The 90s was an odd decade. The world was taken over by kids in torn jeans and flannel shirts. Computers were becoming common in every household. And the internet was just beginning to plant roots that would later change the world forever.
Grunge and Hip-Hop music were topping the charts internationally. But, as always, some genres retain their loyal fan base. It’s been said that Country music never gets old. And, considering how healthy the scene has managed to stay over the decades, this seems to ring true.
One thing that happened in the Country Music scene during the 90s…
A healthy influx of female artists. Country Music has never shied away from having women as some of its biggest stars. But, the 90s brought out some of the brightest yet.
So, I’ve decided to take a look at some of the most famous female Country singers of the 90s, starting with…
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Top 10 Most Famous Female Country Singers Of The 90s
Mila Mason
Mila was born in Kentucky in 1963. Her mother was also a singer who performed in Las Vegas and toured internationally. Mason was inspired to pursue a life in music when she was seventeen years old. She started as a demo singer and got discovered by a producer in 1993.
In 1996, she got signed to Atlantic and soon dropped her first single, “That’s Enough of That.” The song became an instant Top 20 hit. The subsequent debut album of the same name produced two more hit singles. Namely, “Dark Horse” and “That’s The Kinda Love I’m Talking About.”
Mila released a second album, “The Strong One,” in 1988. The album’s title track, as well as “Closer To Heaven,” managed to chart well. Mila took a break from music after this until 2003, when she released Stained Glass Window.
Gretchen Peters
Born in New York in 1957, Peters began to show a talent for music at the tender age of five, when she wrote her first song with her sister. After her parents’ divorce, she relocated to Boulder, Colorado, where she started playing gigs in local bars. She eventually moved to Nashville, where she began recording and writing for other artists.
The Secret of Life, Gretchen’s debut album, is regarded as a landmark release because of her brilliant writing. The track “When You Are Old” enjoyed some moderate success on the country charts. The album’s worth is not so much measured in sales or chart performance. Rather, in how many other artists found success with Gretchen’s material.
Here are a few examples…
Faith Hill’s cover of the title track became a Top 5 Country hit. Trisha Yearwood included her rendition of “On A Bus To St. Cloud” on her Thinkin’ About You album.
However, Martina McBride takes the cake when it comes to Gretchen’s songs. She recorded versions of “When You Are Old,” “This Uncivil War,” and “Independence Day.” The latter became a Top 20 hit. Gretchen’s legacy is well established, and her songwriting will live on for ages. So, can easily be called one of the best female Country singers from the 1990s.
Jessica Andrews
Jessica was only fifteen when she started recording music. Her first album, Heart Shaped World, was one of the Top Country Albums in 1999. The singles “I Do Now,” “Unbreakable Heart,” “You Go First (Do You Wanna Kiss),” and “I Will Be There For You” all enjoyed chart success and airplay. “Unbreakable Heart” was included on the soundtrack for the 1998 DreamWorks movie The Prince of Egypt.
Who I Am came out in 2001, and it proved to be a more mature and popular album. It achieved gold certification thanks to the singles “Helplessly, Hopelessly,” “Karma,” and the title track “Who I Am.” The latter became her first and only #1 hit. The song was also used as the theme for the PAX TV show “Sue Thomas F.B Eye.”
Her third album, Now, was more ballad-focused. As a result, it didn’t chart well. The lead single, “There’s More To Me Than You,” made it to the Top 20. However, “Good Time” hovered around the Top 50. In 2004, Andrews recorded “All I ever Needed,” a duet with Poison frontman Bret Michaels, for his third studio album, Freedom of Sound.
Jo Dee Messina
Jo Dee got her start in music by playing with her brother and sister in a band. After school, she realized her chances for success in music would be better if she moved to Nashville. There she worked several day jobs while singing on the side. Eventually, she got signed to Curb Records.
Her self-titled debut came in 1996 and was met with huge success. Two of the singles, “Heads California, Tails California” and “You’re Not in Kansas Anymore,” became Top 10 hits. In addition, “Do You Wanna Make Something of It” and “He’d Never Seen Julie Cry” became fan favorites.
Two years later, she released I’m Alright. The album features a cover of Dottie West’s song “A Lesson In Leaving.” As well as the three #1 singles – “I’m Alright,” “Stand Beside Me,” and “Bye-Bye.” With over two million copies sold in the US, it is her most successful record to date. She quickly became one of the most famous female Country singers of the 90s.
