Trisha Yearwood has been making music for more than 30 years. The Grand Ole Opry member’s debut single, “She’s In Love With the Boy,” came out in 1991, and she has been a mainstay in country music since then. In honor of her lengthy career, we are taking a look a closer look at her extraordinary life.
1. She has a degree in music business.
Well, technically, she has two degrees. Yearwood first earned an associate’s degree in business at Young Harris College in Georgia. She then attended the University of Georgia for one semester, but could not deny the irresistible pull to Nashville. Yearwood still finished her college education, but at Belmont University, in the heart of Music City.
“I transferred to Belmont University in my junior year, because I really just wanted to be in Nashville,” Yearwood previously said (via The Boot). “I felt like this was the place where the music I wanted to make was being made. So it was my kind of making a deal with my parents that I would finish college if I could move to Nashville.”
2. She has Garth Brooks partially to thank for her first record deal.
Most of the credit for Yearwood’s first record deal belongs to her, and her undeniable talent. But it was her current husband, Garth Brooks, who helped get her noticed, when he was still married to his first wife, Sandy. Yearwood was working at MTM Records, and began recording a demo and singing background vocals for other artists, including Brooks, who was also just getting started.
Brooks promised Yearwood that he would help her if he got signed first, and kept his word, taking her to his producer, Allen Reynolds, who introduced her to Garth Fundis, the man who produced many of Yearwood’s projects. Brooks also invited Yearwood to open for him on his headlining tour.
“We hit it off,” Yearwood recalled (via CMT). “But I had no idea he’d turn out to be Garth Brooks!”
3. She inherited her love of cooking from her mother, Gwen.
Yearwood’s mother, Gwen, tragically passed away in 2011 from cancer. But it was her mother who instilled in Yearwood and her sister, Beth, a love of cooking, with the three of them together penning Yearwood’s first (of four) cookbooks, Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen.
“I learned everything I know about cooking from my mom,” Yearwood said. “She was the most amazing cook and kind of an intuitive cook.”
4. She has been the host of her Food Network show, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, since 2012.
When Food Network reached out to Yearwood about the possibility of hosting her own TV show, the singer saw it as the perfect way to share one of her biggest passions, while also honoring those closest to her.
“For me, cooking is very connected to my family and friends,” Yearwood said (via People), prior to the show’s debut. “Every recipe on the show carries wonderful memories with my loved ones – and I can’t wait to share my meals, stories and family photos with Food Network viewers.”
5. She vows to always put her music ahead of her cooking career.
Yearwood is grateful for Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, which earned her a Daytime Emmy Award, but says her music career will always take priority over her culinary career.
“If you asked me to pick between cooking and music, I’d definitely pick music,” Yearwood told the Food Network. “I feel like it’s what I’m supposed to do. But I’m not giving up one to do the other. I hope I never have to pick.”
6. She has also demonstrated her skills as an actress.
In addition to being a singer and a TV personality, Yearwood also is a talented actress. She appeared in TV shows like Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and The Passion: New Orleans, and had a recurring role on the TV show, JAG.
“It was the first time that I had done anything where I played a character,” Yearwood told The Chicago Tribune of starring in JAG. “I’ve been asked to do a couple of things where I played a country music singer, or I played Trisha Yearwood, which I know how to do pretty good.”
7. She is very close to her stepdaughters.
Although Yearwood never had children of her own, she took on the role of being a stepmother to Brooks’ three daughters from his first marriage, Taylor, August and Allie, when they wed in 2005.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” Yearwood admitted to People. “I have to say that now as these girls have grown—they’re adults now on their own—it’s been a part of my life that I would have never would have even known to dream about and it’s been so rewarding to get to be a part of this family.”
8. As a child, she dreamed of being Cher.
Yearwood grew up idolizing Cher — and still does today — but not because of her musical talent. Yearwood says it’s because of who the rock icon is as a person that she wanted to be her.
“I wanted to be Cher for a long time, but not for the singing,” Yearwood said (via Taste of Country). “I just thought she was so cool. I wanted her long hair, and I wanted to weigh five pounds.”
9. It took a Revlon commercial early in her career for her to learn to stick up for herself.
In 1992, just as Yearwood’s career was beginning to explode, she was hired as a spokesperson for Revlon, which required her to fly to New York City to film a commercial. Unfortunately, the company wanted Yearwood to kiss a male model for the commercial, which Yearwood refused to do.
“My manager hadn’t arrived at the shoot yet — and that turned out to be one of the best things that’s ever happened to me,” Yearwood recalled to Good Housekeeping. “Though in those days I would rather have pulled out my fingernails with pliers than make a fuss, I just couldn’t do something that didn’t feel good. Despite the butterflies in my stomach, I stood my ground, and shut down the shoot.”
10. She is passionate about the work she and Brooks do with Habitat for Humanity.
For years, the powerhouse couple has been working with Habitat for Humanity to help build homes for those in need. Far more than just lending their name, both Yearwood and Brooks enjoy being hands-on and helping build the houses themselves.
“I like the jobs that require tools that are kind of aggressive,” Yearwood revealed. “They call me the ‘Nail Gun Diva.’ In Haiti, I was one of the few girls carrying a small drill — that was my pride and joy. My drill is the perfect size for the tin roofs we were putting on. All the roofing guys were coming by going, ‘Hey, Trisha, can we borrow your drill for a little bit?’ I was very popular. I loved it. I’ll do anything, but I like a job that requires hammering or nailing. And I do like that nail gun. It is so fast.”
11. She gave Matthew McConaughey his first break as an actor.
Long before Matthew McConaughey was known as one of Hollywood’s biggest superstars, he was trying to get any role he could, including in music videos. So when Yearwood needed an actor for her 1992 “Walkaway Joe” hit, featuring Don Henley, McConaughey got the part.
“Well, ‘Walkaway Joe,’ I think it was early 1992, I’m going to college here at the University of Texas — this was before Dazed and Confused — and I was trying to get odd jobs in front of the camera when I could and I got cast in that music video to play Joe,” McConaughey recalled on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
Unfortunately, McConaughey and Yearwood never got to meet while filming the “Walkaway Joe” video.
“He was cast from local talent in Austin, Texas, where the footage was shot,” Yearwood explained. “The performance with Don Henley was shot in Nashville, so I never met Matthew.”
