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Chesney, Kenny (26th March 1968-Present)

He is a singer-songwriter born Kenneth Arnold Chesney in Knoxvile, Tennessee and raised in Luttrel, Tennessee.

After high school he studied advertising at the East Tennessee State University where he also became a member of the ETSU Bluegrass Program. He would sing at local restaurants and bars in Johnson City, Tennessee, while attending the university and when he was 21 he recorded and released a thousand copies of his first album which were sold by him at gigs and the money used to purchase a guitar.

After graduating in 1990 he went straight to Nashville and played at clubs before signing up with Opryland Music Group and BMI. His first album with them came out in 1994 with two singles making the charts, but not doing anything substantial. He then signed to BNA Records and released the album All I Need to Know with “All I Need to Know”, “Fall in Love” being Top Ten hits and “Grandpa Told Me So” reaching No. 23.

This was all the beginning of a hugely successful career that has since seen him having 13 No. 1s, including “She’s Got It All”, “The Good Stuff”, “How Forever Feels” and “You Had Me From Hello” and over 30 singles in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country chart. He has also had 13 albums with 11 of them reaching gold status or higher.

Aside from his solo material, he has sung vocals on “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” which reached the No. 1 spot for Tracy Lawrence, and co-wrote Rascal Flatts’ single “Take Me There”.

Some of the albums he has appeared on include his own All I want for Christmas is a Real Good Tan, Everywhere We Go, The Road and the Radio, When the Sun Goes Down and No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem and also License to Chill by Jimmy Buffett and Gravedigger, Willie & Friends: Live & Kickin’ and Moment of Forever by Willie Nelson.

In 2005 he was briefly married to the actress Renee Zellwegger, but it was annulled after four months.

A busy touring musician he is always on the road and his 2008 Poets and Pirates tour included performances by LeAnn Rimes and Keith Urban.

Gaining recognition for his contribution to music he has been given many awards such as a commemoration plaque for his 25 million sales of albums in 2006 and also that year, and the following year too, he was made “Entertainer of the Year” by the Academy of Country Music.  He released an album from the studio, tours or greatest hits almost yearly from 2006 to 2016.

Here he is on his “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy”…..

Sources:

  1. http://www.kennychesney.com/
  2. http://www.myspace.com/kennychesney
  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Chesney
  4. http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/chesney_kenny/bio.jhtml
  5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Chesney_discography
  6. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0vfwxqe5ldhe~T1