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Toby Keith

, Country Singer
Toby Keith
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  • Born: 8 July 1961
  • Birthplace: Clinton, Oklahoma
  • Best Known As: Singer of "I Love This Bar"

Name at birth: Toby Keith Covel

After working in the oil fields of Oklahoma and playing semi-pro football, Toby Keith went into the music business in the mid-1980s. After a few years as part of a successful nightclub act, he set out for Nashville in 1988. His eponymous 1993 debut album spawned several hit songs, including the number one single "Should've Been a Cowboy," and Keith became a star and frequent sight on Country Music Television. Hailed as a "traditionalist" in the genre, he followed up with enough hit songs to release a compilation of greatest hits just five years after his debut. His albums include Blue Moon (1996), How Do You Like Me Now (1999), Pull My Chain (2002), Unleashed (2002, including the hit duet with Willie Nelson, "Beer For My Horses"), Shock 'n Y'all (2003) and Big Dog Daddy (2007). His hit singles include "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action" and "I Love This Bar," his popular 2003 paean to the warmth of a favorite tavern. Keith also had a controversial hit with "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," a fiery anthem he wrote in response to the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.

Contrary to popular rumor, Keith did not play in the short-lived United States Football League; he did play for the Oklahoma Drillers of a smaller (and also short-lived) semi-pro league called the United Football Teams of America, or UFTA, in 1983-84.

 
 
Artist: Toby Keith
Toby Keith

Born:
Jul 08, 1961 in Clinton, Oklahoma

Representative Songs:

"Should've Been a Cowboy," "I Love This Bar," "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action"

Representative Albums:

20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Toby Keith, White Trash with Money, Shock'n Y'All

Similar Artists:

Jeff Bates, Darryl Worley, Scotty Emerick, Dusty Drake, Trace Adkins, Daryle Singletary, Clay Walker, Rhett Akins, Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw, Tracy Byrd, Tracy Lawrence, Dwight Yoakam, George Strait, Collin Raye, Clint Black

Performed Songs By:

Wayne Perry, Ron Reynolds, Chuck Cannon

Worked With:

Nelson Larkin, Clayton Ivey

Followers:

Danielle Peck, Josh Turner
  • Genre: Country
  • Active: '90s, 2000s
  • Instrument: Vocals

Biography

Toby Keith spent the '90s as a solid, workmanlike country star who met with considerable chart success, yet never quite broke free of the neo-traditionalist pack to become a household name like Garth Brooks or Alan Jackson. That all changed in 2002 when he recorded "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," a response to September 11 that became one of country's most highly charged political statements since Merle Haggard's "Okie from Muskogee." The media furor ensured that even people with no knowledge of country music still knew him as "the guy with the 'boot in the ass' song," and helped make Keith a genuine phenomenon. Yet he'd been recording for nearly a decade prior and already had several chart-topping country singles to his credit.

Keith was born Toby Keith Covel in Clinton, OK, in 1961 and grew up mostly on a farm in Moore, near the outskirts of Oklahoma City. He took up guitar at age eight, inspired by the country musicians who played at the supper club his grandmother ran. He listened to his father's Bob Wills records and fell in love with Haggard's music. He worked as a rodeo hand while in high school, and after graduation, he found work in the nearby oil fields. In the meantime, he formed the Easy Money Band and played Alabama-style country-rock in area honky tonks. After about three years, the oil industry hit a major downturn, and Keith turned to playing semipro football for a USFL farm team, even trying out (unsuccessfully) for the short-lived league's Oklahoma City franchise. Following two years as a football player, Keith decided to focus on music and adopted a much more rigorous touring schedule. He cut a few records for local indie labels, and his demo tape eventually found its way to onetime Alabama producer Harold Shedd, who helped Keith land a deal with Mercury.

Keith's self-titled debut album was released in 1993 and made him an out-of-the-box success with its chart-topping single "Should've Been a Cowboy." Three more songs from the record -- "Wish I Didn't Know Now," "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action," and "He Ain't Worth Missing" -- made the Top Five, and the album sold over two million copies. "Who's That Man," the lead single from his second album, Boomtown, was released in late 1994 and became his second number one; Boomtown hit stores in early 1995 and went gold on the strength of further Top Ten hits "Upstairs Downtown" and "You Ain't Much Fun." Keith followed it later that year with the holiday record Christmas to Christmas and returned with the proper album Blue Moon in 1996. Its first two singles, "A Woman's Touch" and "Does That Blue Moon Ever Shine on You," went Top Ten, and the third, "Me Too," gave Keith his third number one, also helping the album go platinum. Released in 1997, Dream Walkin' marked his first collaboration with prolific producer James Stroud, with whom he would work regularly from then on. "We Were in Love" and the title track were both Top Five hits, as was "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying," a duet with Sting. However, Keith longed for an even bigger breakthrough, and he was growing dissatisfied with Mercury's promotional efforts. In 1999, he left the label and followed Stroud over to the Nashville division of DreamWorks.

