Biography
Martina Mariea Schiff was born on July 29, 1966 in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, to Daryl and Jeanne Schiff. Martina grew up with her two brothers, Steve and Marty (Martin), and her sister, Gina on a dairy farm, in Sharon, Kansas, population of 200. Martina comments on growing up in a small town, “It's freedom, really. My mom never worried about where we were, what we were doing. Summers, we left in the morning and just rode our bikes around and came back when it was time for supper. The other side of the coin is that you're really conscious of what people think. You have a certain reputation to uphold, and you don't want to do anything to bring shame on your family because everybody talks. I used to think that was a disadvantage, but I realize as I get older that growing up that way really gave me a sense of boundaries, of what is acceptable for me and what isn't.”
Accompanied by her father on guitar, Martina made her debut on stage at a 4-H convention in Manhattan, Kansas, performing Jimmy Dicken’s "I'm Little But I'm Loud", at age seven. Continuing to sing, Martina toured with her family in her father’s band, The Schiffters. Martina played the keyboard, Marty played the pedal steel, Jeanne worked the sound board, and Daryl played the fiat-top guitar, as well as singing. “Well, ‘touring’ is putting it pretty fancy. We hooked up the trailer to the back of the car, and we drove to the gig, unloaded and set up all the equipment, played four hours, tore it all down, loaded it up and drove home. It was just what we did from the time we were little kids, but even then I knew it was something special--not something every family got to do together. We were very popular locally—maybe 'cause we were the only band in that part of the country. We'd rent out the old, abandoned high-school gym in Isabel, Kansas and throw a big wing-ding. They'd come from all over and just dance for four hours. We had them all - teenagers, little kids, grandparents.” Martina recalls. Martina preformed with The Schiffters until she graduated from high school.
Deciding, after one semester of college, to focus on music Martina then preformed with multiple other bands including local rock bands where she sung cover’s of Heart and Pat Benatar songs among others. "Most of what I remember about those days was traveling around in a van with no money. We'd pool all our money as a band and buy a couple loaves of bread and some peanut butter and jelly. We'd live on that for about a week and I'd go into these little dives and scream my head off singing Pat Benatar." Martina remarks. She later found her way back to country music, "I didn't feel like that music touched me, and I started having vocal problems from singing in smoky places. So I quit." Martina recorded her 1st unofficial single when she was sixteen years old. She won a singing contest at Joyland, an amusement park in Wichita, Kansas where the first-place prize was a recording session at a local studio. By the time she went in to studio she was seventeen and. There she recorded a 45-rpm record of Hank Williams’ "Your Cheatin' Heart" and Johnny Rodriguez’s "Hello Love, Goodbye" on the B-side.
"We (John McBride and Martina)
were both living in Kansas and I was putting a band together. We needed a
place to rehearse and I had heard that John, who owned a
local sound company, had a rehearsal space for rent. The band rehearsed
there for about three weeks and John and I became friends. About three
months later, we started dating, he proposed one month later, and I said
'yes'. We set the date one year ahead and were married May 15, 1988. We are
both involved in the music business and we are both very driven people, so
we sometimes have to make ourselves take time out just for us. We are truly
committed to each other and we make our relationship a priority. We always
try to remember the most important things in our relationship -
communication and a sense of humor." The two moved to Nashville in 1990.
Martina worked as a waitress while singing demos and trying to get a record
deal as John worked for artists like Charlie Daniels and Ricky Van Shelton
before landing the job of production manager for Garth Brooks. Lonely with
John on the road, Martina started selling merchandise at Garth concerts.
When not on the road, Martina worked on a making a demo tape. Hearing from a
friend that RCA-Nashville. was looking for a new female to add to their
artist roster Martina set her focus on winning RCA-Nashville over. “Well you
know record companies in Nashville, of course, they get tons of material,
people trying to get record deals. Well they—RCA had a sign on their wall
that said no unsolicited material, so I put my demo tape in a big purple
envelope. I thought well, this will get their attention and I wrote on the
top of it requested material. So when it came across the front desk they
thought well, we must have asked for this, I guess we better listen to it.
Then they called me a couple of weeks later and they wanted to see a live
showcase. So, we put a band together and did a live show and they came back
actually that night and said, ‘Come in tomorrow, we want to offer you a
record deal.’ Well it‘s very surreal. You know it‘s something you hope to
hear those words all your life, and my family was up from Kansas. My mom and
dad came up. And when I went in the next day, I kept saying, ‘Now are you
sure I have a record deal? Are you sure this is really true? You‘re not
going to call me in a week and say we were just kidding.’ He said, ‘no, you
do have a record deal, I promise.’ So, it was just kind of like you don‘t
believe it. You don‘t believe it is happening really for you.” explains
Martina. In the purple envelope was a biography with a few
photos and two demo tapes, produced by John, with the songs "I Can't
Sleep", "Regular As Clockwork", "I Put You Behind Me", "Wild Side Of Life",
"When You Leave Me" and "You Win Again" on them. Now signed with
RCA-Nashville, Martina began touring as Garth Brooks’ opening act. “One day,
Garth called and asked if I wanted to come over and talk about the music
business. I sang him a song, and about 30 minutes later, he asked me to open
shows for him. I was so amazed and pretty speechless. He offered it to me
out of the blue. I have no idea why." Martina also notes, "What touring with
Garth Brooks did for me was place me in front of two million people in the
space of six months. That sort of exposure was an incredible boost for my
career. It got my name out there and
known very quickly."
