Natalie Maines life and biography

Natalie Louise Maines Pasdar is an American singer-songwriter who achieved success as the lead vocalist for the female alternative country band, the Dixie Chicks. Born in Lubbock, Texas, Maines considers herself a rebel who "loved not thinking in the way I knew the majority of people thought."
Maines' first commercially released work was background vocals on Pat Green's debut album, Dancehall Dreamer, produced by her father Lloyd Maines and released in 1995. At the end of 1995, at age 21, Maines joined the all-female country music band, the Dixie Chicks, which had been performing since 1989, but which had been unsuccessful in gaining more than local attention. Maines replaced founding lead singer Laura Lynch. She plays guitar, bass, and papoose in concert in the band.

In 1995, after leaving Berklee College of Music, Maines was recruited by the Dixie Chicks to replace their lead singer, Laura Lynch. With Maines as lead vocalist, the band earned 10 Country Music Association Awards and 13 Grammy Awards for their work between 1998 and 2007.

On the eve of the Iraq invasion, while in concert in London for the 2003 Top of the World Tour, Maines commented that the Dixie Chicks were "...ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas."Negative public reaction in the United States to this comment resulted in boycotts by country music radio stations and death threats.

In 2006, with Maines still acting as lead singer, the Dixie Chicks released Taking the Long Way. The album subsequently won five Grammy Awards (including Album of the Year).

While lead singer for the Dixie Chicks, Maines has encountered several situations of a controversial nature. In August 2002, Maines criticized fellow country musician Toby Keith's song "Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue". In March 2003, Maines commented that the Dixie Chicks were " ... ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.


In 1997, Maines married her South Plains College boyfriend, bassist Michael Tarabay, and the couple moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Almost two years after they married, they filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.

Maines met actor Adrian Pasdar in May 1999 at the wedding of bandmate Emily Erwin to Charlie Robison. Maines and Pasdar married on June 24, 2000 at The Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada for 55 dollars.They have two children, Jackson Slade Pasdar (Slade) (born March 15, 2001) and Beckett Finn Pasdar (born July 14, 2004).

Read more