Garth Brooks

Today we are going to talk about the male country singer Garth Brooks.  Garth Brooks is born as Troyal Garth Brooks on February 7, 1962 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Garth was the youngest child of the family and his mother was a country singer from the '50's and his father worked for an oil company.  Growing up, Garth’s family held weekly talent nights in their home, where the children were required to participate in.  Because of this, Garth learned to play the guitar and banjo.  He also sang quite a bit growing up, but Garth was more into sports.  In high school, Garth played football and baseball and ran track.  Because of his skills in track, Garth received a scholarship to Oklahoma State University, where he graduated in 1984 with a degree in advertising.  After gradating college, Garth started singing full time in bars and clubs in Oklahoma.  Garth had an extensive background in music from listening to all types, but he really enjoyed rock music.  But when Garth heard George Straits first single, he became more interested in playing country music.  In 1985, Garth produced a demo tape to take to Nashville and find a contract.  The first time he went to Nashville, he came back the next day.  But he didn’t give up, Garth moved to Nashville in 1987 to work on his career.  He worked hard on his country music career for many years until 2000 when he announced his retirement.  He retired so he could spend more time with his wife, Trisha Yearwood, and their family.  In 2005, Garth came out of retirement to release a new album and do charity work.  Then in 2007, Brooks came out of retirement again to play nine shows.  In October of 2009, Brooks announced that he was coming out of retirement to perform on weekends in Las Vegas.

Garth Brooks has come out with many singles since the start of his career.  His first single was "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)" was released in 1989, the single went to the top 10 of the country charts.  The next single, "If Tomorrow Never Comes", he came out with went to number 1 on the country charts.  Garth has had 19 number one singles on the radio.  Many of his other singles however have made it to the top ten in the country charts.  The last single for Garth to release is "Midnight Sun" in 2008.


Garth Brooks has also released many albums in his career.  He has released 9 studio albums, 1 live album, and 4 compilation albums.  His first album, Garth Brooks, was released in 1989 and reached number 2 on the U.S. Country chart and was declared Diamond.  The another album that Garth released that was given the status of Diamond was Sevens, released in 1997 and made it to number 1 on the U.S. Country charts.  The last album that he released that made it to Diamond status is The Hits, released in 1994 and made it to number on the U.S. County charts.  The last album that Brooks released was The Ultimate Hits, released in 2007 and made it to number 1 in the U.S. Country charts and also went 5 times Platinum.

 Garth Brooks has been known for setting records.  The Recording Industry Association of America said that Brooks was the best-selling solo artist of the 20^th century in America.  Brooks has also set a record for a 23 marathon for signing autographs in 1996 at Fan Fair.  Garth has also won many awards.  One award was Artist of the Decade for the years 1990-1999.  Garth has also won 2 Grammy Awards, 16 American Music Awards, 11 Country Music Association Awards, 18 Academy of Country Music Awards, 5 World Music Awards, 10 People’s Choice Awards, and 24 Billboard Music Awards.  Garth Brooks is one of two people to win the CMA Entertainer of the Year Award four times.  He has also won the most Entertainer of the Year Awards, 6 times, for the Academy of Country Music.  I do hope that Garth will decide to tour again and comes to the area that I am in sometime, because I would love to see him in concert some time.