Toby Keith Covel was born in Clinton, Oklahoma in 1961. He spent much of his childhood on his family’s farm in Moore outside of Oklahoma City. At eight years of age, Keith began playing the guitar. His grandmother owned and operated a small supper club where she had musicians play as a means of entertainment. Growing up, Keith found the country singers to be inspiring. As a child, he also listened to country classic musicians such as Merle Haggard and Bob Wills. While in high school, Keith worked as a rodeo hand. After graduation he worked in the Oklahoma oil fields. Soon after graduation from high school, Keith also joined his first band called The Easy Money Band. The group focused on blue-grass and Alabama styled country mixed with Rock n Roll.
After a year or so after graduation, the oil business began to plummet in Oklahoma. Keith left his job to play semi professional football for the United States Football League (USFL) farm team. He even tried out for the short-lived leagues Oklahoma City franchise. He was, however, cut and did not make the team. Keith decided to focus everything solely on music. He began touring more and more. He recorded demos at small indie record companies and sent the demos to producers. Fortunately, one of his demos got into the hands of producer Harol Shedd. Shedd saw Keith’s talent and helped him get signed to Mercury Records.
In 1993, Keith released his debut self-titled album. The album contained the chart topping single, “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” The singles, “Wish I Didn’t Know,” “A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action,” and “He Ain’t Worth Missing,” were all top five hits. The album sold over two million copies.
In late 1994, Keith released Boomtown. The album featured his second number one hit, “Who’s that Man.” The album also featured the hit singles “Upstairs Downtown” and “You Ain’t Much fun.” Boomtown eventually went gold. Later that year, keith released his first Christmas album entitled Christmas to Christmas.
In 1996, Keith released Blue Moon. The singles: “A Woman’s Touch” and “Does that Blue Moon Ever Shine on You,” were both in the top ten. The single, “Me Too,” was Keith’s third number one hit. In 1997, Keith released Dream Walkin. The album was produced by James Strodd. This was the first time the two would work together. Ever since then, however, all of Keith’s works would be produced by Strodd. The album featured the hit single “We were In Love.” The single, “So Happpy I Can’t Stop Crying,” was a duet with singer, Sting. It was at this time that Keith began to become upset with Mercury records. He felt the label was not focusing on promoting him. In 1999, Keith followed Strodd to the Nashville division of DreamWorks Records.
In 1999, Keith released his debut album on DreamWorks entitled How do You Like Me Now? The first single, named after the album was Keith’s first single to be a top 40 pop hit. Other hits from the album were “Country Comes to Town” and “You Shouldn’t Kiss Me Like This.”
In 2001, Keith recived the Academy of country Music Awards for Best male Vocals and Album of the Year for How Do You Like Me Now? At this time, he also became more visible. There were more articles on the star, he was doing cameos on television. Keith appeared on an episode of Touched by an Angel and the Dukes of Hazzard television reunion. He was also doing commercials.
In 2001, Keith released Pull My Chain. The album was his first number one country album and his first top ten pop album. Hit singles from Pull My Chain include: “I’m just talking About Tonight,” “I Wanna Talk About Me,” and “My List.”
Keith, although doing very well, had never truly reached the popularity like stars such as Garth brooks and George strait. This all changed, however, in 2002. Keith recorded the song, “Courtesy of the red, White, and Blue 9The Angry American).” The song, which was very patriotic, discussed Keith feelings after the attacks of September 11, 2001. The song pushed Keith into a household name. Many people loved the song for its patriotic attitude. Keith, however, also received much criticism. The Dixie Chicks openly said they did not like the song because it condoned violence. That summer, Keith was scheduled to play for ABC’s Fourth of July television special, but anchor Peter Jennings openly refuted it. Thus, Keith was cut from the guest list. The single was number one on the country charts and in the pop charts top twenty five.
In 2002, Keith released the album Unleashed. The album included the hit singles, “Who’s Your daddy,” ‘I Love that Bar,” and a duet with Willie Nelson called “Beer For My horses.” In November 2003, Keith was picked to be the entertainment for the NFL’s halftime show during Thanksgiving. He was also picked as GAC’s Artist of the Month.
Keith lives with his wife Tricia and three children: Shelley, Krystal, and Stelen outside of Norman, Oklahoma. Keith is working on completing Dream Walkin Farm; a facility for breeding an training thoroughbreds.
Bio written by: bandhunt |
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