What Reba McEntire's Life In Her Hometown Was Like Before Fame

Reba McEntire may be known as one of the most successful female country music singers in the industry, but before she was a household name, she grew up in Chockie, Oklahoma as the daughter of champion calf-roper Clark McEntire and schoolteacher Jacqueline McEntire. The couple had four children, and Reba, along with older sister Alice, older brother Pake, and younger sister Susie grew up together on an 8,000 acre cattle ranch. It was a far cry from the incredibly lavish life that Reba was destined to achieve, but she realized her love for singing early on after trying her hand at barrel racing and realizing that despite her father's success, a life in the rodeo was not for her. She would get horrific stage fright before her own cattle-roping competitions, having so much anxiety that she would throw up. It was not a good sign for someone who would go on to be a performer later in life, but Reba clarified that she never experienced the same fear with singing. 

In her 1995 memoir, "Reba: My Story," the star described her early life on the ranch, explaining she knew hard work from the very beginning, "doing it from before daylight until after dark by the time I was 7." But it wasn't all work and no singing –- Reba gave her first public vocal performance in the first grade by singing "Away in a Manger" during a Christmas pageant, and won her first official prize just a few years later in the fifth grade. "That victory made me like a hunting dog. I had tasted blood and now knew deep within my very soul that I was to be an entertainer," she said of winning the Junior Individual Act division for her 4-H club's talent show.

The untold truth of Reba McEntire continues into her high school experience, and by then she knew she wanted to sing. The only problem was that the school she attended didn't have a music program. Out of everything we know about Reba's parents, the fact that her mother, Jacqueline McEntire, is the reason her local high school formed a band, may be among the most surprising. The matriarch of the McEntire family decided the lack of local music classes was unacceptable, and took it upon herself to figure out how to fix the problem. In James Hoag's "Legends of Country Music — Reba McEntire" he wrote that if it weren't for Jacqueline's commitment to cultivating her daughter's talent, the Kiowa High School Cowboy Band would never have existed. Jacqueline herself shared Reba's love for song, and persisted as a big musical influence for the star. 

The formation of the Singing McEntires wasn't far behind, and Reba sang in the group she formed with brother Pake and sister Susie throughout high school. "Pake played acoustic rhythm guitar and sang melody. I sang high harmony, and Susie sang the low. Bloodline harmony...is the closest harmony in the world, I think," Reba reminisced. (via Woman's World)

But it was in 1974 that the "Reba" actor finally got her big break when she sang the national anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City. That performance led her to be discovered by singer Red Steagall, who went on to pay for her first professional recording session. It was that very recording that landed Reba with her first record deal just a year later, and the rest, as they say, is history.