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When Martina Schiff met John McBride at 20 years old, she found not only her future husband but also the professional connection who would help launch her career.
Martina was part of a failing band at the time ("they wouldn't rehearse," she later complained) that rented practice space from John, 28, a sound engineer. "Here I was, crying on his shoulder about my band not coming together, and I thought, 'I'm in love with this guy. This is crazy,'" Martina told People in 1998.
"I'm not a religious guy, but I always felt God put us together," John told The Boot. "It's crazy. I'd never had that feeling before."
They married a little over a year later, on May 15, 1988, and moved from Wichita, Kansas, to Nashville two years after that in search of better careers. John landed a job with Garth Brooks and Martina joined him on the road, working the merch table at Brooks' concerts so they could be together.
"The fact that we've been able to experience this career together has enabled us to grow together," Martina said in a 2016 sound clip for record label, Big Machine. "If I was to be off traveling and doing all of these exciting things and he wasn't able to share that with me, that would be hard for both of us. I think that it's really important that we've been able to do this together."
The "This One's for the Girls" singer's big break came in 1992 thanks to a smart move by John, who had given her demo to an RCA executive. When the label offered to sign her, she could hardly believe it. "I was like, 'Are you sure? Don't be jerkin' me around,'" she said.
She released her debut studio album, The Time Has Come, later that year, the title track from which made it to #23 on country music charts. Her second album, 1993's The Way That I Am, was more successful, with its first two singles charting in the top 10 country songs and its third, "Independence Day" earning her a Grammy nomination for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.
Martina and John welcomed their first daughter, Delaney, on December 22, 1994, followed by two more Martina albums in 1995 and 1997 and three more Grammy nods. Their second daughter, Emma, was born March 29, 1998, and Martina made a conscious choice to step back from touring to focus on raising her girls.
"You are shaping little people," she told American Profile, according to The Boot. "It's way more important than record sales or any awards or TV shows. I really want them to have the same kind of upbringing I had. It's not going to be the same in a lot of circumstances, but the way I raise my kids, the things I teach them, the values I teach them, and that sense of self I'm going to pass onto them, is the same."
Shared upbringing is one of the things that keeps Martina and John's 29-year marriage going strong. "You know, we both grew up in Kansas, which is very down to earth. And we're just the same people we've always been," she said in 2016.
"We're just very real with each other," she added.
Their third daughter, Ava, was born June 20, 2005, the same year Martina released her eighth studio album, Timeless, which debuted at No. 1 on the country chart and No. 3 on the Billboard 200. Since then Martina has released five more studio albums, bringing her total to 13. To date, she has sold more than 14 million albums and earned 14 Grammy nominations.
Martina and John will celebrate 30 years of marriage next year. What's their secret to longevity?
"[D]edication, commitment and respect for each other—and a sense of humor is very important," Martina told the Today show in 2009.
"It takes work, too," John told The Boot. "It's not all just a walk in the park. [But] we have a great relationship. She's my best friend. She's my partner...I encourage all my friends to find a farm girl/rock star from Kansas and marry her."
"I love her more [now] than I ever have," he continued. "I told her, 'If we could bottle what we have, we could retire, girl.'"
