Reba McEntire is maybe the hardest–working woman in show business.
The red–headed Oklahoma firebrand has just finished taping the fourth season of her hit sitcom “Reba,” launched the Reba clothing line through Dillard’s department stores, and begun a 25–city American tour that will have her singing in front of a half–million people.
As soon as it’s over, McEntire –– who, by the way, has hit No. 1 on the country chart 30 times –– will voice a character for an animated remake of “Charlotte’s Web,” sing on a movie soundtrack for Disney and play the part of Nellie Forbush in a one–night charity performance of “South Pacific” at Carnegie Hall.
That’s just the first half of this year.
“I never went out looking for any of this stuff,” she says by phone from her Nashville office. “It always just comes to me, and I have the choice of either taking the opportunity to be a part of it, or I pass on it.
“And I usually say ‘Boy, if I don’t take it, it’s gonna go to somebody else,’ so I’ve always jumped at it,” she explains.
In 2001, she was offered the starring role in a Broadway revival of “Annie Get Your Gun.” She’d never been in a play before, on any stage, but in true Reba fashion she accepted the challenge.
“I never, ever considered ‘What am I getting myself into? What do I know about it?” McEntire says with a laugh. “I wanted to be Annie Oakley so bad, and after I watched that show, that’s all I had on my mind.”
“Ms. McEntire doesn’t need a gun to bring Manhattan to its knees,” said the New York Times in its rave review of the show.
“They told me going in, ‘Don’t expect any good reviews,'” she says. “And I said, hey, I didn’t come in this to get an award, I just wanted to do this play. And when we did get good reviews, everybody was just shocked. I was thrilled.”
She stayed on Broadway for five months and then launched her TV show.
“I feel like I’ve worked 29 years getting where I am today,” she confesses, “and now the things that I get to do are more fun for me than work.”
The Reba clothing line was the brainchild of someone at Dillard’s.
“I sat in a two–hour meeting,” recalls McEntire, “listening to them tell about the clothes –– the fabrics, designs and patterns –– and after two hours they said ‘What do you think?’
“And I said ‘Guys, I wouldn’t wear a thing you showed me today, and I’m not about to put my name on it. Sorry,'” she says.
McEntire then got stacks of clothing catalogs and ripped out pages, creating a “huge file” to send to the Dillard’s people.
“It was stuff I liked and didn’t like,” she says. “And at the next meeting, it was 100 percent better. And I said ‘I think I can work with you guys.'”
She says she’s involved in the ongoing evolution of the line, flying to New York to watch “fit models” and making suggestions to the designers.
“I’ve been working with designers for all these years, and I learned a lot from them,” she says. “I never had found one line of clothing that had everything –– this designer, the pants didn’t fit right; that designer, the jackets weren’t right. So I had to mix and match.
“Now, I’ve got a clothing line that I really do like,” she adds.
In fact, McEntire says, she wears clothes from the Reba line on the May 13 and 20 episodes of her TV show.
At age 50, Reba McEntire is enjoying the fruits of her hard years –– because of her many business interests, she is one of the richest women in Nashville. (She also donates time and money to a number of local charities.)
She has been named the Country Music Association’s female vocalist of the year four times, and won 11 Academy of Country Music awards, two Grammys and a good 30 more prestigious statues. She’s written two books and appeared in 11 movies.
Still, she stresses, connecting with everyday country music fans –– the people, after all, who bought her records and made her what she is today –– remains a priority.
“Money is something that helps you survive in life,” McEntire says. “It’s the reason, mainly, I worked so hard at the beginning. I get to do it now because I love it; I had to do it before to survive.
“And even though I could quit doing all this, I love it,” she adds.
“The fame and fortune? I still like to be a regular person, and I like to be treated as a regular person –– except when I’m trying to get into a restaurant. Then I’ll throw that name in there in a heartbeat.” She pauses and laughs. “There’s nothing,” she says, “that can stand between me and food.”
@2005 Bill DeYoung