Miranda Lambert

Has said her private-investigator parents took her on her first stakeout when she was just 3. Starred as Annie Oakley in her high school's production of Annie Get Your Gun. Has said seeing country star Garth Brooks in concert when she was 10 inspired her to try singing; the first song she performed in public was Holly Dunn's "Daddy's Hands." Wrote her first song the same day her father, a singer and guitar player, taught her a few chords. At 17, formed her own band, the Texas Pride Band, and began playing in Dallas and the surrounding area. Came in third in the 2003 season of USA's Nashville Star. Wrote or co-wrote all but one song on her 2005 debut album, Kerosene, which debuted at No. 1 on the country charts and has sold more than 500,000 copies. ~ Rovi