Garth Brooks

Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Successfully integrating rock elements into his recordings and live performances, Brooks soon began to dominate the country singles and country album charts and quickly crossed over into the mainstream pop arena, exposing country music to a larger audience than previously thought possible.

Garth Brooks' eponymous first album, Garth Brooks, was released in 1989 and was a critical and chart success. It peaked at #2 in the US country album chart and reached #13 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart. Most of the album was traditionalist country, influenced in part by George Strait.
His follow-up album No Fences, was released in 1990 and spent 23 weeks as #1 on the Billboard country music chart. The album also reached #3 on the pop chart, and eventually become Brooks's highest-selling album, with domestic sales of over 16 million records. It contained what would become Brooks' signature song, the blue collar anthem "Friends in Low Places", as well as two other Brooks classics, the dramatic and controversial "The Thunder Rolls" and the philosophically ironic "Unanswered Prayers". Each of these songs, as well as the affectionate "Two of a Kind, Workin’ on a Full House," reached #1 on the country chart.

While Brooks' musical style placed him squarely within the boundaries of country music, he was strongly influenced by the 1970s singer-songwriter movement, especially the works of James Taylor (whom he idolized and named his first child after) and Dan Fogelberg. Similarly, Brooks was influenced by the operatic rock of the 1970s-era Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen. In his highly successful live shows, Brooks used a wireless headset microphone to free himself to run about the stage, adding energy and arena rock theatrics to spice up the normally staid country music approach to concerts. This was also one of his earliest grade school musical influences of the hard rock band KISS, as his shows often reflected this. Brooks said that the style of his show was inspired mostly by Chris LeDoux.

Awards

Brooks won his first Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 1992 for the album Ropin' the Wind. He was awarded the Academy of Country Music award for Entertainer of the Year for 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993, and the award for Top Male Vocalist for 1990 and 1991. As a performer and artist he has been compared to fellow country and pop/rock legends, such as the likes of Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Jackson Browne, Kenny Rogers, Clint Black, George Strait, Johnny Cash, George Jones, and the Eagles.

Official retirement

As his career flourished, Brooks seemed frustrated by the conflicts between career and family. He talked of retiring from performing in 1992 and 1995, but each time returned to touring. In 1999, possibly also spurred by falling record sales, Brooks appeared on The Nashville Network's Crook & Chase program and again mentioned retirement.

In 1999, Brooks and his wife separated, announcing their plans to divorce on October 9, 2000. The divorce became final in 2001.

Two weeks later, on October 26, 2000, Brooks officially announced his retirement from recording and performing. Later that evening, Capitol Records saluted his achievement of selling 100 million albums in the US with a lavish party at Nashville's Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Brooks's final album, Scarecrow was released November 13, 2001. The album did not match the sales levels of Brooks's heyday, but still sold comfortably well, reaching #1 on both the pop and country charts. Although he staged a few performances for promotional purposes, Brooks stated that he would be retired from recording and performing at least until his youngest daughter, Allie, turned 18. Despite ceasing to record new material between 2002 and (most of) 2005, Brooks continued to chart with previously recorded material, including a top 30 placing for "Why Ain't I Running" in 2003 .

Partial comeback

In 2005 Brooks insisted that he was not touring and did not plan to record any new studio material until 2015. However, in August 2005 it was announced that Brooks had signed a deal with Wal-Mart, leasing them the rights to his back catalog following his split with Capitol.

Brooks took a brief break from retirement in late 2005 to perform for several charity causes. With Yearwood, he sang John Fogerty's "Who'll Stop the Rain" on the Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast nationwide telethon for Hurricane Katrina relief. He also released a new single, "Good Ride Cowboy", as a tribute to his late friend, rodeo star and country singer, Chris LeDoux.

Later in the month Brooks performed at the Grand Ole Opry's 80th birthday celebration. Selections included a duet with Steve Wariner on "Longneck Bottle", another joint effort with country legends Bill Anderson, Porter Wagoner, and Little Jimmy Dickens, and a solo guitar version of "The Dance."

Second comeback

On August 18, 2007 at a press conference in Nashville, Brooks announced plans for a new boxed set called The Ultimate Hits. The new set features two discs containing 30 hits, a DVD featuring music videos and an updated video for "We Shall Be Free," and three new songs. The album's first single, "More Than a Memory", was released to radio on August 27, 2007. Other new songs include a duet with Huey Lewis on Lewis' 1982 hit "Workin' For a Livin'", "Midnight Sun," a song Garth co-wrote, and a bonus track, "Leave a Light On." The set was released on Brooks' own label, Pearl Records, and promoted by Big Machine Records, the label to which Brooks' wife, Trisha Yearwood, had signed only a few months before.

"More Than a Memory" debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart dated for the week ending September 15, 2007, becoming the highest-debuting single in the chart's history. The previous record had been set only one week earlier, when Kenny Chesney's "Don't Blink" debuted at #16.

On September 27, 2007, it was announced that Garth Brooks would perform at the new Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri with his wife Trisha Yearwood on November 14, 2007. The show was sold out in 4 minutes. Then Brooks added another 8 shows to be performed at the Sprint Center from November 5-12, which all sold out on the day of their release, October 6, 2007. Brooks also announced that the show on November 14 would be broadcast live in movie theaters all around the world and that an encore would be shown the next day November 15.

It was announced on Nov 15, that GAC will air an edited version of the November 14 concert on November 23 at 8:00pm Est. The 90 minute special is called "Garth Brooks:One Man, One City, One Night"

On November 5, The RIAA held a press conference to announce that Garth Brooks had reclaimed the top honor of being the Best Selling Solo Recording Artist in Music with sales in excess of 123 millon records sold.

November 14, 2007 At the end of his "Final Concert" Garth proclaimed "I promise if you wait for me, I will be back." He will come out of retirement once his kids graduate high school.