Blake Shelton

Blake Tollison Shelton (born 18.6.1976)
Blake Shelton is an American, four times Grammy nominated Country singer acknowledged for his thirteen number one singles in the US country charts including: Sure Be Cool If You Did, Honey Bee and God Gave Me You.

Childhood: Shelton was born in Ada, Oklahoma to his beauty salon owner mother Dorothy and car dealership father Richard. Shelton showed an immediate interest in music and by 15 was writing his own songs which later won him a Denbo Diamond award in his home state. At 17, Shelton moved to Nashville in order to pursue his musical career.

Musical Career: It wasn't until 2001 that Shelton was signed to Giant Records (Deep Purple US/Canada, Kenny Rogers) who decided against releasing "I Wanna Talk About Me" as Blake's debut single (which was later recorded by Toby Keith and obtained number one on the US Country charts). Instead, Giant released "Austin", Shelton's first single which would later go on to spend five consecutive weeks at number one in the US Country Charts. Shortly after its release Giant Records was closed and Shelton was pursued by parenting company, Warner Bros. Records whom released his self-titled debut album containing the top 20 hit songs: All Over Me and Ol' Red which became his signature, live song, despite not being a major radio hit. The album received a positive response with Maria Konicki Dinoia of Allmusic stating it was "tremendously imaginative". The album received a gold certificate from the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of 500,000 copies. Shelton's second studio album was released a year later. The album was titled 'The Dreamer' and included Number One Country Chart topper, "The Baby". Despite the album not having the same single success as Shelton's debut album it still achieved gold certification and lead to Shelton singing guest vocals on Tracy Byrd's "The Truth About Men". Shelton's third studio Album, 'Blake Shelton's Barn & Grill' was released in 2004 obtaining him his third US Country number one single with "Some Beach". The album also featured multiple top ten hits including: "Goodbye Time" (cover of Conway Twitty's 1988 single) and "Nobody But Me". The album achieved Gold Certification and multiple tracks were featured on the TV film, The Christmas Blessing. Shelton worked with Braddock, Brent Rowan and Paul Worley (previously only Braddock) in order to produce his fourth studio album, 'Pure BS' in early 2007. The album originally received no number one hit single however was later re-released in 2008 with three bonus tracks including two US Country number one's with a cover of Michael Bublé's hit single "Home" and original song "She Wouldn't Be Gone". "She Wouldn't Be Gone" went on to become the lead of to Shelton's fifth studio album, 'Startin' Fires'. The album was produced by Scott Hendricks and lead to the release of the US Country number 8 single "I'll Just Hold On". On March 2nd, 2010 Shelton released a duet with Trace Adkins titled "Hillbilly Bone" via record label 'Reprise Records Nashville'. Hillbilly Bone became number one and earned gold certification, which lead to the release of EP, 'All About Tonight'. Later that year Shelton released his first Greatest Hits, 'Loaded: The Best of Blake Shelton which peaked at number four on the US Album Country Charts. Shelton attended the "Country Comes Home" concert to celebrate the re-opening of the 'Grand Ole Opry House' after it's flooding in 2010. Shelton also went on to recorde the opening track for the 2011 Footloose remake starring Kenny Wormald and Dennis Quaid. Shelton won Male Vocalist of the Year when he appeared on the 44th Annual Country Music Awards where he also performed "All About Tonight". Shelton continued his television appearances after being a judge on talent competition, Nashville Star and later on Clash of the Choirs before earning a permanent place starring as judge and coach on the NBC reality TV series, The Voice. Shelton released his 6th original studio album in 2011 titled, 'Red River Blue'. The album's opening single "Honey Bee" received 138,000 downloads in its first week and achieved gold certification by its 7th week, setting a new record for the fastest gold certification by a male country singer. Honey Bee also became Shelton's ninth number one in the US billboard Country Charts and helped Red River Blue to become Shelton's first album to receive a number one in US Billboard Top 200. The album also featured US County number one hits: "God Gave Me You" (Dave Barns cover) and "Drink On It". Blake performed "Over" on the second season of the Voice which resulted in his 7th consecutive number one (US Country Charts) and his 12th number one hit to date. Shelton released his first Christmas album, 'Cheers It's Christmas' featuring classic Christmas songs performed by famous and acclaimed country stars and himself. The album peaked at number two in the US Country Charts and number one in the US Holiday Charts. On New Year's Day 2013, Shelton premiered his new single "Sure Be Cool If You Did" which reached number one on the US Country Charts. His eighth studio album, 'Based On A True Story.' debuted at number three on the Billboard Top 200 selling just under 200,000 copies. The album went on to be number one in the US Country Charts.

Personal Life: Shelton's older brother Richie died at 24 in a car accident when Shelton was still young (14 years old). Blake wrote about Richie in Lambert's song "Over You" which was named CMA song of the year 2012 and won the Academy of Country Music Awards 2013 for song of the year Blake married long time girlfriend Kaynette Gern in 2003, however got divorced shortly after in 2006. Shelton proposed to fellow country singer Miranda Lambert in 2010 after receiving her father's blessing. They married a year later with many country stars and celebrities in attendance. Shelton's father died in 2012 at the age of 71 due to declining health.