GARTH BROOKS

Garth Brooks's strong hold onto the world of country was not as easily attained as it appeared. His dramatic success did not occur overnight, but rather with faith and perseverance, which paid off in the end.

Troyal Garth Brooks was born in 1962 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Growing up in Yukon, Oklahoma, 100 miles from Tulsa, Garth participated in four sports, which helped him earn a track and field scholarship at Oklahoma State University. Garth enjoyed listening to a wide spectrum of music including rock bands such as Kiss and Queen. However, in 1981 when George Strait's single, "Unwound" was released, Garth was convinced that he should pursue a career in country music.

After graduation, Garth began his slow career in country by performing in Stillwater at a local bar called "Willie's" saloon. One year later, he traveled to Nashville for the first time in an attempt to secure a major record label deal. He left disappointed with broken dreams. However, he picked up his spirit and continued to play at different bars and taverns across Oklahoma during 1986.

While touring, he recorded songs to complete a demo tape. The year of 1987 began to raise Garth's hopes as he was accepted into the ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) and which brought him into contact with Bob Doyle. Bob Doyle was an executive for ASCAP who played a crucial role in developing Garth's career. In 1988, Bob Doyle left ASCAP to set up his own publishing company, Major Bob Music, where he used Garth's skills as one of his first writers.

Doyle then teamed up with publicist, Pam Lewis to form Doyle/Lewis Management who represented Garth Brooks. Through Doyle's recommendation, Capitol Records listened to Brooks perform and offered him a recording contract in 1988.

Garth, full of excitement, immediately began to record music for his debut album, Garth Brooks which included several of his original songs. The album had an old-time country western swing feeling to it and eventually reached #4 on the charts and became platinum. Four of the songs on the album including "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)," "If Tomorrow Never Comes," "Not Counting You," and "The Dance" became hits.

The video for the single, "The Dance" also brought Garth into the spotlight by giving him some visual exposure. This album was truly the beginning of Garth's prosperous career as was evident at the 1990's Academy of Country Music (ACM) and Country Music Association (CMA) awards shows. At the ACM show, Garth took home the album, entertainer, single, and country music song of the year awards as well as top male vocalist and country music video for "The Dance."

At the CMA award show, he took home the Horizon award (for new artists who show great promise) and music video of the year award. That same year, Garth Brook's released his second album, No Fences which truly marked his breakthrough in the country music world. No Fences reached platinum status on the strength of three singles, which all hit number 1 on the charts: "Friends in Low Places," "Thunder Rolls" and "Unanswered Prayers." Garth's collection of awards grew larger in 1991 as he swept the awards shows again winning the entertainer, male vocalist, album (No Fences), single ("Friends in Low Places"), song and video ("The Dance") categories at the CMA awards. He won similar awards at the Billboard Music Awards show that year.

In 1991, Garth did not hesitate to deliver new music to his growing audience as his third album, Ropin' The Wind was released. Ropin' The Wind continued to bring in critical acclaim by winning his first Grammy award for best vocal performance by a male country artist in 1992. The album also contains his ninth #1 single, "The River."

In 1992, Garth Brooks worked on his first Christmas album as well as his fifth album, The Chase which went to #1 on both the Billboard Top 200 albums and Top Country Album charts. This clearly marked that Garth accomplished what no other country artist had done before him, which was to fully cross over into the mainstream. This breakthrough has helped popularize country music to a wider listening audience.

His blend of traditional country perspective with the powerful drive of rock is what allowed the crossover and the ability to sell more albums than any other artist in country history. In addition to this remarkable feat, Garth Brooks has continued to earn CMA, ACM, ASCAP, and Grammy awards as the Best Entertainer, Best Male Artist, album, and video during the years of 1992-1999. During these seven years, Garth released nine more albums; including The Chase and In Pieces in 1993, both of which went multi-platinum, Sevens in 1997, which reached #1 on the Billboard chart, Garth Brooks: Double Live (1999), and Garth Brooks...in the life of Chris Gaines (1999).

Of all these albums, only one of them, Garth Brooks... in the life of Chris Gaines received consistently negative reviews. With this album, he shocked his traditional, country fans without gaining any support from the rock audience. It was a real disappointment and marked a low point in his career.

At that time, Garth Brooks was the biggest selling solo singer in America, selling over 95 million albums during his career. He announced in October 2000, that he was planning to retire from the music industry to concentrate on his marriage and family.

Brooks eased into retirement and resurfaced in 2006, marrying country singer Trisha Yearwood that December. After the release of two box sets called The Limited Series.Garth continued to perform sporadically for the next eight years. In 2013 He made a comeback with Blame It All on My Roots. After that, Man Against the Machine was his ninth album, released in 2015. In 2016, the holiday album, Christmas Together was produced; then later a box set called The Ultimate Collection, followed by Gunslinger. Here is a complete discography on AllMusic.

Page author: L.C. & C.F.