‘Blue’ Could Be Pure Gold For Young Singer

LeAnn Rimes has the hottest breakout single in the country.

Her song is lighting up radio request lines faster than any in ages, selling like mad and looming as one of the biggest singles of 1996.

In an era when the stuff on country radio is more plastic than an ‘80s Starship song, her rich Patsy Cline voice is crashing through the walls of staleness - walls that few others have managed to even scratch.

LeAnn is only 13 years old.

“I’m overwhelmed more than anything,” she says from her home near Dallas. “I just can’t believe this is happening, especially with my first single. When I heard that it had debuted at No. 49 in Billboard, I was just like, ‘Oh, my gosh!”’

“Blue,” the song that’s fast making LeAnn an adult-sized star, is a short little tune, clocking in at just under three minutes. But its numbers are big - and growing: In a month, the song has rocketed to No. 16 on Billboard’s country airplay chart, and when the single hit stores June 4, fans snatched up more than 100,000 copies the first day. LeAnn’s label, MCG Curb, holds retail orders for more than 200,000.

LeAnn, who made her stage debut when she was 5, comes off more grounded and poised than many artists twice her age. She already has a formidable name in Texas, where she’s performed more than 100 dates in the last year, including National Anthem gigs for the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks. At age 8, she won a “Star Search” competition on national television.

LeAnn’s musical faves include, fittingly, young stars Brandy and Alanis Morissette. And though country music has seen its share of teen artists in the past - Tanya Tucker was 13 when she hit it big - LeAnn says the new Nashville is only now welcoming youngsters again. She’s glad MCG Curb which will release her debut album July 9 before sending her on a national tour - decided to take the plunge.

“I think Nashville’s been kind of skeptical about young singers,” LeAnn says. “I had some people there say, ‘She needs to grow up and come back when she’s 18.’ But when Mike Curb called us last year and wanted to do something, there were more young people getting into the business, like Bryan White and Mandy Barnett, and that helped a lot.”

“Blue” was originally penned for Patsy Cline, who died in 1963 before she could record the song. On LeAnn’s record, it becomes a twangy slice of vintage country, as syrupy pedal steel guitars and yodeling vocals float atop a mid-tempo shuffle.

Despite the song’s distinctly retro feel - a sound that’s failed to spawn commercial sparks for such critically lauded acts as Mandy Barnett, Junior Brown and the Mavericks - folks have taken to “Blue” like catfish to dough.

LeAnn says one fan told her he had to pull off the side of the road the first time he heard “Blue” - because of goose bumps.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘Your voice is what really grabbed me at first,”’ she says. “Some say it’s the song, or that they just love the old sound, or the little yodel thing I put in there. But I think most of all - at least I hope - that people like my voice.”

LeAnn is no embattled child prodigy, she says, and there’s no pressure from her parents, who include her manager-dad: “If anybody’s pushed anybody, it’s me pushing them.”