And she was just getting started…
Burn was her third studio offering, released in 2000. The lead single, “That’s the Way,” was #1 on the Country charts and managed to climb to #25 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Additionally, the album yielded two Top 10 hits – “Burn” and “Downtime.” There is also a great duet with Tim McGraw called “Bring On The Rain.” Jo Dee is, without a doubt, one of the most successful 90s female Country singers.
Shelby Lynne
Shelby was born in Quantico, Virginia, in 1968. She and her younger sister, Allison, started singing and performing at a very young age. After a TV appearance, she signed her first recording contract with Epic in the late 80s. The first single she sang was “If I Could Bottle This Up” with country legend George Jones.
Despite releasing a couple of records with various labels…
She was not met with the desired level of success. But, when she moved to California in 1998 and recorded I Am Shelby Lynne, things started changing. The album was raw in terms of its lyricism and mixed elements of Blues and Rock into her sound for the first time.
Tracks like “Your Lies,” “Leavin’,” and “Thought It Would Be Easier” are still amongst her most successful. The album led to a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. And “Dreamsome” was used in the soundtrack for the 1991 film Bridget Jone’s Diary. However, her follow-up records, Love Shelby and the largely self-produced Identity Crisis weren’t as commercially successful.
But, she was soon to rise to her highest peak yet…
2008’s Just A Little Lovin’ is a tribute to British singer-songwriter Dusty Springfield. It became the highest-charting album of her career. The title track, “I Only Want To Be With You,” and “Breakfast In Bed,” are some of the notable highlights.
She has since delivered on her promise to continue “Working hard and putting out a lot of records.” One such record is 2017’s Not Dark Yet, which she wrote with her sister Allison Moorer.
Mindy McCready
Malinda Gayle McCready was born in February 1975 in Fort Meyers, Florida. She was singing in a choir by age three and even graduated high school two years early to pursue her music career.
At age 18, she signed her first record deal and dropped her multi-platinum debut, Ten Thousand Angels, in 1996. Along with the title track, the album produced some of the biggest hits of the decade. Those are “Guys Do It All The Same,” “Maybe he’ll Notice Her Now,” “A Girl’s Gotta Do What A Girl’s Gotta Do,” and “All That I Am.”
Unfortunately, her follow-up albums weren’t as successful…
Mindy’s second offering, If I Don’t Stay The Night, spawned three moderately successful hits – “What If I Do,” “You’ll Never Know,” and “The Other Side of The Kiss.”
Her fifth and final record, I’m Still Here, was released in 2010. The album was a critical success and contained some great writing. The title track is considered by many as the peak of the record. Sadly, Mindy would take her own life three years after this release. Consequently, the world lost one of the most famous female Country singers of the 90s.
Terri Clark
Terri Lynn Sauson was born in Quebec, Canada, in 1968. She developed a love for Country Music at a very young age and worked at a Chinese restaurant in order to save money to move to Nashville after school.
After a short stint singing in a place called Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge…
Terri got signed to Polygram/Mercury. Her self-titled debut was released in 1995 and became an instant success in both the US and her native Canada. The four hit singles “When Boy Meets Girl,” “If I Were You,” “Better Things To Do,” and “Suddenly Single” helped the record become multi-platinum in both countries.
Just The Same came short on the heels of its predecessor. That album also attained Platinum status thanks to the tracks “Emotional Girl” and “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” (a cover of a Warren Zevon tune).
Her third album, How I Feel, landed in 1998 and took Clark to new heights. Like her first two albums, it attained Platinum certification in both the US and Canada. That was thanks to the singles “Now That I’ve Found You,” “Every Time I Cry,” “Unsung Hero,” and her first #1, “You’re Easy On The Eyes.”
The success of the latter single would not be matched until 2003…
That was when she released Pain To Kill, her first album under new management. The album’s lead single, “I Just Wanna Be Mad,” peaked at #2 on the Country Charts, but it climbed to #27 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Terri has since released six more albums, some of them under her own Canadian music label. She has also hosted TV shows and hosted a morning radio show. No doubt she will continue to be a popular female Country singer from the 90s.
Trisha Yearwood
Patricia Lynn Yearwood was born in Georgia in 1964. She moved to Nashville in 1985, where she eventually got a job at a record label. There she met fellow musician Garth Brooks who introduced her to contacts that led to her first album deal.
Her self-titled debut album was released in 1991. It became a double-platinum success thanks to “The Woman Before Me,” “Like We Never Had A Broken Heart,” “She’s in Love With The Boy,” and “That’s What I Like About You.”
Hearts In Armor came next in 1992. Like its predecessor, it became a multi-platinum record despite the different musical direction. It’s crammed full of heartbreaking anthems like “Walkaway Joe,” “Wrong Side of Memphis,” “You Say You Will,” and “Down On My Knees.” the album is considered by many fans to be her very best.
