Martina McBride has a brand-new title this week, and she sounds over the moon about it. She’s a grandma.
Martina is the country singer behind hits like “A Broken Wing” and “In My Daughter’s Eyes.” She was born Martina Schiff in Sharon, Kansas, in 1966, and in 1988 she married studio engineer John McBride. They have three daughters: Delaney, Emma and Ava.
This week Martina announced the birth of her first grandchild, a baby girl named Mia. Mia’s mom is Delaney, Martina’s oldest. Her dad is Delaney’s husband, Cole.
Martina shared three photos of herself holding the baby. “Mom, Dad, and baby are all doing just great,” she wrote. “We are so grateful.”
The family had been counting down since late April, when Martina announced the pregnancy with two Polaroid photos. “My first baby is having a baby!!!!!” she wrote then. “We are so excited and happy to be welcoming our first grandchild. We are blessed indeed.”
Delaney was born in December 1994 and married Cole in 2024. She runs Hand to Heart Wellness in Nashville, a business that offers massage, meal planning, doula support and yoga. She’s been a licensed massage therapist since 2018.
So she has a life of her own, well away from the stage. But if you’ve ever sung along to one of her mom’s big hits, you’ve already heard her.
When Delaney was about 8, she and her little sister Emma, about 5, sang background vocals on Martina’s 2003 hit “This One’s for the Girls.” They weren’t the only background voices, either. Faith Hill, the Mississippi-born star of “This Kiss” and “Breathe,” sang on it too, along with singer Carolyn Dawn Johnson.
The song came out in June 2003 as the first single from Martina’s album “Martina.” It was written by songwriters Chris Lindsey, Hillary Lindsey and Aimee Mayo, and it climbed to No. 3 on Billboard’s country chart and No. 1 on the adult contemporary chart.
Turn it up and listen to the voices behind Martina, because two of them belong to her own little girls.
Martina’s official video for “This One’s for the Girls”
Martina still loves it. “It felt like such a positive message, and it’s still one of my favorite songs to do live,” she told Billboard in 2017.
She was already singing it on stage the summer it came out, and a fan recorded her performance at Jamboree in the Hills in 2003.
Martina sings it live in 2003
And that wasn’t Delaney’s first time in her mom’s work. Two years earlier, at about 6, she showed up with Emma in the music video for Martina’s 2001 song “Blessed,” so keep an eye out for two little girls.
Little Delaney and Emma in the “Blessed” video
Those little girls did grow up, of course.
It’s been more than 20 years since Delaney’s little voice ended up on one of her mom’s biggest hits.
Now she’s the one holding a baby girl, and Martina gets to watch the whole thing from the grandma seat. Mia hasn’t sung on any records yet. Give her a few years.