The McCarters were an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

trio, composed of sisters Jennifer, Lisa, and Teresa McCarter. They recorded two albums for

Warner Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

Nashville between 1988 and 1990. These albums accounted for three top-ten singles on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts: " Timeless and True Love", " The Gift", and " Up and Gone". The trio disbanded in 1990.

Biography

The McCarters consisted of Jennifer McCarter (born March 7, 1964) and her two sisters, twins Lisa and Teresa (born November 21, 1966). The three of them performed locally in

Sevierville, Tennessee Sevierville ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Sevier County, Tennessee, located in eastern Tennessee. The population was 17,889 at the 2020 United States Census. History Native Americans of the Woodland period were among the first human ...

, for many years, starting when Jennifer was nine years old. After they had reached adulthood, Jennifer contacted record producer

Kyle Lehning Kyle Lehning is an American record producer whose work is mainly in the field of country music. He has produced virtually every album released by Randy Travis, who described their partnership "an interesting relationship." The only exceptions are ...

as she liked his production work with

Randy Travis Randy Bruce Traywick (born May 4, 1959), known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country music and gospel music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and actor. Active from 1978 until being incapacitated by a stroke in 2013, he has recor ...

. She convinced Lehning to listen to a fifteen-minute audition, after which Lehning recommended them to

Nashville. The trio was signed to the label in 1987, where they recorded their debut album ''The Gift''. This album charted three singles on the ''

charts: " Timeless and True Love", " The Gift", and "I Give You Music". An uncredited review in ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' praised this album for having a

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

influence and vocal harmony. They supported ''The Gift'' with a worldwide tour opening for

and an appearance on

Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, philanthropist, and businesswoman, known primarily for her work in country music. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton made her album d ...

's ''Dolly'' variety show. In 1989, the trio renamed themselves Jennifer McCarter & the McCarters, as they thought the group's name should better reflect Jennifer's role as lead vocalist. The trio also received a nomination by the

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Produc ...

for Favorite Country New Artist, losing to

Patty Loveless Patty Loveless (born Patricia Lee Ramey, January 4, 1957) is an American country music singer. She began performing in her teenaged years before signing her first recording contract with MCA Records' Nashville division in 1985. While her first ...

. They recorded a second album for Warner entitled ''Better Be Home Soon'' for release in 1990. Lead single " Up and Gone" made top ten on the country charts in 1989, but further singles were less successful. They were released from Warner Records in the early 1990s, soon after their second album.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maccarters, The Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups disestablished in 1990 Country music groups from Tennessee Sibling musical trios Vocal trios Warner Records artists