Tim McGraw

1967 -

Country singer

Tim McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is a popular male singer in country music, having achieved many number one singles on the country charts, six multi-platinum albums and sales of over 25 million albums. He is married to popular female country singer Faith Hill. He was born in Delhi, Louisiana. His mother was a waitress named Betty Trimble (née D'Agostino, McGraw later received awards as an Italian-American) and his father was Tug McGraw, a famous relief pitcher for the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Tug McGraw had a brief affair with Tim's mother, and he was originally named Samuel Timothy Smith. Trimble raised Tim in Start, Louisiana, near Monroe. He didn't discover that McGraw was his father until he was 11. As a child, he was torn between a career in music and a career in athletics. While attending Northeast Louisiana University, he was drawn to a musical career and started playing in clubs around Louisiana. Dropping out of university in 1989, he left for Nashville and played in clubs in that city hoping to be discovered.

He signed with Curb Records in 1990 but it wasn't until 1992 that he had his first minor hit "Welcome to the Club" off his self-titled debut album which failed to make much of a dent on the charts. He achieved a couple of minor hits, "Memory Lane" and "Two Steppin Mind", off the same album in 1993.

The second album Not a Moment Too Soon went on to become the best selling country album in 1994. The first single written by John D. Loudermilk called "Indian Outlaw' caused considerable controversy as critics argued that it presented native Americans in a patronising way. As a result of the controversy, some radio stations refused to play it, but among some Indian tribes, the song was popular, going to the top of the playlist at the clear channel KTNN, the radio voice of the Navajo Nation. The controversy helped spur sales and the song became McGraw's first top ten country single and reached top 20 on the pop charts.

The second track "Don't Take the Girl", a ballad, reached the top of the country charts as did the title track in 1995. "Down on the Farm" reached number two and "Refried Dreams" reached the top 5. The album sold over 5 million copies, topping the Billboard 200 as well as the country album charts. He won Academy of Country Music awards for album of the year and top new male vocalist in 1994. All I Want released in 1995 continued his run of success debuting at number one on the country charts. The album sold over two million copies and reached top 5 on the Billboard 200. "I Like It, I Love It" reached number one on the country charts as the leadoff single while "She Never Lets It Go to Her Heart" also went to number one in 1996. "Can't Really Be Gone" reached number two and "All I Want is a Life" and "Maybe We Should Just Sleep On It" reaching top 5.

In 1996, Tim McGraw toured the US on the “Spontaneous Combustion” tour, which was the most successful country tour of that year. Faith Hill was his support act and the title of the tour turned out to be prophetic as the singers married late in the year. The couple have had three daughters – Gracie Katherine born May 5, 1997, Maggie Elizabeth born August 12, 1998 and Audrey Caroline born December 6, 2001.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Tim McGraw".

Credits: [wikipedia.org]