May 15, 1992, Martina released her debut album, "The Time Has Come". Martina was also inducted as the 72nd Grand Ole Opry member, by Loretta Lynn, during the Grand Ole Opry's 70th Anniversary Special, on November 30, 1995. Martina preformed “Sweet Dreams”. As Martina has released more albums, and many singles, as well has helping to co and solely produce them, she’s made her way to the top winning many awards and releasing over 20 Top 10 hits, but more importantly making a name for herself when is comes to her dedication for helping others. Martina observes, "A big part of who I am is just the way I was raised. Nobody is better than anyone else, and if you really work hard, you might get lucky and get what you want."
John and Martina have three daughters. Delaney Katharine was born on December 22, 1994. Emma Justine was born on March 29, 1998. Ava Rose Kathleen who was born on June 20, 2005. With a growing career Martina still finds time for family making sure to keep a good balance. “Once Delaney had something at school that I missed, and that just made me feel awful. You do have to balance all that. You have to say, Well, there are dates I'm not gonna take, even though I really need them, because I don't want to miss Pet Day at school. But then there are also times when I have to work. I have to explain to the girls, ‘Look, this is my job, and if I worked a regular job, I'd be gone a lot more. I do this because it makes people happy and I feel like I'm using the gift I was given.’ And they understand that.”
Martina
premiered the first song, "Anyway", that she recorded and released
of which she co-wrote on the 40th Annual Country Music Awards, on
November 6, 2006. Martina comments on songwriting, "for so long people have
been saying to me, 'You should write, you should write.' And I keep saying,
'I'm not a songwriter. I don't want to write.' I respect the art of
songwriting so much that I have never really wanted to attempt it. The
Warren Brothers were out touring with me and ... they said, 'We are here
every day, we don't have anything to do all day long. Let's write a song.'
And I said, 'I'm not a songwriter. I don't write songs." They came to me in
catering one night with this idea for "Anyway." 'We started this idea for a
song. Will you finish it with us?' And I said, 'I love that. I want that
song. It's my song.' And they said, 'Well, you have to finish it with us.'
So we sat down in the dressing room and in an hour we finished it up. I love
the process of being able to, on the front end, really make the words fit me
and kind of put my thoughts into the song. I still don't have a desire to go
to songwriting appointments every day. This is not my passion, but when you
get something right and when you hit upon a line and it's finished and you
can all look at each other and go, 'Wow, that's really great," it is a great
feeling, I have to say.'" Martina McBride
Eye Color: Blue. Martina wears
clear contacts.
Record label: RCA- Nashville
Instruments Played: Piano Harmonica, Saxophone, Organ and Guitar.
Stylist For Special Occasions: Claudia Fowler
Hair Stylist For Special Occasions: Earl Cox
Makeup Artist For Special Occasions: Mary Beth Felts
Sign: Leo
Favorite Color: Blue
Favorite Season: Fall
Favorite Holiday: Christmas
Favorite Soap: Guiding Light
Favorite Foods: Home-cooked food like meatloaf, mashed potatoes, roast beef, fried chicken, tacos and cheeseburgers.
Pets: Dog, a miniature schnauzer named Belle
Car: 1992 Honda
Coke Or Pepsi: Pepsi
Hobbies: Going to movies, reading, cooking and working around the house
Wedding song: “I had ‘Till There
Was You’ and ‘Nobody Loves
You Like I Do’ was what I sang to John at the wedding.” Martina McBride
Reality Check: “I live like a normal person, and I'm so grateful for that. I think that's the one thing about living in Nashville as opposed to L.A. or New York. I cook dinner every night, and we sit down at the table and eat, because that's how I was raised and how John was raised, and that's really important to me. I run my kids around - Delaney has gymnastics tonight and she had Girl Scouts yesterday, and Emma has piano lessons once a week. I don't have a full-time baby sitter. I just need somebody if we go out on a date, or when I go onstage. I've always been domestic. I love to go grocery shopping. I love to do laundry. I don't like to put it away, but I love to do it! Then it kind of sits on my dryer for four days.” Martina McBride
Embarrassing Moment: “I was mortified just the other night. We did this George Jones tribute for PBS. I got to sing a song he wrote from 1956 called ‘Just One More,’ and to be honest, I wasn't really familiar with it, but I was all excited. I learned the song, rehearsed it three or four times, everything was fabulous. I get out there onstage – and thank God it was a taped TV show, because I'm singing along and I totally blank out! I did the song again, and the same thing happens. I must have done it three times. And George Jones is sitting in the front row! It freaked me out. I told the audience, ‘I am going to throw up." But it ended up being really funny. I said, ‘Come on, George, help me out!’ And he started singing.” Martina McBride
Worst Habit: “Procrastinating. I
kind of fly by the seat of my pants sometimes, and I should be better
prepared for things. I'd like to work on that.” Martina McBride
Fear: Flying…“Oh, yeah. I haven't taken jobs because I would have to fly. I haven't flown in a year, at least. It's ridiculous. I mean, I drive out to California. Every time before I fly, all my conversations seem to be so…final. Then I imagine the newscast the next day. I mean, we've had offers to fly places with Tim [McGraw} and Faith [Hill], and I just think, "Oh, that's just pushing it. Three celebrities on one plane, that's just asking for it." Martina McBride
Before I Die, I'd Like To: “Live in Italy for two or three months. Rent a
house and just really live like a local and soak it all in.” Martina McBride
