This Is Reba McEntire’s Journey to Find True Love

Reba Nell McEntire was born in McAlester, Oklahoma, on March 28th, 1955. She was the third of Clark and Jacqueline McEntire’s four children. Her father and grandfather were rodeo champions, while her mom aspired to be a country singer but became a school teacher.

While Jacqueline was loving, Clark was emotionless and distant. Reba explained, “When we were growing up, I used to regret that Daddy never told us that he loved us.” The country star would spend the rest of her life searching for the love of a good man…

Reba grew up on the McEntire’s family-owned cattle ranch in nearby Chockie, Oklahoma. Even the children were expected to muck in with ranch chores before and after school, which included cleaning the barns and feeding and castrating bulls.

Jacqueline encouraged her brood of four to sing as they worked, and they all developed an interest in singing. On long car trips to their father’s rodeo drives, mom taught the kids to harmonize, but one child shone head and shoulders above her siblings.

As a girl, Reba had two loves: music and rodeo. She sang, played piano and guitar, and was a rodeo rider like her dad and granddad. Her event was barrel racing, which involves riding a horse in a cloverleaf pattern around barrels in the fastest time… but her rodeo champion father encouraged her to pursue singing instead.

In 2011, Reba told CMT her dad’s advice hurt, but she realized “When I got good attention from the singing,” she said, “I knew that was probably where I needed to land.”

Reba first sang at school in first grade, performing “Away in a Manger” at a Christmas pageant. Aged four, she earned a nickel singing “Jesus Loves Me” in a hotel lobby in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where her dad was competing in a rodeo. By fifth grade, she won the Junior Act Division with “My Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown”.

By high school, three of the kids formed a trio called The Singing McEntires. In 1971, they released their first single, “The Ballad of John McEntire”, about their famous grandfather.

The Singing McEntires went their separate ways when Reba’s elder brother graduated high school. She graduated from Kiowa High School in 1973 and went to Southeastern Oklahoma State University to major in elementary education with a minor in music. The following year, Reba performed “The Star Spangled Banner” at the National Rodeo in Oklahoma City.

By chance, country music star Red Steagall heard Reba singing the national anthem and helped her record a demo, which won her a deal with PolyGram/Mercury Records.

Reba released her debut single, “I Don’t Want to Be a One Night Stand”, in 1976. She followed this up with more romantic songs like “(There’s Nothing Like the Love) Between a Woman and Man” and “Glad I Waited Just for You”.

And all those country music love songs must have done some good because just as Reba rose to fame, she met the first love of her life. His name was Charlie Battles, and the pair of lovebirds tied the knot within a year when Reba was just 21.

Charlie Battles was a steer wrestling champion and cattle rancher who was ten years older than Reba and had two sons from a previous marriage. Reba once divulged to CNN, “I loved Charlie with all my heart; I wanted to marry him … we had a lot of fun. We rodeoed together, we ranched together.”

What more could a girl from Oklahoma want? The couple bought a ranch in Oklahoma, and the marriage was hunky-dory for a decade. But then, Reba and Charlie split up in 1987.

Reba divorced Charlie in 1977 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue her music career. But her career almost didn’t happen! On the day Reba was about to make her debut performance at Music City’s iconic Grand Ole Opry, her agent left her name off the list, meaning security guards wouldn’t let her through the door!

Once she finally made it inside, a surprise performance from Dolly Parton meant Reba’s performance was cut to three minutes. Her parents and older sister had driven 1,400 miles to see her!

Reba released her second album, Out of a Dream, in 1979. It included a cover of Patsy Cline’s “Sweet Dreams”, which became her first top 20 hit. By 1980, Reba had roped her sister Susie and brother Pake McEntire into her band, who toured in a three-car caravan, with their instruments following behind in a horse trailer.

Later, they toured in a bus called Silver Eagle but it kept breaking down. You can take the girl out of the ranch, but you can’t take the ranch out of the girl!

Fast forward to 1984, and McEntire changed managers, signed with MCA Records, and released her seventh studio album, Just a Little Love. With all these changes, she shifted from traditional country music covers to a more poppy sound and won 1984’s Female Vocalist of the Year at the Country Music Association Awards.

A string of successful albums followed in the 1980s, and Reba’s star shone bright, earning her the title as the Queen of Country Music, although Dolly Parton fans might disagree!

