LeAnn Rimes: Still in Search of Her Identity

It’s been a tumultuous year or so for country-pop singer LeAnn Rimes, what with her lawsuit charging her father with taking millions of dollars due to her, a forced break from concerts because of a swollen vocal cord and a move from her native Texas to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career.

Given all that, plus the fact that she’s still only 17, it’s not surprising she’s still a bit confused about who and what she wants to be as a singer.

Her return to the concert arena Friday at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts--the first of two sold-out nights rescheduled from August--was a stylistic grab-bag, but one leaning decidedly pop.

Her all-stops-out delivery of her recent R&B-soaked; pop hits from the “Coyote Ugly” soundtrack and the single “I Need You” indicated that the across-the-board appeal of Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey is on her radar screen. Yet during Friday’s 65-minute show, she often seemed to be aiming even higher, with Tina Turner as her more likely role model.

Rimes, however, is still years--if not decades--away from summoning the force-of-nature inner strength that allows Turner frequently to transcend the kind of grand-scale but inwardly limp material that often seduces both.

Perhaps once Rimes is old enough to vote we’ll start to know more of who she is, instead of merely how she sounds.