The Dixie Chicks

The Dixie Chicks may be one of country's hottest acts, but it didn't start out like that. The group began in 1989, when sisters Emily (then 16), and Martie (then 19), played for tips on a Dallas street corner, along with 2 other band members. After lots of switching the band around, Natalie joined the sisters in 1995 as the lead singer.

Their name comes from Little Feat's song, "Dixie Chicken", but Martie didn't want to be a Dixie Chicken... so after being switched from Chicken to Chix, they were finally the Dixie Chicks.

Before they were Grammy winners, though, they started off opening for such acts as Garth Brooks, George Strait, Alan Jackson, George Jones, and Emmylou Harris. They played at the Grand Ole Opry and and Tennessee's Innaugural Ball for Clinton in 1993.

Among their many accomplishments, they have 2 Grammies for their debut album, "Wide Open Spaces", which was 1998's best-selling debut CD in country music. Selling over 6 million copies, they hold the record for most successful release of a debut album by a female country duo/group.

Singles from "Wide Open Spaces" include:

"I Can Love You Better"
"Wide Open Spaces"
"There's Your Trouble"
"You Were Mine"
"The Heartache's on Me"

Singles from "Fly" include:

"Ready to Run"
"Cowboy Take me Away"