Gretchen Frances Wilson (born June 26, 1973) is a Grammy Award-winning American country music singer and guitarist. Her debut album, Here for the Party, topped the US country charts in 2004 and reached #2 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Wilson signed with Epic Records in 2003 and recorded Here for the Party within the year. The first single, "Redneck Woman," was released in early 2004 and quickly became a hit reaching the top of the Hot Country Songs charts and #22 on the Billboard Hot 100. Due to the success of "Redneck Woman," Here for the Party was released earlier than planned on May 11, 2004, and debuted at #1 on the Billboard country chart. It also reached #2 on the Billboard 200 and Billboard Internet album sales charts. She built on the success on the album by performing as support artist for Brooks & Dunn and Montgomery Gentry.
After the success of the single and the album, she released the title track Here For The Party as second single. It was also successful peaking at #3 on the Country chart. Other two songs were released as singles, both reached the top 10.
Released in markets outside the US, the album reached #2 on the Australian country charts (behind Kasey Chambers) and the top 50 of the Australian charts. As of July 5, 2004, "Redneck Woman" was #1 on a world composite country chart (based on the US, UK and Australia). The album went on sell more than 4 million copies in the US and 5 worldwide, so it was certified four times platinum.
On September 27, 2005 Gretchen released her sophomore album All Jacked Up which peaked at #1 on both Top 200 and Country album chart, but, after initial decent sales, the album fell off the charts selling just 1 million copies and was certified Platinum. The title track All Jacked Up peaked at a disappointing #8 on the Country singles chart and it was the only song off the album to reach the top 10. The second single was I Don't Feel Like Loving You Today which peaked at #22, missing the Hot 100 completely. The third and the fourth single were Politically Uncorrect and California Girls which peaked respectively at #23 and #25 on the Country chart.
