Country singer-songwriter Jo Dee Messina, whose early influences included Loretta Lynn and Reba McEntire, started playing clubs at age 16. Part of country music’s late-’90s crop of female crossover stars, Jo Dee Messina’s appeal nonetheless remained more with country fans than pop audiences. The ACM Awards named Messina 1998’s Top New Female Vocalist, and she also won the Country Music Association’s 1999 Horizon Award, which recognizes promising new artists. In 1998, she became the first female country artist to have three consecutive songs from the same album spend multiple weeks at No. 1.

She’s been nominated for two Grammy Awards, including Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for her Tim McGraw-featuring No. 1 hit, the delicate ballad “Bring On the Rain.” ​​Messina appeared on The Real Housewives of Atlanta in 2012 and collaborated on music with cast member Kandi Burruss, who co-wrote TLC’s “No Scrubs.”