小简介
来自美国小镇,歌声感动全国,费丝希尔的成长和爱情故事都是美国梦的实现,人们称她为“国民天后”。翻开美国告示牌(Billboard)杂志单曲榜,谁敢宣称自己的歌曲占了三席?费丝希尔办到了, 这位2000年红遍全美的实力美女在9月同时以“Breathe”、“The Way You Love Me”及“Let's Make Love”三首歌曲占据排行榜:挺立单曲榜48周的亚军曲“Breathe”在抒情榜写下17周冠军纪录 ,肯定是千禧年年度抒情冠军曲 ;“The Way You Love Me”以性感甜美造型二度打入排行榜,被一致看好再为费丝写下佳绩;“Let's Make Love” 则是费丝和乐坛天王老公提姆麦克劳三度对唱的恩爱情歌,夫妇浓浓爱意燃烧人心,再造话题。在此同时,费丝冠军专辑“呼吸”已写下四百万张的惊人销售,过去四张大碟总销量更达1500万张,不过费丝的本事不仅如此。
又有谁2000年先后在超级杯、葛莱美奖、奥斯卡奖、VH1 电视台天后演唱会(Divas Live)领衔主唱,以歌声掳获人心?答案还是费丝希尔,六年来费丝已经拿到 26 座音乐奖项,今年她除了连获葛莱美奖、百事达奖、VH1 时尚流行奖、全美音乐奖、告示牌音乐影带奖提名外,更连续两年蝉联乡村协会音乐奖及 TNN乡村奖年度女歌手的双重肯定,又证明国民天后的非凡实力。
还有谁能成为今年美国百事可乐、知名化妆品牌Cover Girl、通讯公司Alltel广告代言人、再次获选People杂志全球50名最美人物 、成为时尚杂志最爱的封面女郎?仍然是费丝希尔,她是美国NBC电视网Access Hollywood节目选出的2000年娱乐界十大风云人物,费丝的美令人屏息。但最要紧的是一颗歌唱真心意,“当我站在麦克风前那一刻,我告诉自己要发自内心,我就在歌曲中”,就和费丝希尔名字“Faith”一样,情歌因为费丝·希尔而美丽。
One of the biggest female country stars of the '90s and 2000s, Faith Hill also took advantage of the inroads Shania Twain made into pop territory, becoming an enormous crossover success by the end of the millennium. Of course, Hill's movie star good looks certainly helped her cause, and her much-celebrated marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw gave her career an extra kick of glamour and mystique. Hill may not have appealed to country purists, but she had the star power of a diva even before her pop success.
Faith Hill was born Audrey Faith Perry on September 21, 1967, in Jackson, MS, and grew up in the nearby small town of Star. She was singing for her family as young as age three and first performed publicly at a 4-H luncheon when she was seven. Hill spent much of her childhood singing wherever the opportunity arose, influenced primarily by Reba McEntire, and at age 17 formed a band that played local rodeos. At 19, she quit college and moved to Nashville to make it as a singer, first finding work selling T-shirts. During this time, she was married briefly to music executive Dan Hill. Eventually she was hired as a secretary at a music publishing firm, where she was discovered by accident while singing to herself one day. Encouraged by company head Gary Morris, Hill became a demo singer for the firm and also performed professionally as a harmony vocalist behind singer/songwriter/producer Gary Burr, who produced Hill's own demo tape. A Warner Brothers executive caught Burr and Hill's act at a Nashville club, and wound up signing Hill to a solo deal.
Hill released her debut album, Take Me as I Am, in late 1993, with producer Scott Hendricks at the helm. Success wasn't long in coming; the lead single "Wild One" raced up the country charts en route to a four-week run at number one early the next year, making her the first female country singer in 30 years to top the charts for that long with her debut single. The follow-up, a countrified cover of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart," also hit number one, as did the album's title track, and Take Me as I Am wound up selling over three million copies. Hill was set to build on her success right away, but had to undergo surgery on her vocal cords, which delayed the recording of her next album. Nevertheless, the wait wasn't unreasonable, and It Matters to Me appeared in the summer of 1995. The title track became her fourth number one country single, and it was accompanied by a string of Top Ten hits that helped push initial sales of the album past the three million mark. Hill was by now a firmly established country hitmaker, and she continued her active touring schedule by teaming up with Tim McGraw in 1996 for the Spontaneous Combustion Tour. It was an apt name, as Hill married McGraw that October. The couple's first child, daughter Gracie, was born in May of 1997, and not long after, their duet "It's Your Love" — recorded for McGraw's Everywhere album — was burning up the country charts, staying at number one for six weeks.
Hill returned in the spring of 1998 with Faith, which provided the first signs that she was interested in crossing over to pop audiences, even if the still-countrified music often straddled the fence instead of making her ambitions explicit. The single "This Kiss" proved the savvy of her approach; not only did it top the country charts for three weeks, but it also became her first pop hit, climbing to number seven. By the time "This Kiss" had run its course on the charts, Hill had given birth to her second daughter with McGraw, Maggie. If Hill had been a star in the country world, she was now rapidly becoming a superstar, known not just for her music but also her pure celebrity; she also signed an endorsement deal with Cover Girl makeup. Her next two singles, "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me" (another duet with McGraw) and "Let Me Let Go," hit number one country, though they didn't duplicate the pop success of "This Kiss."
Faith, released in 1998, became Hill's biggest-selling album yet, eventually moving over six million copies and reaching the Top Ten on the LP charts; plus, it became crystal clear that Hill held major crossover appeal. Accordingly, she re-entered the studio immediately after her supporting tour and cut Breathe, a full-fledged bid for pop and adult contemporary success. Breathe entered the charts at number one upon its release in late 1999, and its title track became Hill's biggest hit yet; it spent six weeks on top of the country charts and was an even bigger hit on the adult contemporary charts. While it only climbed to number two pop, the single had such staying power that it wound up the biggest hit of the year 2000. The follow-ups were pretty successful in their own right: "The Way You Love Me" and "There You'll Be" both hit the pop Top Ten, with the former topping the country charts and the latter hitting number one AC. Hill also scored a Top Ten country hit with "Let's Make Love," a third duet with McGraw, and the two teamed up for another tour in 2000. Breathe was a bona fide blockbuster, selling over seven million copies in the U.S. and earning her a slew of award nominations. Hill spent much of 2001 taking a break and spending time with Audrey, her third daughter with McGraw.
In 2002, Hill returned to the spotlight with her fifth studio recording, Cry, a three-million seller whose title track netted her the Best Female Vocal Performance Grammy for 2003. Hill took nearly three years to return to recording, but when she released Fireflies in August 2005 it was hailed as one of her finest works. The lead single "Mississippi Girl" (written by John Rich of the hit country duo Big & Rich) hit number one on the country singles chart, and the album reached number one on the album charts. Her Soul2Soul II tour of 2006, which she co-headlined with McGraw, became the highest-grossing country tour of all time.