Nashville, TN, - (March 25, 2017) - Seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner and ACM Entertainer of the Year nominee Carrie Underwood celebrated her 100th performance on the Grand Ole Opry this weekend with four sold-out shows. Underwood made her Opry debut on June 10, 2005, less than two weeks after winning American Idol, and became an official Opry member in 2008. Her love for the Opry started as a child, as she grew up watching and listening to the show, dreaming of one day performing there and even becoming a member herself.
Opry and Country Music Hall of Fame member Connie Smith introduced Underwood on Saturday’s first show and presented her fellow Opry member with a commemorative print and a rose bouquet in celebration of 100 Opry appearances. “Opry fans, all of us Opry members, and the entire Opry family are excited when you come home to the Opry stage,” Smith said to Underwood. “Even when you’ve been on the road more than 200 days a year, you’ve always come back to the Opry. That tells me you love us, and we love you right back.”
“I grew up dreaming of one day performing here and maybe even becoming a member. That dream comes true over and over each time I take the Opry stage,” Underwood said. “Here’s to the next 100!”
Backstage, Underwood marked the 100-show milestone with a specially-decorated cake from Nashville’s IveyCake and 100 pink roses in her dressing room, a surprise gift from the Opry.
Next week, Carrie heads to Las Vegas to perform on the “52nd Academy of Country Music Awards” on Sunday, April 2 on CBS where she is up for two awards including Entertainer of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year. Carrie has a career win of 12 ACM Awards including being the first female artist to be twice named the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year and the Triple Crown Award.
About Carrie Underwood:
Carrie Underwood emerged from the promise of her 2005 American Idol win to become a true multi-format, multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, and film. A seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner, she has amassed over 100 major honors, sold 64 million records worldwide, and recorded 25 #1 singles, 13 of which she co-wrote, with a catalog of songs that have been streamed more than 2.6 billion times worldwide. The first female artist to be twice named the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year, Underwood was recognized by Pollstar as the top female country touring artist for each of her headlining tours in 2008, 2010, 2012, and for 2016’s “The Storyteller Tour - Stories in the Round.” Carrie also topped Billboard’s Top 25 Tours of 2016 as the leading female country artist and was the leading female artist on Country Aircheck’s top country radio performers list for her success in both 2015 and 2016. All five studio albums, Some Hearts, Carnival Ride, Play On, Blown Away and Storyteller – are certified Platinum or multi-Platinum, and each an American Music Awards winner as Favorite Country Album – and tallied an incredible 40 weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. The RIAA’s highest certified country album artist to debut this century, Underwood also holds the distinction of the highest album certification of any country artist to emerge since 2000 with the 8x Multi-Platinum success of her 2005 debut, Some Hearts. She is the all-time Top Country Artist (male or female) on RIAA’s Digital Single Ranking, also placing her among the Top 5 females in the history of RIAA’s Digital Single Program across all genres. In December of 2014, she released her Platinum-certified Greatest Hits: Decade #1, which produced two new #1 hits co-written by Underwood, including the RIAA-Platinum, GRAMMY-winning “Something in the Water.” 2016 marked Underwood’s fourth season as the voice of primetime television’s #1 program, Sunday Night Football, and in November, she returned for a ninth consecutive year as co-host of the CMA Awards. The Grand Ole Opry member also demonstrated her diversity in 2013, starring as Maria von Trapp in NBC’s three-hour holiday blockbuster, the Emmy®-winning The Sound of Music Live!, whose airings attracted 44 million viewers. The reigning CMA Female Vocalist of the Year, Underwood recently claimed her fourth win in the category amid the ongoing success of her chart-topping fifth studio album, Storyteller – the only country album to launch to Platinum certification since the time of its release in October of 2015.
About the Grand Ole Opry:
The Grand Ole Opry® is presented by Humana®. Opry performances are held every Friday and Saturday of the year, and Tuesday Night Opry shows continue through December 12. To plan an Opry visit, call (800) SEE-OPRY or visit opry.com. The Opry presents the best in country music live every week from Nashville, Tenn. Marking more than nine decades of entertainment, the Opry can be heard at opry.com and wsmonline.com, Opry and WSM mobile apps, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, and its flagship home, 650 AM-WSM. The Grand Ole Opry is owned by Ryman Hospitality Properties (NYSE: RHP). For more information, visit opry.com.
