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Background:
One-third of the famous country group Dixie Chicks, singer Natalie Maines enjoyed the band’s huge success with the album Home (2002), which garnered various awards, including four Grammy Awards and an American Music Award. Their success began with the quadruple platinum Wide Open Spaces (1998, won two Grammy Awards and two Country Music Association Awards). Maines and the Chicks immediately swept up numerous Best Group awards also. They reaped Grammy Awards for their studio album Fly (1999, won two Grammys, also netted two Country Music Association Awards and an Academy of Country Music Award) and their recorded live performance Top of the World Tour: Live (2003).
Maines was notorious for her political statement in 2003, where during a concert in London, she stated her embarrassment that President George W. Bush was from her home state of Texas. The sentence triggered the anger of country music fans. Although she issued an apology, she and the Chicks later returned to their original point of view by saying the president did not deserve any apology. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph on June 15, 2006, she went on to say, “The entire country may disagree with me, but I don’t understand the necessity for patriotism. Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country... I don’t see why people care about patriotism.”
The ex-wife of Michael Tarabay (1997-1999) is now married to actor Adrian Pasdar (since 2000). Maines and Pasdar have two sons.
Waitress
Childhood and Family:
Born on October 14, 1974, in Lubbock, Texas, Natalie Louise Maines is the first daughter of two to country musician/producer Lloyd Maines (born on June 28, 1951) and Tina Maines. Inheriting her father’s musical flair, three-year old Natalie began singing.
She studied at Lubbock High School, where she became a cheerleader and a member of a short-lived band. For her musical talent, Natalie attended the Berkely College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, on a vocal scholarship. Later, she received an alumnus award from the college even though she never finished her studies there. Natalie, who briefly became a DJ while in college, was once employed as an Italian restaurant waitress before launching her singing career with the Dixie Chicks.
On May 9, 1997, Natalie tied the knot with Michael Tarabay, but the marriage ended in divorce in January 1999. A year later, she married actor Adrian Pasdar (born on April 30, 1965), on June 24, 2000. From her second marriage, Natalie has two sons, Jackson Slade Pasdar (born on March 15, 2001) and Beckett Finn Pasdar (born on July 14, 2004).
Fly
Career:
In 1995, Natalie Maines’ voice was heard as a background vocal for Pat Green’s debut album, Dancehall Dreamer. Afterward, she joined the country music group Dixie Chicks, formed by sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, as their lead singer. Occasionally, she played the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass, papoose, and omnichord for the group. Meanwhile, Maines re-teamed with Pat Green to sing backup for two songs featured in the album George’s Bar (1997).
With the Dixie Chicks, Maines immediately enjoyed success with their major label debut album, Wide Open Spaces (1998), which spawned the top ten hits “I Can Love You Better," “There’s Your Trouble” and the title track. Besides earning quadruple platinum status, the recording also won two Grammys and two Country Music Association awards. The Dixie Chicks also began collecting Best Group awards from the Country Music Association, Academy of Country Music, American Music awards and many others. Maines’ skyrocketing fame brought her to the small screen, in which she voiced Violetta in an episode of the animated series “King of the Hill” (1999).
The victory was soon followed by the album Fly (1999), in which the Chicks broke the charts with the singles “Ready to Run” and “Goodbye Earl.” The studio album was later given two Grammys, two Country Music Association awards and an Academy of Country Music award. Outside the band, Maines sang a duet with Charlie Robison for the song “The Wedding Song,” from Robison’s album Step Right Up (2001), as well as contributed her vocals to Stevie Nicks’ “Too Far From Texas,” featured in Nicks’ Trouble in Shangri-La (2001). In addition, she became the background vocalist in “Abilene,” from Sheryl Crow’s album C’mon C’mon (2002).
The album Home (2002) enhanced the Chicks’ reputation in the country music scene with the chart-burning “Landslide,” “Long Time Gone,” “Lil’ Jack Slade” and “Travelin’ Soldier.” Before long, four Grammys, an American Music award and a CMT Flameworthy Video Visionary award were handed to the trio. The same year, Maines made her first acting performance as Fiona/Kmoodj in the family movie Grand Champion (2002), directed by Barry Tubb, and appeared as herself in an episode of the reality series “Trading Spaces” (2002).
Maines, who raised controversy with her remarks about President Bush, took home another Grammy for Dixie Chicks’ recorded live performance in Top of the World Tour: Live (2003). She next sang background vocals in “El Cerrito Place” from Charlie Robison’s Good Times (2004) and performed with Patty Griffin in “Mary,” a song featured in the benefit album Songs for Tsunami Relief: Austin to South Asia (2005). Recently, the artist sang backup in Yellowcard’s “How I Go” (from Lights and Sounds, 2006).
The country singer rejoined the band to work on their album Taking the Long Way (2006), setting off the lead single “Not Ready to Make Nice.” Amazingly, the chart-topping recording went gold only a week after its release. Also in 2006, Maines, who shared the 2004 MTV Rock the Vote Patrick Lippert award with her band mates, starred as herself in the documentary feature Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2006), which centered on their previous vociferous criticism toward President Bush.
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