Miranda Lambert

While most country starlets grow up in a musical family, Miranda Lambert was raised by a musical father (he played country guitar) and a mother who ran a detective agency, which may be one of the reasons why her own songs are loaded with rich narrative intrigue. At 16, Lambert entered her first singing contest, and a year later she was playing guitar and writing her own songs. Further talent show contests garnered her a spot in a potato chip commercial and led her to form her first band, The Texas Pride Band. While most aspiring bands cut demo recordings in hopes that local venue promoters will add them to a bill, Lambert's father-funded demo actually landed her two songs on the Texas music charts. She moved to Nashville in 2003, and appeared (taking third place) on Nashville Star. It wasn't long before Sony snatched her up, which isn't as impressive as the fact that they let her pen 10 of the 11 songs on her debut album, Kerosene. In 2007, she released Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but it was 2009's Revolution which made her a household name. 2011 was a banner year for the singer: she became Mrs. Blake Shelton, released an acclaimed side project as part of The Pistol Annies, and released her fourth album, aptly titled Four The Record.