Fishman Artist // Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks started out with sisters Martie (born Oct. 12, 1969) and Emily Erwin (born Aug. 16, 1972), who grew up attending bluegrass festivals and busking for spare change on Dallas street corners in 1989. With two additional women in the group, they were best known in Texas for drawing in country fans with their Western music and their colorful cowgirl outfits, and sold thousands of independently released albums. Ready for a stylistic change, they asked their lead singer to leave (the other member had already dropped out) and invited Natalie Maines (born Oct. 14, 1974) to front the band.Their major label debut, 1997's Wide Open Spaces, went on to sell 12 million copies, without the benefit of a crossover hit. Traditionalists appreciated Martie's fiddling and Emily's skill on Dobro, banjo and guitar, and young women loved the women's feisty attitude. In 1998, they won the CMA's Horizon award (for new artists) and vocal group. In 1999, the title track was awarded single and video of the year after spending four weeks at No. 1, and they captured their second vocal group award. With Top 10 hits like "I Can Love You Better," "There's Your Trouble" and "You Were Mine," they toured with the all-female Lilith Fair, one of the few country acts to do so. That year, Maines and Martie divorced their husbands, and Emily married the popular Texas country singer Charlie Robison and took his name.
The Chicks' second album, Fly, sold 9 million copies and featured the hits "Ready to Run," "Cowboy Take Me Away" and "Without You." The video of "Goodbye Earl" won a CMA award in 2000, the same year the trio won vocal group, album and entertainer. A hugely successful stadium tour followed, and Fly ultimately spawned six Top 10 singles. Natalie remarried in 2000 but kept her maiden name. Martie followed in 2001 and took her husband's last name, Maguire.
The Grammys also noticed the Texas trio, awarding country album honors to Wide Open Spaces, Fly and 2002's acoustic Home. (They recorded it in Texas while fighting with Sony for a fairer recording contract -- a battle they ultimately won.) They have also earned three trophies for country duo/group, and one for country instrumental performance.
Superstars, renegades, innovators, heroes, villains, and moms - over almost a decade, the Dixie Chicks have grown from a band into a phenomenon.