Keith's label debut, How Do You Like Me Now?!, appeared in late 1999 and started to bring him the wider recognition he felt poised for. The title cut went to number one on the country charts and brought him his first Top 40 pop hit; its follow-up, "Country Comes to Town," went Top Five, and "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This" also hit number one. Overall, the album had a rough, brash attitude that helped give Keith a stronger identity as a performer. It was also the first to bring him those long-desired major industry awards, when in 2001 the Academy of Country Music named him Male Vocalist of the Year and named How Do You Like Me Now?! its Album of the Year. In the meantime, Keith became more visible in the mainstream media, making cameos on Touched by an Angel and in a Dukes of Hazzard TV reunion movie as well as co-starring in a series of telephone commercials. Later in 2001, his follow-up album, Pull My Chain, became his first to top the country charts and also his first Top Ten pop album. It spun off three number one singles: "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight," "I Wanna Talk About Me," and "My List."

Keith was already a burgeoning superstar when he recorded "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" in the summer of 2002. A raging response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, the song struck a fierce chord with aggressively patriotic listeners, while others condemned it as knee-jerk jingoism. The whole controversy came to a head when ABC News anchor Peter Jennings objected to Keith's scheduled performance on a network Fourth of July schedule. Keith was axed from the guest list, and the ensuing media flap proved to be a publicity coup. Meanwhile, the song went to number one on the country charts and crossed over into the pop Top 25. All of this set the stage for Unleashed, which sold like hotcakes upon its release later in 2002, debuting at number one on both the country and pop charts. "Who's Your Daddy?" was a number one country hit, and the Willie Nelson duet "Beer for My Horses" also made the country Top Ten.

In 2003 Keith released Shock'n Y'All, which despite its title was chock-full of enough rough-and-rowdy hits to once again connect hugely with heartland America. Honkytonk University followed in May 2005, the same year that Mercury released Chronicles, a collection of three of his biggest albums: Toby Keith, Boomtown, and Blue Moon. After departing from Universal and longtime producer Stroud, Keith established his own company, Show Dog Nashville, and in 2006 released the label's first record, the number two hit White Trash with Money. A year later he released Big Dog Daddy, the first album to be produced by himself. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide
 
Wikipedia: Toby Keith


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Toby Keith
Toby Keith performs for the troops at the O'Callahan's Cantina at Camp LeMonier, Djibouti, May 31, 2006.
Toby Keith performs for the troops at the O'Callahan's Cantina at Camp LeMonier, Djibouti, May 31, 2006.
Background information
Birth name Toby Keith Covel
Born July 08 1961 (1961--) (age 46)
Origin Flag of Oklahoma Clinton, Oklahoma, U.S.
Genre(s) Country
Occupation(s) singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) Vocals, rhythm guitar
Years active 1993-present
Label(s) Mercury Records (1993-1994, 1997-1999)
Polygram (1994-1995)
A&M Records (1996)
DreamWorks Records (2000-2006)
Show Dog Nashville (2006-present)
Website TobyKeith.com

Toby Keith Covel (born July 8, 1961) is an American country music singer-songwriter who has enjoyed commercial success throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Five of his albums have reached number one on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, and he has had sixteen Number One singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. In addition, he starred in the 2006 film Broken Bridges.

Biography

Early life

Toby Keith Covel was born in Clinton, Oklahoma. His family moved to Moore, Oklahoma (a suburb of Oklahoma City) when Keith was young. His grandmother owned a supper club and Keith became interested in the musicians who came there to play. He got his first guitar at the age of eight. Keith attended Moore High School where he played on the football team.

Keith graduated from Moore High School and, in 1979, went to work as a derrick hand in the booming oil fields of Oklahoma. He worked his way up to become an operation manager. At the age of 20, he formed the Easy Money band and they played local bars as he continued to work in the oil industry. At times, he would have to leave in the middle of a gig if he was paged to work in the oil field.

