time in Music City. Read more »
Stars Share Halloween Memories, Plans
October 30th, 2009 / Author: Valerie Nome
While Hugh Jackman is suiting up daughter Ava in her chocolate chip muffin costume just in time for trick-or-treat, Paris Hilton is making a serious decision.
PHOTOS: Paula, Liza and the VH1 Divas Do Brooklyn
September 18th, 2009 / Author: OK! Staff
Legendary ladies of the past and the future joined forces at last night’s VH1 Divas 2009 concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House. A sleek and spunky Paula Abdul hosted the event, performing a medley of her greatest hits at the start of the show and later doing a hilarious sendup of her American Idol replacement, Ellen DeGeneres.
Red Carpet Confidential: At Home With Martina McBride
August 31st, 2009 / Author: Valerie Nome
Martina McBride sings her heart out during CMA Music Festival: Country’s Night To Rock airing tonight on ABC.
The mom of three, who has been married to hubby John since 1989, takes me on a tour of her Nashville-area home.
Martina McBride Shares Recipe for Happiness
March 23rd, 2009
It’s a big week for Martina McBride, whose tenth album Shine is out Tuesday.
The country singer best known for her powerhouse hits including This One’s For The Girls, Love’s The Only House, Wild Angels and My Baby Loves Me credits the song Sunny Side Up as this album’s most personal.
“I like it because sometimes you have to wake up in the morning and choose to be happy,” the Kansas-born country singer, 42, tells me. “You have that choice to see the good things in the day and not all the bad things.”
What’s the biggest lesson she’s learned since she started out in 1992?
“It’s important to trust your instincts. I feel like I’ve always had a pretty good handle on that, but every once in awhile I get reminded when I get talked into something, and I think ‘I should’ve just trusted my instincts.’”
One cause that is close to her heart is assisting those suffering from domestic violence through her charity work. Her 1993 tune Independence Day tells the tale of a woman escaping the wrath of abuse. What advice would she give someone in that circumstance, which has received mega media attention due to the Rihanna/Chris Brown situation?
“I think they need to find help, first of all. I’m not an authority into how to give advice or to tell people how to get out of those relationships, but there are people who are. There are shelters, there are hotlines, there are people they can reach out to to get the best advice and get guidance on how to get out of the situation.”
Thankfully, the star, who is mom to daughters Delaney, 14, Emma, 10, and Ava, 3, with hubby of twenty years John, doesn’t have a personal story about helping with this cause.
“For me, it’s a humanitarian thing. I care about women and children and as a fellow human being. I don’t think it’s right for any woman or child to be hurt. I think it’s important to do what I can to try to put a stop to that kind of violence.”
The singer who once worked at Dairy Queen now lives a very comfortable life. She says wealth has not impacted her personality.
“I don’t think it changed me. I’m still the same person that I was before. I think the way you were raised has a lot to do with it. It’s made it easier for me to help people, so that’s good.”
What makes Martina shine?
“Just being happy. Sometimes you have to decide to be happy. Every day, I think we have a choice — we can get up, and if you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, you can go with that, or you can try to do things to turn your day around. When you’re happy and you’re truly content, you have a lot of good, positive energy to put out there.”
Pick up the OK! on newsstands now to find out about Martina’s family, friendship with Faith Hill and connection to the Jonas Brothers. The cover line is Angelina Jolie/Katie Holmes/Jennifer Aniston/“The Truth About Which Stars Are Really Pregnant.”
Buy It Or Burn It — Daily Edition!
March 12th, 2009
Stars Remember Best Holiday Gifts
December 25th, 2008
With Christmas in full swing, everyone loves to show off their presents. So, what are the best gifts the stars have received? (Psst. They aren’t what you’d expect!)
“It probably was my bag,” Rihanna, who is dating Chris Brown, tells me. “I had a pink bag. The flap was a dog face with hair and stuff, but that always sticks out in my head. Maybe that’s the best one.”
Ne-Yo says, “An uncle of mine gave me a box with nothing in it one year. He really had me thinking for a good six hours that I didn’t get anything, and then later on that night, we went over to his house and he had a bicycle for me. He let me cry and everything. ‘Sorry – you shouldn’t have been bad this year.’ All right.”
Martina McBride says, “I got a puppy one year named Jingle Bells. I don’t think you can beat getting a puppy for Christmas when you’re six years old. That was my best.”
Reba McEntire tells me, “My little sister gave me a pair of my basketball shoes that I wore in high school that she found in our old closet at home. She wrapped them up and gave them to me, and I sat there and cried.”
Julianne Hough’s boyfriend Chuck Wicks says, “I got a nice letter from my dad one time. He described our relationship. Me and my dad are good friends, and anytime you get a letter from your mom or dad that says ‘hey, I love you and you’re my son,’ it was really in-detail things that we experienced growing up. Playing baseball with him in the backyard and football and sports. He’s such a big supporter of what I’m doing – and so is my mom – but I got a letter from him one Christmas, and I’ll never forget that.”
Cody Linley says, “Best Christmas gift was an Emmitt Smith jersey from 1997 because I wore it every single day after that. It was the first time I ever went to a Dallas Cowboys game, and my stepbrother Scott – who is 18 like me – got a Deion Sanders jersey that was just like it. I just have a lot of close memories and of my stepdad Brian. I actually still have that jersey, and the sad thing is, it still fits. It was so big on me at the time – it was.”
