LeAnn Rimes
Articles & Interviews
Country Weekly January 31, 2005
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Home is Where the Heart Is

Putting her traumatic childhood behind her, LeAnn Rimes welcomes you into her magnificent house – and shares her dreams of children and a long country music career.

TEX, A GIANT GERMAN SHEPHERD, IS THE OFFICIAL greeter at the front door of LeAnn Rimes’ elegant two-story Nashville home. It’s soon clear that Tex’s intimidating body is wrapped around a kind of canine heart. His curious cold nose is the giveaway.

“Tex is so sweet,” notes LeAnn standing in the foyer. “He goes with us on the road sometimes. He puts his nose on the person in the bus’ lower bunk and playfully tries to roust ‘em out – so he can have his own bunk.”

LeAnn and her actor/dancer husband Dean Sheremet have carved out their own space and a new life in Music City – in a home selected because it will work well for the children they plan to have and for the three Pomeranians, two Chihuahuas, one Boston terrier, one German shepherd and four cats they already have. The house sits on three acres, with a tree-lined creek and wooden bridge in the backyard.

“Moving to Nashville has been amazing,” declares LeAnn, who was born in Mississippi and grew up in Texas. “We’ve been here a little over a year and a half. We love it. The people are wonderful. I really liked L.A., but I never felt completely at home there. Now I fee like I’m home.”

LeAnn, 22, moved home to the South after a few years in California, where she experimented with pop music and even put out a pop album,
Twisted Angel. None of the songs resonated with country radio, and there was even talk that the gal who set country music on its ear when she was 13 with the Grammy-winning “Blue” – and followed up with the No. 1 “One Way Ticket (Because I Can),” “Commitment,” “Big Deal” and other hits – had abandoned her core fans. Along the way, she sued her record label and her manager/record producer dad Wilbur for taking too much of her money (both suits were settled), weathered the 1997 divorce of her dad and mom Belinda, and she had songs on the pop/rock soundtrack for the movie Coyote Ugly. Some people wondered if LeAnn had “gone Hollywood” and if she would ever be able to find her way back to her country roots.

But, baby, she is back –
big time!

Her decision to say goodbye to L.A. and head to Nashville was the first step in her return to country. Next came successful concert tours in the U.S. and Europe, and she closed out 2004 with a 12-city “symphonic Christmas” tour in America. Then there were appearances on the
Grand Ole Opry, last year’s Christmas CD and new hit single “Nothin’ ‘Bout Love Makes Sense” from her dead-on country album This Woman, due out Jan. 25. And, as a capper, she’ll now host the nationally televised country music talent show Nashville Star, premiering in March.

Strolling around LeAnn’s home while she talks candidly about where she’s been and where she’s going, you get a sense of just how grounded she is now – and how committed she is to “reconnecting” with her fans. The house, with it’s hand-picked furnishing, personal knickknacks and memorabilia, is a mirror to her life, then and now.

“I was looking at this very house on the internet one night,” remembers LeAnn, leaning against the kitchen’s marble countertop, “and thought it looked great. I told Dean the numbers in the address were such a cool combination that I felt we were going to live there. He laughed and said there were a million other houses to look at.”

But that house was at the top of their “to see” list.

“It was the very first house we looked at,” recalls LeAnn.

“Yeah, we looked at about 40 houses in a whirlwind two days,” nods Dean, as he takes a cup of coffee from his new high-tech coffeemaker. “But it was destiny that we buy this one.”

Their house is near fellow country star Phil Vassar’s home. “Phil’s wonderful. I love him,” beams LeAnn. “We’ve done some shows together recently. He’s such a great entertainer. And every time we go over to his house we stay until three in the morning. So it’s great that we can just walk home.”

Many of the furnishing in LeAnn’s home capture an Asian tone. “The house I bought in L.A. was built by a couple from Japan,” she explains. “I was inspired by their whole scheme, so the first two pieces of furniture I bout for that house were an antique Asian toy chest that’s now in the library (also called the ‘Man Room,’ but that’s a story for a little later) and a huge red antique chest that’s in our living room.”

Some huge homes are cold and uninviting. LeAnn’s has a very comfortable feel. “I wanted to bring that Asian flair to this house,” she continues, “because it gives everything a Zen feeling. It’s very calming to me, and I love the colors, especially red. Since this is a traditional house, what we’ve created is a French traditional style with an Asian flair.

“And when you think about starting a family, you want your home to be really warm and cozy. We wanted it to be someplace where you want to hang out and never leave – which makes it really hard to go on the road.”


She pauses. “I am looking forward to having a family. Dean and I talk about it every single day. And when God gives me that blessing, it will be wonderful. I know it will happen eventually, but for the next year or so I’m going to put my whole being into my job.”

LeAnn and Dean celebrate their third anniversary Feb. 23. “We’re going somewhere to get away completely,” she confides.

