Tim McGraw is one of the most popular American country singers, songwriters and actor. Ever since he started his musical career,
Tim has released 14 studio albums, all of which are known to have peaked on the Top Country Albums chart.
Born and raised in Delhi, Louisiana, Tim played sports such as basketball and baseball. He played baseball so well that he was offered a scholarship to Northeastern Louisiana University.
But an unfortunate injury ended his baseball career prematurely, and he abandoned his dreams of becoming a professional baseball player.
As a student, Tim started playing the guitar and performed in small venues to earn some money.
He dropped out of college in pursuit of his desires, and in 1993 he released his self-titled debut album, which was very poorly received by critics and music lovers.
But Tim was just getting started and he was hard at work on his second studio album Not a Moment too Soon. The album became a huge success and turned Tim into a real star.
Now the artist has already released 14 music albums, and with them he has established himself as one of the most famous country musicians of all time.
Who is Tim McGraw?
Born May 1, 1967 in Delhi, Louisiana, Tim McGraw is an American country singer whose albums and singles consistently top the music charts, making him one of the genre's most popular artists.
Married to singer Faith Hill, his hit songs include "Indian Outlaw," "Don't Take the Girl," "I Like It, I Love It," and "Live Like You Were Dying."
Youth
Tim McGraw was one of the most popular "Young Country" stars in the 1990s.
He became known for his rather high-pitched voice, as well as his ability to evoke a wide variety of emotions, ranging from jumping dance tunes to soulful ballads.
As he told David Zimmerman in USA Today, “There are a lot of people who can pick up a guitar and sing you a great song, but there are very few people who can tell you how they really feel. “
Tim grew up thinking his mother's husband, Horace Smith, a truck driver, was his father, but that was not the case.
The couple divorced when McGraw was nine years old, and thereafter he and his mother often had to move around Richland County.
One day after moving in, when he was 11 years old, he opened a box that contained a birth certificate that bore the name of his real father and listed "baseball player".
His mother eventually revealed that she had a brief summer romance with Toug McGraw, who at the time was playing in the minor leagues. However, he quickly abandoned her and she married Smith when her son was seven months old.
Thug McGraw went on to make his name with the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies.
By the early 1970s, he was the highest paid and most popular player in professional baseball.
McGraw met him once at a game in Houston, but his biological father showed little interest in maintaining a close relationship.
The baseball star married and by then had two more children, although he and his wife divorced in 1988.
McGraw was initially angry with his father for not supporting him, but later forgave him, telling Steve Dougherty and Meg Grant in People, "He was 22 years old and immature when it happened."
Ironically, McGraw taped his father's baseball card to his bedroom wall even before he knew he was his father.
Early musical influences
Although he grew up in Start, a tiny town in Richland County, he spent a lot of time on the road in the cab of Smith's 18-wheeler.
In the truck, he sang along with country artists such as Charlie Pride, Johnny Paycheck and George Jones. “By the time I was six years old,” McGraw said, “I felt like I knew the words to every album that Merle Haggard had ever recorded.”
Although he played Little League as a child, by the time he went to college, McGraw had abandoned his dreams of becoming a professional ballplayer like his father.
When he was a senior at Monroe Christian High School, he met again with Toug McGraw, who agreed to pay for his college education. McGraw graduated from the faculty in 1985.
Shortly thereafter, he changed his last name to that of his biological father, although he continues to credit his stepfather Smith as his real father.
He soon decided to drop out of school and try his luck in Nashville. His father told him to finish school first, but McGraw reminded him that he dropped out of college for baseball.
His father continued to support him while he tried to make a career.
First strike and controversy
Upon entering Music City in May 1989, McGraw had little touring experience and no contacts. But the industry was ripe for handsome male vocalists, and he managed to line up gigs at Printers Alley clubs.
Within a year and a half, he signed a contract with Curb Records.
His first self-titled album was released in April 1993, but it was a flop.
To gain attention, the label sent McGraw on tour with their band, the Dance Hall Doctors, and his live performance received great acclaim.
With power ballads and party hits like Steve Miller's Joker, he found his audience.
In February 1994, McGraw released the infectious single "Indian Outlaw", which quickly soared into the country's charts and became very popular.
However, it also earned it undesirable novelty status and drew a fierce response from many who found it offensive to Native Americans.
The lyrics included lines such as "I'm an Indian criminal" and lines like "You can find me in my wigwam/I'll be beatin' on my tom-tom." McGraw responded by stating that he meant no harm and that he was simply using different words for their rhyming qualities.
Despite McGraw's explanation of his intentions, Cherokee Nation leader Wilma Mankiller sent a letter to the station claiming that the song exhibited "crude exploitative commercialization at the expense of the Indians", stating that it "promotes bigotry", according to a Billboard article. Peter Cronin.
