Miranda Lambert

Miranda Lambert's fiery lyrics, heartfelt music, and a seeming penchant for firearms made her a bona fide country music sweetheart with an edge. She first exploded onto the music scene as a finalist on the reality music competition series "Nashville Star" (USA Network, 2003- ), before releasing her debut album Kerosene (2005), which blew up on the country music charts. Lambert's follow-up album, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2007), made her a breakout star, thanks to gutsy songs about women who relished seeking revenge on cheating exes or lying in wait to shoot abusive boyfriends. The Grammy Award-winning singer's personal life heated up after she began dating country music star Blake Shelton, whom she married in 2011, much to the delight of country music fans. That same year, Lambert's album Revolution, featuring the smash hits "White Liar" and "The House That Built Me," dominated the charts, proving that she was one of the most talented and dynamic personalities in country music.

Miranda Leigh Lambert was born on Nov. 10, 1983 in Lindale, TX. Both of her parents worked as private investigators; one of their most significant cases was working with former Arkansas State employee Paula Jones' legal team on her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton during the mid-1990s. Lambert grew up listening to her father playing songs by country music star Merle Haggard. At 10, she attended her first concert - a Garth Brooks concert -which helped solidify her dream to become a singer. By the time she was 16, she was already playing guitar and had appeared on the Johnny High Country Music Review in Arlington, TX. It was the same show that helped launch country singer LeAnn Rimes' career. Shortly after, Lambert and her band began playing at a number of Texas bars. In 2003, Lambert competed on the first season of "Nashville Star," a reality music competition in search of the next country music star. She finished third place, which bode well for Lambert, who told People magazine that she hoped to lose because, at the time, she was not yet ready to record an album.

In early 2005, Lambert was more than ready to take her place in the spotlight with the release of her first album Kerosene, featuring the hit single "Me and Charlie Talking." With heartfelt songs that critics described as a blend of country-rock and honky-tonk, the album debuted at No. 1 on the country charts and earned Lambert a Grammy nomination that year for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for the title track. Around this time, Lambert began dating then up-and-coming country music singer Blake Shelton, whom she performed with on the televised special "CMT: 100 Greatest Duets Concert" (CMT, 2005). Lambert's career continued to stay red-hot with the release of her sophomore effort, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, featuring the hit song "Gunpowder and Lead," about scorned women planning to act out vengeful acts against their exes. When writing songs for the album, Lambert was reportedly inspired by the real-life stories that her detective parents' had told her through the years. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend earned the country star the Academy of Country Music Award (CMA) Album of the Year in 2008.

Lambert spent the next two years on the road co-headlining music fairs, festivals, and clubs with Shelton. In between gigs, she also found time to release her third album Revolution, which featured collaborations with other country music artists like Shelton and Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum. Revolution spawned the hit singles "Dead Flowers," "White Liar, "The House That Built Me" and "Only Prettier," and garnered Lambert several awards from the CMA in 2010. On May 14, 2011, Lambert and Shelton were married in Texas in front of hundreds of family and friends. That same year, Lambert's lucky streak continued with a Grammy Award for "The House That Built Me."