After her ninth studio album, 1986’s Whoever’s in New England won the Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Now, Reba was an unstoppable force. More albums like What Am I Gonna Do About You (1986) and The Last One to Know (1987) only added to her star value.

And then, the “Does He Love You” singer fell in love again. In 1987, she started dating Narvel Blackstock. They had first met when they started working together way back in 1980, and Narvel later joined Reba’s band as a guitarist.

During their whirlwind romance, Narvel Blackstock swept Reba McEntire completely off her feet, and the two decided it would be a good idea for him to become Reba’s manager. The power couple formed their own company, Starstruck Entertainment.

With her trusted beau at her side, Reba’s career reached stratospheric levels with her 1988 pop-inspired fifteenth studio album Reba, including a cover of “Respect”. Reba returned to a more neotraditional country sound with 1989’s Sweet Sixteen. In short, working with husband Narvel was a marvel. But would their love last?

The couple’s professional relationship went from strength to strength, and they soon got engaged. Reba married Narvel at Lake Tahoe on June 3rd, 1989. After her ill-fated relationship with Charlie Battles had gone south, Reba had finally found the love she so dearly craved and lamented about in all those country songs.

The following year, in February 1990, Reba and Narvel welcomed their only child, a son they named Shelby Blackstock. Shelby had ADHD and “could barely read as a kid” but grew up to be a race car driver.

When making her music videos, Reba got bitten by the acting bug. She made her feature film debut in the 1990 horror-comedy Tremors alongside Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward.

The brilliant film tells the tale of Nevada natives of a small isolated town who must fight for their lives against a breakout of giant, subterranean worms straight out of Frank Herbert’s Dune. If you haven’t seen Tremors, definitely check it out. The hilarious comedy has achieved cult status in recent years.

Next up, the following year, McEntire appeared with Kenny Rogers, Burt Reynolds, and a relatively unknown actor called Rex Linn in The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw. Remember that name Rex Linn, as he’s gonna pop up later on in Reba’s life.

In 1994, the queen of country music played Ma Tex in Rob Reiner’s comedy North. Reba almost played Kathy Bates’ character in James Cameron’s Titanic but had a lucky escape from drowning when she had to pull out due to conflicting touring dates.

On March 15th, 1991, Reba, Narvel, and the band played a private gig for IBM staff in San Diego, California. The IBM concert was due to finish late, meaning the band couldn’t fly out due to a curfew at the Lindbergh Fields airport.

Narvel suggested having their two planes instead fly from the nearby, curfewless Brown Field private airport so the band could fly out after the late show. Reba had a bout of bronchitis, so she decided to stay overnight and fly out the following day…

In the early hours of March 16th, Reba and Narvel were woken by a phone call from Roger Woolsey, the pilot of the second plane. He told Narvel that one of the planes had crashed into the side of Otay Mountain in San Diego in a fiery ball, taking the lives of everyone on board.

Eight members of Reba’s band perished — Chris Austin, Kirk Cappello, Joey Cigainero, Jim Hammon, Terry Jackson, Anthony Saputo, Michael Thomas, and Paula Kaye Evans. Pilot Donald Holmes and co-pilot Chris Hollinger also lost their lives.

Reba was heartbroken at the loss of lives. Her spokesperson said, “She was very close to all of them. Some of them had been with her for years. Reba is totally devastated by this. It’s like losing part of your family.”

Despite the tragedy, just nine days later, Reba sang “I’m Checkin’ Out” from the film Postcards from the Edge, her Best Original Song nominee at the Academy Awards. Later that year, Reba dedicated her 16th album, For My Broken Heart, to those who lost their lives in the accident.

One woman who almost perished in the plane crash was country music legend Faith Hill. At the beginning of her career, Faith auditioned to be one of Reba’s backup singers, but she didn’t get the gig.

The woman who passed the audition, Paula Kaye Evans, was on the plane that night and was one of the eight who lost their lives in the tragic plane crash. Years later, Reba McEntire released a duet single with Faith Hill, aptly named “Sleeping With the Telephone”.

You can’t keep a good woman down, and with help from her manager/husband, Reba continued recording and touring through the 1990s with albums like It’s Your Call and Read My Mind. She also continued acting, and in 1995, she appeared in Buffalo Girls, based on the life of cowgirl Calamity Jane, played by Anjelica Huston.

