He is a singer-songwriter born Alan Eugene Jackson in
Newnan, Georgia, as the only boy of five children.He grew up listening to gospel
music and then became acquainted with the music of John Anderson, Gene
Watson and Hank Williams Jr. through a friend. His parents bought him his first guitar when he was 16
years old and this also got his interests up.After he had finished with high school he worked at
various jobs and perfomed with the band Dixie Steel and others as well as
marrying high school sweetheart, Denise, in 1979.After his wife managed to get him known to Glen Campbell
when she had met him while working as a flight attendant, they moved to
Nashville and through him he managed to start pursuing his musical career.In 1986 he was working as a
songwriter in Glen Campbells publishing company and in 1989 he landed a
contract with the Arista label.In 1989 he released his debut hit album Here in the Real World
which led to his following albums over the next few years being equally successful
and producing many hits such as "The Blues Man", "I'll Go On Loving You", "Little Bitty", "Right on the
Money" and "Where I Come From".His 1995 release, Alan Jackson: The Greatest Hits Collection really
was what it said as it included 17 of the hit songs that he had on the
charts in the previous few years. In 1997 he signed a lucrative contract with Ford Trucks
to provide the sole endorsement for them over several years and saw him
featuring Ford vehicles in his video for "Who's Cheating Who?" and changing
the lyrics of "Mercury Blue" for use in their Ford F-series commercials.The 2000s came along and he and
George Strait had their song "Murder on Music Row" become a hit without
ever being officially released as a single which led to the invitation for
the two of them to perform it at as the opener for the 2000 Academy of Country
Awards ceremony. The
following year his "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)", which
he premiered at the CMA Awards, was an instant success and soon became a
mainstream hit winning him the 2002 Grammy Award for "Best Country Song".During the mid-2000s he could also
be heard as a guest musician with Jimmy Buffett in concerts held at
Nashville, Illinois and Dallas and duetting with him on the No. 1 country hit
song "It's 5 O'clock Somwhere".In more recent times he has released the 2008 Good Time with
the first single being the 2007 "Small Town Southern Man".The albums he has appeared on are
numerous and include his own Don't Rock the Jukebox, High Mileage, Let
It Be Christmas, A Lot About Livin' (And a Little 'Bout Love), Under the
Influence and Who I Am as well as License to Chill by
Jimmy Buffett, Walls Can Fall by George Jones, Latest Straitest
Greatest Hits by George Strait and the soundtrack of Home Alone 2: Lost
in New York.His
songwriting career has also brought him much success with the co-written "Better
Class of Losers", "Forever Together" and "I'd Surrender All" being chart
hits for Randy Travis, "I Can't Do That Anymore" being a hit for Faith Hill
and "If I Could Make a Living" by Clay Walker.Recognised for his contribution to country music he has had
more than 20 nominations and 13 wins in the Country Music Association
Awards, with 10 of them in 2002 becoming a record.He has also won 9 CMA Awards, received
two ASCAP Awards and was inducted into the Grandy Ole Opry in 1991 and the Georgia
Music Hall of Fame in 2001.Today
he continues to perform with his long-time band The Strayhorns who have
been his back-up group since 1989.
