1990

REBA McENTIRE

I first met Reba in 1983 at a concert in San Antonio, Texas, where she opened a show for Charley Pride. I went to the show with Norro Wilson, who I worked with at RCA Nashville in the A&R department.

Norro had been hired to produce on Reba’s new album My Kind of Country on Mercury Records. She was always “bigger than life” to me. Never in a million years would I have dreamed that one day I would get to produce her records. Later, at MCA, Jimmy Bowen broke her into superstardom by producing the hits like “Whoever’s in New England” that turned her into a superstar. When Jimmy left MCA to go head up Capitol Nashville, I got the chance to produce her next album, Rumor Has It, which garnered the smash hit “Fancy” in 1990.

I would end up doing ten more albums with Reba including her Reba: Duets album for MCA. Reba bought me a Harley-Davidson as a gift for producing a platinum album; I later donated it to the Country Music Hall of Fame, which is where it lives now. Reba is always fun to work with in the studio and also remains one of my closest and dearest friends.

I love me some Reba McEntire!

“Tony Brown is one of the most fun people I’ve ever gotten to work with in the music business. The music we have gotten to record together speaks for itself.”

Reba McEntire

Payment from Reba for all the multi-platinum albums we’d been cutting.

My gift from Reba for the album For My Broken Heart going platinum.

IT’S NOT ONLY REBA’S TALENT THAT MAKES HER ICONIC. IT’S HER WORK ETHIC, INTEGRITY, AND PERSISTENCE. SHE DEVELOPED A POWERHOUSE BRAND THAT IS STILL RELEVANT.