Reba played Calamity Jane’s best friend, Annie Oakley. Years later, in 2001, McEntire reprised her role as Annie Oakley on Broadway. In 2001, she starred in the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun.

What with all this acting, Reba only released three studio albums in the 2000s. In 2001, her sitcom Reba premiered. The show ran for six seasons and earned McEntire a nomination for a Golden Globe for playing ​​Reba Nell Hart. In 2011, McEntire appeared in ABC’s Malibu Country.

Produced by her husband, she played a divorced mother who moves to Malibu, California, to restart her music career. The show lasted just 18 episodes. However, Reba had no idea that the show was an omen of what was around the corner…

In 2012, Reba became the subject of a crazy internet rumor. Social media users claimed the iconic country singer had passed away after plunging falling off a cliff while filming a film in Europe.

Reba took to Twitter to explain, “There is a rumor going around that I [passed away] after falling off a mountain in Austria yesterday while shooting a movie.” She continued, “While I would love to be shooting a movie in Austria, I definitely did not fall off a mountain! I am alive and kicking!!!”

After 25 years of marriage, Reba’s husband and manager, Narvel Blackstock, took her by surprise when he filed for divorce out of the blue in August 2015. McEntire confirmed the split on Facebook: “Narvel and I are divorced,” adding the divorce was finalized on October 28th, 2015.

She continued, “Thanks for all of those sweet messages. Narvel and I are friends. We have always been.” The ex-flames revealed the split was amicable, and they would continue with their business relationship.

Now, at the time, Reba was worth $95 million, so her ex-husband took half of her fortune in the divorce settlement. Yep, her ex-husband and manager, Narvel Blackstock, walked away with a whopping $47.5 million of her money. Talk about a kick in the teeth!

During a 2016 interview with CMT Radio Live, she explained, “The divorce was not my idea. I didn’t want it in any shape, form, or fashion. So it was really hard to make the adjustment.”

However, things were about to get even worse for Reba McEntire. She explained, “I had my production manager who left, I had my CEO who left, my manager and husband, and my father had passed. So four men who were rock and pillars of my world were gone.”

Country musicians are robust individuals, but Reba’s journey made her stronger. “I think it made me appreciate the business more. There I was again, forging another part of the territory I never even thought I’d have to deal with.”

After Narvel Blackstock took her to the cleaners, Reba took control of her career as her own manager. She and Justin McIntosh of Starstruck Entertainment formed Reba’s Business Inc. She moved to a new location in Nashville to start a new life and released a new album, Love Somebody (2015).

Next, she sold a Christmas album, My Kind of Christmas, together with her own line of clothing, home decor, and jewelry under the Rockin’ R by Reba line at every elderly, country music lovin’, line dancer’s favorite restaurant — Cracker Barrel!

The singer opened up about how she landed on her feet after her divorce. “I started taking over signing the checks, and then I started realizing how much water cost, and the electric bill, and all the things that was going on in my life,” she said. “I made the money; I brought it home. So it was a huge, huge change for me.”

Reflecting on how she adjusted to life after divorce, McEntire said her faith gave her strength to carry on.

Over the years, Reba McEntire’s body of work tells you a lot about how she’s always craved love. Song titles, including “I Don’t Want to Be a One Night Stand”, “The Fear of Being Alone”, “Does He Love You?” and “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter” all speak volumes about her approach to love.

While she was in relationships, she released singles like “You Lie”, “Somebody Should Leave”, and “Why Haven’t I Heard From You?” That said, she’s also released more hopeful singles like “I’m a Survivor”.

Two years after once again pining for a lover on her Love Somebody album, Reba found somebody to love. His name was Anthony “Skeeter” Lasuzzo. The two first met when Reba was on a day tour during her vacation in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in August 2017.

After they crossed paths, their friendship turned into romance. In April 2019, Reba gushed to People magazine, “We’re totally in love … absolutely! I wouldn’t put up with somebody for two years if I wasn’t in love with ’em! The old heart’s still beating.”

Wildlife photographer and former geologist Skeeter often appeared arm in arm with red-headed Reba at red-carpet events and could be seen enjoying her concerts. However, by November 2019, their relationship had run its course. Despite going their separate ways, an insider revealed they were on good terms.

“They remain great friends. Reba and Skeeter feel like they’re just at different points in their lives. Maybe they’ll get back together when Reba is ready to settle down a bit more, but she’s not there yet.”

