Country music bombshell Jamie O'Neal may have landed a spot among the stars in Nashville, but her fate was anything but sealed from the start. The contemporary country artist has been to Australia and back working a plethora of gigs before coming out of the woodworks as a hit solo vocalist, but her patience won out as her musical career has taken her to unbeknownst heights.

O'Neal was born Jamie Murphy in Sydney, Australia, and because both of her parents were professional musicians her life involved an immense amount of traveling and spotlighting from the beginning. O'Neal's family moved to Las Vegas to perform as part of the flashy entertainment scene, and once Jamie and her sister started performing along with their parents, her childhood turned into one stage performance after another. The talented family eventually moved to Nashville, but O'Neal's parents divorced and consequently broke up the band. O'Neal moved to Los Angeles with her father, but dreams of Nashville would never quite leave her mind. Skipping out on high school, O'Neal returned to Australia and worked a gig as Kylie Minogue's backup singer, but moved back to Nashville when she was offered a songwriting contract in 1996. Writing ballads for artists like LeAnn Rimes and Chely Wright, O'Neal still wanted more. The young starlet yearned to be the whole singing/songwriting package, and an audition in 1998 with a representative from Mercury Nashville let her have her hand at it.

O'Neal released her country debut album Shiver in 2000, and its success automatically went through the roof. The artist's breakthrough album was nominated for three Grammys, and it plastered the Billboard charts in 2000 and 2001. Continuing on with this fame, O'Neal released another album in 2000, this time her eponymous album. 2005's Brave followed Jamie O'Neal, and both of them continued to grace the charts.