Carrie Underwood often gets dressed up for red carpet events, so it wasn’t surprising to see her wearing a lot of makeup while fishing with her husband, Mike Fisher. In a September 13 Instagram post, Underwood shared several photos of them on a boat, happily showing off their catches. She wrote, “Had the BEST day today fly fishing in Montana! Thanks to our awesome guide, Jason, for the expertise! What a day!” In the pictures, the singer of “Before He Cheats” looked almost unrecognizable, and as someone who knows about makeup, I could tell why.
Carrie Underwood usually has a smoky eye look, but she often adds some light shimmer to soften it. In her fishing pictures, though, she seemed to have used a darker brown eyeshadow that made her eyes look smaller instead of wider. Her eyebrows also looked darker than usual, which changed her overall appearance. One fan commented, “I think she’s great, but honestly, I can’t recognize her. She has always been so naturally beautiful. Has she had a lot of surgery or new teeth?”
Underwood did talk about an accident in 2017 that left her with over 40 stitches on her face, which might have changed how she looks. However, her heavy makeup and fuller lips lately are fueling ongoing rumors about plastic surgery.
Carrie Underwood’s overly bronzed makeup was somethin’ bad
Carrie Underwood looked almost unrecognizable in an Instagram video she shared on September 21. Instead of her usual soft glam, her face had a very dark bronze color that resembled a spray tan that didn’t turn out well. It wasn’t the nice glow that Jennifer Lopez made popular in the early 2000s. It was more like Ross Geller from Friends when he used the spray tan machine incorrectly and ended up way too dark.
We’ve seen Carrie Underwood without makeup many times, and she looks stunning. While we totally support her love for makeup, this time the bronzer seemed too much and gave her face a muddy look. One fan commented, “I know she’s making a video, but seriously!” Another fan noticed, “Her lips are getting bigger.”
It’s true that you can make your lips look fuller with lip liner, different lipstick shades, and gloss. However, many fans believe Underwood might have used fillers to enhance her lips, and there’s no shame in that. When asked about the plastic surgery rumors, she told Redbook in 2018, “It’s a little sad because the truth is just as interesting. I wish I had gotten some great plastic surgery to improve this [scar], but I try not to worry too much about it.”
‘Little Miss Dynamite’ blew up the charts when she was only 12: The story of Brenda Lee
Brenda Lee’s name may not be as recognizable as some of the other music stars from the 1960s but when you think of Christmas, you’ll know her song, and start humming her catchy tune, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
When Lee, now 78, first hit the stage, she wasn’t old enough to drive but her powerful vocals steered her “unprecedented international popularity” as the most successful female artist of the 1960s.
Lee, whose voice defied her diminutive stature at only 4 foot 9, became a fan favorite when she was only 12.
Brenda May Tarpley, born in 1944, got her start in the late 1940s, became huge in the 1950s, and over her career–that started before she left elementary school–she topped the charts 55 times, earning the title as the most successful female recording artist of the 1960s.
When Lee was only eight (according to Rolling Stone), her father, a construction worker, was killed at work and little Brenda–who then changed her last name to Lee–became the family’s primary provider.
Taking care of her younger brother, big sister, and mother–a cotton mill worker–was not a duty, but something she wanted to do. She said that she was thrilled when she made her first $20, so she could help her family: “Even at that young age, I saw that helped our life,” Lee said, adding “It put some food on the table. It helped, and I loved it.”
The Atlanta-born chanteuse, called a “pioneer of early rock and roll,” by the Georgia Encyclopedia, achieved “unprecedented international popularity in the 1960s.”
But, an incredibly humble human, Lee credits those who helped her achieve her dreams. When Christianity Today asked what she thinks about being a legend, Lee said “I don’t think of myself that way!” She continued, “I’m just a girl who’s been blessed to be doing what I’m doing, and there’s a lot of people who’ve sweated a lot of tears and put a lot of life’s work into me to be able to have my dream. So, if I’m a legend, then they’re legends, too.”
In 1956, the young girl joined country star Red Foley for a show at the Bell Auditorium near her home in Augusta, and she belted out “Jambalaya,” by Hank Williams.
She was then signed to appear on Foley’s Ozark Jubilee, a country music show, where millions of viewers fell in love with the sassy 12-year-old whose talent was developed well beyond her age.
In the same year, Lee signed with Decca Records, and the next year, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and fusing country with rhythm and blues–highlighted by her hiccupping vocals–she recorded early rockabilly classics like “BIGELOW 6-200,” “Little Jonah,” and “Let’s Jump the Broomstick.”
When asked if–when as a young girl–she was nervous performing in front of large crowds, she answered: “No, not really. Nobody ever told me to be nervous. The stage always felt like a hometown to me because I had been in front of people ever since I was 3 years old, singing to people. So it was a very comfortable spot for me.”
In 1957, Lee earned the nickname “Little Miss Dynamite” for her pint-sized powerhouse recording of the song “Dynamite,” and in 1958, fans heard “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree,” a genre and generation-crossing holiday standard, released when she was only 13.
“I knew it was magical,” she told Rolling Stone.
Over the next couple of years, she charted with hits like “Sweet Nuthin’s,” “All Alone Am I,” and “Fool #1.”
Most of her songs, however, contradicted her experience as a young girl. Her mother didn’t let her date and she graduated high school not understanding the heartbreak of young love.
She was only 16 when she said “Love could be so cruel” in the song “I’m Sorry” and only 16 when she said “I want his lips to kiss me” in the song “I Want to be Wanted,” both back-to-back hits when she was still in school.
And when she turned 18, she met Ronnie Shacklett, whom she’s now been happily married to for 60 years.
Life on the road for Lee as a youngster had its difficulties. She celebrated her 12th birthday in Las Vegas and speaking with the Las Vegas Journal, Lee explained her loneliness.
“Of course, I wasn’t even allowed to walk through a casino, I was so young. So I didn’t even know what a casino looked like. They took me into the kitchen, then into the showroom. And then when my show was over, I was brought back out through the kitchen and back up to my room. Children weren’t allowed … in the casino area.” She continued, “There wasn’t anything to do in Vegas for a kid. The most fun I had was on the stage.”
Speaking on what she missed out on as a child, the award-winning Lee said, “Many times, I yearned to be with my friends rather than be out there on the road.”
Turns out she made new friends on the road, like with the music group that opened for her at a 1962 show in Germany. “I hung out with John,” she says effortlessly, speaking of John Lennon. “He was extremely intelligent, very acerbic with his jokes, just a gentle person. When I found out that they later said they were fans of my music, I was just floored.”
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