Miranda Lambert was born and raised in Lindale, Texas. Her father, Richard Lee "Rick" Lambert, is a retired police officer who in later life became a private investigator in partnership with her mother, Beverly June Lambert (née Hughes). Miranda was taught about guns by her father at an early age and later became an avid deer hunter. Her parents took her to a Garth Brooks concert when she was nine and this started her interest in country music. Her father wrote and performed country music and she soon began singing in talent contests under his tutelage. At age sixteen, Lambert began appearing on the Johnny High Country Music Review[4] in Arlington, Texas, the same show that helped launch the career of LeAnn Rimes. Lambert quickly landed a recording session in Nashville, but left the studio after she became frustrated with the "pop" sound of music. She then went back to Texas and asked her dad to teach her how to play guitar so she could write her own songs. While still in high school, Lambert made her professional singing debut. She fronted the house band at the Reo Palm Isle Ballroom in Longview, Texas, a long-running venue that has showcased Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, and is where Brooks and Dunn started out as a bar room band. In 2003, Lambert auditioned for the talent competition Nashville Star, eventually becoming a third-place finisher on the show. On September 15, 2003, she signed with Epic Records. Her debut single, "Me and Charlie Talking" (co-written by her father and Heather Little), was released in summer of 2004 as the lead-off single to her debut album. Titled Kerosene, Lambert's first album comprised twelve songs, eleven of which she co-wrote. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums charts, and eventually gained a Platinum certification by the RIAA for shipments of over one million copies, selling more than 930,000 copies up to July 2008. Overall, the album produced four Top 40 singles on the Billboard country charts, including the title track which was a Top 20 hit. Lambert also toured with Keith Urban and George Strait in early 2006. In 2007, she toured with Dierks Bentley and Toby Keith. In 2006, Lambert began dating fellow country singer Blake Shelton. Lambert also sang background vocals on Shelton's 2008 single "Home", and recorded and co-wrote a duet with Shelton, "Bare Skin Rug", for his studio album Startin' Fires released later in 2008. Shelton also co-wrote 3 songs on Revolution, and provided background vocals on "Maintain the Pain." On September 15, 2003, she signed with Sony records. She has since released three studio albums, 2005’s Kerosene, 2007’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and 2009’s Revolution; all three of which debuted at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Kerosene has been certified Platinum by the RIAA, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was certified Gold. Miranda Lambert has release a total of ten singles, which includes five Top 20 hits; of these, Kerosene and Gunpowder & Lead have been certified Gold singles by the RIAA. In 2005, at the 40th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas, Miranda won the Cover Girl Fresh Face of Country Music Award. In 2005, she was also nominated for the Country Music Association’s Horizon Award and performed “Kerosene”. Nashville Scene named Kerosene one of the best albums of 2005 Miranda was nominated for and won the “Album of the Year” award at the 2008 Academy of Country Music Awards for her latest album Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.