Just two months later, in January 2020, Reba found love again with Rex Linn, the actor she first met way back in 1991 starring in Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler Returns.

She explained on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, “We’ve kept in contact with each other over the years, and we both know the same people, so it was just like good friends getting back together, having dinner in January.” She continued, explaining, “And then we started texting and talking on the telephone, getting to know each other better…”

In the intervening years, Texan Rex Linn had also climbed the Hollywood Hills, appearing in Sylvester Stallones’ Cliffhanger and Breakdown. You probably know him best for playing Sergeant Frank Tripp in CSI: Miami and as Sauk Goodman and Kim Wexler’s Alberquerque bank-owning client Kevin Wachtell in Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul.

After getting to know each other again, the pair started dating in January 2020. She later singer described Rex as “very interesting, very funny, very smart.” But then, the same month they got together, tragedy struck…

Also in January 2020, Reba’s mother, Jacqueline, passed away. The singer shared a heartwarming tribute on Instagram, writing, “Our Mother, Jacqueline McEntire, made that wonderful cross over into Heaven today. She had a wonderful, full, healthy life and was absolutely ready to go.”

Reba continued, “The cancer might think it won the battle, but we’re giving God all the credit on selecting the time for her to go home to Him. She was ready to see our Daddy, her mama and daddy, and all her family and friends.”

In early January 2020, Rex Linn shared a photo of himself and McEntire enjoying dinner. Rex wrote, “Had a fantastic dinner with this Oklahoma girl. Tater Tots and Ketchup included.” This set the internet ablaze wondering if the pair were romantically involved.

Had Reba found another man so soon, just two months after splitting up with Skeeter? What were Rex Linn’s intentions? Was it just a rebound, or had she truly found love? We guess we’ll have to wait and see…

Ten months later, Reba and Rex went public with their relationship. In October 2020, the songstress gushed about Rex on her podcast, “It’s good to have a person to talk to, laugh with, get into subjects about what’s going on.

Discussions about our past, our family, funny stories, him being an actor, me being an actress. And he’s very into my music. I’m very into his career.” McEntire added, “Whatever happens in the future, we’re very stable. I look forward to having more things to look forward to.”

Once the cat was out of the bag, Reba and Rex couldn’t stop posting on social media to show their love for each other. Three days before Halloween, they shared the same photo posing with one of the chickens on Reba’s farm, both writing, “The Tots, Sugar and Tater, have taken up farming. Meet Mr. Pecker. Winner winner, chicken dinner.”

They were so in love that they’d even given themselves the silly nicknames “Sugar and Tater.” Reba is Sugar, and Rex is Tater, as he looks like a potato!

Just two weeks later, the new couple stepped out for their red carpet debut at the Country Music Awards show. Reba wore a sparkly gown, while Rex looked dashing in a blue tux jacket. Ahead of the event, McEntire divulged to People magazine. “We’re both excited that he is going to be there with me.”

Sugar shared photos of the couple before and after the show. She captioned her Instagram post, “From Red Carpet to Coffee Camp! Sugar and Tater Tot!” You see, the couple always make time for Coffee Camp.

As their love blossomed, the pair seemed to get younger, having date nights and acting like a pair of loved-up teenagers. Both avid social media users kept their fans happy with lots of social media posts, including photos with their donkey and their first movie date.

In April ’21, when Reba released her single “Somehow You Do”, Rex posted — “Tater Tot’s new video. Already climbing the charts!” Reba shared a photo of her and Linn dressed in silly outfits for a Hillbilly Chili Cookoff.

During an appearance on Today, Reba discussed her relationship with Rex, revealing that he supported her after her mother passed away. “We’d gotten to see each other before because we’re both on Young Sheldon. We just kept talking and visiting and finally got together, see each other in June. And we’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since.”

While playing Annie Oakley, Reba used to shoot from the hip. Nowadays, she’s joined to Rex at the hip. They even play husband and wife in the ABC TV show Big Sky.

The pair have holidayed in Italy, spent Valentine’s Day eating Tater Tots in Sonic Drive-In, and gone on a double date with John Lithgow and his wife. When Reba appeared on Today again, she said, “I’m telling you, he’s a great guy to be in love with.”

When talking to People magazine, she called him “the love of my life.” After all these years, so many false dawns, and pining for love in so many ballads, Reba McEntire finally found true love. The moral of the story? It’s never too late.