“Right after Idol, Ford gave me my mustang, which I got semilate, but it was for Christmas,” Diana DeGarmo tells me. “I have a black-and-pink mustang, and she’s my baby. I haven’t even had her hit 10,000 miles with her, so she’s actually here with me in Nashville. I towed her up from Atlanta. That was officially the best Christmas gift ever-ever.”
Why was it so important?
“Well, as a kid – my mom and I never drove new cars,” Diana continues. “We always drove beaters and things that had four hundred thousand miles on them and would fall apart. That was my very first new car I ever got to sit in and drive. At the time, to be 17 with a brand-new car, it was ridiculous.”
Jake Owen says, “It was a journal because it was one of the most thoughtful things I was ever given. Christmas seems to be – everybody tries to outdo and get big gifts. And I think the person that gave me the journal, it meant a lot, and me being a writer, they knew that. It was something that was really special. I was like ‘wow, this is something I can use every single day.’ And it’s all about giving.”
Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott tells me, “When I was little and I got a Barbie car for Christmas, that was my favorite thing ever. I used the fire out of it. I drove it till it wouldn’t go anymore. That’s probably my most memorable growing up. Lately, it’s just been clothes and a pair of Uggs.”
Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild says the best Christmas gift she’s ever received is her husband. “He’s the best gift in my life,” she tells me.
Darius Rucker tells me, “When I was nine or ten, I got my first acoustic guitar. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, and I just remember thinking how great it was that my mom had gotten me a guitar. That was pretty big.”
Jason Aldean seconds that one. “Best Christmas gift I ever received was probably a guitar,” he says. “I got a guitar when I was about 13 years old, and that started this whole craziness of me pursuing this career in music. I definitely think that that was probably the best gift I ever got, and definitely the one that helped me get to this point.”
Brody Jenner shares his biggest holiday blunder.
“Maybe not appreciating a gift when I should have when I was really little, maybe that was embarrassing. But I feel like Christmas is a time to be yourself no matter what happens. Your family and you – there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Perhaps he received a not-so-hot gift? Kelsey Grammer once gave his wife Camille 18 garbage cans – one for each room in their new home. “It was a special, extra-thoughtful gift. Practical, and also very artsy.” Camille adds, “They were attractive.” Kelsey says, “Some were, some weren’t.”
Happy holidays, everyone!
Backstage With Lady Antebellum
April 22nd, 2008Gone Country’s Maureen McCormick and Diana DeGarmo are dancing in the front row of the Lady Antebellum performance during the CMT Awards Welcome Party held at Avenue in Nashville.
As partygoers nosh on salad, beef tenderloin, garlic mashed potatoes, chicken roulade and butternut squash risotto, they enjoy the sounds of country’s hottest new trio, comprised of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood.
The band has a lot to celebrate. Their single, Love Don’t Live Here Anymore, is currently #11 on the country charts, and their album is hot off the presses.
But who is Lady Antebellum, and why is there such buzz?
Turns out, Hillary is the daughter of country singer Linda Davis, who recorded a duet with Reba McEntire called Does He Love You. Charles, of course, is the younger brother of Katherine Heigl’s Amazing hubby Josh Kelley.
Backstage at the venue, Charles is quick to add that most of the songs on their self-titled album were recorded at Josh’s house. Are the brothers competitive?
“With sports maybe, but with music we’ve always been really supportive,” Charles tells me. “He’s actually the reason I got back into music. He had moved to Nashville three years ago and talked me into moving down and giving music a second chance. He’s been great.”
The tall blond admits he and girlfriend Cassie McConnell double-date with Josh and his Grey’s Anatomy star wife. What do they do? “Listen to Lady Antebellum records the whole time,” he chuckles.
Ah, fate has its way of working itself out. In fact, Cassie almost didn’t get the chance to land Charles because he had his eye on the band’s brunette bombshell Hillary. Hillary made the first move on Charles when they met at Nashville club Twelfth and Porter in 2006. She approached him as a fan – and singer-songwriter.
“Some people think that she and I are an item, but we’re not,” Charles admits. “Initially when I had her come over and write songs, I did try to get a date out of it. That was my fault. But we never did. I’m waiting for my time to strike.”
Hillary laughs, “Charles and I are not dating, Dave and I are not dating and Charles and Dave are not dating.”
While Hillary is single and mingling, Dave has set his sights on tourmate Carrie Underwood. (The band has also toured with Martina McBride, Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney.)
“She’s great,” he blushes. “We played the Opry with her a couple weeks ago and she actually got invited to be a member of the Opry that night. She’s a beautiful woman – I’d be lying if I said she wasn’t. She’s my celebrity crush. When I watched her on American Idol, I thought she was a really genuine person and really real, but I think she’s gorgeous and a real doll. A real down-home person.”
Speaking of homes, the group’s name is inspired by the Gone With The Wind-style residences used during a photo shoot.
“We were in front of those old antebellum homes with the big, wide columns and we were looking back through the photos,” Charles says.
Dave adds, “At the time we were looking for a name, that word came out and it sounded really cool and confusing. We threw Lady in front of it and it stuck after that.”
For now, their home is on the stage. Tonight’s performance gets a major boost from Woman Scorned, which is a Before He Cheats-style bonus track on their album.
“I’d just gotten wronged by a boy and I just had to get revenge,” Hillary says. “I can pull from personal experience to get the anger up.”
Cut! It’s a wrap – until tomorrow.