Glancing around the kitchen, LeAnn declares with a laugh, “This is where I
don’t cook – Dean does. All those years I was supposed to learn how to do all kinds of around-the-house stuff, I was on the road working. Now, if I had to cook, we wouldn’t starve. I can make turkey tacos and spaghetti. And I’m a whiz with anything out of a box, like macaroni and cheese and muffins. But Dean can cook anything.”

Dean chuckles. “I was blessed that my grandma raised me and taught me all about cooking. But Lee is a great hostess. We’re a good team.”

Precious, a black and white Chihuahua, darts into the kitchen. She goes sliding across the hardwood floor.

“We love our animals,” laughs LeAnn. “We get unconditional love from those little things, and I love to give back love to them. Maybe it’s the mother instinct in me coming out.” The Rimes animal troupe is well taken care of.

“We have a big game room upstairs where the dogs and cats hang out together,” notes LeAnn. “There’s even a little TV that plays a DVD called
Video Catnip, which as footage of birds and squirrels running around. The cats swat the screen and have fun.

“Plus, the laundry room has been fixed up for them, too. And the full three acres we have fenced, so the dogs can run, run, run.” Talk about a dog’s life!

LeAnn walks into the library. “I fell I love with this room because of the beautiful wood ceiling. We call this room the ‘Man Room,’ because it’s the most masculine in the house.”

The room’s south wall sports LeAnn’s awards, including those from the CMAs, ACMs (where she met Dean in 2001 when he was a dancer during her performance), AMAs, Grammys, Billboard Awards, World Music Awards, CMT, and
Country Weekly. “I’ve never been on to display my awards – I kept them in a closet in L.A. – but this seemed the perfect place to put them, along with the Lladro figurines I collect and some books.”

On a shelf are vintage copies of
Popeye and Little Orphan Annie next to a copy of Jag, the illustrated children’s book that LeAnn and Dean wrote in 2003. “Hopefully Jag will become a classic like the other two,” beams LeAnn. Jag’s New Friend, the follow-up book, was published late last year.

Entering the living room with a breathtaking ceiling created out of copper, LeAnn says she fell in love with the room because it allowed her to complete a dream of hers. “I’d been eying these oversized couches in Los Angeles for three years. I walked into this room for the first time and knew it had the space for the couches, and the colors blended perfectly.”

On a bamboo table sits a carved Asian piece. “It’s a ‘wish pot’ that Dean and I got on our first trip to Hawaii,” explains LeAnn, lifting the top off to reveal three dangling strings containing rolled up paper. “My wishes and Dean’s wishes are in here.”

Easing into a chair at the kitchen table, LeAnn tackles a variety of topics.

HER FAMILY
– “My mom is happily married, and I really like her husband. And my dad is no longer married, which is a good thing, and I think he’s happy he’s no longer married. He has a wonderful girlfriend, whom I adore. It’s not fun if a parent is married to someone you don’t like – and that was the case with my dad’s ex-wife. It separated things between him and me for a while.”

SUING HER DAD – “I don’t think about it at all now. It was something people seemed to know too much about when they really didn’t know the truth. And it had an impact on how people saw me, even though it had nothing to do with me as an artist and everything to do with my privacy.

“It’s been over with for a long time for Dad and me. We now have a wonderful relationship – the kind I wouldn’t trade anything for. But I don’t regret what I went through; it made me strong.”

HER NEW SINGLE AND ALBUM – “ ‘Nothin’ ‘Bout Love Makes Sense’ is a great first single for me. It kind of introduces me as a woman. Every woman goes through the same thing when they fall in love. You’re crying when you’re happy, and all these weird feelings go on that don’t always make sense to you.

“One of the songs I co-wrote on the album is ‘When This Woman Loves a Man,’ and I pulled ‘This Woman’ out for the title because I am a woman – and that sums up everything about me.

“My voice has matured so much and people will hear I’m not a kid anymore. I love holding on to the memories of ‘Blue’ and all the wonderful songs I’ve had. And I’m forever grateful for my successes the last ten years. But I have 12 great songs on this record that will reintroduce me as a mature performer. And I want to be singing great country songs for a long, long time.”

NASHVILLE STAR – “I’m excited about hosting the show. It’ll be nice to have an artist’s point of view coming from the host. I’ll get into the contestants’ minds. And there’ll be more behind-the-scenes action to make the show more dramatic.

“It’ll be another way I reconnect with my audience. And I think it’ll help people realize I’m human. Too many time people see me as a voice, and they don’t see the human side of me. They don’t see that I have a personality and a sense of humor. After meeting me I’ve heard people say, “Oh, my gosh, she’s so nice!’ and I’m shocked that they don’t know that. But they’ll see that on
Nashville Star.”

Tex walks over and curls up by LeAnn’s feet. She reaches down to pet his head.

“I’m in a great place in my life right now,” she confesses. “I’m able to be completely honest with my feelings. I’m very comfortable in my skin.”
CW


© Country Weekly January 31, 2005 by Larry Holden. Photos by Marc Morrison.
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