2008_A_TC

Entertainment Beat
[Greatest Hits]
“LeAnn Rimes…Too Much, Too Soon”
I have received a tremendous amount
of mail, telephone calls and e-mails during
the past several months pertaining
to LeAnn Rimes. Numerous newspaper,
magazine, radio and television reps
from around the world have interviewed
me, including some from England and
Australia. Reason is, LeAnn has made
many headlines during the past year or
so, not all of them positive. You must
have read some of the stories in various
checkout counter sizzle magazines “exposing”
LeAnn and her doings. Certainly,
you must have heard on radio and seen
on television numerous exposes of the
Rimes family.
The basic question I have been asked:
“What do you think about LeAnn and the
negative news she has been making?”
In many ways, I have been shocked at
the so-called happenings, but I’ve also
been very sympathetic because of the
fact that many of the Rimes happenings
are very personal. After all, I have been
close to LeAnn, her daddy, Wilbur, and
her mother, Belinda, for several years.
I knew them when they were living in
an apartment in Garland, Texas, while
LeAnn performed at area show spots.
(celebrity-photos.com: John Matthew Smith)
awards for us, bringing us very close, personally
and professionally.
Within months after Curb Records released
“Blue,” Wilbur could afford to drop
his regular job and devote his energy and
encouragement to LeAnn, the hottest
new singing star in the business. The
“Blue” album has now sold close to ten
million copies. LeAnn’s second album of
sacred songs is also close to ten million
in sales. Another of my songs, “Clinging
to a Saving Hand,” is in that collection.
One interviewer asked me, “Do you ever
feel guilty over the fact that your song
made LeAnn a star and the family would
finally split up because of it?”
When LeAnn finally found that break
with my song, “Blue,” there was an immediate,
almost overnight change for all
who were attached to that first recording
by the pre-teen performer. “Blue” was to
win Grammys for both LeAnn (“Performer
of the year”) and me (“Country Song of
the year”). It would also win many other
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Although my song did make LeAnn
a star, I wasn’t responsible for the family
split. I’ve always attributed the family
breakup to the old cliché, “too much, too
soon.”