Name: Martina McBride
Birth name: Martina Schiff

Birth date: July 29, 1966 – Medicine Lodge, Kansas

Height: 5 feet 3 inches
Eyes: Blue

Hair: Brown

Parents: Daryl and Jeanne Schiff
Siblings: Brothers, Steve & Marty; Sister, Gina

Husband: Martina married John McBride on May 15, 1988

Children: Delaney Katharine, born December 22, 1994; Emma Justine born March 29, 1998, Ava Rose Kathleen, born June 20, 2005.

Favorite color: Blue
Favorite season: Fall
Favorite food: Italian, fresh veggies, salads – everything!

Favorite Holiday: Christmas

Hobbies: Going to movies, reading, and cooking

Decorating style: “My house is pretty much decorated by my kids. Toys on the floor, crayon markings on the refrigerator and that kind of thing.”
Early performances: As a member of her family’s band, The Schiffters, she sang “I’m Little But I’m Loud” at age 7 at a 4-H convention in Manhattan, Kansas

Rock ‘n’ Roll roots: “Most of what I remember about those days was traveling around in a van with no money. We’d pool all our money as a band and buy a couple of loaves of bread and some peanut butter and jelly. We’d live on that for about a week and I’d go into these little dives and scream my head off singing Pat Benatar.”

Moved to Nashville: 1990

First Nashville Job: selling t-shirts on Garth Brooks’ 1991 tour so she could join her husband, who was the production manager.

Big Break: RCA records had a policy of not accepting unsolicited material, so an enterprising Martina sent her demo tape to the label in a purple envelope marked “Requested Material.”

Signature song: “Independence Day”, “I never really thought, ‘Will this be a hit? Will this be a single’ I just recorded it because I wanted it to be part of my body of work. I take pride that I stood up for what I believe in, that I didn’t necessarily play it safe.”

Opry induction: November 30, 1995