Her third album, The Song Remembers When followed suit…
It also gained Platinum certification thanks to an accompanying TV special and the success of the title track and “Better Your Heart Than Mine.” The album also featured a collaboration with Willie Nelson called “One In A Row.”
Another platinum success followed in 1995 with Thinkin’ About You. “XXX’s And OOO’s (An American Girl),” “I Wanna Go Too Far,” and “Thinkin’ About You” added to Yearwood’s list of Top 10 songs with old recipes presented with modern production and more contemporary arrangements.
That same year, Trisha did a cover of Patsy Cline’s 1961 song “I Fall To Pieces.” The Cover version featured Aaron Neville and won the pair a Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals.
Her first taste of crossover success came in 1997…
She released a compilation album called SongBook (A Collection of Hits). The album featured a song with Garth Brooks, “In Another’s Eyes,” as well as some previously unreleased tracks, including “How Do I Live,” which was featured in the 1997 thriller Con Air. “Perfect Love” also went on to become #1 for Trisha in 1998. The album is by far her most successful, having sold over four million copies.
Yearwood’s seventh album, Where Your Road Leads, added to her string of platinum records. “Powerful Thing,” “There Goes My Baby,” “I’ll Still Love Your More,” and the title track (also featuring Garth Brooks) helped the album climb to #3 on the album charts.
As if making all these great albums wasn’t keeping her busy enough…
Trisha decided to help Liberian children by performing “O Come Ye Faithful” with Luciano Pavarotti. She also became a member of the Grand Ole Opry and remains one to this day. Trisha has released fifteen albums and published three successful cookbooks. She is one of the biggest female Country singers of the 90s.
LeeAnn Rimes
Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian was born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1982. She began performing at age five and was already touring the country at age nine. By age eleven, she was recording under an independent label that her father had set up.
Her second album, All That, helped her land a recording deal with Curb Records. Her debut album, Blue, was released in 1996. It went to #1 on the Country charts and #2 on the Billboard Hot 200.
Four singles, “One Way Ticket (Because I Can),” “Hurt Me,” “Unchained Melody,” “The Light In Your Eyes,” and, of course, the title track “Blue,” all became Top 20 or Top 10 hits. The album sold over six million copies.
In 1997…
She decided to try, and crossover with You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs. The album included Rimes’ renditions of many great staples, including “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “The Rose,” “On The Side Of Angels,” “Amazing Grace,” and the insanely popular “How Do I Live.” The album went 4x platinum, she was fifteen when it came out.
Rimes has released fifteen studio albums and has sold over 40 million records worldwide. She also crossed over to acting, she starred in Good Intentions, Reel Love, and It’s Christmas Time.
Shania Twain
Eilleen Regina “Shania” Twain was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1965. She knew she wanted to be a singer from a very young age and managed to get signed to Mercury. Her debut did not do well, so she teamed up with South African producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange for her second album, The Woman In Me.
The album has sold over twenty million copies to date and redefined modern Country Music. It produced timeless songs like “Any Man Of Mine,” “You Win My Love,” “If You’re Not In It For Love I’m Outa Here,” and “Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?”
Twain’s third studio offering, Come On Over, is ranked among the Top 10 best-selling albums of all time. There are sixteen tracks on the album, and twelve of them were released as successful singles.
At one time…
Twain seemed to be everywhere with tracks like “From This Moment,” “You’re Still The One,” and “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” There’s no denying that you can’t think of the greatest 90s female country singers and not think of Shania Twain.
Want More Great Country Music?
Well, check out our thoughts on the Most Famous Female Country Singers Of All Time, the Best 90s Country Songs, the Best Country Love Songs, the Most Famous Male Country Singers Of All Time, and the Most Famous Country Singers From Georgia for more amazing Country Music selections.
Also, you’ll want to listen to them. So, take a look at our in-depth reviews of the Best Sound Quality Earbuds, the Best True Wireless Earbuds, the Best iPhone Earbuds, the Best Headphones for Music, the Most Comfortable Headphones, and the Best Headphones Under $200 you can buy in 2023.
Most Famous Female Country Singers Of The 90s – Fial Thoughts
The ladies I’ve included are only a fraction of famous female Country singers from the 90s who left a lasting impact. If you’re looking for a woman’s touch for your next Country playlist, you can rest assured these gals will do just fine.
Also, if I haven’t included your personal favorite, my apologies, but tell us all who it is in the comments below.
Until next time, happy listening.
