Kenny Chesney: Biography

• Kenny Chesney was born on March 26^th, 1968 in Knoxville, Tennessee. He has a step-sister named Jennifer Chandler.

• He was raised as a child in Luttrell (just outside of Knoxville and birthplace of Chet Atkins). Like all kids, he went to school and enjoyed playing sports.  He did not have any interest in becoming a musician until later in his life.  It was not until his late teen years when he received a guitar for Christmas, did he even begin to play.  But when he began to practice, he realized that he was good.

• Kenny attended East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee and graduated in 1991 with a degree in advertising, which helped him to promote his own career later on.

• In college he used to appear at all of the local restaurants, bars and clubs playing blues, rock and folk.  He decided to record his own album and took a few musician friends he new to the Classic Recording Studio in Bristol, Virginia and produced his first album. He only made 1000 copies and sold them at his appearances. He was very pleasantly surprised that they sold out in only a few months.  After college, he moved to Nashville to see if he could make a career out of his music.

• Because of all the talent and “wanna-be’s” in Nashville, it took him some time until people began to take notice of him.   In 1992, he signed a contract with Opryland Music to write some songs for their artists.

• In 1993, he signed a contract with Capricorn Records for him to record his own music after they were impressed with him at a songwriter’s showcase. A year later, one of his singles, The Tin Man, received some popularity and made it to #70 on the Billboard Country list in 1994.  However, later that year, the country music division of Capricorn Records was dissasembled.

• Luck was with Chesney because he soon got a call from Joe Galante of RCA, who was previously impressed by Chesney’s work. BNA, a label under RCA, signed him to a record deal.  He released All I Need to Know in 1995 which was a big hit, selling over 300,000 albums (the song “Fall in Love hit #2 on the country Billboard chart).  The next album, Me and You went gold in 1996, followed by the platinum selling albums I Will Stand in 1997 (in which he had his first #1 hit, “She Got it All”). This led to his winning the Top New Male Vocalist at the 1997 Academy of Country Music Awards. He then recorded the double platinum Everywhere I Go in 1999.

• In 2000, Chesney was arrested along with fellow country singer Tim McGraw, when a fight pursued after Chesney rode off on a police officer’s horse.  Chesney claimed that he had permission – but either way, it led to some great media exposure.

• He released a Greatest Hits album in 2001, which was quite presumptuous, but it sold quite well.  The following year, he released No Shoes, No Shirts, No Problems which was a huge commercial success.  Later in 2002, (“The Good Stuff” off this album was Billboard’s #1 song for 2002) he also released a Christmas album, All I Want for Christmas is a Real Good Tan. He also produced a video for the album and won the CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards Male Video of the Year and Video of the Year. In 2003, he won Top Male Vocalist of the Year by the Academy of Country Music as well as willing Single of the Year.

• In 2004, he released When the Sun Goes Down, which quickly made its way to the top of the country music charts. The Album won CMA Album of the Year and he was also awarded CMA’s Entertainer of the Year. In addition, he also won the 2004 CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards for Hottest Video of the Year and Male Video of the Year.

• Kenny Chesney has taken to the road after releasing another hit album Be As You Are in 2005. However, he has taken time off from his "Somewhere in the Sun" tour to get married to actress Renee Zellweger in a secret ceremony in May 2005. The marriage only lasted until September when they filed for an annulment.  Zellweger cites "fraud" for the reason of their split-up.

• In 2005, Chesney won the ACM Entertainer of the Year award and the Male Video of the Year award.

• Hobbies & Interests: Watching baseball (Boston Red Sox fan)

• Favorite: Performers = Conway Twitty, Keith Whitley, Ricky Skaggs, George Jones, Lynrd Skynrd and James Taylor.

Awards

Biography by Ian Ripley, PopStarsPlus.com, Sr. Staff Writer

 

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