Natalie Maines

Natalie Louise Maines (born October 14, 1974) is an American singer.

She is the lead vocalist for the country band the Chicks.

Maines was a cheerleader while attending O. L. Slaton Junior High School, and graduated in 1992 from Lubbock High School where she had participated in the school choir.

Maines has described growing up in conservative Texas, saying "I always rebelled against that. My parents sent me and my sister to public minority schools so I always felt like a hippie and a rebel. ... As a teenager I always loved not thinking in the way I knew the majority of people thought. I always stood up for minorities. ... I've always stood up for homosexuals. I just always had these really strong convictions about doing so."

Following the completion of high school, Maines attended several colleges.

She spent two semesters pursuing an undeclared major at West Texas A&M where her studies focused heavily on radio, then a year and a half at South Plains College.

One of Maines's instructors at South Plains, and a former member of The Maines Brothers Band, Cary Banks, recalled "She was mostly into rock'n'roll, rhythm and blues ... alternative rock."

When Banks encountered Maines on campus, he said that she usually needed to vent a little steam.

"She would get into a lot of political arguments" at the predominantly Republican school, and was a fan of Texas Governor Ann Richards.

"She's always been opinionated and hardheaded like her dad."

In December 1994, Maines auditioned for and received a full vocal scholarship to Berklee College of Music.

She pursued the diploma program at Berklee but dropped out before the completion of her studies.

In 1995, after leaving Berklee College of Music, Maines was recruited by the Dixie Chicks to replace their lead singer, Laura Lynch.

Even though Maines is from Lubbock, home of Texas Tech University, she attended only one class at the school, a 1995 summer course in "Introductory Wildlife".

Maines's first professional recording was lead vocals on the song "White Women's Clothes" on Andy Wilkinson's album "Charlie Goodnight's Life in Poetry and Song."

Maines's 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 then named 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 and bass in concert in the band.

Maines co-wrote four tracks for The Chicks' first three albums, including the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart number one hit "Without You" on Fly.

With Maines as lead vocalist, the band earned 10 Country Music Association Awards and 13 Grammy Awards for their work between 1998 and 2007.

The Chicks first worked with Sheryl Crow in 1999 while performing for the concert tour Lilith Fair.

Since then, the Chicks have worked with Crow on her Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live from Central Park album, a Crow remixed version of "Landslide" performed by the Chicks, and the Chicks' song "Favorite Year" from Taking the Long Way.

Maines has performed with artists including Pat Green, Charlie Robison, Yellowcard, Stevie Nicks, Patty Griffin, Neil Diamond, Eddie Vedder, Pete Yorn and Ben Harper.

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).

Maines was a primary songwriter on all 14 tracks of the band's 2006 album Taking the Long Way which peaked on the Billboard 200 chart at No. 1. Taking the Long Way has the Billboard Hot 100 single "Not Ready to Make Nice", (Maines, Strayer, Erwin, Wilson) hitting No. 4 and for which the band won the songwriting Grammy Award, for Song of the Year.

Maines considers the songwriting she did for Taking the Long Way "pure therapy" after the controversy that ensued over a comment Maines made from the stage in London that criticized U.S. President George W. Bush.

"Everything felt more personal this time", Maines said about the album, "there's just more maturity, depth, intelligence. ... [These songs] feel more grown-up."

Maines collaborates with other musical artists, both as a member of the Chicks and an individual singer.

This was Maines's first album since the Chicks hiatus started in 2007.

The album was co-produced by Ben Harper.

The album contains Maines's interpretation of several cover songs, including Pink Floyd's "Mother", Eddie Vedder's "Without You", and Jeff Buckley's "Lover, You Should've Come Over".

She also sings about motherhood, feminism, and painful relationships.

As a solo artist, Maines released the album, Mother, on May 7, 2013.

Maines was born in Lubbock, Texas, to country musician and producer Lloyd Maines and Tina May Maines.

She attended Nat Williams Elementary School in Lubbock, where her second grade teacher recalls being told by Maines during a math lesson, "Teacher, I don't need to learn this stuff—I'm gonna be a star."

On May 7, 2013, Maines released a solo album entitled Mother.

In September 2015, Maines was inducted into the West Texas Walk of Fame.

After dropping the "Dixie", the Chicks new album Gaslighter was released on July 17, 2020.