Best Known As:

Gist:  Gretchen Frances Wilson (born June 26, 1973 in Pocahontas, Illinois) is an American country music artist. She made her debut in 2004 with the Grammy Award-winning single "Redneck Woman," a number-one hit on the Billboard country charts. The song served as the lead-off single of her debut album, Here for the Party. Wilson followed this album one year later with All Jacked Up, the title track of which became the highest-debuting single for a female country artist upon its 2005 release. A third album, One of the Boys, was released in 2007.

Overall, Wilson has charted thirteen singles on the Billboard country charts, of which five have reached Top Ten: the Number One "Redneck Woman", as well as "Here for the Party" (#3, 2004), "When I Think About Cheatin'" (#4, 2004), "Homewrecker" (#2, 2005), and "All Jacked Up" (#8, 2005). The album Here for the Party was certified 5× Multi-Platinum by the RIAA for sales of five million copies, while All Jacked Up was certified platinum and One of the Boys certified gold.

Life Facts:  Gretchen Wilson was born in Pocahontas, Illinois to a 16-year-old mother. Her father left before she was two years old, and she and her mother lived in trailer parks and relative poverty. Gretchen's mother worked as a waitress, and Wilson herself dropped out of the 9th grade at age 15 to work as a cook and bartender in rural Illinois.

Gretchen began singing in small bars around the St. Louis, Missouri, area at age 17. In 1991 Susie Osburn, a bar manager from Springfield, Missouri, went to St. Louis to find a new house band for her bar, the Townhouse. She found 18-year-old Gretchen singing Patsy Cline covers, so well so that Osburn initially thought the singing was coming from a jukebox. Recognizing Gretchen's talent, Osburn immediately convinced Gretchen and her band, Sam-A-Lama, to move to Springfield and play at the Townhouse. In her biography, Wilson says it was the offer of a lifetime. After playing the Townhouse for two years at six nights a week Gretchen moved back home to Pocahontas, Ill., before continuing on to Nashville. Springfield News Leader:[

After a failed marriage to former Baywolfe bandmate Larry Rolens, she moved to Nashville and began dating Mike Penner. They have a daughter, Grace Frances Penner, who was born November 9, 2001. In 1996 she moved to Nashville to sing back-up and record sample songs. In 2000, she met John Rich, a member of Big & Rich, who invited her to become his songwriting partner. In 2007, she completed the GED program.

Gretchen Wilson has been active in support for children's charities, adult education, and the fight against obesity. Initiatives to date include: (1) Raising over $1.5 million through benefit performances for children?s charities such as St. Jude?s Children?s Research Hospital and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. (2) Serving as national spokesperson for [ Country Bands Together], a national obesity education and counseling/support campaign sponsored by Allergan. (3) Advocacy for adult education, including testimony before Congress on the value and importance of support for adult learners.[

Career Facts:  Gretchen Wilson sang the National Anthem (blended with a voice-over of the Pledge of Allegiance) to a national audience at the Republican National Convention in August 2008, later describing this as a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience at an "historic moment". Wilson and her band also performed during Republican presidential candidate Arizona Senator John McCain and vice-presidential candidate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's political rally at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio on October 22, 2008 to an enthusiastic crowd of approximately 12,000 supporters. Palin started the rally by exclaiming that she couldn't wait to get (Wilson's) autograph. Wilson played a version of the Heart song "Barracuda" for Palin. The band Heart had requested that their own original version not be played at Republican rallies.Palin, McCain Rally At Airport, USA Today, October 23, 2008[