Tim McGraw

Tim McGraw, born May 1, 1967, is well-seated among the huge players in the country music league. Son of New York Mets player, Tug McGraw, Tim was born in Delhi, Louisiana where his mother was sent by her parents to give birth. Tim believed that his stepfather, Horace Smith, was his biological father until the age of 11 when he discovered Tug's name in his birth certificate.

Tug did not acknowledge Tim as his son at first but he soon realized that Tim looked like him at the age of 18. Naturally, Tim was in love with competitive sports including baseball since he was a child. He even attended the University of Louisiana at Monroe on baseball scholarship. But guitar also gained his attention during the college years although he was not good at playing it at first.

Tim performed to get tips and he often did it with local bands in Jacksonville, Florida. In attempt to pursue career in music, Tim dropped out of college and went to Nashville. He managed to send a copy of his demo to Curb Records through his father who knew some people in the label. After playing his tape in front of the executives, Tim was handed a recording contract. His first album in 1992 spawned "Welcome to the Club", "Memory Lane" and "Two Steppin Mind", which all failed to get him nationwide attention.

He had a better luck with his second album, "Not a Moment Too Soon", which was released in 1994. He created controversy with the first single "Indian Outlaw" which many believed presenting Native Americans in a patronizing way. The second single "Don't Take the Girl" did even better in chart, becoming his first No. 1 country hit. It helped propelling the album's sale to 6 millions copies and winning Academy of Country Music awards for Album of the Year and Top New Male Vocalist.

It didn't take long for Tim to craft the third album. In 1995, "All I Want" was released to another commercial success. It sold over 2 million copies and climbed up to number 5 on Billboard Hot 200 chart. His first acting appearance also came that year, in an episode of "The Jeff Foxworthy Show", where he played Foxworthy's rival.

It was during the 1996 tour to support this album when he fell in love with his supporting act, Faith Hill. They started dating after Faith broke up with fiance Scott Hendricks. They were married in October that year and have three kids together.

Tim released his fourth album, "Everywhere", in 1997. with singles "It's Your Love", "Everywhere", "Where the Green Grass Grows", and "Just to See You Smile" that reached the top of country charts. As for the album, it set a new record by spending 42 weeks on the Billboard charts. The album was also named Album of the Year at the 1997 Country Music Association Awards.

Tim was back in 1999 with "A Place in the Sun". Like its predecessors, the album sold millions of copies upon release, thanks to such singles as "Please Remember Me", "Something Like That", "My Best Friend", and "My Next Thirty Years". Beside writing songs for his own music career, Tim contributed to his wife's album by making duets in songs like "Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me".

His first greatest hits album came in 2000, spending nine weeks on top of the charts. He and Faith went on a Soul2Soul Tour which turned out to be one of the most successful roadshows in early 2000s. His next studio album was titled "Set This Circus Down", released in 2001. One of the tracks, "Angry All the Time" was done with Hill.

Then in honor of his touring band, he released an album in 2002 under the title "Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors". The album debuted at No. 2 on the country albums charts with the single "Real Good Man" reaching No. 1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. His 2004 album, "Live Like You Were Dying", dedicated the title track to his father, Tug, who died of brain tumor earlier in the year. It won ACM Single and Song of the Year, CMA Single and Song of the Year, and a Grammy.

Tim made a name in the acting world in 2004 when he appeared as an overbearing father of a running back on high school football drama "Friday Night Lights". He scored a leading role in 2006 feature film "Flicka" but took a small role in 2007's "The Kingdom". He also played Sandra Bullock's husband in award-winning film "The Blind Side" and his song "Southern Voice" was used at the closing credits. Another big screen role came in 2010 when he played husband of Gwyneth Paltrow in "Country Strong".

In order to shake things up, he made a collaboration with rapper Nelly on the song "Over and Over". It went on becoming a hit, spending 10 weeks in the Top 40 chart. The second Soul2Soul concert series began in April 2006 and grossed nearly $89 million. Hurricane Katrina inspired the couple to donate all of the profits from their performance in New Orleans.

His seventh album "Let It Go" was released in March 2007 with first single "Last Dollar (Fly Away)". Both the single and the album hit number one in their respective charts. Again, Tim attempted to do a crossover, this time being featured in Def Leppard's album "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge". McGraw also went solo in his 2008 tour Live Your Voice. In the same year, his third greatest hits album hit the shelves but Tim reportedly did not endorse the release.

"Southern Voice" came in October 2009 with "It's a Business Doing Pleasure With You" as the lead single. His fourth greatest hits album followed in November 2010, being released by Curb Records which was already in rough patches with the country singer at that time. Tim recorded "'Emotional Traffic" as his last album with the label, but the company filed a breach-of-contract suit against him, alleging Tim recorded tracks for his album too early prior to its delivery to the label.

Tim launched a counter suit and trial dates began to roll. A judge, nevertheless, allowed Tim to record music with another label. His two decades partnership with Curbs would end after the release of "Emotional Traffic" on January 17, 2012.