Maren Morris is an American singer and songwriter whose music blends country, pop, R&B and hip-hop.
Let’s find out some trivia and facts about the singer.
- Her full name is Maren Larae Morris
- She was born April 10, 1990
- Maren Morris is an American singer-songwriter
- Rooted in the country genre
- Her music also blends elements of pop, R&B, and hip-hop
- Morris has won multiple accolades including a Grammy Award, an American Music Award and five Academy of Country Music Awards
- She was born and raised in Arlington, Texas
- Morris enjoyed singing as a child
- She started publicly performing in her preteen years and toured throughout Texas
- In her late teens and early twenties, she released three studio albums on independent record labels
- She relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in country music during this same time period
- Morris signed a publishing contract
- She later a recording contract following the streaming success of her 2015 self-titled EP
- Morris’s major-label debut studio album Hero (2016) was released on Columbia Nashville
- Her first album blended country with R&B styles
- Its lead single “My Church” became her breakout single at country radio
- It was followed by the commercially successful songs “80s Mercedes”, “I Could Use a Love Song” and “Rich”
- In 2018, Morris collaborated with Grey and Zedd on the song “The Middle”
- Released as a single, the track became a top ten pop success in various countries
- She followed it in 2019 with her fifth album titled Girl
- The album mixed country with various music styles and featured collaborations with different artists
- It spawned the number one singles “Girl” and “The Bones”
- Morris released her sixth studio album on March 25, 2022, titled Humble Quest
- In addition to her solo work, she has recorded as a member of The Highwomen and in collaboration with her husband, Ryan Hurd
- Morris has had two albums certified for sales certifications in North America
- She has scored three number one songs on the Billboard Country Airplay chart and eight top ten songs on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart
- Morris met fellow country singer-songwriter Ryan Hurd while co-writing “Last Turn Home” for Tim McGraw
- Their relationship began as friends
- In December 2015, the pair began dating and announced their engagement in July 2017
- The two were married on March 24, 2018, in Nashville, Tennessee
- The couple then moved into a three-bedroom, three-bathroom home in Nashville, Tennessee with a wrap-around porch
- Their first child, a son, was born in March 2020
- Morris filed for divorce in October 2023
- Morris told Taste of Country that she suffered a difficult labor that eventually resulted in a C-section delivery
- This led to a challenging post-pregnancy for Morris
- She recalled suffering from postpartum depression for nearly a year after giving birth
- In 2017, Morris started the Heroes Fund, which raises money for music education in public schools
- Through the program, Morris donated $70,000 to East Nashville Magnet High School that went towards their music and drama departments
- In April 2021, Morris donated $300,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Together We Rise and Ecologi
- In August 2021, Morris joined several country artists to raise money for the program Together: Feeding Nashville
- The concert raised money to fund “food insecurity” in the Nashville area. A total of $450,000 was raised from the show
- Morris has been an advocate for making the country genre more equitable for fellow artists
- In her 2020 CMA Awards acceptance speech, Morris named several black artists who helped make the award possible including Mickey Guyton, Linda Martell and Brittney Spencer
- In early 2021, Morris spoke out against country artist Morgan Wallen when a video of him using a racial slur surfaced
- In August 2022, Morris replied to an Instagram post made by Jason Aldean’s wife, Brittany
- Both Morris and other country music singers including Cassadee Pope perceived Aldean’s comments as transphobic
- While interviewing Brittany Aldean, Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson referred to Morris as a “lunatic country music person”
- In response to this comment, Morris sold T-shirts through her website featuring the phrase “lunatic country music person” and the telephone number of the Trans Lifeline. She also stated that proceeds from the shirts would be donated to GLAAD
- In September 2022, Morris partnered with GLAAD to design a new T-shirt in honor of Spirit Day
- Morris told The Los Angeles Times in September 2023 that she planned to leave the genre of country music “because of what she views as the country music industry’s unwillingness to honestly reckon with its history of racism and misogyny and to open its gates to more women and queer people and people of color”
- Writers and critics commented that Morris’s first two Columbia albums combined country with R&B and Hip-Hop musical styles
- Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic found that 2016’s Hero included “R&B influences” that “twists the rhymes” and “[rides] the beat” while “undercutting her boasts with sly wit”
- Jewly Hight of Billboard described Hero as “a signifier of country-pop’s fluidity and a creative process that resembles the track-building of pop, R&B and hip-hop”
- The Hartford Courant praised 2019’s Girl for incorporating similar styles
- Morris’s vocal style been noticed by writers and critics. When reviewing her 2019 album, Jon Caramanica described her voice as “versatile” in the way it can move between both the country and pop genres
- Chris Richards of The Washington Post described Morris as having “the best voice of any country singer working today”
- Richards further explained, “Listen to her jump in and out of her lyrics and you’ll hear a sophistication that feels like something metaphysical”
- Overall, Morris characterizes herself as a country artist
- Other writers have agreed, including Stephen Thomas Erlewine: “Morris’ music was grounded in country — prior to striking gold as a performer, she was a professional songwriter in Nashville — but she also incorporated elements of pop, R&B, hip-hop, and rock, creating a distinctive, stylish hybrid that had wide appeal outside her chosen genre”
- Morris has cited various artists of different genres as influences on her career
- Among these artists are Katy Perry, Coldplay, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, Chaka Khan and Hank Williams
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