Jo Dee Messina life and biography

Jo Dee Marie Messina, known professionally as Jo Dee Messina, is an American country music artist. She has charted nine Number One singles on the Billboard country music charts.

Jo Dee Messina was born Aug. 25, 1970, in Holliston, Mass. At 16, she put together a band, handling publicity, marketing, booking, song selection and set lists. She even ran the soundboard from the stage. When she moved to Nashville, she brought that work ethic with her, surviving by entering -- and winning -- talent contests around town. She also found a home on a regional radio show where producer Byron Gallimore heard her. With Gallimore guiding her, Messina made inroads in the Nashville music community.

Soon, she had a record deal with RCA but was dropped due to a change in management. Disappointed and frustrated, she found comfort in watching her friend Tim McGraw become a superstar. As McGraw's guest backstage during Curb's Fan Fair show, Messina approached a label executive and jokingly said, "I was thinking ... y'all need a redhead on this label." Her boldness caught his attention, and the label did sign her.

Co-produced by McGraw and Gallimore, her first album quickly charted two Top 10 hits, but a number of poor business decisions nearly sank her career, placing her on the edge of bankruptcy. However, she hung on long enough to release the enthusiastic album I'm Alright in 1998. With four huge radio hits, the album was certified double platinum and she won the CMA's Horizon Award in 1999.

The follow-up album, Burn, was certified platinum, and her self-titled debut was eventually certified gold. She also scored an adult contemporary hit with "Bring on the Rain," with McGraw on harmonies. In addition to headlining concerts, she also toured with Vince Gill, George Strait and the Judds' reunion tour. Her fame also led to television roles on Touched by an Angel and Nash Bridges. She released a Greatest Hits album in 2003.

After a few years away, Messina rebounded with the sassy No. 1 hit single, "My Give a Damn's Busted," on her 2005 album, Delicious Surprise.

Messina released a new single in July 2007, "Biker Chick," from her upcoming fifth studio album, Unmistakable. It was written by Kelly Archer and Max T. Barnes and was recorded in the fall of 2006 in Nashville. Although the album was set for release on November 6, 2007, the album was shelved and therefore, the single was dropped from Country radio after spending 9 weeks on the charts, rising to a peak of #48.

On March 22, 2008, Messina released her second single from Unmistakable, titled "I'm Done." The single peaked at #34 on the Billboard Country Chart. Messina, who co-wrote the song, explained that the release of the album was "truly dictated by the success of the single". On June 10, 2008, Messina and Phil Vassar opened the 2008 CMA Music Festival, where she performed her two #1 hits, Bye, Bye and I'm Alright, both co-written by Vassar. She also performed her latest single, "I'm Done," which received a positive reaction from the audience that day. In early 2009 she released Shine, but that song failed to chart, and the album was pushed again.

In January 2010, Messina released the single, "That's God", although it failed to chart. Messina began debuting the single in late 2009 on her Music Room Series Tour. "My heart is exploding with excitement. This song is truly what I want to say. I believe in it and its message". Having had her first child in January 2009, Messina was inspired to write the song while spending time with her son on a trip to Jasper, Canada, where she saw mountains with glacier lakes. The single received a negative review at The 9513, where critic Sam Gadzidak thought that it was derivative of Lee Ann Womack's "There Is a God."

She later announced that the album would be released in a trilogy of extended plays, beginning with Unmistakable: Love, released on April 27, 2010. It was followed by two additional extended plays, Drive and Inspiration, both released on November 9, 2010, via MP3 format.

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