Biography
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Full Name: Terri Lynn Clark |
When million-selling country star Terri Clark went in search of artist growth last year, she found music that will lift her to new heights of acclaim. "How I Feel", her thrid collection for Mercury Records, is that special moment in a performer's life, a "career album."
Longtime fans of the singer-songwriter will recognize the up tempo with and sass of "You're Easy on the Eyes" as reminiscent of such blockbuster Terri Clark hits as "Better Things To Do" and "Emotional Girl." But elsewhere on "How I Feel: are tracks that demonstrate that this artist has taken a giant leap forward.
The package is a tour de force of musical diversity that takes in the majestic sweep its dreamy cabarct lilt of "Not Getting Over You" and the sunny, country-pop twirl of "Now That I Found You," the lead-off single. Whether swinging through the two-stepping "This Ole Heart" or experimenting with the rootsy sound of "I'm Alright" Terri Clark is in full bloom as an artist on "How I Feel"
"Because this album is such a departure for me. I really dug deep," comments the multiple award-winning stylist "I loved my first two albums, but I really wanted to grow emotionally and musically I could have done another adolescent, euphoric album. But you can't keep repeating yourself. This time, I wasn't trying to be 'Terri Clark' or to keep up a certain image. I just sang from my heart and soul. As a result, I feel really rejuvenated and recharged."
Change is difficult for anyone, and when you've recorded two enourmously popular albums it can be especially hard to experiment. Clark admits she was nervouse about tinkering with her successful style and fearful of what people would think about the change. To her credit, she took the chance.
"I don't want to be Queen of the World. I want to be Queen of Myself. I need to reach my goals within my self as an artist. Having people say "She is really a great singer and a great writer means more to me than having five triple-Platinum albums on the wall."
She already has one, her 1995 collection "Terri Clark" The follow-up, 1997's "Just The Same," is a Gold Record winner. The three-and-a-half years that have clapsed since the release of her debut album have been breathtaking in their intensity.
Clark has won six stachuettes from the CCMA, earned the TNN Music City News Star of Tomorrow award and been awarded by the Country Music Association, "Billboard", the Academy of Country Music and BMI. This year she competed for a Juno Award in Canada as a Female Vocalist nominee alongside such sales titans as Celine Dion, Sarah McLaughlin, Jann Arden and Shania Twain. She has gone beyound the wildest school girl dreams.
Terri Clark is know for the unbridled exuberance, boundless enthusiasm and outright joy she conveys. Few in contemporary Nashville express as much passion for their work. It comes naturally, for this young woman has been fantasizing about country stardom her whole life. Her grandparents were country entertainers in Quebec and while growing up on the prairies of Alberta, Terri was fixated on becomeing a country singer "to the point of obsession" as she puts it.
At age 18 she moved to Music City and began singing in the legendary Tootsie's Orchid Lounge and other honky-tonk dives. She also sold cowboy boots and waitressed to make ends meet. Terri Clark was initially turned down by every record label on Music Row because none believed that a female singing hardcore country could succeed. Mercury Nashville gambled that she could and signed her in 1994. A year later, "Better Things to Do" made her a star.
"I went from being a boot sales girl to having a No.1 record and seeing m face plastered on magazines. My life changed so drastically within a 12 month period. I was going through a divorce at the same time the 'celebrity' thing was happening and that was really hard.
"When Boy MEets Girl," "If I Were You" and "Suddenly Single" followed her debut single up the charts in 1996 the "Terri Clark" album went Gold, then Platinum. Her second album, "Just the Same," spawned her hugely successful Linda Rondstadt remake "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" as well as "Emotional Girl" and its title tune. The awards rolled in and her audience swelled. As the opening act for superstar George Strait, she hit the road with the careeing energy of a hot rod at full throttle.
No one who's ever seen her live forgets the experience. Clark leaps over amplifiers, prances across stages, jumps around merrily and generally takes crowds on a joyride as she belts out hit after hit. It's as if she adopts the persona of a risky cowgirl let loose on Saturday night.
"I love what I do with a passion," she says, "I'm such a ham and I love to entertain. It's great. I dress up like a cowgirl every night and go out and sing. But sometimes I feel like I'm expected to be like I am on TV, all the time I don't live in that 'costume' all the time. And there are other sides to me that I want the public to know.
"They say that change is the most traumatic thing for a human being to go through. Doing this album was like therapy for me. I've done a lot of growing up and I wanted my music to show that. So on this third album you can hear a maturity level that wasn't there before. And it reflects a lot of what I've been going through, inside.
"I took away all those walls that people try to put around me. There's a country box, there's a rock box, there's an alternative box. I stepped out of all of them and just did the songs I really like.
"And of couse it's country. I don't think I could sing anything that would come out sounding like anything else".
© 1998-99 Terri Clark Fans
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