3 Hit Country Artists From the Late 1990s Who Disappeared Without a Trace

Country music, like pop and rock music, can be a fickle industry. It’s easy to make it big with all the resources to enjoy a long-winded career, only to basically disappear from the airwaves in an instant. Perhaps that is what happened to these three late-1990s country stars who seem to have disappeared without a trace after the new millennium kicked off. Let’s find out what they’ve been up to, shall we?

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Ricochet

Remember Ricochet? This group was all over the radio in the late 1990s. First up on our 1990 country stars who have since disappeared, the country band released their debut album in 1996 and produced quite a few hit songs, including the tune “Daddy’s Money”. That track made it all the way to No. 1 on the country charts. Their 1997 follow-up, Blink Of An Eye, made it to the charts but didn’t nab that certified gold status that their first album earned.

The band’s most recent album, Ricochet 15 Years Of Hits And Counting, was released in 2012 and didn’t produce any singles that charted. They continued to make it to the North American country charts until the very start of the 2000s, then disappeared completely. Ricochet is still together today and performs often, but you don’t hear much from them anymore.

Lila McCann

Lila McCann is an unfortunate example of what can happen to very young musicians in the industry. When she was just 16 years old, McCann made it to the top of the country charts with her 1997 hit single, “I Wanna Fall In Love”. The album it came from was a platinum hit. She should have been the next country superstar, honestly.

Sadly, she was forced to move between labels frequently, and her follow-up records just didn’t hit as well. By the time the 1990s were over, McCann stepped away from the spotlight. She would gain some attention in 2019 after coming out as LGBTQ+, but in terms of music, she hasn’t released anything since 2017—a true country music hitmaker from the 1990s that has since disappeared.

Deana Carter

This example of country stars from the late 1990s who disappeared released a huge hit in 1996 titled “Strawberry Wine”. It’s still a very much loved ballad in country music today, and it’s no surprise that the song earned Grammy and CMA nominations. If you were a country fan in the 90s, you probably still have Deana Carter’s Did I Shave My Legs For This? in your CD collection somewhere.

Sadly, the industry is tough, and Carter’s follow-up albums just didn’t match her early career success. She made the smart decision to start songwriting for other artists. Nowadays, outside of the occasional nostalgic tour, Carter is more focused on songwriting and managing her self-made label, Little Nugget Records.

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