Gretchen Frances Wilson (born June 26, 1973 in Pocahontas, Illinois) is a Grammy award-winning American country music singer-songwriter. Gretchen was born in Pocahontas, Illinois to a 16-year-old mother. Her father left before she was two years old, and she and her mother lived in trailer parks and relative poverty. Gretchen's mother worked as a waitress, and Gretchen herself dropped out of the 8th grade at age 15 to work as a cook and bartender in rural Illinois.