In 1982, the oil industry in Oklahoma began a rapid decline and Keith soon found himself unemployed. He fell back on his football training and played defensive end with the semi-pro Oklahoma City Drillers while continuing to perform with his band. (The Drillers were an unofficial farm club of the United States Football League's Oklahoma Outlaws; Keith tried out for the Outlaws but did not make the team.) After two years with the Drillers, Keith decided to try music full time. His family and friends were doubtful he would succeed, but in 1984, Easy Money began playing the honky tonk circuit in Oklahoma and Texas. The band cut a single titled Blue Moon and the song received some airplay on local radio stations in Oklahoma.

Also in 1984, Keith married his wife, Tricia. He is the father of three children; Shelley (born 1981; adopted stepdaughter), Krystal (born 1984), and Stelen (born 1997). An avid University of Oklahoma football fan, Keith is often seen at Oklahoma Sooners games and practices.

Career

In 1993, Keith went to Nashville, Tennessee. Keith hung out and busked on Music Row and at a place called Houndogs. He distributed copies of a demo tape the band had made to the many record companies in the city. There was no interest by any of the record labels and Keith returned home feeling depressed. Keith had promised himself to have a recording contract by the time he was 30 years old or give up on music as a career. He had already passed that age without any prospects for a recording contract.

Fortunately for Keith, a flight attendant and fan of his gave a copy of Keith's demo tape to Harold Shedd, a Mercury Records executive, while he was traveling on a flight she was working. Shedd enjoyed what he heard, went to see Keith perform live and then signed him to a recording contract with Mercury. His debut single, "Should've Been a Cowboy" (1993), went to number 1 on the Billboard country singles chart, and his self-titled debut album was certified platinum. Other hit singles included "A Little Less Talk And A Lot More Action" and "Wish I Didn't Know Now".

Keith moved briefly to Polydor Records and released his next two albums, Boomtown (1994) and Blue Moon (1996). The albums went gold and platinum respectively. In 1996, Keith was also featured on the Beach Boys' now out-of-print 1996 album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 performing a cover of their 1963 hit Be True to Your School with the Beach Boys themselves providing the harmonies and backing vocals.

Polydor folded and Keith moved back to Mercury Records (now called Mercury Nashville), and released his fourth album, Dream Walkin' (1997). The album featured a duet with Sting, "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying", which had previously been a hit for Sting himself.

Toby Keith
Enlarge
Toby Keith

Keith began work on his next album How Do You Like Me Now (1999) at Mercury but purchased the rights to the album and moved to DreamWorks Nashville because of creative differences with Mercury.[citation needed] The first single off How Do You Like Me Now failed to make the Top 40 on the country charts. However, the follow-up single, which was the album's title track, went on to spend five weeks at number one, helping boost the album's sales to double platinum.

Keith also began doing a series of television advertisements for Telecom USA for their discount long distance telephone service 10-10-220. Because of the ads and his latest hit album, Keith became a superstar and household name. He also starred in Ford commercials, singing original songs such as "Ford Truck Man" and "Field Trip (Look Again)" while driving Ford trucks.

Keith made an appearance at the very first Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (then NWA-TNA) weekly pay-per-view on June 19, 2002, where his playing of Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue was interrupted by Jeff Jarrett. He would later enter the Gauntlet for the Gold main event specifically to eliminate Jarrett from the match. He would appear the next week, on June 26, and help Scott Hall defeat Jarrett in singles action.

Keith was the subject of the January, 2005 issue of Playboy Magazine's Playboy Interview. That year, Keith toured with rock guitarist Ted Nugent, whom Keith met in Iraq while they were both performing in USO-sponsored shows for the coalition troops.

On August 31, 2005, Keith parted ways with Universal Music Group- which had since bought DreamWorks- and launched his own record label called Show Dog Nashville. Its first release was Keith's album White Trash With Money, followed by the soundtrack to Broken Bridges. Big Dog Daddy, the album that birthed his single High Maintenance Woman, was released on June 12th, 2007. The album debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 charts, his third album to reach this feat, after "Unleashed" and "Shock'n Y'all"

In the Autumn of 2005, he filmed Broken Bridges, written by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld, and directed by Steven Goldmann. This feature film from Paramount/CMT Films was released on September 8, 2006. A contemporary story set in small-town Tennessee, Keith plays Bo Price, a country musician whose career has seen better times. The movie also stars Kelly Preston, Burt Reynolds, and Tess Harper.

