Garth Brooks Biography, Photos and Posters

Garth Brooks

Biography

Born: February 7, 1962
City and Country of Origin: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Music Training:
Awards:
Top Recordings: "If Tomorrow Never Comes," "The Dance," "The Thunder Rolls," "Unanswered Prayers," "We Shall Be Free," "Friends in Low Places,"
Garth Brooks Biography: American country music singer-songwriter Garth Brooks successfully integrated pop and rock elements into his recordings and live performances. Brooks enjoyed one of the most successful careers in popular music history, with over 70 hit singles and 15 charted albums to his credit and over 115 million albums sold in the United States alone, breaking records for both sales and concert attendance throughout the 1990s. He seemingly came out of nowhere just before the 90s began and just as he was on the threshold to become the biggest country star of all times he mysteriously retired at the end of the decade.

Brooks grew up in Yukon, Oklahoma, the son of Ray Brooks, a draughtsman, and Colleen Carroll, a country music singer on the Capitol Records label in the 1950s. As a youth his primary interest was athletics. In high school he competed in football, baseball and track and field. He attended Oklahoma State University in Stillwater on a track scholarship as a javelin thrower. He received a degree in advertising in 1984.

Brooks started his professional music career singing and playing guitar in local bars and clubs particularly the Tumbleweed in Stillwater. After a trip to Nashville in 1985 failed to land him a recording contract Brooks returned to Oklahoma where in 1986 he married Sandy Mahl of Owasso, Oklahoma, whom he had met while working as a bouncer at the Tumbleweed. The following year the couple moved to Nashville.

While struggling to be noticed by industry executives, Brooks frequently recorded demo records for songwriter Kent Blazy. Blazy introduced Brooks to Trisha Yearwood, another unknown aspiring country singer. Brooks and Yearwood made a pact that whoever made it first would help the other with their career. Since Brooks was the first, signing a recording contract with Capitol Records in 1988, he kept his promise making Yearwood the opening act on his tour.

Brooks' first album was both a critical and commercial success reaching number 2 on th ecountry charts and number 13 on the Billboard 200 pop album chart. The most notable singles to hit the charts from the album were "If Tomorrow Never Comes," which proved to be Brooks' first chart topper, and "The Dance" which gave him another number 1 hit.

He followed up 1990 with the album No Fences which hit the top of the Billboard country album chart staying there for 23 weeks and becoming Brooks' biggest selling album of his career. The album contained two other Brooks classics, the dramatic and controversial "The Thunder Rolls" and the philosophically ironic "Unanswered Prayers." It also contained what would become Brooks' signature song, the blue collar anthem "Friends in Low Places."

Brooks was well aware of the theatrics used by rock stars in the 70s and used a wireless headset microphone to allow him to freely move around the stage. His third album Ropin' the Wind had advanced orders of 4 million copies. It became his second best selling album.

In 1992 Brooks began to take a social stand with his music after spending time in LA during the riots. He released "We Shall Be Free" from his fourth album The Chase which expressed a desire for tolerance. The song also expressed his support for gay rights an issue that met with resistance from his core supporters, culturally conservative country audience.

In Pieces released in 1993 was also an instant number 1 success, selling 10 million copies worldwide. To bolster his support in the UK, Brooks embarked on a 1994 UK tour. The tour was an overwhelming succes and in '96 he did it one more time.

One of the later highlights of Brooks' career came on August 7, 1997, with the concert in New York's Central Park. It has been estimated that the free concert held on the North Meadow drew roughly between 250,000 to 750,000 people.

Brooks was torn between family, he already had 3 children, and his career. He pondered retiring. Then in 1999 he and his wife separated. Their divorce was finalized in 2001. On October 26, 2000, Brooks officially announced his retirement from recording and performing. On May 25, 2005, Brooks proposed to longtime friend and fellow country music superstar Trisha Yearwood in front of a packed house at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace club in Bakersfield, California. The couple wed on December 10, 2005, at their home in Oklahoma, marking the second marriage for Brooks and the third for Yearwood.

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