The singer on the strange world of being a child star and how Coyote Ugly spelled the end of her ‘wholesome’ image
Born in Mississippi in 1982 and raised in Texas, LeAnn Rimes signed her first record deal aged 13. At 14, she became the youngest person to win a Grammy, for her cover of country classic Blue, and followed her success with How Do I Live, one of the bestselling singles of the 1990s. In 2000, her song Can’t Fight the Moonlight was used in the teen box-office smash Coyote Ugly, a film about a group of female bartenders who danced on tabletops for tips. The song was No 1 in 12 countries and catapulted her into the pop market. She won the 2020 season of The Masked Singer US, has released 18 albums and her latest, God’s Work, is out now. She lives in California with her husband, actor Eddie Cibrian, and is a stepmother to two boys.
There was a lot of acting going on in this photograph. I was only 17 when Coyote Ugly came out and until this point in my career I’d been constantly on the road, doing press and working in the studio. I had teen angst, I was hormonal and I had done 500 shows in three and a half years, so I was tired. I hadn’t been to many bars before, let alone danced on top of them.