In 2005, Keith opened Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill in Bricktown, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Keith is continuing his Hookin' Up & Hangin' Out Tour, sponsored by Ford trucks, in Albany, New York, with guests Flynnville Train, Lindsey Haun, and Miranda Lambert, which wraps up in Hartford, Connecticut

Keith is currently writing a script for a movie based on his and Willie Nelson's 2003 hit Beer for My Horses.[1]

Personal convictions and controversies

Keith considers himself "a Conservative Democrat who is sometimes embarrassed for his party." He endorsed the re-election of President George W. Bush in 2004 and performed at a Dallas rally on the night before the election. Keith also endorsed Democrat Dan Boren in his successful run in Oklahoma's 2nd Congressional district and is good friends with Democratic New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

In a January 2007 interview with Newsday, Keith was asked whether or not he supported the Iraq War. He responded with "Never did." He favors setting a time limit on the occupation. He also said, "I don't apologize for being patriotic.... If there is something socially incorrect about being patriotic and supporting your troops, then they can kiss my [ass] on that, because I'm not going to budge on that at all. And that has nothing to do with politics. Politics is what's killing America." [2]

The Angry American song

On March 24, 2001, Keith’s father, H.K. Covel, was killed in a car accident. That event and the September 11, 2001 attacks prompted Keith to write the song "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)", a song about his father’s patriotism and faith in the USA. At first, Keith refused to record the song and sang it only live at his concerts for military personnel. The reaction was so strong that the Commandant of the Marine Corps James L. Jones told Keith it was his duty as an American citizen to record the song.[1] As the lead single from the album Unleashed (2002), "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue" peaked at number 1 over the weekend of July 4.

Toby Keith visits with fans during brief breaks in filming the music video "American Soldier" in hangar 1600 at Edwards Air Force Base, November 17, 2003.
Enlarge
Toby Keith visits with fans during brief breaks in filming the music video "American Soldier" in hangar 1600 at Edwards Air Force Base, November 17, 2003.

ABC invited Keith to sing "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue" on a patriotic special it was producing. However, the host of the show, newsman Peter Jennings, requested that Keith soften the lyrics of the song or choose another song to sing.[citation needed] Keith refused both of the requests and did not appear on the special. The rift gave the song a considerable amount of publicity, which led to many national interviews and public performances of the song.

Feud with the Dixie Chicks

Keith had a public feud with the Dixie Chicks over the song "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue", as well as over comments they made about President George W. Bush on stage during a concert in London. The lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, Natalie Maines, publicly stated that Keith's song was "ignorant, and it makes country music sound ignorant."[3] Keith responded by belittling Maines' songwriting skills, and by displaying a backdrop at his concerts showing a doctored photo of Maines with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. On May 21, 2003, Maines wore a T-shirt with the letters FUTK on the front at the Academy of Country Music Awards. [4] While a spokesperson for the Dixie Chicks said that the acronym stood for "Friends United in Truth and Kindness," many including host Vince Gill took it to be a shot at Keith ("Fuck You Toby Keith"). In August 2003, Keith publicly declared he was done feuding with Maines 'because he's realized there are far more important things to concentrate on'.[5] However, he continues to refuse to say Maines' name, and claims that the doctored photo was intended to express his feeling that Maines' criticism was tyrannical and a dictator-like attempt to squelch Keith's free speech.[6]

In the 2006 film Shut Up and Sing, Maines confirmed that the FUTK shirt was in fact a shot at Toby Keith, after once claiming that it meant Freedom Understanding Truth and Kindness. In an October 2004 appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, Natalie finally acknowledged that it was indeed an obscene shot at Toby Keith, and that she didn't think her fans would get it.[2]

Discography

Albums

Year Title Chart positions US Certification
US Country US 200
1993 Toby Keith 17 99 Platinum
1994 Boomtown 8 46 Platinum
1995 Christmas to Christmas - - -
1996 Blue Moon 6 51 Platinum
1997 Dream Walkin' 8 107 Gold
1998 Greatest Hits Volume One 5 61 2× Platinum
1999 How Do You Like Me Now?! 9 56 Platinum
2001 Pull My Chain 1 9 2× Platinum
2002 Unleashed 1 1 4× Platinum
2003 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection 5 45 Gold
Shock'n Y'all 1 1 4× Platinum
2004 Greatest Hits 2 2 3 2× Platinum
2005 Honkytonk University 1 2 2× Platinum
2006 White Trash with Money 2 2 Platinum
2007 Big Dog Daddy 1 1 -
Classic Christmas - - -

