Brad Paisley

Born October 28, 1972, Brad Paisley is son to a West Virginia Department of Transportation worker and a teacher. But his love of music stemmed from his maternal grandfather who handed him his first guitar and taught him how to play. Once getting acquainted with the instrument, Paisley was a regular at local church and Christmas parties.

His first song called "Born on Christmas Day" was written at the age of 12. A year later he formed a band with guitarist Clarence Goddard and two others, calling themselves "Brad Paisley and the C-Notes". One day his school principal invited him to perform at a local Rotary Club meeting where a program director of a radio station in Wheeling, West Virginia was present. His road to stardom began there.

Miller offered Paisley to be the weekly performer on Jamboree USA. Teen Paisley spent eight years of his life opening for such artists as The Judds, Ricky Skaggs and George Jones. After graduating from his high school, Paisley enrolled himself in West Liberty University for two years before given a scholarship from ASCAP to study at Belmont University, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Once graduated from the university, Paisley was signed by EMI Music Publishing as songwriter. His recording career did not start until he was taken under Arista Nashville's wings. The first single "Who Needs Pictures" delivered him to his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. But it was "He Didn't Have to Be" which propelled his name. The single hit number one on country charts and so did this debut album "Who Needs Pictures".

Paisley won at 2000 Country Music Association Awards and Academy of Country Music Awards. His first Grammy followed in 2001, under the category of Best New Artist. He was the youngest musician to be inducted to Gran Ole Opry at the age of 28. His sophomore album "Part II" was released in 2001 and his career kept rolling from here with a victory at 2002 CMA Awards. The album stayed in the charts for more than 70 weeks and was certified platinum in August 2002.

Third album "Mud on the Tires" was dropped in 2003. Song "Celebrity" was famous for its video of which parodies reality shows such as "Fear Factor" and "American Idol". Track "Whiskey Lullaby" reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs and #41 on the Billboard Hot 100. Consequently, the album was certified double platinum.

After touring for a while, Paisley was back in the studio to record "Time Well Wasted" which includes duet with Dolly Parton and Alan Jackson. Released in 2005, the album was awarded at the Country Music Association CMA Award for Best Album and for the same category at the 2006 ACM Awards. In 2006, he took in four nominations at the Grammys but did not walk home with any.

His fifth album "5thGear" was dropped in 2007, boasting singles "Ticks", "Online", "Letter to Me", and "I'm Still a Guy". "Waitin' on a Woman", a track cut from his previous album was re-issued and became his twelfth number-one single and his eighth straight number-one hit. He supported the album with lengthy tour which took place almost a year. He won his first Grammy for Best Country Instrumental for "Throttleneck" in 2008.

Sixth album "Play" was released in 2008, featuring his duet with Keith Urban called "Start a Band". He began a tour with Dierks Bentley and Jimmy Wayne which also supported his other album "American Saturday Night", released in 2009. In the same year, he was invited to perform at the White House and to host for the second time CMA Awards.

The inevitable came, his first official greatest hits title "Hits Alive" was released in 2010, containing studio versions of Paisley's hit singles in one CD and unreleased live versions of his songs in another. He won CMA's top award, Entertainer of the Year that year and he dedicated it to his grandfather in an emotional acceptance speech.

His new album "This Is Country Music" began its promotion with the release of the title track in late 2010. The song entered Billboard Country Song and Billboard Hot 100 at number 3 and 40 respectively and the album was dropped on May 23, 2011.