However, she wasn’t always the successful entertainer that she later became.
Whileshe enjoyed an incredibly lavish lifeas an adult, McEntire came from humble beginnings in Chockie, Oklahoma.
Her mother was a schoolteacher, and her father was a champion steer roper.
Though her parents wanted her to work with cattle for a career, they did encourage her to sing.
They also enjoyed music and dancing as a family, laying the foundation for their daughter’s future success.
He was such an accomplished performer that he was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.
It was during Reba’s time in the rodeo when Clark’s attitude toward her became an issue.
So she decided at an early age to tap into music as a means to an end.
“Best attention I ever got,” she said, according to The Washington Post.
“I was the third of four kids.
I wasn’t a boy.
I wasn’t the youngest or the oldest.
I was in the middle …
I had to fight for attention.”
Meanwhile, McEntire’s mother Jacqueline appeared to put undue pressure on her to succeed as a singer.
“And she said ‘If you don’t want to do this, let’s just go on home.
But if we go on to Nashville, I’ll be living all my dreams through you.'”
The kids began performing in public as the Singing McEntires, formed by their mother Jacqueline.
“Pake played acoustic rhythm guitar and sang melody,” Reba said viaPeople.
“I sang the high harmony, and Susie sang the low.”
Susie became a Christian music artist, winning numerous awards in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Meanwhile, Alice stayed away from the fame, eventually becoming a social worker in Atoka, Oklahoma.
However, without the rodeo, McEntire may never have realized her dreams.
It was at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City in 1974 that McEntire got her big break.
From that point, she and her mother made the trip to Nashville, and McEntire’s career began.
But she never forgot her rodeo roots.
“Or maybe it’s those who are just too stubborn to know when to quit.”