Singles

Year Title Chart Positions Album
US Country US Hot 100
1993 "Should've Been a Cowboy" 1 93 Toby Keith
"He Ain't Worth Missing" 5 107
1994 "A Little Less Talk and A Lot More Action" 2 -
"Wish I Didn't Know Now"A 2 -
"Who's That Man" 1 102 Boomtown
1995 "Upstairs Downtown" 10 -
"You Ain't Much Fun" 2 -
"Big Ol' Truck" 15 -
1996 "Santa I'm Right Here" 50 - Christmas To Christmas
"Does that Blue Moon Ever Shine on You?"A 2 112 Blue Moon
"A Woman's Touch" 6 -
1997 "Me Too" 1 -
"We Were In Love"A 2 116 Dream Walkin'
1998 "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" (w/ Sting) 2 112
"Dream Walkin'" 5 -
"Double Wide Paradise" 40 -
"Getcha Some" 18 102 Greatest Hits Volume 1
1999 "If A Man Answers" 44 -
"When Love Fades" 44 - How Do You Like Me Now?!
2000 "How Do You Like Me Now?!" 1 31
"Country Comes to Town" 4 54
2001 "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This" 1 32
"I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight" 1 27 Pull My Chain
"I Wanna Talk About Me" 1 28
"Old Toy Trains" 57 - single only
2002 "My List" 1 26 Pull My Chain
"Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)" 1 25 Unleashed
"Who's Your Daddy?" 1 22
"Rock You Baby" 13 66
2003 "Beer for My Horses" (w/ Willie Nelson) 1 22
"I Love This Bar" 1 26 Shock'n Y'all
"I Can't Take You Anywhere" (Scotty Emerick w/ Toby Keith) 24 91 The Coast Is Clear (Scotty Emerick album)
2004 "American Soldier" 1 26 Shock'n Y'all
"Whiskey Girl" 1 31
"Hey Good Lookin'"
(w/Jimmy Buffett, Clint Black, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, and George Strait)		 8 63 License to Chill (Jimmy Buffett album)
"I Love NASCAR" (Cledus T. Judd w/ Toby Keith) 48 - Bipolar and Proud (Cledus T. Judd album)
"Stays in Mexico" 3 51 Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
"Midnight Rider" (Willie Nelson w/ Toby Keith) - - It Will Always Be (Willie Nelson album)
2005 "Mockingbird" (w/ daughter Krystal) 27 - Greatest Hits, Vol. 2
"Honkytonk U" 8 61 Honkytonk University
"As Good As I Once Was"B 1 28
"Big Blue Note" 5 55
2006 "Get Drunk and Be Somebody"C 3 47 White Trash with Money
"A Little Too Late"A 2 53
"Crash Here Tonight" 15 96
2007 "High Maintenance Woman" 3 67 Big Dog Daddy
"Love Me If You Can" 1 48
"Get My Drink On"D
  • A Reached #1 on Radio & Records country charts.
  • B "As Good As I Once Was" also charted on the US Digital charts at #39, and charted on the US Pop at #54.
  • C "Get Drunk and Be Somebody" also charted on US Digital charts at #56, and charted on the US Pop at #64.
  • D Current single.

Notable awards

  • Academy of Country Music (ACM) - Album of the Year (2000) How Do You Like Me Now
  • Country Music Association (CMA) - Male Vocalist of the Year (2001)
  • Academy of Country Music - Entertainer of the Year (2002)
  • Academy of Country Music - Entertainer of the Year (2003)
  • Academy of Country Music - Top Male Vocalist (2003)
  • Academy of Country Music - Album of the Year (2003) Shock'n Y'all
  • Academy of Country Music - Video of the Year (2003) Beer For My Horses (with Willie Nelson)
  • Country Music Association - Video of the Year (2005) As Good As I Once Was

Notes

  1. ^ "Courtesy Of The Red, White & Blue: Singer Talks About His Defiantly Patriotic Songs", CBS News, December 31, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-06-05. 
  2. ^ video of Dixie Chicks appearing on Real Time with Bill Maher.

References

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

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