Almost unbelievably, she was right. The Tifton, Ga., native's first album, My World—which spawned the No. 1 single "What I Really Meant to Say"—is the best-selling country debut since LeAnn Rimes's Blue in 1996. "Cyndi has this femininity to her music," says singer Deana Carter. "And she's beautiful."
A teen beauty-pageant competitor, Thomson, 25, moved to Nashville in 1996 to study music at Belmont University. Her parents, Pat, 60, a law secretary, and Russ, 61, a retired sales rep, had sold their Ford Taurus so Cyndi, the youngest of their four daughters, could go to college. But when she dropped out after 18 months, she was on her own. She made ends meet with modeling and waitressing gigs. "I smelled like garlic a lot," she says. "But I was hungry to sing."
In 1998 another model introduced her to songwriter Tommy Lee James, who helped her win a record contract. These days Thomson is plotting her next moves: She wants to write a Broadway show, go to law school and be a mom. But for now, when not seeing musician boyfriend Daniel Goodman, 25, "my free time is consumed by grocery shopping and laundry," says the singer, who lives alone in a one-bedroom Nashville condo. As for her newfound success, it's time to settle some debts. Says Thomson: "I'm going to buy my parents a car!"
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
