Getty Reba McEntire performs onstage during Revels & Revelations 11.
While discussing the most embarrassing stage moment of her career, Reba McEntire reveals she once ripped her “britches.” In an interview with CMT, the country music icon explains that wardrobe malfunctions can happen to anybody at any time. For McEntire, she just happened to be up on stage when her pants decided to go their own way.
CMT posted the fun and casual interview with McEntire on its Instagram page. Without wasting any time, she was asked to recall her most embarrassing moment. “Oh gosh, how much time do you have?” The country icon asked.
At the age of 19, McEntire sang the National Anthem at the National Rodeo Finals in Oklahoma City in 1974. Her performance caught the eye of musician Red Steagall. He invited her to Nashville to record demos for his music publishing company. Steagall then shopped her tapes around Nashville and secured her deal with Polygram Mercury Records in 1975.
By 1980, McEntire began to make a real name for herself on the country music scene. Her song “(You Lift Me) Up to Heaven” reached number 8 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles chart. She followed that success with the Top 5 hit “Today All Over Again.” While touring in the early 80’s, McEntire realized that even country music stars are not immune to embarrassment.
McEntire’s ‘The Show Must Go On’ Moment
For McEntire, her humbling night started out like any other night. “It was the early ’80s, and I was headlining,” she says. “I was going to make my way to stage right, and blue lights were gonna come on.”
While recalling the moment like it was yesterday, McEntire details where her night took a sharp turn. “I was gonna walk back on stage and sing ‘Sweet Dreams’ a capella. I did not remember this monitor being there on the floor,” McEntire says as she points down to the floor. “So when I was shuffling my way off stage right, I shuffled my toes right underneath that monitor and fell over on top of it. I crawled off stage.”
But the tumble wasn’t the worst problem that “The Voice” coach encountered. “Ripped my britches,” she says in a humorous tone. Despite the glaring issue with her wardrobe, McEntire decided to endure. “But the show must go on so I dusted myself off and put my hand over where I ripped my britches. I came back out and did the song, and nobody knew the difference.”
The Reason Reba McEntire Ripped Her ‘Britches’
In McEntire’s autobiography, “Reba: My Story,” the singer recalled what led to her infamous tumble on stage. As her career was booming, her ex-husband, Narvel Blackstock, got a “fever to make [the live] show more theatrical” she writes in her autobiography.
Blackstock came up with an idea to turn off all the stage lights following her last song before she came out for an encore. On paper, everyone was to leave the stage under the cover of darkness. Then “moody-blue” lights would come back up to illuminate McEntire for her performance of Patsy Cline’s “Sweet Dreams.”
However, the first time they tried to execute the plan was when Reba McEntire forgot about the floor monitor. After she fell and ripped her “britches,” McEntire admits that she said a “little curse” and hoped no one heard. “My new pants were so tight that I couldn’t get up, so I had to shuffle off the stage on my hands and feet,” she confessed.