As a result, some radio stations in Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, and Minnesota began to refuse to play the song. On the other hand, an Eastern Cherokee Indian group based in North Carolina wrote to McGraw's management company in support of the song that they had nothing against it.
In spite of for what!
Shortly after this fuss, the singer's second album was released. "Not a Moment too Soon" became a country number one hit in its first week on the charts. In addition, three more singles topped the charts in addition to "Indian Outlaw".
His album and number one "Don't Take The Girl", a melodramatic ballad, received awards from the Academy of Country Music.
McGraw was also named Best New Country Artist by Billboard.
Not a Moment too Soon reached number one on the country album chart for 26 consecutive weeks and sold approximately eight million copies over the next few years.
Immediately, McGraw was catapulted from playing honky-tonks to starting a headlining tour.
The following year, in September 1995, McGraw released All I Want. Although it was an attempt to show more serious musicianship, the first single released was the jaunty "I Like It, I Love It".
As he explained to Deborah Evans Price on Billboard, “It was a cool, fun, high school song. She doesn't talk much. We released it because it's a fun song and it can easily bring attention to some of the other songs on the album that I really want people to hear!”
The song stayed at number one for five weeks and the album sold three million copies.
Marriage to Faith Hill
Already in 1996, the successful Spontaneous Combustion tour took place, in which the country performer made an opening speech. By the end of the tour, McGraw's personal life also began to boil, and he asked Hill to marry him.
They were on tour in Montana at the time, and he asked the question in his dressing room, which was housed in the trailer. He later recalled the event in an interview with People magazine: "She said, 'I can't believe you're asking me to marry you in a trailer!' and I said, 'Well, we're country singers, what did you expect? '
Hill later accepted McGraw's proposal by writing "yes" on a mirror in her trailer while he was on stage, and the couple married on October 6, 1996.
Their first daughter, Gracie, was born in 1997, their second daughter, Maggie, was born a year later, and their third daughter, Audrey (the youngest), was born in 2001.
Continued success
Meanwhile, McGraw began to diversify his activities so that he had options in case his popularity hit rock bottom. He formed production and management companies.
He and Byron Gallimuer jointly released Joe Di Messina's debut album, which contained the hit "Heads Carolina, Tails California".
McGraw had no need to worry: in June 1997, he released another hit, Everywhere, which rose to the top of the charts and included three number one singles, including "It's Your Love", which he sang with Hill. This song reached the top ten on the pop chart.
The new stability in his life as a married man and father was reflected everywhere, and he was attracting the most awards at this point.
Among other awards, in 1997 "It's Your Love" was named Billboard's Single of the Year Award, Radio & Records Single of the Year, and Country Music Television named him Male Artist of the Year.
In addition, in 1998 he received awards from the Academy of Country Music for single of the year, song of the year, video of the year and top vocals - all for the same song "It's Your Love".
In 1999, McGraw's white streak continued with the release of A Place in the Sun in May. It topped the Billboard album charts and spawned a number one hit in the country: "Please Remember Me".
The awards continued to pile up as McGraw received Academy of Country Music Awards for Vocalist of the Year and Vocal Event of the Year and Country Music Association Awards for Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year as Artist and Producer of A Place in the Sun and others.
To conclude, People magazine named him the "Sexiest Country Star" in their annual Dream Boat issue. In 2000, McGraw received the Academy Award for Country Music Vocalist of the Year and his first Grammy Award for Best Collaboration on "Let's Make Love", a duet he sang with his wife.
Acting
McGraw also became an actor. He appeared in the 2004 feature film Black Cloud directed by Rick Schroeder and the 2006 family drama Flick.
In a supporting role, McGraw also worked with Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner in 2007's The Kingdom.
Taking on a sports drama, he co-starred with Sandra Bullock in Blind Side (2009).
He also played a character closer to his real life in Country Strong (2010) starring Gwyneth Paltrow and later landed a prominent role in Tomorrowland (2015) opposite George Clooney.
Little about personal life
McGraw lives in a six-bedroom house near Nashville. As he explained to Zimmerman in USA Today, “This is the most relaxing place in the world. We have fires all the time at the Back Forty, hanging out in our backyards, playing guitars and drinking some beer."
He and his wife often tour, but Hill never leaves without the kids. “I love my wife more than anything,” McGraw noted in another People article.
In the late winter of 2018, after the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, McGraw became one of the few top stars in the country to voice his support for tougher gun control measures.
After the sporting goods store announced that the director would raise the minimum age for buying guns or ammunition from 18 to 21, he tweeted: "Thank you for being a part of the discussion on the safety of our children!"
