Artist Of The Day: Sara Evans

Sara Evans

• Sara Evans, raised on a farm in Boonesboro, Missouri, joined her family’s bluegrass band at the age of four and recorded her first record when she was only 11. She moved to Nashville in 1991, where she worked as a waitress at a Holiday Inn restaurant.
  
• Sara released her first album, “Three Chords and the Truth,” in 1997. The 1998 album “No Place That Far” sold more than 500,000 copies and the title track became a No. 1 hit.
  
• 2000’s “Born to Fly” produced Top 5 hits with “I Could Not Ask For More,” “I Keep Looking” and the title track. “Restless” contains hits like the self-penned “Perfect” and “Suds in the Bucket.”
  
• 2005’s Sara’s “Real Fine Place” marked her highest debuting album, entering the charts at No. 1. The first single, “A Real Fine Place To Start,” was a multiple week No. 1 single, while “You’ll Always Be My Baby” peaked at No. 13.
  
• Evans released her first “Greatest Hits” collection in 2007. The compilation featured four new songs including “As If” and “Some Things Never Change.”
  
• In 2006, Evans became the first country star to compete in ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.” However, she withdrew from the competition due to her divorce. After retreating from the spotlight to focus on her family in the wake of a tumultuous divorce, Sara found love again with Alabama football star/radio personality, Jay Barker. They married in June 2008.
  
• Evans released a book called “Sweet By and By” in January 2010. It is the first release of a four-book deal she inked with Thomas Nelson Fiction.
  
• Sara Evans’ sixth studio album and first new music in six years hit stores last year and debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. Sara co-wrote six of the album’s 10 tracks, including a bluegrass version of her mega-hit “Born to Fly.” The project’s first single, “A Little Bit Stronger,” can also be heard on the “Country Strong” movie soundtrack.
  
• With the success of her hit single “A Little Bit Stronger,” Sara Evans is the only female artist in 2011 to hold the No. 1 position on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart as well as Country Aircheck for two consecutive weeks. “A Little Bit Stronger” has been certified platinum by the RIAA. Sara also joined Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift as one of the most played females of 2011 on country radio. Her current single, “My Heart Can’t Tell You No,” is climbing the charts.
  
• Sara Evans has released the third book in her "Songbird" novel series. "Love Lifted Me" continues the love story of Jade and Max. In this book, Max faces an opportunity that would mean uprooting the family, and Jade wrestles with news that could disappoint Max.
  
• Sara Evans and Hunter Hayes opens for Rascal Flatts’s “Thaw Out 2012” tour.
  
• Sara Evans will perform at a Super Bowl event the night before the game. She’ll sing at the “Taste of the NFL’s” 21st annual “Party with a Purpose.” The party is a fundraiser for a food bank in the city where the game is played. On February 4th, it will be for Gleaner’s Food Bank in Indianapolis.
  
• Official Web site: www.saraevans.com