Reba McEntire is a woman of many talents. She can sing, she can dance, she can act and she can do something to a bull that very few (if any) country women would ever dream of doing. But that’s just one of the many facts about the country superstar that may surprise you.
Although she’s a country music icon now, McEntire’s career got off to a rocky start. Her first single, “I Don’t Want to Be a One Night Stand,” arrived in 1978, but it was a bust. Her next four singles also failed to make an impression, but slowly, things began to change. In 1979, she scored a Top 20 hit, and a year later, she cracked the Top 10. Finally, in 1982, “Can’t Even Get the Blues” hit No. 1, and the most famous redhead in country music history hasn’t looked back.
Fans who’ve followed her for more than 40 years might know most of these 10 things about McEntire, but there is bound to be a surprise or two. The less committed fan will see this iconic singer differently by the end of this list.
10 Surprising Things You Never Knew About Reba McEntire:
1. She’s pals with former President George H. W. Bush.
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1. She’s pals with former President George H. W. Bush.
In 2006, McEntire told Entertainment Weekly that she and the former president keep in touch via email. “Matter of fact, I was in New York one time during the World Series watching the game, and I saw President Bush and Barbara sittin’ behind home plate. I get on my Treo, and I e-mail him, ‘Hey, I see you on TV. Have a hot dog for me.’ I see him elbowing Barbara, and pointin’ down to his Treo. Then he’s just workin’ on it. Pretty soon I get a message back from him: ‘Wait ’til so-and-so gets up to bat, and I’ll wave at ya.'”
2. ‘Reba’ was almost called ‘Sally’.
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2. ‘Reba’ was almost called ‘Sally’.
True story! McEntire’s hit WB television show Reba almost had a different name. Actually, it almost had a completely different lead! McEntire tells country radio DJ Bobby Bones that the show was actually meant to star iconic actor Sally Field (hence the show’s name). When Field turned the project down, McEntire stepped in, but producers wanted to keep the show’s (and her character’s) name the same; in fact, they even taped two versions of the pilot episode, one with her character’s name as Sally and one with her name as Reba.
It gets even wilder, though: During “upfronts” — when a network promotes its lineup — McEntire says the show was called Deep in the Heart, because it’s set in the Houston, Texas, area. It wasn’t until the very last minute that the show’s title was changed to Reba — and, really, thank goodness it was!
3. Wynonna Judd was the first choice for her “Does He Love You” duet partner.
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3. Wynonna Judd was the first choice for her “Does He Love You” duet partner.
McEntire’s 1993 duet with Linda Davis was originally intended to be with another country legend. She once told Country Weekly that her label was pushing for Wynonna Judd to share vocals on “Does He Love You,” a song that produced a somewhat controversial and definitely dramatic music video. McEntire wanted Davis (mother to Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum), so she suggested that Davis record it as a fill-in. “But she just knocked it out of the ballpark,” McEntire says — so they kept her.
4. She passed on a No. 1 hit for George Strait.
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4. She passed on a No. 1 hit for George Strait.
George Strait’s No. 1 hit from 1984 could have gone to McEntire, but the singer says she passed on “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind” because it made a reference to beer. The song ended up as the title track on Strait’s fourth album, and McEntire notched her own No. 1 hit that year with “How Blue.”
5. In her spare time, she enjoys photography.
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5. In her spare time, she enjoys photography.
Yeah, McEntire somehow has spare time. She tells the Boot that she loves to “piddle” with her camera (“I love when people send me pictures that I don’t have,” she adds). Other things she enjoys doing her spare time: trap and skeet shooting, and going on vacations.
6. There are three singing McEntires.
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6. There are three singing McEntires.
Reba isn’t the only McEntire with a country hit. Her brother Pake scored a Top 5 hit with “Savin’ My Love for You” in 1986, and her sister Susie is a gospel singer. When they were young, the family band was quite a local sensation; they played rodeos throughout the Midwest until Reba went off to college. All three were accustomed to life on the road by that point, so when she set off on her own, she often knew how to handle a map better than her bus driver.
7. Faith Hill auditioned for her band, but …
David J. Phillip, Getty Images
7. Faith Hill auditioned for her band, but …
She didn’t get the job. Hill was looking to be a backup singer, but McEntire says she didn’t think the future star was right for the gig. It ended up being a life-saving rejection: Paula Kay Evans was the singer who got the job, and she was one of McEntire’s eight band and crew members killed in a plane crash near San Diego, Calif., in March of 1991. Hill says she doesn’t think fate had anything to do with it: “I wasn’t a great background singer, and I didn’t get the part,” she tells Larry King.
8. She “tended” to the bulls.
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8. She “tended” to the bulls.
In her 1995 autobiography, McEntire talks about her early days with the bulls: It was her job to help castrate them, and afterward, she and her two sisters would carry a bucket of testicles to the house and clean them.
“We called them mountain oysters,” she writes (quote via Country Weekly). “Then we’d take them in to Mama, and she’d slice them thin, roll them in flour and fry them in hot grease in a huge cast-iron skillet. I was literally raised on mountain oysters.”
Is it any wonder the singer became a superstar in a industry dominated by men?
9. After that plane crash, she turned to Waylon Jennings.
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9. After that plane crash, she turned to Waylon Jennings.
You see, Jennings had given up his seat on the plane that crashed on Feb. 3, 1959, killing Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and others, so he was one of very few people who could relate to McEntire’s anguish. In her autobiography, she tells how he encouraged her not to feel guilty: “It wasn’t meant for you to be on that plane or you would have been. So don’t blame yourself, and don’t feel guilty,” she says Jennings told her.
10. She wanted to be a teacher.
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10. She wanted to be a teacher.
McEntire’s mom was a schoolteacher, and the future star majored in elementary education at Southeastern Oklahoma State University while minoring in music. Raise your hand if you wish this country legend was the one teaching you the “three Rs” all those years ago … We imagine she’d be the Mary Poppins of the classroom!
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