Trisha Yearwood

Though Trisha Yearwood's career was kick-started by her association with Garth Brooks, she has more than achieved fame in her own right; six of her albums have sold in platinum certification quantities and she has won three Grammys and the Country Music Association's "Vocalist of the Year" award.

Her association with Brooks began in the late 1980s, when he hired her as a backing singer. By 1990 she had secured a record deal of her own and in 1991 released her eponymous debut. It proved to be an instant success, with four of the singles from the album reaching the Top 10 of the country music charts. She went from Brooks' backing singer to his opening act, and in the fullness of time the album went double platinum. Subsequent albums have mostly performed well, achieving at least gold certification and scaling the upper reaches of the US Country charts.

Professional success coincided with personal happiness when Yearwood's long association with Brooks culminated in marriage in 2005.