Tracing their roots back to the days when Emily Robison and Martie Maguire sang on the streets of Dallas, the Chicks took flight when feisty Natalie Maines came on board, complementing the sisters' formidable prowess as singers - and pickers - with what one critic called "one of the most powerful voices in the business." Framing Maines' stunning vocals with elegant harmonies and plenty of banjo, fiddle and dobro, the Chicks' debut CD, Wide Open Spaces, took the country music world by storm in 1998, earning the group top awards, including a Grammy for Country Album Of The Year, and selling more than 11 million copies - the best performance by a debut album in the history of country music. Their follow-up, Fly, released in late 1999, proved that the trio was no one-hit wonder, as it reaped an even greater harvest of honors, including more Grammys and the Country Music Association's marquee award, Entertainer of the Year.

Yet as spectacularly as the Dixie Chicks' recordings have been received, their brilliance in the studio has found a counterpart on stage. Their reputation as adept musicians and spectacular performers led them from sharing the stage with country music's finest on the George Strait Country Music Festival and the Tim McGraw tour to being enthusiastically welcomed by pop audiences while playing alongside Sara McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks and others on the 1999 Lilith Fair tour as well as the televised "Sheryl Crow & Friends Live From Central Park" event.

Their "Fly" tour of 2000 saw audiences around the country flocking to catch the dynamic trio in action - and in a departure from the country music norm, they were as likely to include young girls dressed as their favorite Chick as they were adults. "Chicks Rule!" and "Chicks Kick Ass!" were the slogans of choice as the group not only delivered their own irresistible hits but introduced fans to friends and influences such as Willie Nelson, Ricky Scaggs and Patty Griffin. And the trio lived up to the shouts. When the tour came to a triumphant close, shortly after the broadcast of their own NBC concert special, it had become the biggest of the year by a single country headlining act.

With a unique combination of respect for country's musical traditions and an unwillingness to be bound by its social ones, it's natural that the Chicks have earned recognition far beyond the genre. Profiled - and acclaimed - everywhere from 60 Minutes with Dan Rather to the pages of USA Today Entertainment Weekly, and Rolling Stone, with TV appearances on Late Night with David Letterman, the Tonight Show, the Rosie O'Donnell Show, the prestigious Sessions at W. 54th series and many more, it's no exaggeration to say that the Dixie Chicks are among the foremost - and most provocative - ambassadors country music has today. From www.dixiechicks.com

Group facts
4 Lloyd would invite Emily and Martie over to his house for dinner, and that's how they met Natalie
4 After letting Robin go, and adding drums to their musical sound, the band would get anonymous messages on their office phone saying, "You are the Devil's spawn!" or "Bring Robin back!" or "Your drums are too loud!"
4 Highest debut since 1991 (Diamond Rio) in 1998
4 Fastest rising debut album for a country group in history of Soundscan
4 Monument debut went gold in only five months!
4 Platinum and double-platinum faster than any debut album in the history of Sony/Nashville
4 Fastest selling debut album by a group in country music history
4 Only group in history of Sony Music Nashville to have two Top 10 pop albums
4 WOS hit 4 million on 1/27/99 - exact date album hit the stores in 1998
4 Wide Open Spaces is the first #1 album for the Chicks
4 WOS: best-selling release by a duo or group in country music history, according to the RIAA
4 First country duo or group to debut at #1 in the history of SoundScan (Top 200 Albums & Country)
4 Highest first-week sales of any country act with the exception of Garth Brooks
4 Only country act in history of SoundScan chart to see its sophomore album debut at #1 & stay there a 2nd week
4 Fly went gold in only two weeks!
4 Out only 2 months and already at double-platinum!
4 Only country group ever to have its 1st two albums go triple-platinum
4 Toured with George Strait, Clay Walker and Tim McGraw
4 Gained some non-country fans by co-headlining Lilith Fair
4 Chicks have a total of six #1 singles!
4 The Chicks are only the 18th country act to achieve career certifications of 12 million in sales
4 Dixie Chicks' "Goodbye Earl" is the Billboard Hot 100's fastest growing song at retail!
4 Single for "Goodbye Earl" is gold (500,000)
4 "Fly" spent the most weeks at the No. 1 spot for a group on Billboard's Country Albums Chart
4 Every tour stop so far (on the Fly Tour) in the United States have SOLD OUT!
4 The Chicks only country act to earn a Diamond Award for a debut album
4 Wide Open Spaces spent 118 weeks in the Top 10 of the country album charts
4 Only country act ever to be nominated off a debut album for CMA's Entertainer Of The Year
4 Most successful female country group of all time!
4 "Long Time Gone" is the fastest-rising hit of the trio's career
4 Only female group in history to have earned two RIAA Diamond Awards for their first and second Monument albums
4 "Home" has achieved the highest first week's sales, in the SoundScan era, of any album in Columbia Records history
4 "Home" was the highest first week's sales for any female Country artist and any Country group
4 Only Country group and the only female Country group to have two #1 debuts on the Billboard 200
4 After only seven weeks on the charts "Home" has been certified triple platinum by the RIAA (10/18/02)
4 "Home" is 2002's fourth biggest-selling album in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan
4 Biggest one-day sale for tour in music history bringing in over $49 million (867,000 tickets) beating out acts like Madonna and the Rolling Stones
4 "An Evening With The Dixie Chicks" went gold, platinum, and double platinum! First ever video sales award for trio
4 "Landslide" was the most played country song for 2003 according to Broadcast Data System's survey
4 The Top of the World tour is the 3rd top grossing tour in the world of 2003! Biggest Country tour of the year!
4 North American leg of the 2003 tour generated $61 million in ticket sales
4 The "Top of the World: Live" concert video was certified platinum!
4 Total record sales is over 27 million – more than any other Country group or female group in history for their first three studio releases