Hill, Faith (1967– )

US country music artist. She achieved wide success in the country and crossover pop markets during the 1990s. Her debut album Take Me as I Am was released in 1993 and featured the hit single ‘Wild One’. Faith (1998), featuring the single ‘This Kiss’ was her first album to achieve pop success. Breathe (1999), featuring the hit singles ‘Breathe’ and ‘The Way You Love Me’, entered the charts at number one and was a major country and pop success.

Other albums include It Matters to Me (1995), which produced a string of top ten country hits, and Cry (2002). She counts US country singer Reba McEntire among her influences. Her 2002 album Cry was criticized by many country music fans for being too pop, and she returned to a more traditional country sound for her album Fireflies (2005), featuring the single ‘Mississippi Girl’.

She was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and grew up in the small town of Star close by. She started performing publicly as a child and formed a band at the age of 17. She moved to Nashville at age 19 and was discovered while working as a secretary at a music publishing company. She began performing as a harmony vocalist behind songwriter Gary Burr, and was in turn discovered by a Warner Brothers executive while performing with Burr at a Nashville club. Her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw in 1996 further heightened her media exposure. Their duet ‘It's Your Love’, which appeared on his album Everywhere (1997), was number one on the country charts for six weeks, and their Soul2Soul II tour in 2006 was the highest grossing country music tour to date.