Word: leann
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...LeAnn Rimes, the country singing sensation, has a surprisingly firm handshake for a 14-year-old girl. We're not talking a G.I. Joe kung fu grip, but her handclasp, by way of greeting, is strong, confident and direct. When she has hold of your hand, you know...
Wilbur recalls that LeAnn started singing songs like Jesus Loves Me and You Are My Sunshine when she was just 18 months old. He says even then, unlike most infants (and, frankly, many adults), she could "carry a pitch.'' "I've got it on tape," he says, in case there are any disbelievers out there. Says LeAnn: "[The tapes are] really funny because you can understand what I'm saying when I'm singing, but when I'm talking, you can't understand a word...
Early on, Wilbur began entering her in local song-and-dance competitions. When she was eight, he had her cut a record to give her the feel and experience of being in a studio; at 10 she had another practice session; and then at 11 LeAnn recorded a demo that the family sent to Curb Records, a small company in Nashville, Tennessee, that promptly signed her to a recording deal. About a year later, the title song for her first album, Blue, propelled the youngster to the top of the country charts and onto the fast track to stardom...
Unchained Melody/The Early Years is an irony-free collection of songs, most of which were recorded when LeAnn was 11, in her pre-Blue studio sessions (hopefully, a sequel called Unchained Melody II/The Teething Years isn't in the offing). Despite her age, the raw talent and gleaming promise on this album are apparent. Her take on the country standard Blue Moon of Kentucky comes across as fresh and bracing as cold well water, and her version of I Will Always Love You is equally crisp and bright. On every track, Rimes' voice resonates with a mellow center, vibrant edges...
...have her first date. On the semi-risque song My Baby, she sings, "My baby is a full-time lover ... My baby is a full-grown man." In the video for Blue, she peers out over thick-rimmed sunglasses, an image that evokes Stanley Kubrick's controversial film Lolita. LeAnn says that while she hasn't experienced some of the emotions in her songs, she is capable of conveying them--"like an actor or an actress is an interpreter of a script." Wilbur admits there is a possible downside to his daughter's precociousness: "She's in a grownup world...