Years ago, when E.F. Hutton spoke, everybody in the investment world listened.
Nowadays, when Tim McGraw releases a new piece of product, everybody in the country music world listens. And why not? In just over three short years, He has proven himself to be one of the country’s hottest properties, with multi-millions of records already logged in the "sold" column.
Tim's effects have been felt not only on the top-selling charts, but on the entire genre. And that doesn’t even take into account the significant amount of product he sells to those folks who don’t consider themselves country music fans. But then, his own early influences, though heavily weighted in country, ranged far afield of the music of the good ol’ boys.
With his mother always singing around the house to the phonograph or the radio, Tim grew up loving a wide variety of music from Tammy Wynette to Rita Coolidge and Elvis Presley. He also loved the road jaunts in his stepdad’s 18-wheeler, where the musical format was purely country.
His own personal map dot was a spot in Louisiana called Delhi, where he was born May 1, 1967. But after his mother and stepfather divorced, just as he was stepping into teenhood, he and his two younger sisters would grow up in Start, another Louisiana highway speck not big enough to even qualify as a town. A place he calls...
"A cotton community, with a gin, a small school, a flashing yellow light and not much else."
After his college years, his interest in music began to come to the fore and he began putting more of his attention into playing guitar. With a lot of encouragement from friends and family, he was soon singing in local clubs, either as a single or sitting in with bands like that of James Pastell, a country singer from back home and an early influence.
In the late 80’s he began to see the newly emerging male artists on CMT, and this was the inspiration to move forward and chase his dreams in Nashville.
He arrived in Music City in1989 and after a year of dancing the "Music Row Shuffle", his demo struck a spark with the head of promotions at Curb Records. A record deal was inked with the label within just a few months.
But success didn’t come on the first pitch. And while his self-titled debut album spawned three chart singles, it caused only a modicum of excitement at the cash registers. Nonetheless, it did pique a lot of interest in this new artist.
His first big hit, the off-beat, ground-breaking single "Indian Outlaw" (from his second album, Not A Moment Too Soon), shot to the top of the charts in1993 and unleashed a flood of gold and platinum disks for the suddenly successful singer. Since that time Tim has been unstoppable, and by ‘94 he had passed all the initiation rites toward the title of "Major Country Artist". The follow-up single, "Don’t Take The Girl", soared all the way to #1, and Not A Moment Too Soon scored quintuple platinum as it blazed its way to the #1 spot in Billboard’s album charts, winding up as the best-selling country album of 1994. By the way, it was the fifth best-selling album of any kind that year.
The bust-out year of ‘94 also saw him reap a basketful of industry accolades. The Academy of Country Music bestowed on him both the Top New Male Vocalist and Album of the Year awards, while Billboard named him the Best New Artist of 1994. He also took Male Video Artist of the Year honors in the Country Music Television Awards as well as the Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite CD, Not A Moment Too Soon.
Meanwhile, his third LP, All I Want, racked up another couple of million in sales, and boasted some powerful singles. The first, "I Like It, I Love It," which rocketed to the top of the charts for a record-tying five weeks, while the second single, "Can’t Be Really Gone", climbed to the top chart position only eight weeks after its release. And from the same album,"She Never Let’s It Go To Her Heart", also went #1 in both Radio & Records and Billboard in Summer 1996.
Most recently, with tour mate Faith Hill, he completed one of the most successful tours in the history of country music, playing to sold-out venues across the U.S. Reaching elite status, McGraw’s Spontaneous Combustion Tour was also billed as one of the top five grossing tours of 1996.
That same year Tim married Faith, a mega-selling country star in her own right. The two recently have welcomed their first child, Gracie Katherine, and they try to spend as much time together as possible.
With his forthcoming Curb release, Everywhere, Tim for the first time has had a hand in producing his own sessions, sharing the console with his tried-and-true producers Byron Gallimore and James Stroud. The result is perhaps his strongest effort to date, an album that shows McGraw maturing in his craft, both vocally and in the exceptional lineup of songs included in the package. It’s also an album that beautifully samples the eclectic heart and soul of the Tim McGraw "sound."
Among the more outstanding cuts is the opening number, "Where The Green Grass Grows," which offers a view of a man living a gray urban life while yearning for more peaceful environs, while the funky, high-energy "Hard On The Ticker" and the humorous "You Turn Me On" are somewhat reminiscent of his former chart-topping smash "I Like It, I Love It".
Personal Facts:
FULL NAME: SAMUEL TIMOTHY McGRAW
BIRTH DATE: MAY 1, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH: DELHI, LOUISIANA
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR "HOMETOWN":MONROE, LA
WHERE DO YOU CURRENTLY LIVE: NASHVILLE, TN
MARITAL STATUS: MARRIED
CHILDREN: Gracie Katherine and Maggie Elizabeth
BAND NAME: THE DANCEHALL DOCTORS
HOBBIES: Cooking, Sports, Working on the Farm
FAVORITE FOODS: Italian first & everything else after
FAVORITE MOVIES: Braveheart, And Justice For All
FAVORITE ACTOR: Clint Eastwood
FAVORITE FEMALE SINGER: Faith Hill
FAVORITE BOOK: Celestine Prophesy (For the moment)
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Baseball: The Phillies
Football: The Packers, The Saints
FAVORITE SPORT TO PLAY: Flag Football / Softball
FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH: Professional Football
IF YOU ONLY OWNED 3 CD’s WHICH ONES WOULD IT BE: The Little River Band - Greatest Hits
Merle Haggard - Anything by Merle
Keith Whitely - Don’t Close Your Eyes
FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE: The Music Man Play in Elementary School
FIRST PAID PUBLIC APPEARANCES: The Pig BBQ in Jacksonville, FL
Cock of the Walk in Louisiana
WHAT DID YOU SING: Whatever got me out without getting hurt
FAVORITE GETAWAY: Camping in the Mountains of Montana and anywhere on an island in the Caribbean with my wife
WHAT PERSON OR Person’s HAVE GREATLY INFLUENCE YOUR LIFE: Teachers and Coaches
GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: Professional: ACM "Album of the Year"
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED: Good Husband and Good Father
WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU CAN GIVE SOMEONE GETTING INTO THE BUSINESS: Stay grounded. Be prepared for your entire life to revolve around the business even when you don’t want it to.
BEST CHILDHOOD MEMORY: Riding Horses
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