The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also
successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of
founding members (and sisters) Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin
Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines. The band formed in 1989 in
Dallas, Texas and was originally composed of four women performing
bluegrass and country music, busking and touring the bluegrass festival
circuits and small venues for six years without attracting a major
label.
After the departure of one bandmate, the replacement of their lead
singer, and a slight change in their repertoire, the Dixie Chicks soon
reached a large amount of commercial success, beginning in 1998 with hit
songs "There's Your Trouble" and "Wide Open Spaces".
During a London concert ten days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq,
lead vocalist Maines said "we don't want this war, this violence, and
we're ashamed that the President of the United States (George W. Bush)
is from Texas". The statement offended many Americans, who thought it
rude and unpatriotic, and the ensuing controversy cost the band half of
their concert audience attendance in the United States. The incident
negatively affected their career and led to accusations of the three
women being "un-American", as well as hate mail, death threats, and the
public destruction of their albums in protest.
As of 2009, they have won 13 Grammy Awards, with 5 of them earned in
2007 including the coveted Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Taking
the Long Way. As of July 2010, with 30.5 million certified albums, and
sales of 26,733,000 albums in the U.S., they have become the top selling
all-female band in the U.S. during the Nielsen SoundScan era.
